2004 July 25

Weather Report – it’s really nice here today… maybe a little on the warm side… about 82 degrees F. Nice bright blue sky!



Interesting / Funny Observations – none… stayed inside all day… and relaxed…



Frustrating Adjustment Issues – we are really finding that things like fruits and vegetables don’t last too long here… they spoil quickly. We had a bag of potatoes sitting a dark cool place for about 1 week, and they all got moldy… fresh vegetables turn bad within days… I guess that’s what happens when you don’t cover the produce with wax (like the producers in the US)





Sunday July 25, 2004 – after our long day yesterday… we slept in ‘til about noon today… had a nice breakfast (we picked up danish at Stockmann’s), and we read the paper… OK, it was Friday’s paper, the Moscow Times… but it was in English… Sara’s putting up new curtains today (we bought at IKEA yesterday). I decided to write an update or two for the web page… I’ll do a little work, and maybe plan out our next trip or two… I have lots of upcoming trips to Moscow (at least 3 in the next two months)… and Sara and I are thinking about maybe going to Munich, Germany for Oktoberfest … sounds like a great place for two beer lovers like ourselves to be. One of the things that we are starting to really get excited about is the ability to do some things directly related to activities we enjoy… Oktoberfest in Munich… maybe the Geneva Auto Show in March (a great concept car showcase).



A couple interesting developments in the country though… you may have heard about the contract killing of the editor of Forbes Magazine’s Russian edition editor… there are lots of theories floating around about who did it… the mafia? Putin? Who knows… but it is apparent, that while there isn’t much in the way of violent crime in Russia, things like contract killings are pretty prevalent. Also, Russia maintains the largest oil reserve in the world. The key oil company here, Yukos, is on trial for tax evasion. Common knowledge is that the case is a farce… and the only reason they are on trial is because Putin didn’t get his “fair share”… I’m not sure what the real story is… but I do know that the vast majority of Russian’s support Putin and his activities. What is interesting, though, is that this very large oil company is now with days of having to file for bankruptcy, and some of their largest assets may be sold by the government for pennies on the dollar. It seems like sustained economic growth still takes a backseat to intimidation and bribes.



Carol and John heading off to take a 10-day vacation to the UK… so Sara and I (mostly Sara) are taking care of the housing compound’s resident stray dog (see the picture). His name is Kelusha (at least we think that’s how it’s spelled). We’ve heard him referred to as a “gypsy dog” and a “sharable dog” (at least, in broken English, that’s what they call him). Regardless… he doesn’t technically belong to anyone, but the maintenance staff and security guards take care of him as best they could. Considering the lack of disposable income, Kelusha doesn’t always get the best care possible. He was hit by a car several weeks ago… but no one mentioned it because they couldn’t afford a treatment for him. Carol heard a few days after the accident about Kelusha’s injury (broken leg)… and promptly made arrangements to take Kelusha to a vet for get his leg set and cast. Carol paid for the treatments, and the vet was OK fixing Kelusha… but stipulated that Carol had to buy the plaster for the cast because he (the vet!) couldn’t afford it… that’s typical of the local area… skilled / knowledgeable people who can’t afford the tools / supplies needed to do a job right (most people sweep their sidewalks with home-made straw brooms). Sara and I bought a bag of dry dog food for Kelusha while we were in Moscow… we’re hoping maybe we can help get him on a healthier diet.



On the home front (see the pictures – outside and our bedroom)… we are still without several key appliances working… still no dishwasher (after Sara’s electric shock from it)… still have a temporary refrigerator in our living room… still no English TV (although there has been at least 3 or 4 people out each day to climb the satellite tower outside of cottage. Things get fixed very slowly here… took 2 guys about a day and a half to install one new phone jack in our sun room for us. And with the walls in our house being concrete (the interior walls as well as the exterior walls), it’s not like they had to fish the line though drywall and studs (there are lots of plastic wire covers throughout the house)… it’s just a slow-moving society. I think the only thing that is becoming a burden is the dishwasher… handwashing dishes is no fun… particularly in a little tiny sink. Otherwise – things are going well… Joe and Rommel have really regained their appetites (maybe a little *too* much)… but they seem really happy. They love looking out the windows… in fact – Rommel spotted a wild hedge hog walking across our driveway last night. We are running low on our initial supply of pet food… we have two shipments coming in as part of our relocation… one via air, one via sea… the air shipment should have been here 2 weeks ago… but has been delayed due to paperwork, and quite frankly… poor project management on behalf of our relocation company. We’ll make do for the time being, but this probably could have been avoided…



Dinner tonight will be good… porkchops with a balsamic glaze and a goat cheese crust… baked rice… and vegetables. And we thought we’d hard-pressed to have a decent meal! Seriously… we are really enjoying ourselves… despite the challenges of living… this has felt like a quiet vacation in a remote cottage.



Thanks for reading…

Michael

2004 July 24

Weather Report – it’s getting warmer during the days… maybe 78 degrees F or so… and it has rained for a bit each of the last couple days… it feels muggy, but at least it’s still bear-able. We do not have air-conditioning… and we are believing that we may be able to get along without it… at least for this summer.



