The story of how the Mate Club in Nizhny Novgorod came to be — an emotional chronicle of obtaining and restoring premises on Rozhdestvenskaya. Premises from the governor's reserve stock of non-residential buildings in disrepair were granted, with the approval of the prime minister, to a MATE Club that promotes the culture of drinking the South American tonic beverage Mate. The author mentions many officials of regional standing, describing their traits according to Mayan astrology.
The start of the project
Maybe this is of no interest to anyone, but I think everybody should know, so that no unnecessary questions come up later.
WHY does the Mate Club need Nizhny Novgorod? And why did a Club like this, with a fairly narrow audience, decide to open a branch in Nizhny Novgorod?
A little about the past...
At the dawn of the "rampage" of large-scale Anti-Drug Campaigns, sponsored by our government and by a mass of other people who believed that this could change the catastrophe bearing down on our world...
An enormous number of drug-dependent young people caused a sea of trouble for our "almost democratic" authorities in various regions. But given that they did almost nothing and did not look for alternative ways of changing the situation in the country, the number of lost people kept growing as degradation in society increased and the economy naturally declined against a background of constant inflation. Who tried to change what in this country back then is not for us to judge now... We simply did our own work — methodically and systematically instilling a TASTE for a healthy way of life, filling the gaps of the educational process in the minds of the rising generation of young people.
We ran round the schools, pushed our way into universities, got in touch with State bodies to which state money for drug-abuse prevention had been assigned. Yet that money went unspent, while we were told we were "busying ourselves with nonsense".
Our approaches to the problem are our own — "with a twist and with beauty". Fear at the scale of the "PLAGUE" increased our persistence. There was nothing left but to take the path of making MATE FASHIONABLE... We came up with slogans: "MATE is cool", "Mate is in fashion", "Being healthy is in fashion"... and a great deal more besides... And at last we were "noticed" FROM ABOVE: "Somehow there is a lot of noise coming from them..."
Small and quite inconspicuous mateiro specialists flew on the President's money, together with musicians and a handful of psychologists, to Norilsk (by the 2003 figures the most criminal city — one in three people aged 16 to 25 uses drugs).
The All-Russian Anti-Drug Campaign "Train to the Future" went ahead with fireworks and an alcohol-fuelled mega-party... The Russian way, as always... What we had come for was forgotten... But the "Mate" club did not dance and did not amuse itself; it methodically rang round fitness centres to arrange presentations. It worked — we got in and got them interested, but at the pharmacies we were "sent packing", and we were not allowed anywhere near the drug-treatment clinics...
All the same, sitting in the plane, there was satisfaction that in such a godforsaken place like-minded people had been found.
BUT THE JOURNEY WAS NOT OVER...
The flight's sponsor, the airline "Sibir", lands the plane in Nizhny Novgorod. Where the plane is forced to stand for 12 hours to take on fuel before flying on to Moscow with musicians out of their minds, drunken psychologists and sponsors utterly off the rails!!!
Sad, but beautiful (golden autumn — warm).
The inquisitive mind of our mateiro asked the pilot for permission to climb down out of the aircraft, and was refused on the spot... But the organisers of the anti-drug campaign did not entirely grasp that they had got mixed up with INDIANS, and that tying them down was not going to work... A small team of 3 people quietly slipped off to the tail of the plane, having first drunk up the remaining mate (they always had some with them). Shouldering their enormously heavy rucksacks, the mateiros fearlessly began to climb down the rope ladder from the aircraft, without notifying anyone about it. Once they felt the ground under their feet, spirits rose...
The shouts of the frantic pilot lent a certain charm to the stroll along the runway of Nizhny Novgorod; the runway, as it turned out, ran along the forest, and the little detachment pushed into the thicket of golden leaves, rustling merrily, and made its way to the road... They caught a taxi and arrived at the Moscow Railway Station (Nizhny Novgorod). They found out how many kilometres it was to Moscow. They put their suitcases into the left-luggage office and drank Mate in a cafe (they had some with them, as always). People stared with all their eyes as Gourds appeared on the tables of the respectable "Moskva" cafe, and into them was poured either tea or some other kind of herb... The public was in shock... Delicious and comfortable... In Norilsk the snow was already lying and it was minus 5... The sad memories were wiped away under the gentle sun of Nizhny Novgorod.
We went off to explore the city. Impressive. The broad Volga, the The Kremlin up on the hill - the sweep of it - it takes your breath away in a thoroughly Russian way. We checked and found that nobody knows anything about Mate... We got acquainted with the young people and gave them a drink from our calabashes, sitting right there on the benches on Pokrovka (it is something like Moscow's Arbat). We came to the Kremlin, walked along the Nizhne-Volzhskaya Embankment - we were blissed out and got hungry... Having discovered an old Russian cafe in the Kremlin wall, we wandered in and, having eaten our fill of the local shchi, we sat dreaming as we looked at the setting red sun - and it is clear enough what we were dreaming about...
An adventure. But today we know that this is fate, karma, call it whatever you like...
The past year began on 25 July 2009, the Day Out of Time. It opened with the first tone of the Red Skywalker - 100% the same as 9 years earlier. On that day, at Seliger, the staff of the Mate Club had the chance to meet Putin (in the Mayan calendar the Yellow Human, who always leaves seeds of himself behind on the earth and answers for his words). After the MATE Club, off the official programme, had a lively conversation with the Prime Minister, the Club was "doomed" - in the good sense of the word, of course. Wishing the MATE Club creative success, Vladimir Vladimirovich recommended moving out into the regions, remarking that a social project is needed in the more distant regions as well. But since a great many young people from Nizhny Novgorod were turning up at the MATE Club's venue, it was clear where we had to go.
