Entry for Monday and Tuesday, September 20 & 21, 2010
I arrived in Moscow on Monday night. The flights went well - just long - 9 1/2 hours from Edmonton to London, and 4 hours from London to Moscow. The transfer at Heathrow was hectic and tiring, with what felt like miles of corridors to traverse with no baggage carts anywhere to be seen for assistance with carry-on bags, inadequate ventilation for the warm humid atmosphere, and the necessity to go through security again before rushing to check in for my connecting flight. I hope I can avoid going through Heathrow ever again.
I didn't sleep any on the planes because I wanted to be tired enough to sleep when I got to Moscow. The time difference is 11 hours. Sheremetyevo airport has undergone major construction over the last few years, and the new terminal building is modern, spacious, clean, and well-marked with signs in Russian and English. The passport control area is also a big improvement over the old dated depressing place that I had to negotiate on previous trips. I was very relieved to find Tatiana waiting for me as I came out of the security area of the terminal. It then took about 2 1/2 hours by train, metro (subway), bus, and walking to reach her apartment. Tatiana's son Sasha and his girlfriend Anya live with her. He is 22 and she, 20. Here they are together.
Today, Tuesday, I went with Sasha to a forest where we picked wild mushrooms for soup. Then I worked with him on a security fence (photo) surrounding their building lot (which I will refer to as their dacha in subsequent entries). After that we made a fire and cooked chicken shashlik - chunks of marinated meat on skewers cooked over hot coals. Then we locked up the tools in a shed and walked home - about 40 minutes on foot paths along a really busy road. But the weather was sunny and warm, so I didn't mind.I end up doing a lot of walking when I am here. Walking is an integral part of the public transit system, which is very accessible (and inexpensive by Western standards) but still involves walking a lot getting to and from it. Russians don’t walk for exercise, but of necessity. I speculate that all this walking must be a contributing factor to there being so few overweight people here, especially among the younger population.
Entry for Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Today was the opposite of yesterday - gusty chilly winds and showers. So we went to one of my indoor tourist targets - the Russian History Museum on Red Square. It was marvelous. It has artifacts and displays from the earliest pre-history up to the end of the nineteenth century. We spent about 5 hours walking through nearly 40 rooms of exhibits. What an incredible collection they have. I could easily spend many more hours there. This picture is from a previous trip, so it doesn’t reflect the poor weather on this day. I’m standing in Red Square, with the museum directly behind me, and the Kremlin on the left.It was cold and damp outside, but hot and humid inside when getting into a crowded bus or metro car, especially after walking very briskly to get there.
We'll see what tomorrow brings for weather, and then decide what to do for the day. I’ve learned that when spending time in Moscow, it is most beneficial to a positive experience to be flexible in one’s plans, to be open to changes and opportunities that come along. Trying to stick to a rigid schedule of appointments or excursions is a good way to insure disappointment.
I'm starting to feel adjusted to the time change, but still have episodes of overpowering drowsiness during the day, and wake up several times during the night, but I should be fully adjusted to it by the time I'm scheduled to return home :)
Entry for Thursday, September 23, 2010
Today continued showery and wet, so we stayed at home and I spent some time dealing with email and writing journal entries, so I won’t get behind or forget too much. Tomorrow, Tatiana’s cousin Zhanet is due to arrive for a visit, from Belarus. Tatiana and I will go in the morning to the Belaruskaya station to meet her. If the weather cooperates, we will be spending the rest of the day, after her arrival, in the city.
Entry for Friday and Saturday, September 24 & 25, 2010
After two days of cold showery weather, we received a nice change to Indian summer conditions of sunny warm days and cool nights. I hope it continues to hold, but high clouds were streaking across the sky this afternoon. I don't know if that is significant or not because I have so little experience with their continental weather patterns.
This morning Tatiana's cousin Zhanet arrived from Belarus for a short visit. In the photo Tatiana is on the left and Zhanet on the right. For the afternoon, we went to the Tretyakov Art Gallery, which has probably the best collection of Eighteenth and Nineteenth century Russian paintings in the world, as well as an extensive display of Russian Orthodox Church treasures and icon paintings. I was really pleased to be fortunate enough to visit this gallery. My appreciation of Russian art and history is enhanced by seeing the originals of some works that I have only read about or seen on my computer screen. http://www.tretyakovgallery.ru/en/
On Saturday night at 9pm Zhanet was scheduled to leave on her return train trip to Mogilev in Belarus, so with the weather so nice we planned a walking tour for the late afternoon that took us to the Patriarch Pond, a rectangular lake surrounded by tree-covered wide walkways lined with benches (photo). This place is a prominent setting for the opening scene in Russian author Bulgakov's famous novel, "Master and Margarita." I have read a good English translation of the novel and watched an excellent Russian movie production of it as well, so I was really keen to actually be there. It was very evocative, and a lovely park in the middle of the city. After a leisurely stroll around the pond, we made our way to the nearest metro station and traveled on to the Belaruskaya station, where Zhanet would board her train. We walked Zhanet to her car and said our goodbyes.
Entry for Sunday, September 26, 2010
On Sunday the four of us, including Tatiana, her son Sasha, and his girlfriend Anya, went to an absolutely enchanting park, called Tzaritsino, on the south edge of the city. It was an estate designed and partially built by the Masonic Lodge in the eighteenth century, but never finished until just the last few years. We didn't take the time to go into any of the buildings because the weather was so fine and there wasn't enough time to see everything. We spent hours just walking slowly through the grounds and along lakeside paths (photo). I definitely want to return there. It is also a favourite place for outdoor weddings. There is a custom for newly-married couples to buy a lock and have their initials engraved on it. Then they come to the bridge at Tzaritsino and fasten the lock to the bridge railing. This is supposed to bring good luck to the couple, for their marriage to last for a long time. We saw many locks attached to the bridge, but no indication of how well this charm works. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsaritsyno_(park)
Entry for Monday, September 27, 2010
Today I helped Sasha at the dacha to transplant a dozen trees from the forest.
