Posts Tagged "kursk"
Ivan: Grandfather’s WWII Memories
While showing me around Kursk, Ivan, a foreign languages graduate student, shared with me a memorable conversation he had with his grandfather. He said his grandfather, a native Azeri, didn't like watching WWII films because it brought back bad memories. "He told me war was pure hell, watching your friends die." Like many of his generation, his grandfather lied about his age to fight. When they were celebrating his 80th birthday a decade ago, he was actually 79.
Small Business Owner
As I planned a trip to Kursk in central Russia, I did a search on Instagram to find interesting spots to photograph and saw a few photos of a hip-looking cafe. It was still in process of being built, due to open today. I popped by and found one of the owners - Dmitry - busy working on the final touches. He said he had wanted to open a cafe for some time and was looking for the right idea. He and his friend came up with making it a coffee + donut shop and trained to learn to make donuts. He is so confident there is demand for such a place in Kursk and surrounding areas - and I agree with that assessment post my visit to the town - that he is working on opening a 2nd one and may franchise it. He is not worried about the ruble - people will trend down he says from spending money in expensive restaurants to more affordable spots like cafes.
