Yes, I do feel very fortunate I made the decision to take that trip. My family thought I was insane. "It's cold there". Uh, really, we had a business in Nebraska as a kid and I clearly remember the Grandparents who raised me didn't seem a bit worried to send me off to that tiny country school in subzero temps with the wind howling over the bare fields. They had some idea of Russia being a frozen wasteland full of hateful commies. Maybe they thought I'd come back a Stalinistic Commie or something singing the Russian National Anthem. Actually, if you translate the words it's quite a lovely anthem and has Christian themes in the lyrics. Since I was there in 2005 I think the new Russian federal government was still in a state of partial confusion as to what it's role was going to be and how to comply with their own constitution, also many old Soviet era police were still in that corrupt mode of cronyism. If you watch dozens of SADB videos on youtube you'll see the newer traffic police who mostly follow the law and are diligent decent cops vs when old style Soviet cops come out to talk absolute garbage about the law and do absolutely nothing of value other than protect their cronies from prosecution. So, yes, Russia still has problems and hopefully the good guys will keep pushing back to get a more civil and fair system of government.