Entry for Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Today had some showers and we used it as a rest day at home.
My friend Tatiana is renting an apartment in the northeast direction outside of Moscow. A name for the area that should show up on maps is Mitishchi. There may be other variations of this spelling.Tatiana is located northeast of Mitishchi, in a smaller community called Perogovski. It is rather attractive here, to my eye at least, because there is some roll to the land (not flat) and a pretty little stream nearby - about 30 feet across at a narrow point, with a bridge over it. There is an old dilapidated-looking factory, and old factory housing (brick apartment building, also dilapidated-looking, photo) located on the river bank.
Nearby are a number of new high-rise apartment buildings, all built with the traditional Russian materials of concrete and brick. There isn't one stick of wood in these buildings. At least they have modern double-glazed windows, but they still rely on a central heating plant for hot water, for both space heating (hot-water radiators) and domestic use. When the plant is down for repairs or contract disputes, there is no hot water for anyone in the community, and it can last for weeks - even in winter, although when it is really cold they try to get things sorted out more quickly.
The building we're in is a new one (similar to photo) and it is 17 stories high, with three entrances. There are stairs, and two elevators for each entrance - one about the size of a tiny closet which could hold maybe four skinny people tightly packed, and the other one somewhat larger, as it is the only way to get furniture and appliances up (unless you want to haul them up the stairwell).
Tatiana's apartment came furnished with only an electric stove, but no refrigerator. She has her own clothes washer, but no dryer. She uses the enclosed balcony for keeping food items cool, but of course with the intense hot weather of this past summer she couldn't keep things from spoiling so that meant buying small quantities that could be consumed almost daily.
There are many small stores in the neighbourhood, a larger grocery store, and a meat store. But there is nothing comparable to a Safeway or especially to the size of a Walmart. I think most people here shop for food items almost daily, and most households cook from scratch rather than use pre-cooked and packaged or frozen meals as we are accustomed to in the West. I think it is partly traditional practice and partly economy - fresh foods not only taste better, but they are significantly cheaper to buy too.
Some prices - I bought a 1-litre container of apple juice for 25 rubles (slightly less than a dollar, at 30 rubles to the dollar). I mailed a letter to Virginia, and the postage was 27 rubles, again just under a dollar. In Canada a stamp for international mail costs $1.60. Gas for vehicles is about 23 rubles per litre for regular grade (about $2.90US per gallon). At home gas is about $1.08CAN per litre, or $3.97US per gallon, but that is a British Columbia price which includes more tax than Alberta, where I can get gas for 89 cents per litre, or $3.27 per gallon.
Tatiana's apartment is called a one-room unit. It has a living room that doubles as a bedroom, and a kitchen. Sasha and Anya sleep in the living room, and Tatiana sleeps in the kitchen. It has a bathroom, but that doesn't count as a room. The total of their furniture and belongings could fit in the back of a pickup truck. The rent is 15,000 rubles per month, or about $500, and utilities are extra. Electricity is cheap, but water is expensive, at a minimum of 3000 rubles per month ($100).
Tatiana moved here from Belarus, so unfortunately she did not receive title to an apartment. She keeps her family functioning financially by working at three different income streams. She is a participant in a US-based multi-level marketing business which provides a range of vitamin and mineral supplements. She is a trained and accomplished advisor in astrology and she provides personal consultations to a number of clients, many of whom come back to her for ongoing advice. She is truly talented in this sphere. And she appears weekly on a television call-in show about astrology. She also has diplomas in Russian law and psychology. She leaves home in the morning at about 8:30 and often doesn't get home at night until after 11pm. It can be a gruelling existence, especially since she never knows ahead of time where the money will come from to get them thru the next month. But she is content with following her passion – helping people through astrology.
On top of this she tries to come up with extra money for improvements on their dacha. Sasha is in his second and final year of a secretarial training program. He is doing well, and when not at school spends many hours working on their dacha. I am amazed at all that he has accomplished in the two years since I was last here, and he has done it with a minimum of tools or help, and no vehicle. I can't imagine myself accomplishing what they do, with so little to work with. And they do not ask for, or expect, financial help from me. They are heroes, to me, in this post-Soviet environment.
Entry for Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Sasha, Anya, and I went to Mitishchi today to look at cell phones.
Over the past few years of exposure to Russia I have learned something about cell phones, that there are ‘locked’ phones and there are ‘unlocked’ phones. Locked phones are what the telecoms sell us in Canada and the US, unlocked phones are what everyone in Europe and Asia has. What this means is that in Canada and the US, when you want a cell phone, you have to select not only the model of phone you want, but also the cell phone service provider, along with a service contract for one, two, or three years. Your cell phone is ‘locked’ to that service provider, and you cannot switch your phone to use with a different provider. It also means that if you have a world phone and want to use it in Europe or Asia, then you’ll be charged about $5 per minute.
In Russia, as throughout Europe and Asia, cell phones are sold ‘unlocked’ at kiosks and boutiques and department stores everywhere. To use it, you need to have or buy a simm card, a small electronic chip holding a specific phone number and created to make a cell phone work on a particular phone service provider’s network. You can buy a simm card for any service provider you want (they cost about $4), and there are no service contracts. You can have multiple simm cards for different providers, and use any of them in your cell phone - no need to switch phones to use different provider rate plans; just put in the simm card for the provider with the most attractive rate plan that you want to use for the particular calls you are making.
Since there are no contracts and no monthly billing, you have to pre-pay the provider for air time on your phone. There are little machines, like bank ATM’s, located in many public places. You simply select your provider from the icons on the screen and enter the phone number, and then feed cash into the machine for however much you want added to your account. As you use your phone, the running balance available is automatically reduced according to the particular rate plan, similar to pay-and-talk phone cards.
