15 Million People, 1 Place to Eat??

Moscow is dense and heavily populated. And yet....we seem to run into other ex-pats everywhere we go. Granted, we live in the center of the city but still. I hardly ever ran into people in NYC.

Anyway, we just had lunch and ran into not one, not two, but THREE American couples we know at the ever popular Starlite Diner. It is a giant city, but there are really just a small handful of easy, casual dining places and so that's what happens on a Saturday for lunch. This is Russia.  :)

Dog Park, Russia-Style

Siena and I had a date at the dog park yesterday. In the morning when she was all hyped up and I had to leave the apartment (and I felt so bad) I promised her that since it was such a nice day, we'd not only take a walk, but we'd go to The Dog Park. I know she doesn't understand everything I say, but I always feel better telling her exactly what my plans are.

So around 2:00 pm we loaded up into the car and got underway. I had towels for wiping, a ball to throw and a bone for the car in case we hit traffic. And in typical Moscow-fashion, there was traffic. Who knows why. It wasn't horrible, but what could have taken 15 minutes took about 35. And Siena was already anxious to do something other than SIT, STAY, SIT, OFF, OFF, OFF in the car.

Anyway, we arrived and when we got to the park I saw there was another dog there. Yipee!!!!! A playmate!!

Here is a photo of the dog that was already there, taking advantage of the blue skies and sunshine to let loose.

Sure he's big and black, but I know lots of wonderful large black dogs. Seems harmless enough, right? Wrong!!!

We get to the gate of the park and of course immediately the big dog comes bounding over to say hello. His tail was wagging and I was still (foolishly) pleased that there would be another dog for Siena to mingle with. No big deal.

I slowly start to open the gate -- I made a lot of noise and did it really really slow on purpose because I wanted this dog's owner to see that I was coming in and to get up (he was sitting in the sun) and take control of his dog so we could enter without the big guy escaping.

Well, little did I know, but I guess letting myself in (all be it slowly) was just not appropriate. The dog's owner jumps up, runs over, and starts yelling at me in Russian. I have no idea what he said, but his tone was clear: DO NOT COME IN!!! Huh? Why not? What's the big deal?!

Despite not really understanding the problem,  I quickly apologized (in Russian) and said, "I don't speak Russian. Do you speak English?" (Also in Russian). The man ignored me and just kept gesticulating and yelling and of course his dog started getting worked up upon hearing his dad making such a fuss. I then said again (in Russian), "Sorry, I don't understand."

Finally, the man gestures with his hand and makes a big chomping sign and points to my Siena. OH DEAR GOD, the big black dog is going to EAT MY SIENA!!!! Or bite her, or do something bad! Yikes!

So I quickly back off from the gate and pull Siena (who is now straining with every fiber of her little brown body to get into the dog park and play with the other dog) back away as well. The man continues to yell and gesture and says in English(!), I think, "You ask ME first." Or something to that effect. Really? Yes, that's what he said. I noticed at this point that near where the man had been sitting was a giant rope-like leash (I mean literally a piece of thick heavy rope) with a HUGE scary-looking muzzle. Oops.

So we left. But before I walked to far away, I asked in Russian, "When?" What I really meant was, "when will you be leaving?" even though I don't know all those words...I mean, it looked like they'd been there a while and if he was about to leave, I could wait. His dog wasn't really racing around much so perhaps he was leaving momentarily. But he didn't answer, just continued grumbling and grouching.

Once we got down the block a little ways, I saw a young woman with a big fluffy white dog. The very same fluffy white dog and owner with whom we'd played the week before at this very dog park. So I quickly caught up with her, said hello, and asked if she'd tried to go in too (in English - many of the women here seem to speak at least a little broken English whereas the men just don't care and don't even try). She said yes and that the man said he would be staying there a while more. She was walking away from the park and appeared to have changed her plans with her dog. Just like that.

So neither of our dogs got to go to the dog park. A PUBLIC dog park, mind you. The man inside was acting like it was his private park! So rude. And there was literally nothing I could do but walk away and apologize to Siena.

The whole experience was so very Russian. "This is the way things are here and you can't do anything about it. I'm also not going to be nice while I tell you that you're S-O-L."

And then we sat in traffic for an hour and 10 minutes to get home. What a great day! UGH!!!

Saran Wrap take two

As mentioned in my previous post, I was on a plastic wrap mission. The best part is that I don't even really have all that much that needs to be wrapped...I just feel like a functional kitchen needs to have it, like salt and pepper or paper napkins.

