In any case, I now find myself smack dab in the center of Moscow, a city I admittedly knew little about before coming here. Regardless of what you know about their past or present, this is a complex culture and people, something you can't really begin to understand until you have the chance to experience it personally. And while I came here for work, I plan on making the most out of this trip as possible. I should have some time to travel (Sweden, I'm coming for for ya) and even just being outside of the US for a little while will be a welcomed break. Without further ado, my first blog post (in a while):
What better place to start than A summary of my short time here thus far:
Sunday
I landed on Sunday and got to my apartment around noon or so. I've got to admit, my company hooked me up with a sweet place. Very spacious, fairly modern and clean, furnished and just all around home-y. And in an odd way, it does seem like a home for me already (or at least a home base), though it could use some personal touches. For the rest of the day Sunday, I mostly slept (9.5 hour flight with minimal sleep + 8 hour time change) and settled into my apartment, to the sweet sounds of football (of the American variety).
Side note: Whenever I'm traveling, I vow to stay out of my apartment/hotel as much as possible, and now that I'm settling in here, I plan to make good on that (however difficult that may be once the weather turns).
Monday
Yesterday, since I am technically here on work, I headed to my project site for the day (an oddly similar commute from what I'm used to in NY-- a ~35 minute door-to-door subway commute). First impressions of this project are mostly positive. My boss (Cecil), a transplanted Texan, has been in Moscow for around 12 years or so and has much useful advice to share with a newcomer to the city. While his personality and mine aren't too similar, we get along well enough and there's certainly much I can learn from him. The other members of the Turner team are a younger local engineer (Sasha) as well as a Turkish engineer (Emrah), both extremely friendly and accommodating. I'll get more into this later but all in all, I think working here will actually be pretty cool. Afterwards, I was able to explore my neighborhood a bit, buy myself some groceries (always an adventure), watch the finale of Breaking Bad :( and break in some of the pots and pans in my apartment before turning in (still getting over that jet lag a bit).
This is my apartment. If you look closely, you can see this fella parading around in his boxers.
Tuesday
Much of the same as yesterday, but today I was able to explore some of the sites a bit. I took a quick trip to the Red Square with my real estate agent (hehehe...) and took a quick peek at one of the most famous sites in all of Russia. I wasn't able to spend any significant time here but it was nice being able to explore a bit and see some of the city after being somewhat confined before. For starters, St. Basil's Cathedral and the Kazan Cathedral are some of the most unique buildings I've ever seen. They look more like something out of a toy box than an actual structure. Once you wrap your mind around the fact that these are real structures, you realize how truly beautiful they are. Ridiculously complex and ornate, Ivan the Terrible supposedly had the architects rip out their own eyes after building St. Basil's so that they could never design something so beautiful again (hmmm... so maybe Russians are a bit crazy). This is one of those sites that gives you an insight into what the 16th century felt like. You can feel the history around you.
I wish I could have stuck around longer because St. Basil's really is hard to take your eyes off of. I will certainly be back here again.
The Northern entrance to Red Square
Yes, St. Basil's is a real place.
I can't be serious, especially not for tourist pictures. C'mon.
St. Basil's and Spasskaya Tower
While I've only been here a few days, I can at least comment on the biggest stereotypes and FAQs I've personally been asked:
1. Yes, it's cold here. It's been in the high 30s to mid 40s since I've been here, which is obviously isn't bad (even though fall technically just started), but the temperature is dropping. And judging by the way the Muscovites talk about the winter, it's going to drop. Luckily, it's been mostly dry with little wind since I've been here, so the weather has been more than bearable.
Here's to hoping for a mild winter (or at least while I'm here).
UPDATE: Since writing this, I was informed that this is supposed to be one of the coldest winters...ever. Like -50 F (-45 C) cold. Uhhhh maybe I'll leave around Christmas time after all.
2. From what I can tell, Russian people are indeed a bit crazy (look at their president for chrissakes), but not to the extent that everyone believes. I did see a guy try to walk across 8 lanes of a busy freeway (to which our driver shrugged and said "eh, it's Moscow"), but that's about it so far. Though there is something about those high cheekbones that makes everyone look a bit too serious/suspicious all the time.
Some dangling Russian window washers (from a 35+ story building, mind you). OK fine, Russians are crazy.
Oh yeah, the Olympics are going to be here in February. Maybe I'll stay past Christmas after all.
From my first few days here, I can certainly say Moscow is unlike any city I've been to before. It has the the sprawl and size of LA, with more architectural styles that I could count on both hands. While Communism still has its fingerprints all over the city, it seems that Moscow has over-Capitalized to make up for lost time. There is no shortage of shopping malls or advertisements, and the locals readily recognize the impact of commercialism and consumerism on the city. It's not a bad thing necessarily (though almost everything is absurdly expensive here), it's just an interesting contrast to what people normally think about Russia. Given the size, extremely foreign language*, and less-than-welcoming people**, it's a city that I will need some time to figure out. It doesn't have the upfront charm of Paris or New York (or even Graz) but people seem to genuinely love it here and I look forward to understanding why.
I feel like when I studied abroad, I could have updated my blog a bit more, so I'm going to try to write a bit more regularly this time. I plan on writing less about my small, day-to-day activities and more about any particularly profound experiences and observations, as they are what's truly interesting. This post ended up being a bit longer than I envisioned, but Moscow has somewhat of an overwhelming first impression. In any case, I enjoy sharing my thoughts and experiences, I hope you enjoy reading them.
UPDATE: I'm writing this after an uneventful Wednesday (I know, I know). I am about to go out for a few rounds with some of my new friends and coworkers. I am the only American and I suspect real Russian vodka will be involved. The way I see it, you'll never really understand a city unless you get drunk there first. I blame any decline in quality on this. Cheers! За ваше здоровье!
*Since I'll be here for a similar amount of time, I am determined to leave here at least as fluent in Russian as I was in German when I left Austria. It is a wildly complex and intimidating language, but I do already have the alphabet down and you'd be surprised how quickly you can pick a language up when you are immersed in it everyday.
**Pretty much all of the people I've met so far are welcoming, accommodating and friendly. The people you see walking around though are suspicious of any foreign people or behaviors, and the police have a reputation for harassing anyone they want. Everyone sort of minds their own business, and people rarely even look at one another. It's somewhat off-putting.
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