Riddle, dehydrator, prisoner.

June, 2024

Recently my library got a donation (a box with riddle cards), something like American Riddles. I tried a few cards, didn’t get any answers, not even the wrong ones, lol. But I came up with my own riddle: the house smells like garlic and onion, but there is no meal cooking on the stove.

While you are thinking, I will tell you what I learned on one of the Russian independent YouTube channels.

However, you may have already seen or read about it in the news.

An U.S. soldier (Gordon Black) was detained in Russia last week. Today, the Vladivostok court sentenced him to almost 4 years in a penal colony.

There are a couple of links to the articles I found and read. They actually answered my questions about how he ended up in Russia and so on.

But before learning his story, I thought of him and remembered my “life insurance” experience.

It was 2018, I know the year because in 2018 I went to Russia.

My husband mentioned a few times that I should get life insurance. He was saying that I was young and healthy and I wouldn't have to pay much. I had no idea about the life insurance subject, but I tried to figure it out.

I spent 3 weeks of my life talking to different agents, translating paperwork (how many pages there were, 19? X-amount of pages filled with unknown words and meanings). I even met (at home) with a nurse who checked on my health, and I gave them permission to look at my medical records.

One of the agents who was looking for a life insurance company asked me if I was going to travel. And I said: “Yes, to Russia”. She replied: “Well, not every company will want to insure you”.

It was very funny and insulting to me then. I couldn’t not believe that my home country was so ..unlikable…unattractive…in the eyes of representatives of the life insurance companies. I was probably even shocked.

In the end, one of the insurance companies contacted me to negotiate a price and policy.

LOL. They wanted me to pay $100 per month instead of $20, as it was advertised in the beginning.

I decided that my money would be safe with me. I still don't quite understand what the benefit is of giving the money away and maybe never getting it back.

But the insurance companies were right not to trust the Russian government.

That's why I was wondering how this guy got to Russia and why. Links to the articles are down below.

I hope that he will be released somehow soon. An independent journalist suggested that Gordon Black would be used by the Russian government as an exchange fund.

The answer to my riddle is the Food Dehydrator machine I checked out from the library.

I got some garlic and green onion from my garden. In my opinion, the best way to preserve them is drying. This is not or hardly possible with the New England humidity.

I am glad that the library has expanded its services by providing various items such as bread makers or dehydrators.