I asked around and the consensus was that Russia's version of plastic wrap isn't very good but if I must buy it here (most women suggested bringing it back with me from the US) that the big department store Stockmann's would have it.

Sure enough, I went to the aisle with all the paper supplies etc and carefully, very carefully studied all the packaging again.

And wouldn't you know it, they had that darn cellophane (yellow box) mixed in with everything else again! I just don't get it. Put that stuff with the gift wrap, will you?!?

Anyway, once again after looking a while, I found one whose box had a little medal cutting edge with teeth and figured this HAD to be what I wanted.

And.....BINGO! I got it!

Got it right this time!!

Such a small victory, but very satisfying. :)

Grocery shopping

Going to the market for food shopping in Moscow stresses me out. It's very hard to tell exactly what you're getting (prices / descriptions are in Russian, weight is in grams, and not everything has an appropriately "descriptive" picture on its label). Given that everyone lives in apartments here, everything is in tiny packages but they cost at least twice as much as in the US. Add to that, the stores don't always have the same things they had the week prior because of supply chain issues and what seems to happen to me: when I go with a specific item in mind (like the day I wanted a jar of honey), many times you can't find it and there's no one to ask or they just don't have it that day. Just all around frustrating.

Today I went to the store to get a few things for dinner and some other random items we needed, among them Saran Wrap. We actually have a tube of Reynold's wrap that was mistakenly shipped over here with our kitchen stuff which I've been using; this actually turned out to be a wonderful mistake because it's worked just fine for wrapping up leftovers and perhaps more importantly it's what we use to keep Siena off the leather couches! -- but I digress. In most instances for food, Saran Wrap is what I would prefer and tin foil is overkill. So off I went.

When I got to the little section with all the various wrappings and baggies, I must have spent a good solid 5-6 minutes staring at those shelves, studying the all-Russian packaging and the only thing I could correctly identify was that this was where they sold aluminum foil. Yay me for figuring that out! So I was in the right place! I saw a few boxes with plastic bags - possibly ziploc type but probably not since those are not common here - but the rest of those long rectangular boxes were a mystery. I think they had some large bags for steam-cooking stuff in the oven because the boxes indicated a temperature (as in, "can be heated up to 320 degrees").

So here's what I chose to buy after as I said, much deliberation:

Looks like it might be the right thing, huh? Kind of hard to tell, but really I studied this box quite a bit and I honestly thought it might be their version of Saran Wrap.

Alas, when I got home and opened the box, it was not. Bummer. It was a roll of cellophane. Why would anyone need this much cellophane and why was it near the tin foil? If it were me, I would have put it with the gift wrap...

Oh well, if at first you don't succeed, try try again. I'll ask around and see if one of the wives knows what it's called in Russian and if she can recommend a brand to look for. Or, maybe she can take a photo of hers so I can show a store clerk.

I was able to get the rest of my list though so it wasn't a complete waste of a trip.

Swimming upstream

Flashback post from October 2011:

This is an excerpt from an email that I sent to Scott's parents.

Scott is working and I am by myself for a while. It's rainy, grey and cold here now. Very depressing weather and I don't even live here yet!

As I mentioned, today Scott went to work so I tried to use my little coffee maker but was unsuccessful. It wasn't getting consistent power with the converter and so I guess the pump couldn't properly push water thru the filter. There was a ton of steam coming out from the area where the filter / grinds were but no water going thru and it made a lot of noise that didn't sound right.

Luckily there is a free standing plugin hotpot to boil water and one of those French press coffee makers so I was able to make a small, strong cup of coffee. It was frustrating though, and a bit messy, all for a tiny cup of coffee!

Then I tried to get on Scott's computer (he was touring stores today and didn't need it) and that didn't work either. I'd been able to successfully set up the wireless router yesterday (hooray!) but it stopped working after Scott left this morning (oh no!) and after many attempts, I couldn't get either the wireless OR wired connection to work after that. Tried restarting everything and went back to the wired connection even, but still no dice. Again, very frustrating.