Having come to Moscow from Seliger, we found, strangely enough, that people from Nizhny Novgorod simply "poured" into the Club... Every day, without a break, purchases were made through the online shop, and lively, funny people came in, with all the distinctiveness of merchant Nizhny Novgorod.
Signs... Fate... There is no escaping it.
The last straw was a funny discovery - we remembered that we HAD BEEN there...
The General Director of the Mate Club picked up the receiver and called the reception office of Valery Shantsev. An appointment was granted straight away. It could not have been otherwise, since in the Mayan calendar V.P. Shantsev is the Sixth Tone of the creation of the soul - which means receiving and giving people the very best, with a great longing for universal equality. The Galactic Seal of the solar sign is the Double Blue Healing Hand. It is all simple and clear - the planet needs healing, and it does not matter by what methods; the young people of the country must be cherished, they are our future. That is the cross-section of the task of Valery Pavlinovich's soul.
After a brief account of the business on which Marina Yevgenyevna had come to Nizhny Novgorod, V.P. Shantsev recommended opening three MATE Clubs in Nizhny, taking into account the positive experience of Moscow, but, realising that our forces were not so great, the Director stated: "Let us manage at least one..." - having a realistic idea of the volume of work involved. Touching on the subject of the troubled situation and the spread of drugs in the Bor and Avtozavod districts, Valery Pavlinovich, his face changing, replied: "We will deal with it"... Without putting it off to the following days, he there and then wrote an instruction on the selection of premises for the creation of the socially oriented project "MATE" in Nizhny Novgorod.
In 2002 this project was financed by the Department for the Support and Development of Small Business of the Government of Moscow, in accordance with Decree of the Government of Moscow No. 87 of 23 January 2001 "On the comprehensive programme for the development and support of small business in the city of Moscow for 2001-2003". At that time the department was headed by Minister Ye.V. Yegorov (also, note, with the healing power of the Blue Hand). Speaking about her Project before an audience of 40 people, Director M.Ye. Greyzi asked for money to support the project. The money was given, and we worked it off in full measure - whatever we declared, we did...
Now Mate is known everywhere, everyone knows that it is the best drink, especially for a megalopolis. And the secrets of mate, the way it clears the brain and makes the soul work, are known to many at first hand.
And there it is, DEJA VU...
On that sunny autumn day, just as in 2003, when we landed in Nizhny Novgorod with the anti-drug campaign, the bright and gentle Nizhny Novgorod sun was shining... Plus 9 years... and once again we were in the first magnetic Skywalker of the Mayan calendar. The wave module of the Skywalker is 9 years of new creation and of mastering space... Only now, in 2009, we stood on the threshold of a new turn of life.
Marina Greizi was asked to wait half an hour and was then invited straight in to the Governor's Assistant for social affairs, Gennady Suvorov. Here the reception was already drier and more guarded. Having reported what she had come for, she aroused interest and attention.
Having arrived back in Moscow the next day, we sent a whole stream of various documents flying off to the The Kremlin, from official papers with the Government of Moscow to an unlimited number of diplomas, from letters of thanks to medical indicators and studies of the mate product, and, to round it off, some 100 links and articles about the "MATE" Club.
Solid, out of the ordinary, and of use to people - what can you do with a director like that...
Marina Yevgenyevna is also the Sixth tone of the creation of the soul - the Tone of Equality - she found something good for herself and gave to others... she does not know how to do it any other way. All along her life's path she keeps "pulling" something beautiful into the country. This is not her first fashion and popularisation of beautiful stories in the country, but the third...
There are principles of Divine order on earth, and such "Sixth" people express His will on the Planet, healing and building, each on his own scale...
Three days later attention came from the Ministry of Property and Land Resources of the Nizhny Novgorod Region. Marina Greizi was once again invited to Nizhny Novgorod, this time solely for an appointment with the Minister of Property, Alexander Vitalyevich Makarov (by the solar seal of the Mayan calendar - the Star, which endows with strength and gives its patronage to beauty, grace and art). Having received the instruction, A.V. Makarov decided to "take a look" at who it was that such swift decisions were being made for. To find and provide on request, for the better functioning of a cultural institution, the necessary premises - and note, there were 13 of them!!! Being an antipode - the Double Mirror, that is - Marina Yevgenyevna once again reported who she was and why she had come, telling how V.V. Putin had "sent" the "MATE" club off to master the regions at the summer All-Russian Forum of 2009.
And Alexander Vitalyevich at that time did not yet suspect that the Divine plan had already "prescribed" for him, against his will, that he should give his patronage to creative people, and that things are not so simple between him and them... And so the Ministry began the hard work of hunting for premises "in the back cupboards" - the Governor's will has to be carried out, but why Nizhny needs this "MATE" club is beyond Them...
Two months went by - winter was already outside, cold and snowdrifts, unfriendly faces at the ministry and only one Divine White Mirror - the curator Telegina Olga Lvovna, a white and bright little soul who "sweats" over bits of paper and a bureaucratic system invented long before her.
At last something began to float to the surface, and after the New Year Marina Yevgenyevna set off through the frost to Nizhny once again... There was a list of properties and a dark city. There was a map of Nizhny and an intuitive channel of insight, there was divine providence...
She made her choice, having checked the energy, having bitten back her fear of the old building, having plucked up her courage, and declared: Rozhdestvenskaya 40. Looking around, she nearly fell over - look who is all around!!! A second Shabolovskaya!!! The officials can take a rest, He decided it all for them... Next door the Emergencies Ministry - in Moscow the FSB. To the left the Dermatology Clinic - in Moscow the Clinic of Neuroses. The reception office of the United Russia Party - in Moscow it is in the next entrance too. People overhead... The house prehistoric and neglected, oh horror! And behind her back the Church of the Nativity - in Moscow it was between two monasteries...
