I woke up around 8 am. Today I am spending 1430 and 1210 Rubles on 2 tickets - a masterclass and an excusion.

And now we are going to Проспекту Героев Донбасса to meet the friend Alex from Telegram. I got off after a half-hour bus ride. I have to walk another 1.5 km.

I saw very beautiful apartments.

And it became very, very hot again. It is a long walk, and it's mostly countryside. But there are many tall, beautiful residential buildings here, some under construction. This neighborhood is called Кузнечиха.

I arrived at 10. He said he'd be here in 40 minutes. So I walked around the area.

I went to the supermarket for breakfast. 3 pastries, 100 Rubles.

It's not 11 yet, so I bought 2 more yogurts. And here is the kindergarten with kids playing inside.

At 11: 10 Alex messaged me on Telegram he is here. I met Alex. He is a really nice guy. He works in a small kitchen here. He asked what I want here, and I said I wanted a coke. He gave it to me for free. I showed him a few photos of Shanghai. Then we mostly speak in English.

I said I would be going to Kazan soon. He said Kazan is a beautiful place. Unforunately, I didn't bring a gift for him. I said if he ever came to China he can text me, but he said he didn't have the time. And he's busy working in the kitchen and I left.

I got on the bus and headed back to the hostel. When I went back to the hotel, Alex texted me that he would come over in the evening. He said he would bring some free food from his work. I am so touched! I asked him if it was convenient, he said yes. It was just a 15-minute drive away. He finishes work around 11 pm.

And I am going to visit the Museum of Silence. I tried to enter, but the door was closed. I rang the bell, and a woman came and opened the door. I went in, and there was only one woman inside. So there are 2 exercises to do for people with hearing problems. And it's just the woman and me here.

The woman let me smell the fruits so I could distinguish between the different smell.

The woman would always say, "отлично" or "меня нравится" no matter what I did. There were 14 things to smell, including apples, oranges, strawberries, peaches, and chocolate. The woman went away and I had to put everything on the paper according to the smells.

The activity was meant for a group I think. Now it's only me. And I was mostly randomly guessing. She told me the names of everything, though I couldn't remember some Russian names. She let me smell number 5 and told me it's apple. I only guessed peach correctly. Then we finished the activity.

The next activity is mixing the chocolate. It's simple, I just needed to mix the chocolates according to the instructions. There is a dark chocolate and a small white chocolate. There are 6 sprinkles that you can put on top.

Then I finished it. She asked me how I knew about it? I said Yandex Afisha. She asked me why I am here? I said I was traveling in Russia and I came here after Moscow. She said, "замечательно" like usual.

Then there is the Cyrillic alphabet in sign language.

I went for another walk along the riverbank.

Then I returned to the hostel. I am changing my clothes twice a day. I thought the tour started at 7:30 pm, but turned out it was 7 pm. I rushed out the hotel at 6:49.

And here is the bus.

So the city had been known as Gorky during the Soviet era.

We drove slowly along the riverbank. The guide was talking about everything - old houses, the Alexander Garden. Then we crossed to the other side of the river.

We walk back to this side.

Then we walked to the Bolshaya Pokrovskaya, and the tour guide began to tell us the stories behind each building and statue. I thought the tour was 1.5 hours, but it turned out to be over 2.5 hours. There are so many tourists from Moscow here.

Someone is singing "группа крови". I left the tour group and I stood there watching for 20 minutes. Then it was "кукушка", "кон", "ты неси меня река", and two other songs I didn't recognize. People gathered in a circle and sang along. In the end, I gave him 50 Rubles.

I am so, so sad. I'll be leaving this city soon. But it's so beautiful. Can I cry? The bars are full. The sky is a deep-blue, gradually becoming darker. It's magical, and there are so many young, beautiful people walking around. People are singing. People are dancing. Bolshaya Pokrovskaya at 9 pm in the summer is just magical. I walked along the street and filmed for 10 minutes.

I went back to the hostel. Alex sent me a message at 10:30 pm. I replied, "Are you ready to meet?" I waited for him for a while and walked around the hostel.

I took a few photos of some young people partying. Two men approached me and asked, "Почему Фотографирует?" Then they said "photo" again. I said "извините" and walked away. Then they went back into the crowd laughing.

So I went back to the dorm. Then at 11:30 pm Alex told me he just finished work. I was almost falling asleep. My eyes are barely open, and I am on my way to meeting Alex.

It's cold outside at night, below 20 degrees. It's already midnight. The cold evening air cleared my brain.

A rusty red car pulled around the corner. Alex carrying a "Vkusno i tochka" bag of food.

Alex said he wanted to talk for 30 minutes, but we actually talked for 1.5 hours. He said, "this is all for you." He bought drinks, two pies, a huge hamburger, and a bag of chicken. I thought he would want to eat it, but he gave everything to me for free. I thanked him several times. He is such a nice person!

I asked, "Are you tired?" He said, "I don't know." I took a photo with him.

So much food and kindness from Alex.

I said, "I should've brought you a gift from China."

I showed him photos of California, he said, "that's the place I dream of visiting." He said he doesn't like Russian music, but Tsoi is very good. I had just been to the Tsoi wall a few days ago. I showed him a person singing Tsoi on the street. He said, the person sings everyday.

I asked, "where have you been in Russia?" He said Moscow, SPB, and Kazan. I asked, "have you been to the Kavkaz?" He said no. Novosibirsk? No. Dzerzhinsk? Bor? Yes. I said I wanted to go visit Dagestan. I was thinking about rugged terrains and mountains.

I asked if he was in hocket or soccer? He said no. I asked if he skated? He said no. He goes to the gym. He showed me a photo of himself with strong muscles 10 years ago.

I asked about Pushkin. He said everyone learns that in school. I said I also heard of Akhmatova and Gogol. He said, that's rare, today's youth don't know these things. I asked if he watches TV? He was puzzled about what STS is, and then he realized it is a TV channel. He watches Perviy. I asked if he uses Max? No. Vk? We exchanged Vk. I looked through his Telegram, and he subscribed to Nexta.

He looked at my Telegram and he said, "there are a lot of girls." I said, "that's because I followed figure skaters." I asked, "are you married?" He said, "I don't want to get married, maybe if I get rich."

He went into the my shared dorm room. He said, "I've never seen such capsule hotels before! He looked inside the bunker and took a photo of me. He looked for air conditioning inside the bunk, but there was none. He asked, "what if it gets hot?" I said, "The windows are open." He said, "I didn't know this exists in Russia!" He asked how much it cost? 1700 Rubles a day.

So we went for a walk at 1 am near his car. I asked if he drank? Rarely. He said, "if there is a problem, then solve it. You can pay them to take care of it here, and there are plenty of services available." I said, "Well, that's not for me." He said it's safe at night. I said I didn't see any homeless people. He said they just moved them somewhere else. He asked if I needed anything from the supermarket. I said I didn't. He said many friends had left to Germany, the Netherlands, or France.

He said there is a shortage of specialists in Russia. Well, I don't think so, because there are many geniuses from MGU, ITMO, etc. He said, "it would be easy for you to get a job at Yandex, and many speak English." He said, "We use VPN for everything." I said, "It's worse in China."

He said when he was young, the houses were in poor condition, leftover from the Soviet era. Now they are colorful and better. He told me I could visit him tomorrow. I asked what time? He said in the morning. After 5 pm he would be very, very busy.

It is 3 am. I finished writing. Everyone else is asleep and the sun is rising. I am sleeping.