Then I showered (well, I took a bath actually, because the shower is not very large or convenient for moving one's arms very much) and washed my hair with the intention of blow drying it straight, since Scott was at work and I had lots of time. No dice there either!! The moment I turned on my hairdryer (using a converter of course), I blew a fuse and all the lights in BOTH bathrooms went out! Crazy. So I didn't do my hair (and didn't have the appropriate product for wearing it curly) but now I'm sitting in a cafe using the free wifi on my phone with slightly frizzy/damp hair. Thank god the wifi in the cafe is working. I have no idea how we will reset those fuses, but I'm leaving it up to Scott. Too exhausted to deal with anything else right now and all I did was wake up, try to make coffee, use the Internet and blow dry my hair! If it weren't happening to ME I'd probably think it was funny. :-P 

PS The one additional issue I didn't mention in this email was that I somehow got locked IN to the apartment. Scott had left in the morning and locked the door from the outside like he normally does, and apparently that requires using the keys to UNLOCK on the inside as well (vs turning the locks like a normal door)! I ended up throwing the keys out the window (9 flights down) to Scott's driver, he came up to unlock from the outside and then showed me what was going on. Mortifying!!

Golden dreams of Moscow

Getting our 4 year old Golden Retriever Siena-girl from California to Russia (another flashback post from February 22 and 23, 2013)

So, our two big flights were pretty smooth. Checking in took a lot longer than I expected and Siena was in the crate the whole time, not understanding what was going on. They couldn't/wouldn't find someone with a cart to put her on for when she needed to be moved (she was moved 3 times), so they kept sliding the crate along the floor, which I wasn't happy about. At one point after the long checking in process, they slid her down the hall to an inspection area for oversized baggage and they made me take her OUT in the middle of the airport while they checked the interior of the crate. So of course she was totally confused and really didn't want to go back IN when the inspection was done. That was tough. I felt terrible forcing her back in there.

Here's our Siena-girl waiting in her 

crate while we checked in.

Then they slid her away again into where the oversized baggage wait to be loaded onto the plane and I just went to my gate etc. When I boarded, I asked the flight attendant to ask the captain if a dog had been loaded. It took a while but she did come to my seat to let me know, that "the dogs have been loaded." Wait, did she say dogs? I responded, "Is there more than one dog on this flight?" And of course she had no idea, so I was a little worried that even though some dogs were loaded, MY dog wasn't, but at that point I had to just trust them. The flight didn't have a lot of turbulence which was great. I will say though, that everytime I went to the bathroom, I just kept thinking of little Siena in the bottom of the plane, NOT being able to go to the bathroom or even just see outside to understand what was happening....again I felt terrible. But I'm hoping she eventually settled and just napped, despite the movement and noise.

Then in Amsterdam we only had 1 hour 25 minutes to connect, so I literally just went to the bathroom and went to my next terminal without seeing her. Of course at the new gate, I kept looking outside to see if I could get a glimpse of her crate being loaded but no luck. Got on that plane and did the same thing with the flight attendant, who also took a while to find out, but when she did, it was from a printout that I saw and could read over her shoulder; I read where it actually said "1 dog, Golden Retriever" so I knew my girl was there! The Amst - Mosc flight was 3 hours, and was fine.

When we arrived, I went through immigration and then immediately went to a desk in the baggage claim area to try and get someone to help me with a big cart. They had no big carts - of course - but I did get a guy who spoke English from Lost & Found to kind of tell me where to find Siena eventually and he was also able to call and find someone to help me with my bags and the dog. They brought out the crate from the same place where they deliver skis and hockey sticks (oversized baggage -- Siena was, according to the airlines, to be handled like a set of golf clubs!) and we ended up loading Siena in her crate onto one luggage cart and then my 3 suitcases onto a 2nd cart. Then we literally rolled right through customs....no questions, no inspection of paperwork, no nothing! SO strangely smooth! 

Out on the other side of customs, I saw Scott, the driver, and the wife of the vet with whom I'd been emailing. She said, "No problems? I told you it's easy - sometimes they don't even check!" So then we quickly went outside to let Siena out for a stretch etc. Scott was SO happy to see her - he went off to walk her in the snow and she did both 1 & 2. Oh, and when we checked inside the crate, it seemed DRY and not stinky, so we think she "held it" for both flights!! Amazing little dog. The wife of the vet (Valeria) then introduced us to her husband (of course his name is Yuri) and they asked if she seemed ok, which she totally did, and then suggested not giving her too much water and only feeding her half her food for her first few meals, just to make sure her stomach wasn't upset. Then we paid them $200 (the easiest $$ I'm sure they've ever earned!), squeezed everything into the car, and we were on our way! So it really was remarkably uneventful, thank goodness!!!

Hanging out in the apartment after the long journey. So happy to be together again!

