Griest, Stephanie Elizondo <br/><br/>
Around the bloc  : my life in Moscow, Beijing, and Havana 
/ Stephanie Elizondo Griest 
 - New York  : Villard  , c2004 
 - 399 p.  ; 21 cm. 
<br/><br/> Desperate to escape South Texas, Stephanie Elizondo Griest dreamed of becoming a foreign correspondent. So she headed to Russia looking for some excitement - commencing what would become a four-year, twelve-nation Communist bloc tour that shattered her preconceived notions of the "Evil Empire." In Around the Bloc , Griest relates her experiences as a volunteer at a children's shelter in Moscow, a propaganda polisher at the office of the Chinese Communist Party's English-language mouthpiece in Beijing, and a belly dancer among the rumba queens of Havana. She falls in love with an ex-soldier who narrowly avoided radiation cleanup duties at Chernobyl, hangs out with Cuban hip-hop artists, and comes to difficult realizations about the meaning of democracy. Is the absorbing story of a young journalist driven by a desire to witness the effects of Communism. Along the way, she learns the Russian mathematical equation for buying dinner-party vodka (one bottle per guest, plus an extra), stumbles upon Beijing's underground gay scene, marches with 100,000 mothers demanding Elián González's return to Cuba, and gains a new appreciation for the Mexican culture she left behind. 
<br/><br/><br/>English. 
<br/><br/><label>ISBN: </label>9780812967609 
<br/><br/><label>Subjects--Personal Names: </label><br/>Griest, Stephanie Elizondo.
<br/><br/><label>Subjects--Topical Terms: </label><br/>Journalists---United States----Diaries<br/>Mexican American women---Texas----Diaries
<br/><br/><label>Subjects--Geographic Terms: </label><br/>China---Social life and customs---1976-<br/>Cuba---Description and travel<br/>Russia (Federation)---- Description and travel.
<br/><br/><label>Dewey Class. No.: </label>92 GRI