I mention all of this because I wanted to look for a 3G smart phone while I’m here in Moscow, that I could use both here and back at home. Prices here in the stores are about the same as for unsubsidized, but locked, smart phones in Canada and the US. But there are other sellers, including gypsies hanging around the Metro stations. These phones may be had for about a quarter, or less, of the retail price, but they are most likely stolen, or worse, are a set-up with police collusion to trap unwary purchasers.
It works like this. You pay the street seller cash for the phone, say 4000 rubles (about $130). You walk away and almost immediately you are stopped by a policeman who says the phone is stolen property, and you and the phone are hauled off to a nearby interrogation room for questioning. The usual outcome is that you lose the phone and pay some additional ‘fee’ in order to be released, probably a lot more than you paid for the phone. A variation on this is that you put your simm card into the phone and make a call, the phone serial number gets transmitted along with the call thru a police screening system which identifies stolen phones, and then you get a surprise visit from the police at the address where your simm card is registered. You and/or the occupants are taken away for questioning, and the rest is the same.
So I decided not to look any further for a smart phone here. But I may buy a cheap new phone, just for use while I’m in Russia. We ended the day by going to a 3D movie, “Resident Evil” starring Russian actress Milla Yovovich. It was dubbed over with Russian dialog, but being an action movie meant it wasn’t too hard for me to figure out the plot. Tickets cost $10 each, and you’re allowed to bring your own snacks into the theatre.
Entry for Thursday, September 30, 2010
Today, Tatiana was busy with astrology consultations and other business in Moscow, so I took a long walk around the neighbourhood. There are several new high-rise (17 story) apartment buildings under construction, and numerous recently-completed ones. I am curious about their construction techniques, because they are so different from what I see at home.
They are built using pre-cast concrete wall sections. Window and door openings are part of the casting process, and I assume there must be pipes inside the slabs to allow for electrical wiring to be run. Floor plans are designed to minimize plumbing connections (bathroom always shares a common wall with kitchen), and heating, water and sewer piping is located inside the rooms - not inside the walls, except for a small enclosed vertical shaft for the sewer vent stack and main water supply lines. Ceilings and floors are made of cast-in-place concrete, while outside walls have a thick brick layer mortared to the vertical slabs. There are steel brackets cast into the wall sections, which serve two purposes. They are connection points for cables used in lifting and placing these heavy pieces, and then where two wall sections meet, the brackets are welded together for structural strength, and then the joint is smoothed with mortar.
There is a choice between one or two rooms (not counting kitchen and bath). These ‘rooms’ are not called bedrooms because with so little space residents don’t often keep a permanent bed set up there, which then means making and putting away bedding every day. Instead, most use what we call sofa-beds, but they fold in half long-ways, like a futon. Also, there is no built-in storage, and no closets. Residents must supply their own wardrobes and cabinets for storage. The same goes for the kitchen. There is a single small porcelain-covered steel sink in the corner, mounted to the wall, but there are no cupboards or counters. Apartments come equipped with an electric stove, but no fridge. The floors are all covered with the same brown-and-beige rolled lino, and the walls are all covered with the same white-and-tan wall paper.
Shoddy workmanship is evident inside the apartment and in the common areas too. The kitchen wall paper is quite buckled and wrinkled in the corner above the sink, the lino has many ripples and waves, with one in the kitchen so big I sometimes trip on it, and the electrical sockets may pull right out of the walls with the wires attached, when unplugging something. Hallways, landings and entrances all have their floors covered with large tiles, but many have already come loose and move underfoot when you step on them. Decorative stone tiles on the outside of the building are also coming loose, with pieces missing or laying nearby. This building was completed one year ago, and new units like the one Tatiana is renting sold for about $100,000.
According to international reports, Moscow has the most expensive housing of any major city in the world, but also the smallest amount of living space per person. During soviet times housing was designed, built, and supplied to residents by the state. Comfort was never part of the design process. The object was more like warehousing a human population in the face of acute housing shortages, and thus the mass production technique of using pre-cast concrete and steel for just about every undertaking, including concrete utility poles, railroad ties, and fences (soviet era apartment in photo). The major flaw in this whole strategy was the single-minded focus on quantity, along with no quality control. There is widespread evidence of poor quality cement and concrete work, from old to new construction. In soviet times this was driven by managers trying to meet production quotas, while in today’s market it is more likely the result of using poor quality ingredients to cut costs, and the inherent corruption of the whole inspection system.
Want to buy a condo in Moscow? Foreigners are now allowed to own apartments in Russia, but a person should thoroughly examine the property before buying.
Entry for Friday, October 1, 2010
This afternoon Tatiana and I went to see the Novodevichy Convent, on the south side of the Moskva River across from the Kremlin. I have read references to this Convent in many historical accounts, and I was really pleased to now have the opportunity to visit it. It is listed on the UN register of world heritage sites, and certainly deserves that recognition and the protection that goes with it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novodevichy_Convent
At the entrance gate there is a small gift shop. I’m always on the lookout for picture books of places I visit, but I didn’t see anything here that really attracted me. So we entered the passage to the gate, and right there was an artist with original paintings for sale. My eye immediately identified one that really appealed to me, and I decided to purchase it. It is a wide panoramic view of the convent walls, towers, and church domes, done with fall colours, so it was most appropriate for the timing of my visit. It cost 2500 rubles, or about $85. I am pleased with the painting, and especially glad to support directly the artist in his work. (My scanner could not accommodate the full width of the painting)This outing was altogether a most satisfying experience, and a place I would love to return to again, just for the calming effect of it.
Entry for Saturday morning, October 2, 2010
We’ve had a mixed bag of weather for the past three or four days - some with cold, damp, even showery conditions, and others with some clouds but also sunny breaks. It’s getting colder overnight now, but I don’t see any evidence of frost in the morning yet. Marigolds are still in bloom. Fall colours in the trees are much more visible now, and some leaves are falling. A black-capped chickadee landed on the window sill this morning, to eat a sunflower seed. So that makes two kinds of birds I’ve noticed here. I’m not an avid bird watcher. I’m sure there are others that I haven’t noticed. I saw two swans swimming gracefully in the Patriarch Pond a few days ago, and I saw ducks in the lake at Tzaritsino, but I can’t tell you what kinds of ducks they were, although they were most likely mallards. They’re very common here, as in Canada, and I’ve subsequently seen them in the Moskva River.
