I've been sharing some of my son's Russian adventures with you so will take you on a walk to see some of the statues in the city of Orenburg, Russia and the Regional Museum of Fine Arts.
TRAVEL NIGHTMARE
What started as an exciting working holiday, is slowly turning into a bit of a nightmare as the work stopped when they went into lockdown plus my son has been unable to get a flight back home with so many borders closed and our country's draconian lockdown regulations which only allows repatriation flights which have come to a grinding halt!
Thankfully he is staying with a very kind young Russian family so that is a big comfort!
CANCELED FLIGHTS
My son and a group of around 70 South Africans have all individually lost a whole load of money with canceled flights.
His first flight was canceled but he's still waiting for the promised refund! A second airline canceled the next flight but only offered a voucher which will be useless as they're not flying for another couple of months; that voucher is still not forthcoming either!
THINK BEFORE YOU BOOK A FLIGHT!
My advice during these uncertain times is not to book any flights unless you have clearance from your country's embassy that all will be in order or you could just find yourself stranded at an airport halfway across the world!
My son is part of a group of expats who have started a crowdfunding campaign through BackaBuddy hoping to at least cover part of their flight costs.
POLITICAL PARTIES PIGGY BACK ON EFFORTS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES
Our government is not helping at all, in fact they and our official opposition political party have been gloating how they've brought back hundreds of South Africans, but in reality they were merely piggy-backing on flights arranged by foreign governments and airlines departing from Europe and the Middle East! All for political gain, but that's a story for another day.
POWERING DOWN STEEM & PRECIOUS HIVE
So while I was really happy that I could power down my Steem when Hive was launched, I noticed that my Hive was also powering down and with our son's traveling woes and us being forced to close our BnB during an extended lockdown; my heart's been breaking having to use my powered down Hive, but it certainly has been a lifesaver!
NEW BEGINNINGS
I've resigned myself to the fact that I will be kind of starting over here on Hive and will just have to build up Hive Power once the Covid19 dust settles.
We are starting to see the light as far as our BnB is concerned as we can operate as a self-catering residential establishment so there is hope on the horizon!
ORENBURG STATUES & ART MUSEUM
Back to 
The first imposing statue is of Alexander Pushkin; the Russian poet, novelist and playwright who many see as the greatest Russian poet and founder of modern Russian literature.
Pushkin was born into a prominent Russian noble family with the historical novel The Captain's Daughter being his most famous work.
The next five metre bronze sculpture is that of a hero of the Soviet Union, Valery Chkalov, a legendary pilot who was also known as one of Stalin's falcons as he had extraordinary piloting skills!
A closeup view.
You may remember the imposing statue that I shared a while back of the Russian revolutionary Lenin, the first leader of the USSR, but thought it apt to include him here.
This statue is of Peter the Great who ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from 1682 until his death in 1725.
My son admiring this monument called The First Teacher; this is what brought him to Russia in the first instance and that was a wonderful experience.
I'm ending off with a fun moment that is sure to bring a smile to your face!
The beautiful Orenburg Regional Museum of Fine Arts building in the background.
Yep, trust a man to take hold of that;)
And so we come to the end of my walk, hope to have better news regarding my son's return home soon!
Thank you for stopping by
Photographs in this post courtesy of my son Warren