Looking back, she heard: "And where else would you go?"
A full moon... stars, and the understanding that you are given things if you deserve them, by giving away your soul.
Coming to Novgorod, the Director began to get used to the Ministry's red tape and its refinements, and recalled her additional legal education. But the machine worked with difficulty; only in the wild heat and the terrible fires did we manage to carry out all the tenders in accordance with the law - and there turned out to be no other applicants wanting to get this strange place. Contracts, deeds and so on at a brisk pace, and hurry up, hurry up, pay the Rent! They can be understood - the budget... And who is going to pay for premises that have not even been repaired yet, that bothers nobody!
Practice in Moscow had shown that the law permits rent not to be paid during a major and very costly refurbishment of premises, and all the more so given the social orientation of the "MATE" Project.
The request was sent - a refusal was received, signed by Deputy Minister Mizyukova A.V. (the Double Moon - do note. People born under the galactic sign of the moon are prone to emotional and non-logical thinking, orienting themselves on the present day and not on the future. Destruction and cleansing.)
A curious observation - about 80% of those working at the Ministry of Property are women... From the mental point of view, the logical connection with the world is weak... Murky, and that is all there is to it.
Through long, constructive and emotional conversations with the Minister, breaking through onto the path of a logical and correct decision, Marina Yevgenyevna and A.V. Makarov managed to find solutions worthy of the Brilliant Star of creation with regard to the "MATE" Club. Relying on his natural, high intelligence, most likely sensing intuitively that the matter was one the city needed, A.V. Makarov showed himself to be noble "in the merchant manner" - a Nizhny Novgorod man after all! He sent a letter to the Federal Antimonopoly Service with a request for a deferral of payments for the "MATE" Club for the duration of the refurbishment. And, growing quite generous, understanding what a neglected state the premises had been taken over in, he decided to allocate a small sum for major repairs to the heating - for the premises turned out to be without heating after the accident that had occurred in 2007. The law and the truth triumphed! The Star shone with all the facets of beauty, and its reflections fell our way...
So now tell me, who was born with what??
2010, July-September
At last we received the official invitation to the holding of an Open Tender for the lease for the Club. It was done with pomp, but to our great regret we did not see any crowd of people wishing to take the premises on Lease. Since everyone understands, presumably, what an Architectural Monument of the 19th century means. A million papers and complete devastation inside those same premises. Everyone is a realist, not an altruist like the MATE Club.
But nonetheless, feeling the Strong support of the administrative resource in the person of Minister Makarov, the Director joined "battle" with the forms. The Lease Contracts were prepared fairly promptly. And with them the comments: the money for premises unfit for their function HAD TO BE PAID YESTERDAY. We politely reminded them in writing that within the framework of the law a deferral of payment is due for the period of major refurbishment of premises, drawing on our previous experience in Moscow.
And so began the Bureaucratic correspondence with the Ministry!!!!
- Us: In official letters we ask for the rent to be waived for the duration of the repairs.
- Them: There are no legislative Acts.
- Us: We ask you to apply to the FAS for comments on our Petition.
- Them: We will write (all right then)...
We wait 2 months. And the honestly earned money of the MATE Club (Moscow) flows away into the treasury of Nizhny Novgorod!!! And meanwhile it is FORBIDDEN to begin work on restoring the almost rotted-through premises!!!
Given that the premises are subject to a protection obligation with the Committee for Architectural Heritage of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, IT IS NECESSARY:
- 1. To conclude a Contract with a Design Organisation, which will draw up a Project for adapting these premises to modern needs.
- 2. We wanted to work with Moscow contractors, but no such luck!!! We are advised to invite Nizhny Novgorod specialists! Today the wiser Director of the MATE Club agrees to the proposal and INVITES the Nizhny Novgorod company "ProektRestavratsiya". And everything is wonderful and splendid. The contract is signed for 45 days with prepayment. The price of the contract — you feel like taking off!!! Let us skip those details!
The main peculiarity of the Nizhny Novgorod population is to receive the prepayment, while the ability to fulfil one's obligations quickly is entirely absent (proven in practice).
The money has been sent — we are waiting for the work. Every 2 weeks the director travels to Nizhny Novgorod (in short, she is running back and forth). We wait... we prod... we wait... the nerves grow tighter... persuasion does not help... Deep autumn has come to Nizhny Novgorod. The lawyers get involved...
2010, October–December
October was approaching, cold October... nature was "weeping" in the fullest sense of the word, while "ProektRestavratsiya" kept "giving birth" to the design on paper, although all the deadlines had already passed and the weather was hurrying events along. The waterproofing of the building can only be done in warm weather!
The sad events of October were lit up by one joyful Event: understanding what a deplorable state the premises were in, the Director went to the Minister for help. Previous experience had shown that for a good cause one can obtain financial support from the State. The MATE Club had been partly financed by the Government of Moscow in 2002 as a creative idea within the All-Russian Programme for the support of small and medium-sized business. One should always walk along the road "that one knows".
Minister A. V. Makarov made the right decision — he allocated money for heating the MATE Club (there was no heating at all). But realising that future visitors might freeze, the Director decided to press on "straight ahead" — for the MOTTO OF THE MATE CLUB is health...
What came next was harder: it was necessary to find a company that "would not let us down" and would work off the state money reliably!....