We had too much bread at home this morning that needed eating. Tatiana suggested that she would make what we call French toast, to use up some of it before it got stale. But we had only one egg and about a cup of milk, so I offered to run to the store and grab what she needed. 1 litre of milk cost about $1.10. Eggs were ten to a carton and cost about the same as the milk. I picked up a package of butter (200g) which is about 10% less than a half-pound. It was also about the same as the milk and eggs. Tatiana asked me to get two lemons, for tea. These cost about $0.30 each. These were all Russian, and mostly local products (except for the lemons). I must say that Tatiana’s ‘grienki’ with honey and home-made jam was excellent and I hope she will make it again while I’m here!
Tatiana suggested that we go to see Kolomenskoye for the afternoon.
Saturday afternoon
We made the trip by bus and metro (subway) from the far northeast of Moscow to Kolomenskoye in the far southeast of Moscow. For those of you looking for this on a map of the Moscow metro, it is on the green line, the second stop south of the circle line, at the appropriately named Kolomenskoye station. It may be further identified with an anchor, because it includes a dock for sightseeing boat rides on the Moskva River. Here is one link I found to the metro system, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_Metro and here’s a link to Kolomenskoye: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolomenskoye
There was a wedding couple having pictures taken in front of the massive gate in the main entrance building, but on the inside (photo), where it is facing south across a broad expanse of lawn, all the way down to the river. There is a scene in the movie “Russia House,” with Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer, that was filmed on this lawn. It is one of my favourite Russia-content movies, for the realism of the settings and for its portrayal of the intense passion of intellectual and artistic talent among Russians.
We found our way out through a different gate than the one through which we entered, but the busy main thoroughfares make it relatively easy to figure out where to find a metro station. Instead of going straight home, we headed towards the north of Moscow to see a friend of Tatiana’s, Natasha and her husband Sergei. I knew them too, because Tatiana had arranged for my accommodation with them when I was here in 2007. At the time, their 9 year old daughter was away at summer camp, so they had a spare bed. Natasha was very pregnant then, so I was pleased to have this opportunity not only to see them, but their new daughter, Lyra, too.
Natasha is very business-minded. She started a pre-school daycare business about a year ago, and we went to see them where they work. Sergei provides all the technical and computer support. I was really impressed to see what they had accomplished in such a short time. They purchased commercial space on the ground floor of a big new apartment building, in a complex of new apartment buildings. The rooms are bright, clean, and fully furnished with modern teaching aids, and they have a professional teacher on their staff. One of the rooms is designed as a Montessori teaching room. I could see that Lyra has certainly benefited from her exposure in this environment.
We stayed until they locked up for the night, at about 7:30, and then Sergei kindly drove us to the Medvedkovo metro station from which we could catch our regular bus out to Perogovsky. Tatiana was feeling chilled from the cold, so she was glad to finally reach the warmth of the apartment, and a late hot meal that Anya and Sasha had prepared for us. Over the meal, we discussed plans for the next day - Sunday.
Entry for Sunday, October 3, 2010
One of my priority destinations to visit in Russia is a place called Borodino, west of Moscow towards Smolensk. There is a village nearby called Mozhaisk. This area was made famous during Napoleon’s invasion of Russia and march on Moscow in 1812. It was here that Kutuzov, the commander of the Russian army, inflicted heavy losses on the French forces (with heavy losses on the Russian side too), and in a series of defensive maneuvers in front of Napoleon’s advancing soldiers, successfully bought enough time for Moscow to be evacuated by its civilian population. When Napoleon marched into Moscow in the fall of the year, no one greeted him with the keys to the city, because it was completely empty. As the French soldiers looted the dwellings and estates, fires broke out and much of ancient Moscow burned. It was the Russian winter that finally defeated the French and drove them fleeing back to France. But the end really started with the battle of Borodino.
Leo Tolstoy has a wonderful account of the whole French campaign in Russia, in his classic novel “War and Peace,” which I’ve read several times, and I am very keen to see the places which, so far, I have only read about. But it is not to be this time. Borodino is far enough away from Moscow that it really requires an overnight stay in order to have sufficient time to not be rushed in the experience of it. It might even be worthwhile to plan a longer trip that includes visits to other sites of significance to Napoleon’s adventure into Russia.
But today we have a less ambitious plan. Tatiana has suggested that we go to Abramtsevo, about 45 minutes by train from Mitishchi. It is an old country estate that was turned into a kind of artists’ colony in the 19th century, and some of Russia’s most famous painters and sculptors came here to live and work and gain inspiration from one another over the years. Today it is home to a growing collection of Russian folk art and wooden artifacts. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abramtsevo_Colony
Admission was 300 rubles (about $10), plus 60 rubles to take pictures outside. There is a higher fee for taking pictures inside the buildings. I never opt for this. If I want inside pictures, I look for a book of professionally produced photos, which are usually available at the gift shop.
As at every attraction I have visited in Russia, there were souvenir vendors with display tables of collectibles for sale, near the entrance. But it isn’t the made-in-China stuff you might expect in North America. These were local people selling local craft items, made by local artisans, and everything was connected in some way with the estate and its artistic legacy.
We walked the trail back to the train station, and didn’t have to wait very long for a train to stop and let us board. The ride back to Mitishchi was quicker than the ride out, as this one didn’t stop so often at the smaller stations along the way. We went into a large grocery store in Mitishchi to pick up some items that Sasha requested for a special dish he wanted to make for the evening meal, and then headed to the bus corral, as I would call it, where buses going in all directions congregate to collect their passengers. Just as we boarded our bus, showers started coming down, so we managed a successful trip on a dreary day without getting rained out. One has to take each day as it comes, and adjust plans accordingly.
