In 1995, I participated in a sister schools program in Moscow, Russia. A Russian student named Miche Savin spent one month with my family in Florida, and then I got to spend one month with him and his family in Moscow.
This was such a strange time to be in that city, in that country, and it changed my life.
It was just four years after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of communist regimes across much of Eastern Europe. The country was struggling through an extraordinary transition. It was as though time had stopped, leaving behind the remnants of another era.
Wages were extraordinarily low. Many Russians were earning the equivalent of little more than $100 per month, and some weren’t receiving their salaries at all. Doctors, teachers, and other highly educated professionals were struggling to make ends meet.
I moved easily through this aquarium of a time passed. Always smiling, laughing loudly, looking up.
I was an obnoxious American. I realize that now, after years of traveling in distant places, watching these types of Americans move through the landscape, seeing little and immersed in themselves.
Thankfully, I managed to also look within. During this trip, I kept a journal and wrote almost daily about my experiences. It was a place that changed me profoundly. And when I left, I made a decision that would guide the course of my life.
I share these pages and more in The Magic Circle.
The story continues inside The Magic Circle.
Step into the pages of my original 1995 Russia journals and discover the moments, reflections,
and revelations that shaped the course of my life.
A more intimate look at the journey behind All the Magic.