The company was brought in by the Ministry itself, one that had most likely proved itself and was able to wait for slow-moving state money. OOO "Volteks" set to work without waiting for the first tranche of funding, taking the word of the Director of the MATE Club on trust.
A contract between the Ministry of Property of the Nizhny Novgorod Region and OOO "Volteks" was drawn up. But, given the traits characteristic of the people of Nizhny Novgorod, the work proceeded, to put it mildly, unhurriedly... And time ticked and ticked away...
And meanwhile, having lost all common sense from the groundless waiting, the Director of the "MATE" Club almost filed a CLAIM against "ProektRestavratsiya" with the Arbitration COURT, in order to TAKE AWAY her unfortunate DESIGN for the adaptation to modern use of the Architectural Monument at 40 Rozhdestvenskaya Street... And "a MIRACLE happened" — on 17 November "ProektRestavratsiya" deigned to submit the documents for approval to the Committee for Architectural Heritage. The offended director of the "MATE" Club pulled herself together and called upon the Almighty that here at least the bureaucratic machine would work a little faster!!! But her prayers were in vain... When her patience ran out, at the end of the second month of the incomprehensible consideration of the documents in the committee's corridors, Marina Greizi went to a personal reception with the Head of the Department of Architectural Heritage of the city of Nizhny Novgorod. There was no choice. If one is to seek the Truth, then only from high officials, trusting in their Professionalism and deep conviction in the cause.
2011, January–March
Having received the long-awaited permission to carry out the works, the firm "VMV" was invited as General Contractor, a company with vast experience in working with Architectural Monuments. Having inspected the site, the General Contractor determined the scope of work and stated the fact of a "super hard" situation of people living on the 2nd and 3rd floors. Temporary housing stock is, in essence, INCOMPREHENSIBLE to Muscovites. But the horror experienced by the Director of the MATE Club at the sight of the conditions in which people lived was beyond comparison with anything!
The condition of the plumbing utilities had been brought to its ultimate limit and to zero possibility of use. Pushing this problem aside in her mind until the time it would arise, the Director actively began a major overhaul of the interior premises. New and new defects kept being uncovered, new and new building materials kept being poured in, the costs grew in geometric progression, costs that had not been part of the preliminary estimates. The absence of proper foundations, the damp in the premises — it "wept", SAYING: there is NO waterproofing of the building! WHERE is the Directorate for the state protection of cultural heritage sites of the city looking?
The building is essentially perishing from meltwater and run-off. For decades no attention was paid to this problem. And here the Main thing begins!!!!! Again the Director went to "bow at the feet" of the Directorate — to ask them to "carry out works on the waterproofing of the building", since this is their direct responsibility. But the answer was negative!!! What is to be done? — For the Financing of events dedicated to the 400th anniversary of the feat of the Nizhny Novgorod militia of 1612, and so on and so forth, is MORE IMPORTANT?! More than the surviving monuments of the 19th century? We do not take care of what is left! What values are they talking about at the Directorate for Architectural Heritage? NOT clear!
2011, April–June
The days flow, the weeks fly. The repairs are almost finished, BUT no such luck!
The very main cause of the problems shelved for so long is uncovered. As was reported earlier, people live upstairs above the MATE Club, and their conditions can only be compared to a PIGSTY! The absence of all normal sanitary standards. The toilets and showers drain onto our heads! Straight into the office, and now it has become clear to us why the house is falling apart — the walls are constantly getting soaked, the vaults are collapsing! And here some MATE Club has started a super renovation!
People have been used to living like this for many years, and no one cared about it. A 19th-century Architectural Monument is being destroyed — what difference does it make to them! It is not their property — it is the STATE's!
In short, a simple FREEBIE! It all depends on the level of consciousness and mentality.
And our director started running around the offices! Calling for help!
The visit to the Head of the Administration Oleg Kondrashov — was a success! Kondrashov, mind you, a White Wizard (tone 4) with a Mirror in his management, immediately sensed the beauty of the story the MATE Club was starting. He sent the management company to SOLVE the problem and put an end to the sabotage! We wait — the machine slowly winds up! As many as 2 meetings were held on the Club's premises. They said: we will solve it, we will replace the sewage risers throughout the house, so that the poor people can wash and pee "like human beings", and not as in past centuries! And maybe the MATE Cultural and Educational Centre MAY manage to open and dry out from "their tears"!!!
Nobility is an innate quality of Wizards; although they do not feel TIME, they keep their word!
JUNE! Wherever our director poked her nose, everywhere she was accompanied by the "star" patronage of the Minister of Property A. V. Makarov — oh, what trouble he has had with this NON-STANDARD TENANT! Probably on some intuitive channel, understanding that whatever the difficulties — the MATE Club will still shine at 40 Rozhdestvenskaya!
But trouble never comes alone…. The repairs began to deteriorate! SPRINGS are gushing under the house!! And our brand-new walls are becoming covered with mould… The columns are sinking into the wet ground ….
Only a costly waterproofing of the entire building and a blind area can save it, which may perhaps draw the damp away from the building — and even that is not certain!
We are taking MEASURES! We went again to ask, to bow at their feet — for the Architectural Monument MUST be saved!
2011, June–July
We are building, building — slowly, slowly. Patience, patience!
And realising that we will have to wait anyway until the sewage drains on the 2nd and 3rd floors above the MATE Club are repaired, a cartload of patience is needed.
And the rent keeps dripping and dripping for an empty and wet premises. And the patience ran out. It is unfair.
The staff of the Ministry of Property frightened Marina Greizi with the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Nizhny Novgorod, claiming that there are and will be no concessions to any tenants! They had already granted some ….