Interesting / Funny Observations – regardless of the temperature, the babushkas are always out in their head coverings, long coats, and walking canes. This is a fascinating part of the population…



Frustrating Adjustment Issues – the more aware we become of our environment, the more we notice the extreme poverty in the country. While things like housing and utilities cost next to nothing… people cannot afford to do things like go out to eat… or purchase a car. Most restaurants are empty most of the time… it’s a wonder how the restaurant owners make money. I read a statistic that the average Russian eats away from home only a couple times a year. While dining out in many restaurants is reasonably priced, the average Russian cannot it. I think the poverty will continue to be an issue for us…





Hi all… the last few days in Russia have been fairly busy for us (hence the dearth of entries for the last few days). I’ll try to catch you up on what’s been happening for us… I was planning to go to Moscow for the day on Friday for an all-day meeting… but I decided to stay in Novomoskovsk instead and dial in on the phone. Figured it might be nicer for Sara and I to go together on Saturday…



Saturday July 24, 2004 – had a nice (but long!) day today… Sara and I took a day trip up to Moscow to shop and get a nice American lunch. Our driver picked us up a little after 7AM from our cottage, and we were on the road! We arrived at the MKAD (the outer edge of Moscow - for your reference, Moscow as a city has 3 beltways: the Garden Ring, the Boulevard Ring, and the Moscow Ring Road, or MKAD. The MKAD is the outer ring / beltway) and made our way over to the MEGA Mall (which I’ve been to before… this was Sara’s first time). We were planning to stop at Auchen’s (large grocery store) and IKEA (for those that don’t know, IKEA is a Swedish furniture and décor retailer – Sara and I shop there regularly, although there retail outlets are pretty spread out… for example, when we were living in Cincinnati, the closest IKEA was in Chicago – and we stopped there basically every time we passed through the area).



Shopping at Auchen’s, Take 2

So, based on my previous experience at Auchen’s, I remember a couple things that are critical:

· Get rubles (cash) before shopping – had no problems here… used the exact same machine, exact same ATM card, exact same account balances as when I was at Auchen’s before – and this time had absolutely no problem… go figure. I happily grabbed our rubles and we went on our way to the store.

· Don’t get electronic supplies and groceries in the same trip (I’m still convinced that is why the woman behind me in line was yelling at me the last time I shopped at Auchen’s)



Shopping at Auchen’s was pretty good… the crowd was fairly thin and calm, so it wasn’t too hard to get around… we shopped smart, and went to get the heavy items first to put in the bottom of the cart (beer, bottled water). Sara became frustrated easily as she learned that… all shopping carts in Russia are broken. She commented on what a “quality job” I did in selecting a cart… I smiled and casually informed her… they’re all like this. These carts tend to operate better when you push them sideways instead of the normal way (from behind). Think of the worst shopping cart you ever used… the one with wheels that shake incessantly… or don’t turn at all (like there is a rock perpetually stuck in it)… or may be missing a wheel or a handle? These all pass quality control in the factory here… and of the thousands of carts at Auchen’s (and every other retailer in Russia) – every cart has some deformity.



We had a “successful” trip as we were able to find things that we had been looking for… legitimate dishwasher soap (last time I bought hand soap instead of dishwasher soap… it was a little extra sudsy, but it worked… sort of… then the dishwasher stopped working…hmmm), paper towels (Bounty they are not, but they will do for the time being)… picked up some additional staples, and headed to checkout. The lines were short (only 3 or so people ahead of us). We learned that taking a tag-team approach to shopping makes the trip go easier… because you have to do so much yourself… it’s hard for one person to get a large order.



When we finished our purchasing at Auchen’s – we headed back to the driver’s car… and our driver was no where to be found… Sara, after complaining to me that I didn’t take the driver’s cell phone number with me (a lot of good that’ll do – I don’t speak Russia, he doesn’t speak English J), she agreed to wait by the car with our groceries while I headed in to IKEA. Just trying to make good use of our time…



The IKEA Experience

I’m sensing we’ll be two-for-two on this trip… not much of a crowd at IKEA either. Because it’s still summer here, most people leave Moscow to go their dacha for the weekend (think very small cottage with utilities where Russians plant potatoes and other produce). So… the stores were a good experience. Sara caught up with me a few minutes later (she actually found me in IKEA!)… the driver had gone into the mall to buy windshield wiper blades for his car… he was going to pack our groceries and Sara and I continued our shopping in IKEA.



All in all, IKEA was a good experience… we got some additional décor things for our house, including new low voltage halogen lights (the ones that look very contemporary). Lighting in our cottage is not too good… so we are buying things to improve it. We also got other odds and ends (shot glasses for the vodka, more candles and candle holders, new bath mats, and a nice bright yellow metal garbage can – we’re trying to brighten up the outside of our cottage as well).



Check out was a breeze… we had the driver come over to pick us up… he helped load up the car (which was, unfortunately quite full by now). He asked if we were ready to go eat (and the only way we knew that’s what he was asking was that he made the universal sign for eating… that of moving your hand to your mouth J).



Getting in to Moscow

As we drove in to Moscow… traffic was not bad at all… which really means it was crazy, just a little less of it. Clearly, driving in Moscow is not for the faint of heart. Of all the big cities I’ve been in around the world, Moscow is clearly the most challenging to drive in.



