Sometimes you can have some of the benefits of travel while still enjoying the comforts of home. Getting to know people from other countries is, to me, a highlight of any trip. We just had a great experience hosting a woman from Moscow. She is a former journalist and has traveled to about 120 countries. She had many interesting stories to tell.
Her English was not the best, but we got along. It helped that we have a student living with us whose native language is Russian, though he was not here all the time. She came to Washington, D.C. because she wanted to see the museums, etc. and do some shopping. She more than accomplished both goals.
One of the things we enjoyed was her cooking. She insisted on making borscht the second day she was here. It was wonderful, but so much work! I think it took all day to make. Then she made Uzbekistan-style aush, which differs from the Tajikistan-style aush we have been eating compliments of our international student. Finally, she made a soup/stew that she described as a cousin of the other two dishes. More of the benefits of travel.
She made a good job of riding the bus and subway to get around, found a Russian-speaking guide for a tour of the Library of Congress, bought everything imaginable (but did not have enough space in the airline luggage allotment to take it all back to Russia; I guess that just means we have to go visit her).
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