Spring is in full bloom now in Russia.....4 -5 straight days of 50 dgree F with full sun. Russian men love their sunglasses and the streets are full of fellas with shades, wearing their new track suits. As anywhere, people seem to be wearing jackets that are a bit too warm, not yet believing that the assault of cold is over. There is a lot of mud, but it is drying fairly quickly now. Natalia in the office assures me that the dusty time is near. I believe her. My trusty LL Bean loafers are thick with dust and my apartment needs dusting.
There are more people in the streets as well, lingering in little groups. You can hear more laughter, but the faces of strangers still have that hard, serious look.I still don't blend in well, nor do I really try, but I seem to be getting used to the long hard stare. This is more common with men my age---perhaps a "what the _____ are you doing here" glance. The longer I am here, the more I am sure this is not an unfriendly look, but maybe a surprised double-take. I still have not spoken to another American. I've seen the two guys who play Professional basketball here from the stands but no conversation with anyone from my home country.
Everywhere the evidence of a gardening culture is beginning to peek out. Where there were once piles of brown ice, there are now plant boxes, freshly tilled soil, bulbs coming up. Three weeks ago I would have called you crazy if you'd predicted this. I'd read that Russia makes this transformation, but somehow, when it really happens, you don't quite believe it.
I'm going to try to grow some lettuce and dill on my window sill. Not yet planted but it is the goal. Bought the seeds in my local grocery store. My cashier looked at the two packets---a large amount for about $.30---held them up for other cashiers to see, said something I didn't understand, and they all laughed heartily. Not sure at all what this implies......
Russians struggle with indoor temperature regulation at this time. Most buildings are still on radiator heat which will go off in the first half of April. Everywhere you are, windows are opened and closed throughout the day in an attempt at moderating temps. I see air conditioners on the windows of many apartments. I do not have one, but I think my departure at the end of May may not require it(I hope!) My own apartment has a little reek to it---a kind of hamburger--chicken---beans---red chile---sausage smell. I have no stove intake hood so what I cook tends to permeate my abode. I have been very successful in avoiding becoming the bachelor farmer----dishes are washed, bathroom cleaned, floors mopped, but I feel like my place smells like a bit of a frat house. Luckily, I can open all the windows now for extended periods so perhaps I can avoid too much of the restaurant kitchen aroma.
The roads are now ice and moisture free for the most part. The street facing my 3 windows has now suddenly become a Lada/motorcycle acceleration zone. I thought Russian drivers were aggressive when I arrived, but all that ice was actually making them conservative. These drivers accelerate whereever and whenever they have 50 free meters. Exhaust systems, brutalized by the winter months, make the place sound like a racetrack. Motorcycles and bicycles have materialized everywhere, but you still could get me on either in this traffic. I would end up someone's hood ornament pretty quickly. There are a couple of nice places to ride a bike....the Volga embankment and a 5 mile or so path leading to the city park look nice. Motorcycle culture here is funny. I think if you have one, you are the neighborhood Fonzie. This weekend a guy showed up at the house outside my living room window with a motorcycle. The throngs of adolescent boys oohhing and ahhhing lasted for all of Saturday. The motorcycle engine was whining all day. Slightly irritating as I detest motorcycle noise. Apparently he was only visiting! No sight or sound for three days. Hallelujiah.
It is also car alarm season. Everybody has one---set very sensitively, so any small vibration sets it off. Car alarms are going off all day and all night. Because windows are now open all the time, it is now a car alarm concert. I live in a very mellow city of 800,000 or so; I've not seen a single crime or act of violence. Perhaps I am naive, but I have a few remarks on security from my outsider's perspective. Russians are VERY security concious. Their cars are all alarmed. Many live behind 3-4 sets of locked doors. All residential parking is generally behind huge metal gates. Apartment entrances all have security codes---you hear the little crickety sounds everywhere on walks.It is a little New Yorky here if you ask me....My colleague, Valia, in the International office, is a sociologist, who has written and researched extensively on the subject of "power" and the evolution of physical space in urban areas. I am not an expert on her research, but I should say that she has drawn some very interesting conclusions on the Russian urban cultural perception of "private" space.
I'm going to make a completely out-of-my-league anecdotal cultural observation here. This is precisely WHY we all need to get to know each other better. Russians on a micro and macro level place a high value on things like buffer zones and security. Perhaps it is the collective experience of living in a huge, sweeping georaphic area, invaded and controlled by a multitude of cultures---Mongol, Viking etc. for literally thousands of years. Perhaps it is being next to Europe proper, where every 50-100 years some crazy dude tries to violently annex the whole place. Perhaps it is the utter isolation of the cold war period. Perhaps when we look at the current behaviour of the Russian government, we could try to see it the way they do.....I am not condoning nor agreeing with the "invasion" of Crimea. But maybe we should try to understand what "they" are thinking. If the world attempted to make Russia feel more secure(not sure how!), might there be a more friendly discourse. I am not sure threats of any kind make anyone here blink. My experience says that 60-70% of at least the males here are pro annexation of buffer zones on the Russian border. Is this a colonial expansion or an attempt at feeling a bit more relaxed about security? How could Russia be reassured? Perhaps I am off the mark---I certainly am not qualified to analyze.I have good friends on both sides.