So our plan was to go to TGIFridays in downtown Moscow… we were in the mood for some buffalo wings, maybe a burger… our driver, unfortunately, was not terribly well-versed in Moscow streets – he had to stop and ask for directions a few times. Sara and I generally know where we are going – so we weren’t concerned he was going way off course – we knew we were headed in the right direction. We did enjoy some brief drive-by sight-seeing while heading into the center of town (passed by the Kremlin, several monuments, etc. Our driver pointed out things as we passed… while there obviously was a language barrier; it’s clear that you can universally express wonder and amazement at some of the monuments and buildings here). I’ve included a picture of one the Seven Sisters buildings.



Lunch

Eating at TGIFridays (see the picture) was a nice diversion… tends to be populated with Americans… so it’s good to hear your native tongue for a change of pace. Lunch was pretty good… and it was nice to have more traditional American fare for a change. Also picked up Friday’s edition of the Moscow Times… and Sara was thrilled (see the picture) as it was the first English paper we’ve seen since we’ve been here. We’re trying to get a copies of it mailed to us from Moscow...



Next Stop – Stockmann’s

Step #4 in our 5 point itinerary for the day was Stockmann’s. This is a Finnish (I think) retailer that specializes in higher end merchandise. Their store is four levels, with lots of house wares, clothes, jewelry, etc. The lower level is a grocery store – where we’ve heard the meats are really good and you can find groceries that are hard to find in other places (hence why we stopped here). We took the “nickel tour” of the whole store (i.e. we rode the escalators up to the top and back down to the bottom) – and went into the grocery store.



As soon as we walked into the grocery store at Stockmann’s, we smiled with glee… shelf tags in Russian & English! No more playing “guess what you’re buying today!”. We knew this was a pricey store, but we had no idea of the sticker shock we were in for… here are some examples:

Item


Price in US Stores


Price at Stockmann’s (in US$)


Available in other Russian stores?


So… did we buy it?

A1 Steak Sauce


$4.99


$10


Not at all


My personal favorite condiment (with Frank’s Red Hot a close #2)… Nah – no sale… way too expensive… and I had several bottles included in our surface shipment, so it wasn’t a “need”. I may be stuffing my suitcase with a for more bottles on our next trip to the US…

French’s Yellow Mustard


$0.79


$5


We’ve found other mustard, but nothing like classic French’s


$5 for something I can get for free and unlimited supply at any baseball game anywhere in the US? Of course we bought it… Had some with a salami and cheese sandwich Saturday night! I’ve been craving plain yellow mustard for a while… I have four big bottles in our sea shipment. Now if we could only track down spicy banana peppers, we’d be set!

Parmesan cheese (in a block, not Kraft pre-grated or anything)


$8 a pound


$22 a pound… shipped in from Italy


No where… most people we’ve talked to said they haven’t seen blocks of parmesan anywhere


We got 2 blocks… each about ½ pound… Never saw it anywhere else, and we haven’t seen anything else close to it. It was expensive… but it was worth it. Especially since we also found a nice bottle of balsamic vinegar at Stockmann’s… and Sara would have been pretty upset if we didn’t get it.

Angus beef (steaks!)


$17 a pound


$41 a pound


In some places… but the quality is sometimes questionable, especially


Almost… then we realized we didn’t have a grill… and we weren’t about to pan-fry a $41 steak… maybe next time…



Needless to say… we will continue to shop at Stockmann’s – but will be very selective on what we get there… it was nice to find things that we haven’t found anywhere else (decaffeinated tea, yellow mustard, decent vinegars, etc.).



Off to M-Video

Our last stop of the day was at M-Video… which one of the largest appliance and electronics retailers in Russia. Think of Best Buy… but maybe 1/10 of the size of the store. They have a pretty good selection of goods… quality seems OK. We had to get a couple things – new telephone, home theater / stereo, coffee grinder, etc. We didn’t have as much luck here… we were hoping to find a coffee pot / espresso machine combination – but they didn’t have any… they had a nice selection of very expensive Italian espresso machines (about $1000 each) – but none of what we were looking for at a price we were willing to pay.



We picked out a reasonably priced home theater system, a wired phone (cordless ones were too expensive – like $225 each), and a coffee grinder. We paid for our belongings… walked back to our car… our driver helped load things up and we were on the road back to Novo.



The Drive Home

We had a pretty quick drive home (about 2 hours)… we were very surprised though… despite light traffic and very nice weather, there were 3 major accidents on the way down.. fortunately, our drivers are all very good, and maintain their vehicles pretty well. Most accidents you see involve poorly maintained Russian vehicles.



Sara slept quite a bit of the way home… she’s not much for shopping to begin with… so the 6 hours we spent in stores wasn’t exactly her idea of fun.



When we got home, we were happy to see Joe and Rommel faired just fine while we were gone… Sara and I sat and talked for a little bit more into the evening… then we had a nice late and light dinner of overpriced parmesan cheese, some of the dried meats we got at the store… some beer and wine. All in all – a good day!



Thanks for reading…

Michael

2004 July 21

Weather Report – afternoon rains… everyday this week… feels like it’s the rainy season in Costa Rica all over again!



