To go with the Russian territory, I picked up Tolstoy’s novel Anna Karenina in Berlin and have been thoroughly enjoying it so far. Like a Russian novel, this BPR adventure has many great characters. One of these is Wally.

Wally is Italian, through and through. He has been with us since Ireland, dutifully serving many staff roles, including his current stint as one of the night pilots. Last night he helped us get through our second to last night shift for a while, making us laugh and supporting us on our runs.

At one point in the night we stopped at a road-side coffee shop (no sushi though) and Wally went in to grab a coffee. When he came back with a cup of tea instead, he proclaimed: “I’ve decided I don’t believe in Russian coffee.” We were not surprised that his Italian blood couldn’t handle anything but real espresso. After the tea, he stepped out of the van, letting us know: “I go to make smoking.”

Despite the severe sleep deprivation and lack of espresso, Wally is always good spirited and ready to engage anyone in discussions about the love of his life, futbol (soccer). This morning he even started chatting excitedly with our driver Max about some of his favorite players, even though max doesn’t speak a lick of English, and Wally’s English is sometimes tough to catch through the Italian accent. After going off to Max about a top Russian player who scored five goals in the 1980 World Cup, Max simply smiled and then looked to our interpreter for help. When asked who he roots for, he says: “I am from Roma, but Napoli is my team” (as he puts his hand on his heart). Apparently, his friends are still sending him text messages on this trip so that he can stay up-to-date on all the latest news in the sport.

Wally is finishing up his articling in Rome and preparing to write the bar exams. He is one of the many talented people that have put their lives on hold to work day and night (literally) to make sure that we are able to spread the message of safe drinking water around the world. Without characters like Wally, the BPR story would be pretty short.