Yet the Federal Law states: on the basis of the Law of 26 July 2006 No. 135-FZ, articles 19, 20, a preference is possible.
And, gathering up the Spirit of justice, Marina Greizi went to a reception with the Head of the FAS of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, Mikhail Leonidovich Teodorovich, to seek advice on what to do.
A constructive reception without superfluous questions or stalling decided the positive outcome of the matter. It was determined that a situation of the "impossibility" of applying an additional mechanism on the question of non-payment of rent for non-functioning premises had been artificially created.
Mikhail Leonidovich himself turned out to be an admirer of the MATE drink and enthusiastically approved the building of the Club as a social Project and, most importantly, as one forming values for young people. He presented Marina Yevgenyevna with his excellent Monograph, which examines the problems of today's society and gave recommendations on how to form the consciousness of the population. Many chapters of M. L. Teodorovich's scholarly work are in tune with the intentions of the MATE Club — that was gratifying.
BUT … Mikhail Leonidovich warned that it would be hard for the Club, since the mentality of the city is "somewhat" blurred and there is little intelligentsia and elite capable of creating a FASHION for mate. But there is no longer any need to create the fashion — we did that long ago. The main task is to form in the population a desire to be healthy and to instil universal human values, and not only to take from the surrounding world!
And so, with a heart light from the saving and heavy from the awareness of the gigantic work upon Souls, the Director of the MATE Club went to the artists to hand out tasks about BEAUTY!
2011, July–November
The construction routine began and had already gone on for a long time… One cannot remember everything now; what is remembered is that for a long time, almost 4 months, we waited for sea pebbles and had already decided to replace them with artificial stone; at the "next" approval with the city Department of Architectural Heritage we tried to escape the "karma" and turn aside for want of the material, BUT a miracle happened! After 4 months of promises a firm in the town of Bor delivered the pebbles and the style of the club was observed. We bought and hauled home to Rozhdestvenskaya 40, lovingly looking them over, 5 tonnes of bags brought by a lorry.
July and August. The Club was again flooded by the residents living above. The disgraceful maintenance of the building's grounds by the city Administration drove the people of the temporary housing stock to the utmost point — they poured the water from the showers and sinks simply into a hole in the floor, that is, onto the head of the MATE Club. Many arguments, visits to various officials of low and high rank gave NOTHING. But nevertheless our director was not alone; everywhere in the negotiations she was accompanied by a team from the Ministry of Property. How could it be otherwise — for it is precisely the Ministry that is the injured party! Because what is a tenant compared with a Ministry — a mere trifle. But the display of will and the desire to make the city Administration fulfil its obligations produced nothing. There is only one way: people have no right to live in a 19th-century architectural monument with no sanitary facilities.
During this period the MATE Club acquired friends who think just as progressively and want things to be beautiful on the Christmas Side. Serikov appreciated the significance of the "MATE" Project in Nizhny Novgorod and actively joined the work with officials to establish elementary order on the territory of Rozhdestvenskaya, 40. The support was invaluable, and the director learned a great deal more that was "interesting" about to whom and how the houses around her belong and Who is failing to fulfil their obligations to people and to the State. Things were becoming ever "merrier"; clearly realising that she was literally in a swamp, the Director of the "MATE" Club did not want to drown together with everyone else in the mud and the uncleaned courtyard, and pushed her construction forward, creating the beauty and decoration of the club.
Little by little the MATE Club got used to being periodically deceived, being promised this or that …. Comments are omitted…
The style of the city became clear: 99% are ready to take, but practically no one is ready to give. And not because the city seems not to be very well off socially — no, not because of that — it is simply that few people understand that EVERYTHING in this WORLD is transparent — there is NO wisdom of life!
There is no understanding: as much as you give to the WORLD, that much you will receive, and it does NOT matter whether to people, or to space, or to time! People do not know how to sacrifice, do not know how to give warmth — they were not taught. Or are they afraid? To be themselves.
On one of those gloomy nights, reflecting on Nizhny Novgorod, the director Marina Yevgenyevna nearly had a stroke from the offence — WHY does every Architectural Monument building on Rozhdestvenskaya Street have a plaque, while ROZHDESTVENSKAYA house 40 does NOT?
How offended she felt on her own behalf! We call the Department of Architectural Heritage and demand a plaque! Come on — it is due to us! Perhaps if people see that this is a monument they will treat it with more care?
We wait 3 months! Oh Lord! Patience! Patience! and at last the plaque adorns the building, but IT is so small! That it is hardly noticed.
5 January 2012
THE OPENING OF THE MATE CLUB IN NIZHNY NOVGOROD
How long everyone waited for the opening! We laboured and our labours were crowned with success. A great many people came to congratulate the Mate Club on its opening.
People were amazed... That in such, to put it mildly, "catacombs" this gem was born. The unusual and authentic beauty of the different rooms immediately immersed people in the atmosphere of different continents. The homely and at the same time formal atmosphere gave both space and respect for the club's creators. The place harmonised with the mood of the people. The Indian group "Tarabum" delighted everyone with a drum show, with rhythms of Africa and the Middle East, and the guests, having learned to drum, were soon doing it together with the host.
The refreshments were to everyone's taste. What did they not try! But the most treasured thing, which no one let out of their hands, was the calabash - like a native plant it warmed everyone who came in, and on the very first day purchases were made in the shop, and calabashes together with mate floated off into the expanses of Nizhny Novgorod.
Having touched upon the various tea traditions of the world in the different rooms, the guests tasted genuine Aztec cocoa and Indian Masala, took part in the Ritual of the Sacred Indian Pipe and learned much about the culture of the North American Indians...