Interesting / Funny Observations – on the way home from work today… we had to swerve to miss a goat in the road…



Frustrating Adjustment Issues – you ever get a document notarized? Read below about the wonders of the process in Russia…





Hey there – lots of fun stuff today… read below…



Wednesday July 21, 2004 – had a pretty good day today… work is busy, but productive. I went to dinner (at Kleopatra’s, 2nd time this week… are you seeing a trend?) with my fellow plant IT employees (most work for Hewlett Packard, but we tend to do things together. This was my first time out with an entirely Russian group… it was fun… but a little frustrating at times when you don’t understand the conversations. They did what they could to have some conversation in English… but one of the Hewlett Packard folks speaks no English at all… so it was a hard situation all around. Regardless – we had a great dinner together… said good-bye to the person I’m replacing… and toasted pretty much everything we could think of (which is a Russian tradition). With every new round of drinks comes a toast… sometimes 3 or 4 toasts. And when the night was winding down… and the alcohol was gone… we toasted with glasses of water and juice. While the Russian’s, as a whole, don’t smile a lot… they are very thankful and appreciate, and like to celebrate when appropriate.



Spent most of my day yesterday, and a little bit today… dealing with a Russian Notary Public. I needed to issue power of attorney to our relocation company so they can serve as our agents and get our personal possessions into Russia. A necessary process, but I could have done a case study of inefficiency at work on this one. Let me draw a comparison for you…

US Notary Process


Russia Notary Process

1. Get a document
2. Take your identification / drivers license and maybe a $1 per document (not always needed) to any bank… or find a co-worker that is a notary.
3. Sign document
4. Notary signs and stamps document
5. Process complete



1. Get a document
2. Find a notary… I think there’s 2 in all of Novomoskovsk… they did come right to my office though
3. Find a translator…
4. Prepare to sign documents (1st attempt)… no wait – you can’t sign, because the person who *called* the Notary has to sign the Notary’s log book.
5. Notary leaves office… goes to the home of the person who called the Notary in the first place (who was out of the office sick). Log book is signed… return to the office
6. Prepare to sign documents (2nd attempt)… no wait – now we realize there are lots of errors on the documents. Passport numbers wrong, Visa numbers wrong, etc. Notary needs to return to her office to re-create documents (why couldn’t we just use the ones I had prepared? Well we can’t, no idea why).
7. Several hours elapses… notary returns to the office again… changed the name of the Notary requestor to someone who was in the office. Then realized that there were still a ton of errors on the documents… it’s now the end of the day. Notary scheduled to return tomorrow.
8. Notary returns to the office the following morning… documents now appear to be in order…
9. Argue for 20 minutes about absolutely nothing after I asked for additional copies.
10. Sign document
11. Notary signs and stamps the documents… records the entire transaction in her log book
12. process complete.



Regardless, the papers are signed and in Moscow… I felt like I accomplished something when it was done… our air shipment from the US has been released for transport… expected to arrive in our cottage in Novomoskovsk on Thursday, July 29. Crossing our fingers… J… I just can’t believe it basically took 2 people and a total of about 10 effort hours for one and 2 effort hours for another… to complete what essentially comes down to a $1 service. There are many things that I see in Russia and really appreciate… but the Notary service is not one of them.



Had a funny “language barrier” incident today… one of my colleagues from Hewlett Packard (who has also been serving as a translator at some points for me) came into the office Wednesday morning. Told me “Human Resources needs your passport, your immigration card, your visa, and all of Sara’s documents as well. Plus 2000 rubles (about $68).” I asked why… and she said “you have performed a very illegal action, and you are being fined by the authorities.” I was waiting for her to say something additional like “your things have been packed for you… Sara is in a van waiting outside for you… you need to leave now”… I never heard that (!) but they did clarify that apparently, when you arrive in Russia, you need to get your visa registered with a local immigration office… and you need to do this every time you arrive in Russia (i.e. every time when return from a trip). In essence, it really isn’t that illegal… probably equivalanet to a jay-walking fine. But I laughed (privately) about the “very illegal action”.



Thanks for reading!

Michael

2004 July 14

July 14, 2004

Weather Report – seems like it rains every afternoon in Switzerland… but it was nice and cool… about 60 F.

Adjustment Challenges – this was my first business trip since our move, so it was hard to leave Sara behind. Thankfully it was a good trip and things went OK for her in Novomoskovsk…

Interesting Observation – Swiss money is about the prettiest I’ve every seen. But even the paper money is all different sizes…

Hi all – thought I give you a brief update about my recent trip to Switzerland… normally that would sound exciting, but it was tough leaving Sara alone in Novomoskovsk after only being there for a few days… but I had a meeting to attend at our office in Geneva, and Sara and I originally planned on being in Russia by late June. I posted some pictures of my trip.

Geneva

Anyways… I flew out of Domodedovo (DME) airport in Moscow on Sunday… this is on the southern side of Moscow. It was a nice change to fly out of DME as this airport is closer to our home in Novo (a mere 2 hour ride from our door to the airport J). The travels were generally un-eventful, and I arrived in Geneva at 5:45 PM local Geneva time (6 hours ahead of east coast time).

I found Geneva to be a beautiful country… very scenic via its mountains… but I was most surprised at how absolutely quiet it was, especially for a big city. After I checked into my hotel (a 37 room boutique hotel), I figured I’d go for a walk to get dinner. Lesson #1 about Geneva – nothing is open on Sunday evening… absolutely nothing. No restaurants (that I found at least), no groceries, not even a gas station. I returned to the hotel and ate the snacks in the minibar (or as comedian Mitch Hedberg says… the machine that makes everything more expensive).

My meetings on Monday and Tuesday were good… nice to meet the people in my region… although it was hard to catch exact names. Our office in Geneva is beautiful… nestled in a quiet neighborhood… wonderful gardens surrounding it.