Entry for Monday, October 4, 2010
I first met Dr. Orlov on a visit to Moscow, three years ago (this picture). He is a tall, very lean, balding man, who speaks pretty good English, and is as friendly a doctor as you would want to meet, very gracious, a good sense of humour, yet very down-to-earth and always focused on his mission of enabling the good health of his clients. Tatiana regularly consults with him about seeing some of her astrology clients who also have health issues that should be addressed.
I accompanied Tatiana to see Dr. Orlov last Friday, on a matter of evaluating a new skin rejuvenation product developed by a St. Petersburg medical research firm. The lotion is only recently available to the public, and Tatiana wants to be sure that the product is safe to use before promoting its sale to her network of friends and clients. While we were there, it occurred to me to ask Dr. Orlov if he could fit me in for an evaluation sometime this week. He said they were booked until next March, but he would see what could be done. He called Tatiana later the same day to say he made an opening for me on Monday at 2pm.
Dr. Orlov operates a clinic with three doctors who are all trained in naturopathic medicine. They use the latest diagnostic equipment from Germany for non-invasive evaluation of the body as a whole system. It is very accurate, and incredibly revealing in the details of all of a person’s biological functioning. They prescribe only naturopathic remedies, as needed.
I underwent a diagnostic evaluation in his clinic three years ago, and followed the instructions I was given for remedies at the time. I had some weakness in my liver function. My exam on Monday showed that liver function was normal now, but I have another problem area related to my intestinal system that needs attention. Overall they found my health condition to be good. And the evaluation cost less than $120.
They would like to see me for another evaluation in four months, but I don’t think I’ll be able to come back to Moscow so soon. It’s an expensive trip, even with Tatiana’s help. But when I do, you can be sure I’ll be coming to see Dr. Orlov again, too.
Entry for Tuesday and Wednesday, October 5&6, 2010
For at least the past year I have been considering to enroll in a training course to become certified to teach conversational English to foreigners, preferably in a position in a foreign country, as opposed to teaching English to immigrants in Canada. I have mentioned this to Tatiana in the past.
Tatiana had an idea about providing Russian language lessons as a part of a tourist package for Westerners coming to Russia. I liked the idea, particularly since I have been trying to teach myself the language for many years, but without any structure or consistency and thus without much success. However, I have learned to read the Cyrillic alphabet (a big help when trying to navigate the Moscow Metro system), and I can pronounce many words (but frequently with the accent on the wrong syllable).
One of Tatiana’s acquaintances is a person who is taking specialized training at Moscow State University for teaching Russian to foreigners. She hopes to eventually earn her living in this field. She is also studying English, so that she will be able to communicate more easily with students. Tatiana offered to introduce me to Lena, and help arrange a lesson for me. I was enthusiastic to try it.
So Tatiana facilitated our meeting for the next day, Tuesday. Lena understands English slightly more than I Russian, but not by much, so this was going to be interesting. Since Tatiana herself had her own engagements for Tuesday, Lena and I would have to find each other, unassisted. It was proposed that we meet at the metro station called Ulitsa 1905 Goda on the purple line, at 11am, and proceed from there one stop east to the circle line where we could exit and go to the Moscow Zoo.
When lacking any other unique feature, a common meeting place in Moscow metro stations is in the centre of the platform, beneath the main overhead sign. The complication comes when the station is bustling with people, all of whom seem to know where they are going and doing so in a great hurry. But 11am should not be too busy. Through Tatiana on the phone to Lena, we exchanged brief descriptions of what we would each be wearing. My clues were that Lena is probably in her thirties, would be wearing a brown coat “in the romantic style” (whatever that meant!), and would be turning in circles at the appointed meeting place. Her clues were that I would be wearing a black leather jacket and hat, blue jean pants, and carrying a white plastic bag, and that I have a moustache. The backup plan was that we each carried a cell phone and had the other’s number. The final fallback would be calling Tatiana on her cell phone, if nothing else worked.
Well, it all went as it was intended, with no hitches, and no need to resort to hi-tech assistance. I wanted to be sure to not be late, so I left the apartment at 9am, giving me two hours for the walking, bus, and metro ride. I arrived at Ulitsa 1905 about a half-hour early and moved to the appointed place. Within a few minutes I realized there was a woman, not old, attractive, wearing a long, tan-coloured coat, walking in a line along the platform about 5 steps, then turning and walking back 5 steps, then repeating the process. I walked towards her, carrying my white plastic bag (holding my notebook and English-Russian dictionary), and as we got closer we both showed the relief that comes from recognizing we have connected with the correct person.
We caught the next train back to the circle line intersection, exited, and looked for the way to the zoo. Lena asked someone, to confirm it, and we continued a short way to the entrance. We didn’t understand much of each other’s conversation, but we tried. At the zoo ticket office I tried to give Lena the money for both tickets, but she kept refusing to accept for hers until I finally conceded, and then I discovered that she had a special Visa card that allowed her in without paying.
A side note about the daily life of Russians can be illustrated here. Russia is predominantly a cash-based economy. There is very little purchasing done with credit cards, even for big-ticket items like furniture, cars, even apartments. Most people save until they have enough to buy something. I never saw a debit card or credit card used anywhere, except at bank machines.
There was a lady ahead of us at the ticket window, trying to pay for the 150 ruble ticket with a 1000 ruble note (worth about $33). The ticket seller refused to accept the bill, apparently because she didn’t have change, or if she did, she didn’t want to part with it. I discovered that I had both a 100 and a 50 ruble note in my pocket, so Lena moved up, paid for my ticket, and in we went. I find that I am frequently checking my ‘folding’ money to see that I have at least a few smaller bills of 50 and 100 rubles. I don’t want to find, when I get on a bus, that all I have is a 1000 ruble note - for a 27 or 45 ruble fare. I might have to get off the bus and go buy something at a store in order to get smaller bills.
