Hello everyone!
For those of you waiting for photos, Blogger is being clunky in Russia regarding my uploading photos. I am endeavoring to resolve this issue as only an aged Luddite can do. I promise I will upload some pictures soon.
In the meantime, I shall continue to write!
When I arrived at the station in Saratov, Viktor waited with me in the frigid cold/darkness---yes it is dark at 9am---until Natalia arrived with another young woman from the Office of International Studies, Masha. Viktor made a joke about Natasha---Masha, smiled, shook my hand and promptly left. He left me in extremely capable and careful hands. The two ladies walked a few blocks with me to a waiting BMW and driver! There was an appointment with the agent and renters of the apartment at 10am and so we killed a few minutes getting some coffee and pastries at a small cafe. We next stopped at a foreign exchange place where a stern lady rejected over $1000 in American dollars, leaving me with a deficient number of roubles to pay for the apartment. If you come to Russia with cash, bring CRISP new bills. I then stopped at an ATM recommended by Natalia and withdrew the necessary roubles from my ETRADE account---problem solved. We then drove to the apartment address---nice location---a 20 minute walk to the Institute and about 5 minutes from the Volga river which is absolutely astounding and beautiful in the winter. The apartment has a bathroom, small kitchen, bedroom, and living room---luxury digs for one fella---it had been recently remodeled a bit so a bit dusty, but otherwise very nice! I am resolving to keep my space clean, which for those of you who know me, is a bit of a challenge.
The signing of the lease was done by Natalia---the negotiations took the better part of an hour, voices were raised at times---I handed over the first month's rent, a comission to the agent, and I had a kvartira---a dom. It is also on the first floor---not the originally intended apartment but the one that was ready. I have been told by many Russians that the first floor apt alleviates any issues with elevators which can be somewhat irritating at times. Natalia mentioned that her own 8th floor apartment in the suburbs had a 4 year elevator outage, leading to interesting negotiations with her husband on errands and such. This reminds me of Janet and I resolving dog walking duties on cold days---but I shall never complain about that again! I miss my wife and two hounds terribly and will never shirk walking them again.
So I began to unpack the huge bags of crap dragged from Hyattsville, Maryland. I quickly made myself some chicken soup(via Target in Hyattsville) and popped some zinc. I do NOT want to be ill here. I allowed myself a half hour nap here and there. The apartment is very warm---radiators--and began to settle in. I went to bed around 8pm
For those of you waiting for photos, Blogger is being clunky in Russia regarding my uploading photos. I am endeavoring to resolve this issue as only an aged Luddite can do. I promise I will upload some pictures soon.
In the meantime, I shall continue to write!
When I arrived at the station in Saratov, Viktor waited with me in the frigid cold/darkness---yes it is dark at 9am---until Natalia arrived with another young woman from the Office of International Studies, Masha. Viktor made a joke about Natasha---Masha, smiled, shook my hand and promptly left. He left me in extremely capable and careful hands. The two ladies walked a few blocks with me to a waiting BMW and driver! There was an appointment with the agent and renters of the apartment at 10am and so we killed a few minutes getting some coffee and pastries at a small cafe. We next stopped at a foreign exchange place where a stern lady rejected over $1000 in American dollars, leaving me with a deficient number of roubles to pay for the apartment. If you come to Russia with cash, bring CRISP new bills. I then stopped at an ATM recommended by Natalia and withdrew the necessary roubles from my ETRADE account---problem solved. We then drove to the apartment address---nice location---a 20 minute walk to the Institute and about 5 minutes from the Volga river which is absolutely astounding and beautiful in the winter. The apartment has a bathroom, small kitchen, bedroom, and living room---luxury digs for one fella---it had been recently remodeled a bit so a bit dusty, but otherwise very nice! I am resolving to keep my space clean, which for those of you who know me, is a bit of a challenge.
The signing of the lease was done by Natalia---the negotiations took the better part of an hour, voices were raised at times---I handed over the first month's rent, a comission to the agent, and I had a kvartira---a dom. It is also on the first floor---not the originally intended apartment but the one that was ready. I have been told by many Russians that the first floor apt alleviates any issues with elevators which can be somewhat irritating at times. Natalia mentioned that her own 8th floor apartment in the suburbs had a 4 year elevator outage, leading to interesting negotiations with her husband on errands and such. This reminds me of Janet and I resolving dog walking duties on cold days---but I shall never complain about that again! I miss my wife and two hounds terribly and will never shirk walking them again.
So I began to unpack the huge bags of crap dragged from Hyattsville, Maryland. I quickly made myself some chicken soup(via Target in Hyattsville) and popped some zinc. I do NOT want to be ill here. I allowed myself a half hour nap here and there. The apartment is very warm---radiators--and began to settle in. I went to bed around 8pm