In the Grotto of Contemplation everyone received a prediction according to the Mayan Calendar and took part in the "Cosmic Consciousness" ceremony, where they heard many astonishing things about their own abilities.
An amazing atmosphere of joy, kindness and love reigned for five hours in a row, and no one wanted to leave....
The guests dispersed at around 11 p.m., taking away with them the purchased drink of the ancient Indians, MATE, and a good mood, with the awareness that there IS now a place in the city where one can touch "a Wing to the Almighty"; where one can add to one's knowledge of different cultures in a relaxed atmosphere; where lovers can find seclusion; where one can hold difficult but positive business negotiations; where one can get answers to almost all the questions posed by fate, wrapped in the hide of a Peruvian llama in the "Grotto of Contemplation" or by communing with the gods in the "Room of Absence".
14 January 2012
SCHOOL OF THE JADE DRAGON (QIGONG - Ruslan Gafurov) "QIGONG SEMINAR"
Aim: intensive unlocking of the energetic and mental potential of consciousness by means of health practices with application in modern life. 1. Health practices of qigong. 2. Teaching the art of meditation in the Chan and Taoist traditions. 3. Teaching the art of visualisation.
In the first part: • Basic exercises of health qigong. • Learning to sense energy and energy flows. • Learning to practise independently.
In the second part: • Explanation of the essence and phenomenon of meditation. • Preparation for practice. • Several variants of Chan practice • Several variants of Taoist practice • Recommendations for independent practice
In the third part: • Learning to walk in the lower astral. • Practice in the lower astral. • Meditation in the lower astral. • Application.
The seminar consisted of three parts. 4 days of 4 hours each (14, 15, 21, 22 January) Qigong instructor - Ruslan Gafurov Clothing comfortable for practice.
28 January 2012
WILLY MELNIKOV (a series of seminars). "SEMINAR 1. INTRODUCTION TO LINGUODIVING"
It is well known that overcoming the notorious language barriers takes up unthinkable amounts of time and effort. This puts people off studying languages, depriving us from the very start of a pursuit that is as necessary as it is thrilling. It happens because of a failure to see the obvious - the approaches to taming those very barriers are outdated!
Some methodologists try to GO AROUND them with the help of game techniques, teaching aids and mnemonic devices. Others seek to BREAK the barriers by storming them with group trainings, stepwise increases in word-memorisation quotas, or by learning by heart the set phraseological blocks of a given language.
The bouquet of original approaches on offer makes it possible to PASS THROUGH language barriers, combining the most effective sides of the previous types of methods and tying them to a kind of implanting of the learner's perception into the "metabolism" of the foreign language, allowing one to look at it from the inside. The learner literally admires the linguistic landscapes that open up, which also increases the effectiveness of study.
A qualitatively different attitude is chosen: not traditional teaching as such, but PREMEDICATION. This term is taken from medicine and means the introduction into the patient's body of immunomodulators, i.e. substances that prepare the organs and tissues of the body for the optimal assimilation of the medicines administered later. In our linguistic case, what is meant by it is the aim of suggesting non-trivial ways of assimilating foreign languages, beginning with original ways of feeling one's way into them. From the outset this discards the exhausting and fruitless cramming of both new words and rules of grammar. Their interweaving appears not as a frightening thicket but as a unique gallery of climatic linguistic belts, and the study of a language turns into a journey through them.
As a result, every participant, a polyglot of the "Linguodiving" experiment, becomes convinced: there are no people incapable of languages.
Seminar topics:
- How to learn to breathe the languages you are studying and how not to choke on them? Common mistakes at the initial stages of mastering languages.
- A review of the author's approaches to foreign languages and the secrets of the specifics of perceiving them.- A drawing test for individual aptitude for various language groups and their combinations.
29 January 2012
WILLY MELNIKOV (a series of seminars). "SEMINAR 2. EFFECTIVE KEYS TO POLYGLOSSIA"
Seminar topics:
- Linguo-therapy and linguo-pharmacology.
- Synaesthesia, its varieties and role in mastering languages. Colour-and-text tests.
Duration of the seminar: 3 hours
11 February 2012
ONE DAY ONLY: a meeting with the celebrated Shaman Alina Slobodova "PERSONAL POWER AS A FACTOR OF SUCCESS (master class)"
"What is personal power?" I asked Don Juan. "Personal power is a feeling, something like being lucky or being happy. A warrior is a hunter of power. He trusts his power, because it is the only thing a man has in this mysterious world." Carlos Castaneda
A person living in a megacity usually squanders their "personal power" or trades it for whatever brings them material, social and other benefits. Yet it often happens that when they obtain these benefits or reach their material goals, it turns out that problems begin - with health, with the state of the soul, with energy. All this is the syndrome of the loss or forfeiture of personal power. And at that moment they would gladly trade the benefits they have received for health and energy of the soul, but it is by no means certain that the reverse conversion is possible.
The master class includes an immersion into the following informative blocks: - What personal power is. Personal power as a resource that can be squandered, lost, restored, multiplied; - An account of journeys to Places of Power - Peru, Ecuador, Altai, Baikal and others - and of techniques for gathering personal power, including with the help of meditative practices of travelling into another reality; - What spends personal power. The state of personal power. Emotions and personal power; - Practices and techniques for gathering personal power. Every person has their own "room of power", where they can replenish the reserves of their personal power; - A practical session : "A Journey for Personal Power".
Led by: Alina Slobodova - psychologist, anthropologist, researcher of ancient cultures and shamanic practices. Esalen Institute, California, USA
14 February 2012
THE VIBRATION OF YOUR LOVE "at the Mate Club".