Wednesday was my travel day back to Moscow… I had breakfast at the hotel (as I did Monday and Tuesday)… it was a “buffet” – but not like I’d find in US hotels… there was blocks of cheese… some derivative of ham… croissants… fresh fruit… nice crusty bread… cappuccino, juices…etc. It really hit the spot... but the best part was discovering what I guess is the Swiss equivalent of the doughnut – a flakey pastry with a chunk of chocolate in the middle. Very tasty!

Pizano’s? You stealing my money?

I got back to the Geneva airport without issue… checked in for my flight… and had some time to kill. Stopped at the duty-free shop to pick up a bottle of Bailey’s Irish Crème (goes great in our weekend coffee, but is kind of expensive in Moscow, so I figured it was good to get it here). Found a coffee shop in the airport… had another cappuccino. Decided to get a bottle of water before I got I plane… so I went back up to the counter with all the Swiss Franc coins I had left (I had a 4.35 Francs in coins that I want to get rid of. 4.35 Swiss francs is about $3.48). The water was 4.50 Swiss francs… I was .15 francs short (about 2 cents). I saw what I thought was the standard “give a penny… take a penny” tray on the counter. So I started pawing through the tray… looking for my magic .15 francs… I thought it was unusual that there were a couple 2swiss franc coins in there (about $1.50)… before I knew it… in perfectly clear English… the counter worker saying to me “hey hey hey – that’s me tips!”. Embarrassed again… reminded me of a good Seinfeld episode… the one where George was getting calzone from Pizano’s… and put a buck in the tip jar – but the counter worker didn’t see it. So George tried to grab it back and the counter worker caught him, and kicked George out of Pizano’s… after I walked away, I could understand what the counter worker was saying as he laughed and told his co-workers about our little exchange J.

I flew back to Moscow… and my plan was to meet my driver… and go to a place called “MEGA MALL”. It’s also on the southern side of Moscow, and I wanted to stop there to do grocery shopping, electronics shopping, and IKEA shopping to get some home décor stuff.

Shopping

My day was actually going really well… we got the mall at a pretty good time (just a bit after 6PM Moscow time). I was going to do grocery shopping at a French chain called “Auchen”. I told the driver to expect me to be done around 6:45 PM. I grabbed my cart… and started my mad dash around the store…. 1^st stop – the electronics section to get a clock radio, hair dryer, and power strips. I noticed people walking out with big expensive stereos… so obviously people were spending money here. This was a big store… I believe there were 65 cash registers… and a line at every single one.

I maneuvered around the store… I was a little surprised I actually saw things like paint and garden tools – first time I’ve seen this in Moscow. I found most of what I needed (but keep in mind grocery shopping is still very hard as I cannot read any of the labels… mostly I go buy shape of the package and pictures on the packages. I bought what I was pretty sure was bouillon cubes (later confirmed it was) – but was only able to select them via the picture of the cow on one package (beef bouillon) and the chicken on the other (chicken bouillon). Sara also wanted me to get some steaks / beef as we were planning to have beef stroganoff on Friday of this week. I went to the meat section… was looking at what I thought was beef… picked out what I thought was nicely sliced pieces of filet mignon…. But I thought it was curious that it had no fat on it. We later learned, that what I bought, was actually… Salmon steaks. I’m not what you call a big fish fan J

Insufficient Funds

Anyways… I checked my watch and noticed that it was getting late (about 7PM). Remembering I told the driver I’d be back @ 6:45 PM… I figured I better go check out. I invested 1 hour in grocery shopping… time to go wait in line. As I was waiting and observing… I noticed… I didn’t see any credit card readers – anywhere. But people were leaving with stereos and expensive stuff! Surely they aren’t walking around with this much cash in their pockets?

Wisely… I approach one of the cashiers who was waiting to switch in for her shift… I showed her my credit cards and asked, in very bad English/Russian – do they take credit cards. I heard the dreaded “niet” – which is Russian for “no”. Yikes… lots of groceries, esp. with things that we need, like dishwasher soap… and I did not have enough cash on me to buy them. So… I parked my cart behind a pallet (hoping nobody would take it)… and went on my quest to find an ATM machine. Thankfully there was one right at the edge of the store. I put my card in… press the magic “English” button, and start processing a withdrawal. No good – get an insufficient funds message (which was troubling… I know my account balances – and I should have been good for this transaction). I step back from the machine… and let a few others try to use it… they were unsuccessful as well… so I figure it was a machine problem.

I had to continue on my quest for cash… this was a big mall… and I walked almost all of it. Not a single ATM machine would give me cash… not on my ATM card, not on a credit card.. nothing. Now getting frustrated… it was almost 8 PM (I was looking for cash for an hour)… still wanted to get to IKEA, and had a 2.5 hour ride back to Novomoskovsk ahead of me as well. I was thinking… as I walked back to the store… that I was going to prioritize my groceries, and get as many things as I could for the amount of rubles I had in my pocket (about $60 worth). I walked past the very first ATM that I tried… and I figured I give it another shot. Would you believe – it actually worked! So I took out several thousand rubles… and proudly walked back to my cart. Everything was still there… so I went to wait in line again… as I was loading my groceries on the conveyor belt…. Some Russian woman behind me in line pushed past a few people… started pointing at my groceries and shouting at me… literally shouting. Something about buying electronics… I wasn’t sure what her issue was… but I’m quickly learning that often, Russians just like to argue for the sake of arguing… they have a collective history that I believe gives them the right to do this.

