Guerrero

I've had so many things in my life that I'm thinking of writing an adventure book. I was born in Moscow and grew up in the magical 90s, when incredible transformations took place before my eyes: a country house turned into a cup of ice cream, an energy engineer into a saleswoman, a space engineer into an unemployed person, pensioners into beggars, and one of them into a dead man. At that time, the food was disgustingly unpalatable and the clothes were terribly uncomfortable, and everything was shrouded in a gray-brown fog. As I sorted through my childhood drawings, I realized that the earthy hues and negative emotions were too much there. A modern child with such creativity would probably be taken to a psychologist..... But they didn't buy me any paints either. I remember what a joy it was to play with dried paints that belonged to my late grandfather. Grandfather was rich, fond of painting and collecting antiques, art books and unusual artifacts. The least of his treasures had survived, and I enjoyed sneaking a peek at them. The sketchbook of dried paints is the best memory of my childhood.
Everyone told me that I should study hard and then everything would be fine in the future. I had no trouble doing that, but it was still very boring. Of the variety of worthy professions there were only "economist", "lawyer" and "programmer", just like in colonial society, and of course my parents dreamed that I would become a "human being", but I failed....
I was safely studying at the Physics Department of Moscow State University, and was preparing to become a scientist when I became acquainted with the bright colors of Latin American culture. Since my third year, I took up dancing and Spanish. I had friends who told me how they rode sea turtles as children, how they prepared for carnivals, how they feared the witch market, and how they made tacos with roasted pumpkin flowers. One Hundred Years of Solitude came up among my favorite books. I was lucky enough to see Mexico, and it amazed me with a richness of colors that was simply impossible to imagine before.
Then I became Señora Guerrero and went to Peru, where I spent about ten years. I could describe my Peruvian experience at length, or I could say that it was a life of colors, sounds, smells, tastes, and other sensations of maximum intensity. Not every nervous system can handle that - mine collapsed. If I hadn't started painting, I would never have painted anything.....
And here I am in my homeland, in the most beautiful country in the world, learning the profession of an artist, which I have dreamed of since childhood. And I don't care about nuclear or other armageddon - I live for one day, as the Latin Americans taught me.