Love is the Great Game of the Creator with His Creation. But what is the key to it?
If you want to declare your love to your beloved in an unconventional way, then come to the city's most romantic club, "MATE", where the Spirit of Mate will lend energy to your declaration and carry you together with your loved ones up to "heaven".
According to one legend, a Sage, making the "Great Transition from winter to spring", "read" the secret formula of the Elixir of Love in the space of variants of the Universe. And a "sky lantern" became the handmade bridge to it.
The club for the enlightened, "Mate", invites all who wish to touch the mystery of real magic and to find their Love!
Taste the sacred drink mate, tune the vibration of your wish to the right wave, and send it into the sky - the time has come!
The Universe's answer will not keep you waiting, for such is the Law of Space!
16 February 2012
Irina Rekshinskaya. "INTUITIVE DRAWING".
We all need self-expression! In childhood this task was solved easily: we drew, danced, sang, made things up and were joyful and happy! Creativity was always with us! As we grow up, and sometimes as a consequence of parental "care", creativity often recedes into the background as something not serious, and a person begins to live by ready-made schemes. Concern for joy, happiness and peace of mind rarely fits into these schemes of existence; the notions of "must" and "necessary" work better there. This deprives a person of energy, health and the lightness of being.Today scientists regard drawing as one of the ways of carrying out the programme of perfecting the personality. Drawing develops sensorimotor coordination and engages the concerted work of many mental functions. It is a way of comprehending one's own possibilities and the surrounding reality!
Session 1
We remove the stereotypes: "I can't draw", "I won't manage it", "I have never drawn"! Those who love and know how to draw are also in for pleasant surprises. In what way? Using a special method that switches on the right (creative) hemisphere, in the very first session we create 6-7 small-format paintings and hold a collective viewing. Everyone will succeed! You will take home pictures of nature, flowers and trees, abstract compositions and a special State of the Joy of Creation. Already in the first session magical changes will happen to you and the world will sparkle with new colours!
OUR SESSIONS are conducted using a variety of methods and practices: • meditations to open the creative channel; • painting with paints; • drawing with gel pens and felt-tip pens; • pastel; • creating an individual mandala; • mandala diaries; • monotype; • collage; • development of active imagination; • searching for the meaning of images, support.
You will be led on this creative journey by Irina Rekshinskaya: artist, doctor and astro-psychologist, bioenergy therapist, Reiki Master
26 February 2012
EVGENY EREMIN. «EDUCATIONAL COURSE: PRACTICAL TAROT»
The author's course "Practical Tarot" is aimed at people with different levels of experience. It will be of interest both to those who have picked up these alluring pictures for the first time and to practising tarot readers.
The course is based on the English tarot system and on the author's own developments. It is designed for practical learning: we will teach you how to use the cards to survey the most logical course of possible futures, to obtain hidden information about people and circumstances, and to make the right choice in contentious situations.
Beyond that, you will learn how to use the major arcana to cultivate the qualities you need and to overcome flaws of character. You will also learn how to create the situations you need and open up new opportunities for achieving your goals.
Topics of the first session: • The history of tarot. • Classification. The French and English schools. • A brief excursion into kabbalistic doctrines. • The structure of the deck (general information). • The differences between the major, minor and court cards. • The mantic use of tarot and two kinds of divination (logical-semantic and intuitive-imaginal). • Recommended reading. • A group meditation.
03 March 2012
NATIVE AMERICAN DIVINATORY GAMES. «GAME ONE: «Masculine» and «Feminine» (group game)»
Winds and rains lash us like a whip. We are eternal children on the Milky Way. Star of our wanderings, burn and do not burn out! We search, we search for the lost paradise. (You cannot drop a word from a song.)
The theme of this day's group Game will be the «Masculine» and Feminine». The great sages say that in the beginning there was the One. Then it divided into two parts — masculine and feminine — WHILE STILL REMAINING ONE. Thus began the Great Game of the Creator with his Creation, and at its foundation lies Love.
Lovers live in a divided world, yet they strive to be one. Sometimes this happens, and then we find ourselves back in the lost paradise. It is a pity that it does not last long.
Yet the great sages say that what has been lost will be found; and what has been separated will be joined together!
And so, Dear Players, the Game will take place whatever the weather, and it will be about men and women, about the inner yang and yin reflected outwardly, about meetings and partings, but above all — about Love.
P.S. For those who enter the Game with trust, the World will change!
04 March 2012
NATIVE AMERICAN DIVINATORY GAMES. «Game Two: «Fears» (group game)»
The essence of a divinatory game is to see whatever interests you «from a bird's-eye view». To play, you need to choose a burning theme or a question that genuinely matters to you. It may be some sphere of life, for example: money, career, relationships, health, spirituality, mission, career... What follows resembles a climb up a mountain: the higher you rise, the more you can see. And if you manage to reach the summit — and the summit is not a physical one, it is a spiritual essence — then everything to do with the theme chosen at the start of the Game becomes visible. You can see the cause of possible dissatisfactions and the path that leads out of them.
The theme of this day's group game will be «Fears».
Where there is fear, there is no love.
The Game gives you a chance to look your fear in the eye — if, of course, it has eyes.
The Game gives you a chance to enter into battle with your fear, if you dare to.
The Game gives you a chance to defeat your fear, if that is possible for you.
The Game gives you a chance to fall heroically in battle with your fear.
Well then, do you still want the «Frightening Game»?
Then you are closer than ever to what fear conceals!
11 March 2012
EVGENY EREMIN. «PRACTICAL TAROT COURSE: The Twenty-Second Major Arcanum, The World»
The author's course "Practical Tarot" is aimed at people with different levels of experience. It will be of interest both to those who have picked up these alluring pictures for the first time and to practising tarot readers.
