Although his parents were dissidents, Shrayer felt a vague sense of unease as he visited the country the Soviet Union had once suppressed. I felt a joy about the change that had taken place in this part of the world, but it was a joy layered with many other emotions. He took an avid interest in Russian culture, seeking to separate it from its ideological context. He also had an inkling of even greater changes, noticing that the government-run local youth center in his old hometown had installed a popular American video game. A physician, his cousin has had to take on an extra job to make ends meet.
Life there has many possibilities now, but it is a difficult life in some respects.