The Keys to Success

...A brief flashback post from the week of February 25, 2013, when I first got back to Moscow

My first week unfortunately got off to a rough start. Once again I had a problem with the front door - me and Russian doors are just not friends!! - basically I put the key in the wrong lock (there are two locks on the door but we only use one). Well, this key is some fancy-schmancy italian key so it has a little piece of metal on it that swings out for "extra security" so once it went in, it literally got stuck inside the door.  So not only can we not get the key out of the keyhole, we can't lock the door!

We already had a handyman coming to take a look at our shower drain the next day so I asked him to get the key out of the keyhole as well. Well I really should have asked our realty company (we use them as the liaison for managing stuff in the apartment) to call a locksmith and not just a handyman, because in the process of yanking the key out, he BROKE it! He got it out and came over to me saying, "No use." The thing is, we only had those 2 keys. I told him he needed to get me a new one since he was the one who broke it.

When he tried to make a new copy (I'd borrowed Scott's key for the day so we had a "good" one for him to work off of), it turns out to be too fancy to have it made at a normal hardware store. And only the landlord can make copies by special order from Italy!! ARGGGHHHH! So at this point we have just one key that we are sharing. Had we called a locksmith, he wouldn't have broken the key, I'm sure of it. Why? Because Scott did the SAME EXACT THING the first week we lived in this apartment and the locksmith made short order of the problem without damaging the key.

Oh, and after 2.5 hours of tinkering, the same not-so-handyman wasn't able to fix the shower either! Double argghhh.

Berlin

Scott and I just got back from a weekend "getaway" in Berlin. His office was closed for International Women's Day on Friday - it's a big deal holiday in Russia, go figure - so we chose a place not too far away with a direct flight that would be good for a couple nights. 

It was very cool to see remnants of The Wall and tour around the city hitting areas that used to be divided into East and West Berlin. Amazingly, it actually felt small and spacious compared to Moscow, so I guess things are all relative (3.5 million ppl vs. 15 million, ha!). 

Posing in front of a remnant of The Berlin Wall

Sign for Checkpoint Charlie

Reconstructed checkpoint booth @ Checkpoint Charlie

We could tell the whole city was a mess after WWII and again after the Wall came down because now it's just a giant mix of modern-style buildings and brand-new buildings styled to look old. It seems like it's still sort of "finding its groove" in terms of charm and character and I wouldn't put it in my top 10 must-visit cities but it has potential and I'm glad we went.

Jewish Museum

Scott in front of the Brandenburg Gate

Bonus! A nice taste of home in Berlin.

Re-entering the world via iPhone

I already had a Russian cell phone but it wasn't "smart" and what I really wanted was to get my iPhone -- and all its bells and whistles -- to work in Moscow while I was outside of a wifi zone (aka the apartment). This way I'd be able to use the maps and texting functions if I got stuck anywhere without free wifi.

Luckily cell phone stores are one thing that is not lacking in Moscow. You can't throw a stone without hitting one. That or cafe or a bank. So I walked down the block to a nearby store and what do you know, the first person I approach speaks ENGLISH! Jackpot!!

So I told him I wanted to transfer my Russian phone number to my iPhone and get a new Russian SIM card for it as well. He understood what I needed. Double Jackpot! Turns out they just need to change the shape of the SIM card to fit into the iPhone (from mini to micro or something like that), and I could literally just move the one SIM from phone A to phone B. No way is it this easy??? It is. And they do this at the store for only 149 rubles (about $4!).

So the guy goes off to get his tools to adjust my SIM card. Meanwhile, the entire time I'm talking to him, I'm smelling something bad. Like really bad. Like dirty feet or urine or even....feces bad. GROSS. So I check the bottoms of my shoes. Nothing.

My guy comes back and asks me a question and I notice the smell again. Is it old pipes / heating in and underneath the store? A garbage bin that somehow wasn't emptied? I quickly smell myself - maybe it's ME!! Nope, really doesn't seem like it's anything on me. Must be the store. Not coming back here. So my helper comes back to finish the conversion and dear lord, I realize it's HIM! HE IS THE SOURCE OF THE BAD SMELL. He may be some kind of English-speaking-techno-genius, but he NEEDS to wash his clothes and himself every once in a while! Ugh.

Relieved that it wasn't me creating the stink, I spent the next 20 minutes breathing through my mouth and trying to finish as quickly as possible. I did leave the store with a spring in my step and an optimistic feeling that my iPhone would soon be speaking "pah-Ruskie" (in Russian). I still needed to go home and restore and sync the phone with my computer to really get it up and running, which actually all worked out fine.