After viewing a number of animals in their cages, and reading all their names in Russian on the signs, I suggested that we sit down on a bench to rest. It had been a cold morning, but by now the sun was high and bright and felt warm, as there was no wind. Lena took out her instruction book, and I, my notebook, and we began my lesson. She had me read some Russian words, to get a sense of my familiarity with the alphabet, and then moved into conjugating a number of verbs, all with the same ending - ATb, a very common one in Russian. I wrote them in my notebook, and then pronounced them. Lena had me reading in her book and filling in pronouns to match the form of the verbs (at least I think they‘re called pronouns - I, you, he, she, we , they, it).
She was willing to continue if I was, so we worked on this for nearly two hours. She had to leave at 2pm to pick up her five-year-old son at kindergarten, so we finished the session with a request from me (thru Tatiana on the cell phone) to meet again the next day for another lesson. I felt like I was making real progress, and I wanted the reinforcement of what I had worked on today.
So Tuesday evening Lena confirmed with a phone call that she could meet me on Wednesday, to continue my lessons. Tatiana recommended we go to a café, Shakalatnitsa, that she regularly uses with her astrology clients for consultations, a place where you can sit undisturbed and not be urged to leave, if you order something simple, like coffee. This time we would meet at the Kitai-Gorod station, one of the main stations in the system with two different lines crossing at different depths underground. It can seem like an impenetrable maze if you can’t read the signs. However, Tatiana drew a rough map in my notebook which should allow me to find Lena and get us out of the station and onto the correct street to then find our way to the café.
We were to meet at a statue of some famous Russian from the past, located at the staircase leading to the exit from the platform that I would arrive on. Well, it didn’t quite turn out that way. I looked and looked at both ends of the platform, but there was no statue to be found anywhere, and no Lena. I decided to take the stairs at the centre of the platform which allow access to the other line, and once there I went towards the stairs and discovered the statue, and Lena, at the top of the stairs. No matter, we had connected, and then we proceeded out and to the café, as Tatiana had indicated. It wasn’t entirely obvious from her map, but I figured out the way there. We chose a table in a quiet place on the second floor, ordered banana hot chocolates, and started my second lesson. The hot chocolates were excellent, by the way.
I conjugated more verbs, this time with a different ending, and then Lena helped me create a short description of myself in Russian, first in writing, and then in reading it aloud. It goes like this:
My name is Steve.
I am 65 years old.
I live in Canada in the city of Dawson Creek.
I am studying/learning the Russian language.
I speak and understand Russian well.
I play the guitar.
Tatiana and Sasha are working.
And I eat breakfast and rest.
I love to read and to walk.
Not exactly War and Peace but I’m beginning to make short sentences. I need baby steps before I can walk, and I also need lots of repetition to get anything to stick. Just have to keep my motivation up when I get home so I don’t lose the momentum of the progress I’ve made this week.
Lena was really patient with me. Even though she could not explain to me in English what to do, we managed to reach understanding anyway. We also resorted to our respective language dictionaries occasionally, when there just didn’t seem to be a way around it. I have bought three such small dictionaries here, for Russian speakers, but none are as useful to me as the two I forgot and left at home, ones I bought in Canada for English speakers. I have used them on previous trips, and was really glad for their help.
Something else I’ve noticed about my learning style is that there is a huge difference between reading, sounding out, and speaking Russian words - and understanding what someone has just said to me in Russian, at conversational speed. It’s like my mind just blocks it all. I can recognize individual words sometimes, but not whole phrases, and when I get a phrase spoken to me at normal speed, it seems to just go right by me. Tatiana says that recognizing phrases is the key to understanding a language, and I think she is right. I’ve got a long way to go for that.
Entry for Wednesday & Thursday, October 6&7, 2010
Sasha is a young man of twenty-two, and like most young men he has a passion to drive, and a dream to own his own special car. In Russia this is not an easy passion or dream to realize. Cars are expensive compared to the earnings for most young men, traffic is hectic, even frantic during work days, finding a place to park in Moscow is next to impossible, and there is the ever-present threat of theft or break-in over night, and the regular shake-downs of the traffic police.
Sasha is actually getting close to realizing this dream. Six years ago he and Tatiana bought an older Jaguar (1989) - quite a status symbol for a young man like Sasha. It had been in an accident, a front-end collision, and had a lot of new parts installed as a result. I don’t know the details of how the car was acquired, but at the time it was not practical to license it and insure it for putting on the road. So they obtained a temporary transit permit and moved it to an underground car storage garage, where it has remained these past six years.
Sasha arranged a special discounted storage rate for the car through a friend, but still it cost them 2000 rubles per month or about $65 (regular rate is 5000), money that could better be used towards fixing the car itself if they didn’t have to pay for storage. So a plan was put into action over the past two years, since my last visit.
On their land Sasha poured a cement slab, by hand, and then erected a corrugated steel car storage shed on top. This was completed and ready for the car. The next step was to move the car from the storage garage to the land, a distance of maybe 10 kilometers. Only the car had not been started or driven for six years. My contribution was to be to help get this done.
On Wednesday I went with Sasha to the storage garage. It was a rough-looking building, and very dark underground where his storage unit was located - some of the light bulbs were burnt out or missing, and the ones that were working were not very bright. It felt like a kind of car dungeon, with this long dark corridor walled in by concrete floor and low ceiling, and two walls of steel doors with padlocks, on left and right, and a hint of daylight at the far end. Sasha had several lights in the storage bay, so we could see to work.
After six years without moving, the car was covered in a thick coating of dust, and the narrow walking space on either side of the car had accumulated boxes of household effects that needed to be moved just to get to the car to begin work. We brought with us a 10 litre fuel can of gas, and a plastic jug of water for washing our hands when we finished. Sasha had some old jeans for each of us, so we changed pants and surveyed the situation.