The cashier rang me up… tried explaining something to me (I really think I wasn’t supposed to buy electronics in grocery line or something like that) – but no one stopped me, and I walked out… very happy that my shopping trip turned out OK.

The Drive back to Novo

I skipped the electronics store stop, but did go to IKEA to get some décor stuff, pillows, etc. At checkout I was asked for my passport (thankfully I had itJ). I grabbed a tasty (sarcasm intended) IKEA hot dog for dinner, went outside, loaded up the car, and headed back south to Novomoskovsk.

The weather on the trip back was awful… very rainy and lots of thunder and lightning. Not exactly a pleasant drive if you know what I mean. Thankfully – got home safe and sound… Sara, Joe, and Rommel were all pretty happy to see me… and I was glad to be home.

Thanks for reading…

Michael

P.S. – we did learn that one of the major banks in Russia collapsed in the earlier part of the week, and there was a run on money at ATMs as a result… I think that is was caused all the ATM craziness… but I’ve learned, if nothing else, only take cash to Auchen’s!

Weather Report – sunny and 74 F (23 C) – the last few days have been really, really nice

Adjustment Challenges – some things just don’t work like you think they would… I recall a Russian told us once “you’d think it was the Russians who invented duct tape…”. Additionally, using things like appliances is just intuitive…. Thankfully, the manuals for our appliances were left in our cottage…. And some of them are even written in English

Funny Observations – even when it’s warm out… very few people in Russia wear shorts.

Greetings from Russia… Sara and I went to a little corner market up the street to get bread and cheese for dinner (we’re having pasta with red sauce, salad, and garlic bread for dinner). This was a more typical Russian store where everything is behind a counter and you have to ask for it. We learned today that in stores like these, you pay as you go (i.e. if you want a loaf of bread, you ask for the bread, they give it to you… you pay them in rubles… they give you your change, and you move on). There are no shopping baskets… bring your own if you’d like. Oh – and if you are short on cash, you might find a slot-machine in the store so perhaps you can win money for groceries.

As I was saying… we wanted to get fresh hard cheese for dinner… maybe some parmesan or asiago… we knew we would not find these specifics… so we figured we would just ask to feel the cheese to find a hard one. It is very difficult to find a “hard” cheese in Russia… anyways, we managed to convince the woman behind the counter to let us touch the cheeses. As expected, we couldn’t find a hard one, so we asked for a piece of one that looked good. She cut off our piece, put it in a little bag… and gave it to us. We’re trying to learn and use Russian when speaking… so I said, in my best Russian… “Hi”… that’s right… I said hello to this woman about six times… then I realized that:

1. I confused the words for “Hi” and “Thank You”
2. I had to pay here on the spot

So once I realized my vocal errors… I gave her 150 rubles (in the form of a 100 ruble bill and a 50 ruble bill – this is the total equivalent of ~$5 USD). The cheese was very cheap… just a few rubles (i.e. far less than $1)… fortunately, she was kind enough to not take advantage of us, and gave us appropriate change. We selected a loaf of fresh bread (it smells really good… the bread here is very tasty… Atkins friendly this country is not…)…. paid 9 rubles for it (about 30 cents)…. and headed out the door.

We walked back from the store feeling a small bit of success… and laughed about how foolish we probably looked. Maybe next time we’ll bring our own grocery bags J

Thanks for reading…
Michael

Travel + Arriving in Novomoskovsk

Weather Report – sunny… didn’t get the temperature – but it was pleasant… with no humidity

Adjustment Challenges – all in all… pretty smooth sailing, all things considered… first day in a new country… where we don’t speak the language…

Funny Observations – none reported…

Greetings from Russia… Sara and I arrived yesterday afternoon in Moscow. All in all – it was a flawless trip from a process perspective… Sara unfortunately got sick (food poisoning I believe) from the food on the plane. We met a very nice man in Germany at the Frankfurt airport… people in his group were sick as well on the Lufthansa flight out of Atlanta (we came out of Chicago). We asked if he had any medication with him to help Sara… and he gave her a pill. Very strange, now that we think about it… that one American to another… we trusted each other with medication. Anyways… the pill took effect on Sara about 1 hour later… she slept the whole trip from Frankfurt to Moscow… and it feeling much better today.

I’ve included in the sections below a little update on a few phases of our trip… feel free to read along as much as you’d like

Leaving Cincinnati and going to Chicago
Because one of the only airlines that would take Joe & Rommel (our dog and cat for those that don’t know) was Lufthansa, we could not depart for Moscow via plane from Cincinnati. Net, we left Cincinnati Tuesday afternoon and drove to Chicago. Our plan was to depart from Chicago O’Hare Wednesday afternoon.

We arrived in Chicago Tuesday around 9PM local time… stayed at the Residence Inn in Warrenville, IL because they allowed pets. The hotel is great (Sara and I normally enjoy staying in hotel suites like the Residence Inn or Springhill Suites when we travel because we aren’t restricted to eating only hotel food or dining out). This hotel charged $75 for the night for the pets. There’s a decent amount of walking area around the perimeter of the property for animals… and there was a fair number of animals staying at the hotel.

