Sergei and Elena's room

Sergei was a salesman for a pharmaceutical company. He made $200 a month. Elena was a real estate agent, meaning she sold flats that had been privatized and the utilities renovated to "Euro standards", which means fancier than an average American apartment. Flats would go for $20 000 - 40 000. (Or 1.08 - 2.16 billion rubles, so there!) She made $400 per month. Both were college educated, him as a pharmacist. They bought their room for $5000, and were holding onto it to trade up with.

This was also the room where I learned, during an after-dinner drink with them and some friends of theirs the first day, that "prezervativ" doesn't mean preservative. I was trying to describe our health food, and how it doesn't contain preservatives. But I found out that "prezervativ" means condom!

St Petersburg, Russia -- September 1996