The course is based on the English tarot system and on the author's own developments. It is designed for practical learning: we will teach you how to use the cards to survey the most logical course of possible futures, to obtain hidden information about people and circumstances, and to make the right choice in contentious situations.
Beyond that, you will learn how to use the major arcana to cultivate the qualities you need and to overcome flaws of character. You will also learn how to create the situations you need and open up new opportunities for achieving your goals.
Topics of the Third session: • Analysis of the glyph • The kabbalistic and magical correspondences of this arcanum. • Magical protection: its necessity and examples in different systems (MRP, MRG, setting up a protective enclosure, the DEIR shell, and so on) • Experiments with the major arcanum The World (The Devil – The World). • The use of the major arcanum The World. • A group meditation • Homework – working through the major arcanum The World.
The course is designed for a systematic immersion in this field of knowledge once a week, on Sundays. Students need to bring a notebook and a pen.
13 March 2012
«FREE TRAINING SEMINAR FOR FITNESS SPECIALISTS AND MANAGERS OF FITNESS CENTRES»
We invite you to attend a practical seminar on the use of MATE, with a tasting of the drink of the ancient Indians, which will be held on 13 March 2012 at 12.00 at the «MATE» Club at: 40 Rozhdestvenskaya Street.
17 March 2012
Vadim Mikhailov «The modern calendar system – truth or error? The knowledge of the galactic Maya and the possibility of applying it in life. THEORY»
1. We will introduce you to the Maya civilisation and to the reasons for the galactic Maya coming to our Earth
2. We will get to know their astonishing stellar architecture and their simple but extraordinarily precise mathematics
3. We will learn why they rendered their calendar system in stone pyramid complexes capable of surviving severe earthly cataclysms
4. You will understand what the calendar of the New Time is
5. You will learn to determine your own purpose and to understand who is beside you, defining the tasks of interaction between yourself, your friends and those close to you
All of this will open up for you new possibilities and levels of interaction with those around you. We will tell you about the sacred count of days — the Tzolkin — and about how to use the solar-lunar calendar in everyday life.
You will learn how to plan your working schedule in relation to the vibration of the Planet, since in one way or another all movement on Earth depends on its pulsation.
The seminar lasts 3-4 hours
18 March 2012
Vadim Mikhailov «The modern calendar system – truth or error? The knowledge of the galactic Maya and the possibility of applying it in life.PRACTICE»
1. We will introduce you to the Maya civilisation and to the reasons for the galactic Maya coming to our Earth
2. We will get to know their astonishing stellar architecture and their simple but extraordinarily precise mathematics
3. We will learn why they rendered their calendar system in stone pyramid complexes capable of surviving severe earthly cataclysms
4. You will understand what the calendar of the New Time is
5. You will learn to determine your own purpose and to understand who is beside you, defining the tasks of interaction between yourself, your friends and those close to you
All of this will open up for you new possibilities and levels of interaction with those around you. We will tell you about the sacred count of days — the Tzolkin — and about how to use the solar-lunar calendar in everyday life.
You will learn how to plan your working schedule in relation to the vibration of the Planet, since in one way or another all movement on Earth depends on its pulsation.
The seminar lasts 3-4 hours
18 March 2012
Evgeny Eremin «The course "Practical Tarot": The First Major Arcanum, the Magician»
The author's course "Practical Tarot" is aimed at people with different levels of background. It will be of interest both to those who have picked up these alluring cards for the first time and to practising tarot readers.
The course is based on the English tarot system and the author's own developments. It is designed for practical training: we will teach you how to use the cards to see the most logical course of the possible futures, to obtain hidden information about people and circumstances, and to make the right choice in contentious situations.
But beyond that, you will learn how to use the major arcana to develop the qualities you need in yourself and to overcome flaws of character. You will also learn how to create the situations you need and open up new opportunities for achieving your goals.
Topics of the fourth session:
• Analysis of the glyph • The energetic and magical meaning of the glyph's elements. • The difference between the English and the French versions of the card. • The mantic meaning of the upright and the reversed card. • Meditative practice with the major arcanum (possibilities, specifics and dangers)
The course is designed for a systematic immersion into this field of knowledge once a week, on Sundays. Students need to bring a notebook and a pen.
2 May 2012. Mirror Reflection
In the spectral moon of Liberation, in order to see through the darkness, touching the Music of the future, creating Magic, initiating Knowledge through Culture, radiating joy, our event took place. Within the «Rozhdestvenskaya Storona» project (the «Creative Courtyard» competition), the «MATE» Club for the Enlightened and the «Nizhegorodsky» Charitable Foundation, as part of the «Beautiful City» project, initiated an unconventional event, «Mirror Reflection», in which our guests who care about the state of their home city took part. The event was intended for people with progressive thinking, interested in questions of personal growth and wishing to make their own contribution to creating beauty on the streets of Nizhny Novgorod.
The programme included:
1. Building the mirror path The task: to call upon the ancestral energies of Nizhny Novgorod to cleanse and guard the space of 40 Rozhdestvenskaya Street. To walk the "Mirror Path" from the ugly past into a Bright and beautiful future. To rise, together with all the residents of Nizhny Novgorod, into the Cosmic and Creative field of the Earth. 2. Graffiti painting 3. An unusual open-air music concert
The event took place on 2 May at 14.00 at: 40 Rozhdestvenskaya Street
MATE Club for the Enlightened: 430-32-54, 430-65-20 «Nizhegorodsky» Charitable Foundation: 414-39-28