After checking into the hotel, walking & medicating Joe (he’s on steroids due to his fight with ITP and some other medicine to stabilize his on-going colitis), and feeding both the dog & cat… we went to visit Jim & Carolyn and their kids in Aurora… it was great to see at least some of our family once more before departing. Unfortunately, time didn’t allow getting to see more prior to leaving.

Getting Ready for Depart for the Airport
Wednesday AM, we awoke in Chicago… had an appointment at 10 AM with a company called “Aark Air”… Clay Dabbert is the owner (I believe)… Clay came over to give us travel kennels for both animals and to provide ground transport from the hotel to the airport. Clay and his company were wonderful… provided exactly the service they said they would and executed flawlessly. By the way… for those traveling with pets… Clay had frozen water in drinking bowls the night before… so the animals had ice in their cages for the trip. Very clever!

Sara and I packed the balance of our things and headed to airport… we both looked at each other and expressed that we couldn’t believe the reality of this departure was finally here.

Getting into O’Hare
We had a bunch of luggage (2 wheel-aboard bags, 2 computer bags, 2 large duffel bags, 1 medium sized bag, 1 cooler, and 1 oversized suitcase filled with American food products that we knew we wouldn’t find in Moscow (Frank’s Red Hot, Montgomery Inn BBQ sauce, etc.). We laughed quite a bit about bringing the cooler… Jeff Foxworthy (the “redneck” comedian did a bit on this… called “Clampetts Go to Maui”)

“… so we’re at the airport and the attendant asks… ‘is yours the Samonsite?’. ‘Nahh… ours is the Igloo and 5 Piggly Wiggly bags…..”

However, we filled our Igloo with blankets, a small bag of dog food, and a plastic bag. Our plan was, when we got to Moscow and stopped at the grocery store… to be able to put our cold things / meat somewhere where they wouldn’t spoil on the drive to Novomoskovsk.

Sara dropped me off at the door by Lufthansa departures… then went to return the rental car herself… this way we didn’t have to deal with all of that luggage more than once. Sara returned… Clay from Aark Air showed up at the door a few minutes later… gave us our pets, and we were on our way to check in.

Checking in at the airport
We don’t normally fly Lufthansa… although, as stated earlier, this was really our only realistic choice to get our pets transported to Russia. The people working the check-in desk at Lufthansa were very nice… they talked to the pets very nicely. Joe talked back to them… you could hear him barking throughout the entire airport.

We paid our excess baggage fees and were on our way to security… there was an airport employee who pushed a cart with our animals… and Joe just continued to bark. The good news was he wasn’t sounding scared or upset… but angry. We just don’t want to see him scared.

When we got to the luggage screening area… we learned we had to take our pets out of their cages for screening. Rommel was no problem… but I was concerned about taking Joe out… I wasn’t sure he was going to go back in. Security called their “supervisor” over to make a decision… but while we waited 20 minutes for the “supervisor”… Joe had calmed down enough that we took him out of the cage. No problems… and we moved on…

Waiting to Depart
Since we were now down to only our computer bags and our roll-aboard bags… we were able to maneuver around the airport more easily… first stop was the Lufthansa (United) lounge. United Red Carpet Club… needless to say – we were not impressed with the Red Carpet club… We find Delta’s Crown Room to be much nicer. In the Red Carpet club… no food, and they gave us drink coupons to exchange for cocktails at the bar. I felt like I was in college again… So we immediately left the Red Carpet Club and went to Wolfgang Puck’s for a drink and some lunch. After finishing our lunch… we moved closer to the departure gate… found another Red Carpet Club… got more drink coupons… and headed upstairs. Our flight was scheduled to depart in 45 minutes.

The Flight
We traveled on Lufthansa Flight 431 from Chicago O’Hare to Frankfurt, Germany… and then Lufthansa 3182 from Frankfurt to Moscow. My employer is generous enough to provide business class tickets for international travel… so we are well cared for…

In comparing Lufthansa business class to other airlines… I wasn’t terribly impressed… not enough room to move around when the person in front of you reclines… no amenities to clean up in the morning when you arrive, etc. Certainly not un-bearable, but there are better values out there…

About 2/3 of the way into the trip… Sara got very sick… I’ll spare you the gory details, but she initially had symptoms of motion sickness. Of course I had forgotten to pack any anti-nausea medicine in my bag… and of course, the airline didn’t have any supplies on board… the flight attendant brought her some Coke-Cola… but it didn’t help.

We landed in Frankfurt… Sara was the last one off the plane… we couldn’t find a store that sold any kind of motion sickness or nausea medication… Once we were on the ground, her sickness got much worse. We believe this was a case of food poisoning. In conversing with others waiting for the flight from Frankfurt to Moscow… we discovered a Lufthansa flight from Atlanta to Frankfurt had least six people with a very similar illness.

We had one of our only “hiccups” on the whole trip while waiting to get boarded for the Moscow flight… a gate agent from Lufthansa came over and started yelling at me and grabbed two pieces of my luggage. She told me I had “too much luggage” and that she was going to check some of it for me… “oh no no” I replied… “your policy permits me to have one carry on and one personal item (i.e. purse, computer bag, etc.). I’m within regulations… please bring your supervisor”. After reviewing my ticket, she made an “exception” for us and let the situation alone.

