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Posts Tagged "Biochemistry"

Maksim: Biochemist Professor, Textbook Writer

ULYANOVSK: Maxim, 28, a biochemistry professor, posts photos from his hometown and travels on his Tumbler and Instagram account. One day, he received a message from Inessa, a St. Petersburg student of Tibet and Mongolian languages. Inessa came across his photos on social media and contacted him. After exchanging messages for a month, they finally met in St. Petersburg over the winter and fell in love. ''It was like a dream. She understands me like no other woman in the world.'' Maxim, who likes to jog and watch his diet, said he hopes to move to St. Petersburg in the summer to be with Inessa. In the meantime, he is busy trying to finish a textbook on biochemistry for university students. He spends 2 hours a day on it and has completed 300 pages so far. ''Students didn't understand the [biochemistry] material because the authors had written it without any input from them,'' Maksim said. ''So, I decided to write my own, which would explain almost everything they need and answer many of their questions.''

Vladimir: Khabarovsk Veteran Barman

KHABAROVSK: He was working the bar at the Pool Club in Khabarovsk. He introduced himself as "Vladimir...like our President." A colorful character, Vladimir spoke a mile a minute, joking constantly, and all I could understand after 5 minutes was that things were "f@cking awful" following the 1998 Russian default and ruble collapse. Once he slowed down, I learned he started working in bars in the late 1990s, while pursuing a degree in bio-chemistry. Like many Russian science/engineering students of that era, he didn't bother starting a career in science. But it wasn't just for financial reasons. "I understood that this [bartending] was my thing. I wanted to work with people and this was the best club." Vladimir has been serving up drinks at Pool Club for 15 years and knows the city's movers and shakers. "All the privledged youth used to come here. Now they own businesses, restaurants...they have become important people." Vladimir joked that he knows their secrets as well.