The tire on the right front was completely flat, for which Sasha had already prepared another wheel to put on. The tire on the left front was very low and needed pumping up. So Sasha began the task of using the car jack to raise the right side for changing that wheel, while I took the hand pump and tried to get some air in the tire on the left. We accomplished both tasks, and then examined the battery tray and cable connections to determine the correct orientation for positive and negative battery posts for the new battery that we needed to buy. The original battery, now 10 years old, was totally dead.
We locked up the storage bay and walked to the nearest auto parts store, about a kilometer away. The Jaguar has a big six cylinder engine and needs a large battery. We found the large-capacity one we needed and headed back to the garage, taking turns carrying this heavy lead weight. Once there, we installed the battery in its place, and checked to see if the interior lights worked. They did. So with this small encouragement, we checked the engine oil and poured the gas into the tank. Sasha didn’t have a funnel and the gas can didn’t have a spout, so we improvised with a plastic water bottle.
As I stepped back from the car, I noticed a large pool of liquid on the floor under the back of the car. It was definitely gas, from the smell, and we worried that maybe the tank had a leak. We didn’t have a flashlight. Sasha had the answer: his cell phone camera! He took several pictures illuminated by the flash under the back end and the images showed the bottom of the tank to be dry. We concluded that the fuel on the floor must have come from the overflow drain at the filler recess, as our improvised funnel wasn’t entirely effective in directing all the gas into the tank. We waited a bit for the fumes to dissipate.
We held our collective breath as it was now time to see if this long-dormant machine could be coaxed back to life. With Sasha behind the wheel and me under the hood, he turned the key. The engine cranked over briskly, but didn’t fire. Sasha tried several more times, not cranking for too long, and it actually began to fire, but not enough to catch and run. I forced the throttle full open at the engine, and gave him the sign to crank it again. It started and revved up nicely, and I allowed it to settle back down to an idle. It was running, and idling smoothly. We were elated!
On our trip by bus to the garage, earlier, we noticed traffic police stationed at a number of locations along the same route we would have to take to get the car to the dacha. Since the car was not licensed or insured, and had only an expired temporary transit permit, we weren’t going to risk moving the car today. We’d wait until tomorrow, when, Sasha figured, the traffic police will have moved on to some other location. We disconnected the battery so as not to waste any more of its precious charge, washed up, locked up, and headed home. We were thrilled with the success of the day in getting the car running, and the prospect of actually accomplishing the move.
Sasha was so thrilled to finally be driving his dream car. After all, he was just 16 the last time he drove it, and that was only to park it in an underground cavern from which it might never again emerge, at least not for many years. The boost to his self esteem and confidence was enormous. He handed me his cell phone, set on video camera mode, to record the historic event. The car drove well, we saw no traffic police, and at a prearranged bus stop we picked up his girlfriend Anya for the final drive down an alley to the dacha. Sasha stopped the car and let Anya get behind the wheel. This was her first time at driving. She was equally as thrilled as Sasha was, to be driving herself.
In the US and Canada we take driving for granted, we take car ownership for granted. It is available, and affordable, for almost anyone who wants it. But in Russia, in its new economic and social reality since the fall of the Soviet government, owning and driving a car are a new phenomenon, once only available to high-level communist party members and bureaucrats. The Russian passion for car ownership and driving is quite evident in Moscow by the amount of traffic plaguing the city streets and roads, when a person can frequently get to their destination more quickly and cheaply on public transit. Car ownership is a huge status symbol here, even if it is an old ratty, oil-burning, rusty Zhiguli or Lada. Moscow has more Mercedes Benz sedans than any other city. You see them everywhere in the downtown area, frequently parked with their paid drivers standing around waiting for their owners, wearing dark suits and dark glasses, holding cell phones and smoking cigarettes, always smoking, looking cool and feeling important. About 60% of Russian men smoke - a huge health issue for the population, in addition to the alcohol problem.
Entry for Friday, October 8, 2010
Today turned out to be a day of heightened emotional sensitivity for me, although I wasn’t aware of it at first. On our way to catching the bus near home, Tatiana picked up a newspaper to read on the way. I glanced at the headlines, as the bus moved along, to see if I could understand anything. I saw the name of Anna Politskovkaya. She was an investigative journalist who strongly criticized abuses of power and crimes against civilians, especially in Chechnya, and she laid the blame for this on then-President Putin. She was shot dead in her apartment elevator on October 7, 2006, an apparent contract killing to silence her journalistic passion. Coincidentally, October 7 is also Mr. Putin’s birthday, and of course there is speculation that her murder was a birthday present. No one has been convicted for her death.
Pondering on this anniversary produced in me a profound sadness, not about the lack of justice in her case, but that Russian society, and indeed all societies, are somehow capable of producing some men who will kill anyone, no matter how undeserving, on command, without hesitation or remorse. It left me wondering how a mother could raise such a son as would become capable of such crimes against humanity, or what failures of childhood socialization could lead to such behavior. Have we really learned nothing about shaping human behavior for the benefit of society in eight thousand years of so-called civilization?
We had three different meetings lined up for this day, my last weekday in Moscow.
The first one was with Larisa at 11:30, the Moscow manager of a growing housing finance cooperative (www.greenroad.ru). I first met her three years ago at a meeting of the cooperative in Moscow, at an apartment which the cooperative had financed for one of its members. Now she had expressed an interest to Tatiana to work with us in a business arrangement for bringing foreign tourists to Russia. Larisa is an excellent manager/administrator. She can organize just about any kind of event or activity. She can get things done, which is very valuable in the Russian context. Our conversation, with Tatiana acting as interpreter as well as contributor, was animated and friendly. I think Larisa could be a big help in organizing accommodation and activities for tourists interested in coming to Russia to have a very personal experience, similar to mine.
