Alexandr Korol

And for me, that was insane happiness — I felt so good. But there were levels to it, like everything else, it breaks down into different levels and sub-levels. I still had the feeling that — it’s like that story... the story about Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. That’s what it reminded me of, that I was like a kid about to go build a treehouse in the woods and set up all kinds of traps. Seriously, that’s how I felt — like a kid. And in the cabin, I had all the films — or rather, all the shows from around the world downloaded, every possible kind: how to survive in the wild, hiking, fishing, how to build houses, how to make fire, how to navigate. I would watch all of this and feel insane joy in the evenings when I sat in the cabin. And I was alone the whole time there. Well, alone in the sense that, of course, there were a bunch of different workers — I mean construction workers who were handling everything — but they were there for work, and I didn’t distract anyone. But it wasn’t like I had a friend or a girlfriend living with me in the cabin, or sitting there with me — I was alone. I just knew I could sit and have tea with any of the builders, chat. Or, if I needed help, someone could go with me into the forest with an axe to cut down a tree, so to speak, to gather dry branches. That’s how it happened. But I was still on my own, because I’m an adult. What friend is going to sit in the woods with me? No one sat in the woods with me. I loved it, though, because I got animals — I got a dog. Controlling the construction was one process. Walking through the forest was another process. Fishing — that was a whole separate process. And so, on my lake, I would play classical music by Max Richter — there was often mist over the lake — and I’d cast my fishing rod, the spinning one, for trolling. And I’d lie down on the boat with the electric motor moving slowly, just listening to music and looking at everything around me, at all that nature. And it felt like I wasn’t in Russia, but also not abroad, as if it was a different time altogether. I don’t know, the associations were more like The Lord of the Rings. Seriously, the feeling was more like being in a fairytale place, but more associated with The Lord of the Rings, hobbits, trolls — that kind of vibe for some reason. Another thing that both friends and relatives, and even the construction workers, noticed was that I felt like a fish in water there. If we went into the forest, I wasn’t afraid of wild animals, not at all. I felt like it was my home, as if I was protected in it. I really liked that. Imagine being in the wilderness, where there are actually bears, wolves, and lynxes, and yet I felt more confident and at ease there than