Impressions in Moscow

Hey Everyone! I'm signing in from Moscow, and in the few days I've been here, I've made a lot of impressions of this strange country.

You might wonder why I'm even calling it strange, it should be very familiar, for I've lived here and visited many times, but for some reason, this time around, I've come to realize that in the past year since I've been here, not much has changed and there hasn't been any progress.

Perhaps this is because of the financial crisis, and Russians are all to familiar with loosing wealth. Here people don't put their money in banks, nor do they worry about their future and save pensions and IRAs. They spend today without worrying about tomorrow. Many here have had immense wealth only today to have very little. It's a phenomenon that I find difficult to understand.

Anyways, Moscow is big, very very big. It's also dirty. There is a trash almost everywhere on the streets (by the end of the day of course). People drive huge cars. There is no concern for the environment, packaging is uberall. No one is concerned with the foods which they consume, whether they have chemicals or preservatives inside. Customer service is non-existent except at the most expensive department stores and boutiques. Advertising inundates the city, with signs, placards, and cell phone shops basically door-to-door.

Of course, these first impressions are of Moscow, and Russia itself is totally different, perhaps better, but it is this sense that people here only care about money and that nothing else matters. People don't understand the meaning of earning what you work for (according to my mom though - as I haven't had to work hard myself... YET). Also the fact that the Russian mentality is still very much influenced by the Soviet Time. There is not much regard for your fellow citizens and I'm amazed that this country can still yet function more or less like a western country. (Reliable supply chains, services and so on.)

At my birthday yesterday, I told one of my relatives about what bothered me about modern Russian society. Her response was, does anyone like Russians, even abroad? She asked, our we like the Russians you see? I guess my family and friends are of a different type, ones that if filled the streets of Moscow, would make it a much better place. (I probably sound bigoted and very judgmental for saying this).

Well to be more exact, here is one thing that sort of shocked me after living in Germany. This would never happen in Germany. Last night (at 1am) we went to Metro, and big box store like Costco that sells things in large quantities for less money. We knew that there would be a lot of people out shopping right before the hugh Christmas/New Year's holiday (Dec. 25th is not a holiday here, Russia's Xmas equivalent is the 31st) but we went in the middle of the night. When we got to the store in the snowy weather, the parking lot was full. We almost decided to leave, but we went in anyways. After waiting 10 minutes to find a shopping cart, the store seemed picked over and totally chaotic. After passing the electronics section, we arrived into the liquor section. People were stock-piling vodka and rum by the 10s of litres. Carts full of heavy spirits! The poor workers trying to drive by with their forklifts and tidy up the store were over-worked and ignored by the crazy shoppers who didn't heed to their signs or barricades.

Anyways after getting everything we needed, our friend was waiting for us by check-out line #33. There were about 50 in all, and all were full of people waiting. This is worse than Costco on any given day, and the lines moved incredibly slowly. Mind you, this is now 3am (the store operates 24hrs/day).

These were the lines for the cashier. Meanwhile, using dot-printers, they printed our receipts (literally on computer paper, and then stamped them with these official looking stamps) Three copies were made.

Our shopping cart - lots of water, juice, meat, vegetables, bread etc. Normal stuff

While waiting in line for 1.5 hours, my brother and I noticed these girls, also waiting in line reading Playboy but trying to cover the front page so as not to reveal the publication they were reading.

(Sorry for poor image quality, taken with my cell phone)