I am now on my 8th DJ/MC tour to the Russian Federation, and I have been +10 hours from my home time zone. I first came to Ufa, Russia - where no USA DJ's have ever been before! It was very strange to be the first, but the people there gave me a warm welcome and made me very comfortable. It was quite a shock to have traveled for 38 hours through 5 airports on 4 flights, but nevertheless I made it safely and found myself in a climate I was not used to.

I became ill for the first 2 days and even had to have an ambulance come to my flat because I fainted and my body temperature dropped to 34C, which is apparently below normal. I felt very weak and stressed and also a bit afraid that I would have a heart attack. I reported my syptoms to my friends there who I lived with and they became full of fear for my health.

In Russia, they can enjoy socialized medicine and Ambulance visits for free. It was nice for me to not have to pay anything for their care, and it was amazingly a fast response. The doctor arrived to my flat within 15 minutes of the call and I was very happy to see them. Basically I was told that the difference in climate combined with 48 hours of not sleeping could potentially kill almost anyone, and that I was lucky to have such caring friends to pay attention to my needs and help me to find fast medical attention.

Finally after I recovered my health, I had the challenge of registering my business visa in Ufa. This is the most strict city in the Russian Federation for registering visas, and it was not an easy process at all. You have 72 hours to register your visa from the time you first land in Russia, and because I was ill for longer than 72 hours I had to pay a $100 penalty and deal with 2 police offices + a bank + the registration office. The people were not very friendly to me at all, and the lady at the registration office even canceled my visa with a big CANCEL stamp on my migration card. I was terribly worried because I thought this would be a big problem for me when I have to pass through passport control to fly back home to USA. But paying the fine and traveling to all of the places to actually get my migration card stamped correctly was an adventure in itself and full of problems.

In Russia, you can't do anything without having about 50 problems attached.