My next meeting was with Pavel and his friend Sergei. We were to meet in a metro station at 1pm, but Tatiana and I stayed longer with Larisa than planned, and we were more than a half-hour late. They were still waiting when we arrived at the meeting place. Pavel is a young man in his twenties who I met two years ago. He was an architecture student then, and has completed his diploma in the intervening time. But his passion is astrology, which he discovered through Tatiana. He has completed a training program in that field, and is now doing consultations. He has been training in martial arts for 15 years, and he is fluent in English - a young man of many talents. So Tatiana handed me over to him and left for a meeting of her own, to join up again at about 7pm for the third of my meetings.
On this Friday afternoon there were many hundreds of people walking about. There were extensive outdoor displays of Russian farm machinery of all types, probably because this is harvest time in southern Russia.
Pavel’s friend Sergei (on the right in photo) wanted to come along in order to get first-hand exposure to a native English speaker, but he was too shy to try out his own English on me. We walked the length of the exhibition grounds and back again, talking and observing along the way. At about 4:30 we left the grounds and walked in the direction of the metro.
I heard some music ahead which was familiar to me. It was a kind of slow rock song by Victor Tsoi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Tsoi), an extremely popular and influential Russian rock songwriter/performer from the 1980’s. He died tragically at the age of 28. I thought I was hearing a recording, but it turned out to be a live performance by a three-piece band set up among the trees lining the boulevard in front of the grounds. A large crowd had gathered, and we joined them. The band was really good, and the crowd showed their appreciation with much applause at the end of each song. A guy associated with the band walked among the milling people with a hat, collecting money. I thought it too bad they didn’t have a CD available for sale. I wanted to stay longer at this impromptu performance, but Pavel had a plan.
Our next destination was a Japanese restaurant which both Tatiana and Pavel use as a place to do astrology consultations with clients. The food is healthful and inexpensive, and the location is close to the place where astrology classes are held. For the three of us the meal cost 1000 rubles, or about $11 each - very good for downtown Moscow, and especially for students like Pavel and Sergei. We enjoyed a leisurely meal mixed with philosophical conversation about the importance of mentors, family, and friends and following one’s passion in life. It made me wonder why such a conversation is so easy to have with young people I’ve met in Russia.
On my previous trip to Moscow in 2008 Tatiana had introduced me to Oksana. She was involved with New Acropolis, and suggested a meeting and tour there. Lena Belega was the administrator, and the one most fluent in English, so she became my host and guide for the visit. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Acropolis)
I was truly impressed with the centre, its work, and the dedication of its staff. New Acropolis is actually an international organization, with branches in many countries throughout the world, including Canada, but I had never encountered it before. This centre included a school for about 250 children, workshops for art, sculpture, and glass, a museum filled with reproduction artifacts from ancient civilizations, all made by students, and a café where all the selections were health-focused and made in their own kitchen - again also serving as a training facility for young people. They do extensive work with children from orphanages, including conducting environmental and cultural field trips to distant regions of Russia. The breadth of their activities is truly amazing.
I was so moved by my first visit to New Acropolis that when I returned home I initiated a project proposal through the Canadian Environmental Network (CEN) to do a workshop with New Acropolis, taking advantage of a joint Russian-Canadian program for funding. We were successful with our proposal and two members of the CEN’s international caucus traveled to Moscow to conduct the project. Now I was interested to hear what Lena’s thoughts were about that project - a Russian perspective on a Canadian project.
One of the two CEN participants was Jean Arnold, the executive director of the Falls Brook Centre in eastern Canada (http://www.fallsbrookcentre.ca/), which offers sustainable community demonstration and training programs in rural New Brunswick. Lena was really impressed with this and has a vision to create a similar program in Russia for orphan children. I felt again the same emotional response I experienced before, at the incredible commitment of Lena and her staff in trying to make a positive difference for the lives of so many unfortunate children.
We had stayed so late (10pm) that by the time we would reach the Medvedkovo metro station we would not be able to catch the bus from there to home. The buses all stop running at 11pm, and the Moscow metro shuts down at midnight. But Tatiana knows the system and the options, because she often doesn’t get home until 11:30pm. We would take the metro to Komsomolskaya station on the circle line, which we should reach before 11, and from there take the train at the Yaroslavski station next door, to Mitishchi. Once at Mitishchi, there are usually a few private taxis that park and wait for late-night passengers. Tatiana has used them so often that she and some of the drivers recognize and know each other.
This night proved no exception. We made it just in time to the train and trundled on to Mitishchi. When we approached the deserted bus-loading area there was a lone private taxi parked at the curb, one that Tatiana recognized. We entered the car, paid the fixed rate of 250 rubles for the trip to Fabrika, the old factory in Perogovski near where Tatiana lives, and breathed a sigh of relief at our good fortune for a day filled with productive meetings and activities and good company.
Entry for Saturday, October 9, 2010
To have a nice conclusion to my stay with Tatiana, Sasha and Anya, we planned a cookout at their dacha for Saturday evening. Tatiana and I made a trip to a homeopathic pharmacy (photo) Saturday afternoon, to buy the remedies prescribed for me at my visit to Dr. Orlov. On our way home, we went to a supermarket in Mitishchi to pick up all the ingredients for our supper: marinated pork shashlik, seasoned dipping sauce, cucumbers, red pepper, mayonnaise, bread, lettuce, and white wine. We met Sasha and Anya at the rented garage, where they were sorting through the remaining boxes, and traveled together by bus to the dacha. We got the fire going in a brick enclosure built by Sasha for just this purpose (photo, below), and prepared for an enjoyable evening together, under clear but increasingly colder skies. The night-time chill and darkness were upon us as we finished the grilled pork shashlik, packed up the remaining food, extinguished the fire, and headed into the night for a bus to take us the rest of the way home. I will always cherish the bond of friendship that these three fine people have extended to me.
Entry for Sunday, October 10, 2010Tatiana accompanied me as far as the Beloruskaya station, where I caught the train to the airport and sadly flew away from this land of contrasts, extremes, incredulity, warmth, and beauty.
