phone lines

ouf. i could blog a lot about phone lines in this country.

or i could blog all the phone conversations i accidentally overheard. because of the phone lines in this country.

they are bad.

if you're bored at home, just pick up your phone and you can be pretty sure to be able to listen in on other people's phone conversations.

this happens a lot.

or, you are chatting away on the phone to a friend and all of a sudden there is this "click", and "allo allo allo?", "seriosha, eto ty?", "a olya doma?" etc. and there goes another phone conversation that is being mixed up with yours. you can even meet new people like that!

that is one of the reasons why you simply don't talk about certain things on the phone.

the other one is of course the authorities. if even your neighbours can overhear your conversations, you can probably imagine who else is listening in every once in a while.

given that i am a foreigner in this country, i can be definitely sure that i am of special interest to the russian authorities.

for example, the other day i was talking to one of my friends from back home. we were talking in a language that is rather rare, even in europe. after exactly 30 minutes (i know because i have a timer on my phone screen), the line goes dead. just like that. in the middle of my sentence. and we were not even talking about anything political or so. i tried to call back my friend and so did he. but, no chance! the line remained dead. at least for a couple of minutes. then, all of a sudden, it worked again.

my theory is that, since we were talking in such a weird and rare language, they couldn't find anyone who would understand us. so they had to tape our conversation. and the tape ends after 30 minutes and you have to change sides.

maybe i am getting too paranoid living in this place...?!
i had numerous moments like that, though...