Walkin' Blues

Muscovites either walk incredibly fast or at turtle speed. I guess there is a certain logic in this, if you're in a hurry, you're in a hurry, and if you've got plenty of time, why waste energy. However, it seems that Muscovites have about two gears lower than I do, and I can manage quite the leisurely stroll when I want to, and I'm still lapping them. Quite the obstacle course on the crowded streets of the center of town. Or perhaps it's similar to George Carlin's observations about driving speeds - that you yourself are the only person on the road driving at the correct speed: "Look at this idiot, just look at this idiot, just creeping along. Whoooa..look at that maniac go!"

Movies

The HBO show Sex and the City is very popular here. It is available on DVD and is played every night on one of the broadcast channels. Unfortunately my tv reception isn't great so it's just a dull blur most of the time. DVDs are a bittersweet pleasure here; it is possible to get the latest films on DVD for about $4 while they are still in theaters - however, they generally only have a Russian language track and no extra features, obviously, these are the bootlegs. You can get normal, non-bootleg versions with multiple language tracks for the same price as in the U.S. Unfortunately, the selection of titles is very poor. I went to the biggest store here for such things, a giant facility called Gorbushka, which sells electronics, computers, DVDs and CDs. As is customary here, it is not just one store, it is row after row of individual kiosks. While there is some variety, for the most part, they all have the same selection of movies and TV shows. So while you can get the latest films and Sex and the City, The Simpsons, Babylon 5 and the original Star Trek here, the later Star Trek series and The West Wing do not seem to be available here. Although, I haven't asked at every kiosk yet, in some ways, it's like the old days, where you have to go to a dozen different stores to eventually find the one thing you want. Russian tastes go for action films, Van Damme and Steven Segal are popular, and comedies are harder to find.

Stairway to Heaven

One thing I forgot to mention in my last post is public restrooms. When I visited the Russian Far East three years ago, my group was fascinated by the horrible state of public restrooms. Of course, restrooms in people's homes were immaculate, but whether in a cafe, museum, or anywhere, they were generally so bad sometimes one didn't want to use them, and in fact I rarely saw any of our Russian hosts using them, I guess they just held it all day. One of my teammates started documenting the variety of conveniences on film, and later gave each of us a calendar with a different horrible restroom pictured for every month. A clean restroom was a rare occurence to be celebrated. Perhaps it's different there now, I understand a lot has changed in the "Wild East" in the past three years.

However in Moscow, clean public restrooms are in abundance. The strange thing is that, often to get to these nice restrooms, you must negotiate a narrow, winding staircase. For some reason, they don't like having the restrooms on the same floor as everything else.And if you can't wait to get to a cafe or something, there are even porto-johns scattered throughout the city, the use of which will cost you 10 Rubles (about 25-30 cents), and are cleaned frequently by the attendants to whom you give your 10 Rubles. Think about that the next time you're feeling unhappy in your job.

Little Differences

The time has gone by somehow quickly and slowly at the same time, and I realized I have not made a post for about a month. In case you were thinking I'd taken to Moscow like a native, I thought I'd share some of the little differences that annoy me, but fortunately I still find amusing, rather than frustrating.

* In any government building, you will frequently find on staircases one stair that is a sustantially different height than all the rest. Quite dangerous if you're not prepared for it. * Here cars will not stop for pedestrians unless they have a red light. Even then, it's best to look around even when you have the walk signal. What's annoying is the walk signals give you no warning that they are about to change; they give one blink and then the other traffic gets the green light. So if you're in the middle of the intersection, you have to sprint to not get hit. This will be interesting to deal with during wintertime. * Moscow has so many people (15 million, unofficially) that sometimes the large amount of people can be overwhelming. However, if you bump into someone, you don't need to waste time saying you're sorry, and likewise you will get jostled without apology. With so many people, there's no way to avoid it, so logically, it is just expected. Only if you step on someone's foot is a "pardon me" necessary. * Russians do not have clothes dryers. Many Russians have washing machines in their homes but prefer to line dry their clothes (I realize clothes last longer this way, but line drying takes so long). This brings back memories of my early childhood in North Dakota, but we eventually had a dryer. I don't know how I'm going to get my clothes dry in winter. The laundromat at the university has dryers, maybe I'll use it from time to time. * While there is quite an evolved coffee culture here, one that a Seattlelite can appreciate (except for the lack of soy milk), very few places give coffee to go. I asked at one cafe I frequent, and the girl looked at me like I'd made a joke. She went on to explain that I could get a sandwich or pizza to go, but not coffee. * Most buildings here have double doors at the main entrances. However, they are never both unlocked, no matter how busy it is. So people going in and people going out have to go through the same door. I haven't been able to figure this out; if they don't like having both doors open, why have double doors? Perhaps it's a way for the guards (all public buildings and many stores have guards posted at the entrances and inside) to control foot traffic, I don't know. I need to ask someone.