Hope everyone is well.
There are more people in the streets as well, lingering in little groups. You can hear more laughter, but the faces of strangers still have that hard, serious look.I still don't blend in well, nor do I really try, but I seem to be getting used to the long hard stare. This is more common with men my age---perhaps a "what the _____ are you doing here" glance. The longer I am here, the more I am sure this is not an unfriendly look, but maybe a surprised double-take. I still have not spoken to another American. I've seen the two guys who play Professional basketball here from the stands but no conversation with anyone from my home country.
Everywhere the evidence of a gardening culture is beginning to peek out. Where there were once piles of brown ice, there are now plant boxes, freshly tilled soil, bulbs coming up. Three weeks ago I would have called you crazy if you'd predicted this. I'd read that Russia makes this transformation, but somehow, when it really happens, you don't quite believe it.
I'm going to try to grow some lettuce and dill on my window sill. Not yet planted but it is the goal. Bought the seeds in my local grocery store. My cashier looked at the two packets---a large amount for about $.30---held them up for other cashiers to see, said something I didn't understand, and they all laughed heartily. Not sure at all what this implies......
Russians struggle with indoor temperature regulation at this time. Most buildings are still on radiator heat which will go off in the first half of April. Everywhere you are, windows are opened and closed throughout the day in an attempt at moderating temps. I see air conditioners on the windows of many apartments. I do not have one, but I think my departure at the end of May may not require it(I hope!) My own apartment has a little reek to it---a kind of hamburger--chicken---beans---red chile---sausage smell. I have no stove intake hood so what I cook tends to permeate my abode. I have been very successful in avoiding becoming the bachelor farmer----dishes are washed, bathroom cleaned, floors mopped, but I feel like my place smells like a bit of a frat house. Luckily, I can open all the windows now for extended periods so perhaps I can avoid too much of the restaurant kitchen aroma.
The roads are now ice and moisture free for the most part. The street facing my 3 windows has now suddenly become a Lada/motorcycle acceleration zone. I thought Russian drivers were aggressive when I arrived, but all that ice was actually making them conservative. These drivers accelerate whereever and whenever they have 50 free meters. Exhaust systems, brutalized by the winter months, make the place sound like a racetrack. Motorcycles and bicycles have materialized everywhere, but you still could get me on either in this traffic. I would end up someone's hood ornament pretty quickly. There are a couple of nice places to ride a bike....the Volga embankment and a 5 mile or so path leading to the city park look nice. Motorcycle culture here is funny. I think if you have one, you are the neighborhood Fonzie. This weekend a guy showed up at the house outside my living room window with a motorcycle. The throngs of adolescent boys oohhing and ahhhing lasted for all of Saturday. The motorcycle engine was whining all day. Slightly irritating as I detest motorcycle noise. Apparently he was only visiting! No sight or sound for three days. Hallelujiah.
It is also car alarm season. Everybody has one---set very sensitively, so any small vibration sets it off. Car alarms are going off all day and all night. Because windows are now open all the time, it is now a car alarm concert. I live in a very mellow city of 800,000 or so; I've not seen a single crime or act of violence. Perhaps I am naive, but I have a few remarks on security from my outsider's perspective. Russians are VERY security concious. Their cars are all alarmed. Many live behind 3-4 sets of locked doors. All residential parking is generally behind huge metal gates. Apartment entrances all have security codes---you hear the little crickety sounds everywhere on walks.It is a little New Yorky here if you ask me....My colleague, Valia, in the International office, is a sociologist, who has written and researched extensively on the subject of "power" and the evolution of physical space in urban areas. I am not an expert on her research, but I should say that she has drawn some very interesting conclusions on the Russian urban cultural perception of "private" space.
I'm going to make a completely out-of-my-league anecdotal cultural observation here. This is precisely WHY we all need to get to know each other better. Russians on a micro and macro level place a high value on things like buffer zones and security. Perhaps it is the collective experience of living in a huge, sweeping georaphic area, invaded and controlled by a multitude of cultures---Mongol, Viking etc. for literally thousands of years. Perhaps it is being next to Europe proper, where every 50-100 years some crazy dude tries to violently annex the whole place. Perhaps it is the utter isolation of the cold war period. Perhaps when we look at the current behaviour of the Russian government, we could try to see it the way they do.....I am not condoning nor agreeing with the "invasion" of Crimea. But maybe we should try to understand what "they" are thinking. If the world attempted to make Russia feel more secure(not sure how!), might there be a more friendly discourse. I am not sure threats of any kind make anyone here blink. My experience says that 60-70% of at least the males here are pro annexation of buffer zones on the Russian border. Is this a colonial expansion or an attempt at feeling a bit more relaxed about security? How could Russia be reassured? Perhaps I am off the mark---I certainly am not qualified to analyze.I have good friends on both sides.
Hope everyone is well.