For those that don’t know… traveling into Russia is not always easy… you have to have a travel visa properly authorized by the Russian government with travel dates clearly marked on it. There was one person traveling with his family from Miami to Frankfurt and then Frankfurt to Moscow who had an error on his visa. Unfortunately… he was denied boarding and his family traveled on without him. Seems like there are no exceptions when it comes to Russian visas.

After getting medication from the guy in Frankfurt… Sara slept the whole trip from Frankfurt to Moscow and started feeling a little better when we got to Moscow.

Arriving in Moscow
We landed in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport (code SVO). I have read and heard many horror stories about this airport. This is our second time landing at SVO.

We got out of the plane… walked maybe 50 yards to immigration. There was basically no line… waited 5 minutes to get through immigration… had no problems at all. Went on to get our luggage… our bags came out first… and the dog came out within a few minutes. As Sara and I struggled a bit with his very large kennel… the cat passes us by on the conveyor… “Sara – get the cat!”… it sounded like a line from a Lethal Weapon movie…

The animals were in perfect working order when we got them… they actually looked like they survived the trip without any ill effects what-so-ever. We arranged to have a local resource help us get our animals through customs… but she got hung up in traffic… so I took the dog and cat through customs myself… waited in line for 15 minutes (the only customs agent working the “something to declare” line was off handling a “problem”). When she came back… she stamped our declaration forms and we were on our way… absolutely no questions, problems, or concerns. The hardest part was pushing two carts… one with the animals, one with some of our luggage.

Our taxi driver was waiting for us outside of customs… Valeria met us as well… she thought the animals looked fine… gave us a few tips for helping ease their transition… and we were all on our way. We really could not believe how well both Joe & Rommel looked…

Stopping at the Store
Since where we live, in Novomoskovsk, there are no large grocery stores (just a few mini-markets)… we planned to stop at “Ramstore City” to get groceries. Ramstore is one of two chains in Russia that provide a more westernized shopping experience (the other is called Stockman’s – we haven’t been there yet, but from what I hear, it’s a bit more on the high end).

The concept of “stocking up” on groceries just doesn’t exist in Russia. I had one cart (Sara waited in the van with the dog & cat) that I filled well over the top… and had the bottom filled up as well. Had to get all of our basics… cat litter, water (the water in Russia is not drinkable), soda, coffee, juice, some meats, cheeses, and our first bottle of Russian Vodka (the brand is Russian Standard… it came highly recommended by our Russian cross-cultural trainer).

In Russia, they do not bag your groceries for you… and the conveyor belt is very long… so I had to bounce between bagging groceries, loading things on the belt, watching the transactions go by, etc. No – even when the clerks see you struggling – they will not help. Lots of strange looks from people… couldn’t understand why one person had so much cat litter…

I guess the only real frustration came next… I provided the clerk my Amazon.com Visa card (offered by Bank One)… she swiped it and the transaction was declined… here I am with $360 in groceries in my cart… and my card is rejected. I normally use American Express for all purchases… but AMEX is not widely accepted in Russia, so I’m starting to defer to Visa. Although I alerted Bank One that I was going to be traveling heavily in Russia… and this was not my first transaction from Russia on this card… and they still declined the charge. I called them later from the van on the way to Novomoskovsk and they confirmed that they declined the charge because it was from a foreign country. I expressed a great deal of disappointment and frustration because I did not feel valued as a customer because I’m standing in a store 5000 miles from home without a high level of certainty that my credit card will provide the security and usage I expect from it. In reality, I was angry with Bank One… but not too frustrated with the situation… because, as always, American Express delivers the service I needed. I wish AMEX was more widely accepted in Russia… it’s an invaluable travel tool.

Driving to Novomoskovsk
Our driver took us from Moscow to Novomoskovsk… it’s about 120 miles or so, due south of Moscow… given our excessive road-trips to football games… this drive is nothing. Sara, Joe and Rommel slept most of the way… I slept a little.

Arriving in Novomoskovsk
Fortunately, our cottage was mostly in working order when we got to Novo… we discovered that our refrigerator isn’t working… but the freezer is fine and we are using that plus a fridge in a neighboring area. The last person who lived here took all the cables for the satellite TV… so that doesn’t work either. Otherwise, we unpacked the things we brought on the plane with us… found places for the pet’s food and water… had our first meal in our new home (frozen pizza – you gotta start somewhere). We slept quite a bit… it was a long day…

Thanks for reading…

Michael

2004 July 9

July 9, 2004 – 7:46 PM Russian Time



Weather Report – sunny and 74 F (23 C)



Adjustment Challenges – the washing machine is too small… the dryer is too small… the fridge is too small… the cat can’t find her food… and it isn’t “natural” to give the dog and cat bottled water just yet…



Funny Observations – on the ride back from the plant today… I saw 6 goats cutting the grass outside an apartment building. Also, Joe has taken to one particular chair in our sun room… I have to keep chasing him out of it so I have a place to sit…





Greetings from Russia… Sara and I are now better rested… I think I’ve adjusted to the time change pretty well… it normally hits Sara a day or two later. Several small accomplishments for the day…



* Figured out how to work the washer, dryer, and microwave (ok – the washer wasn’t too hard since it had instructions that were sort of written in English)
* Stopped by the office today… got my security badge… and met some of my new co-workers
* Sara made a wonderful dinner – our first “real home cooked meal” in Novomoskovsk… garlic green beans, rice, chicken with a garlic and mustard sauce… accompanied with a Carlsberg beer (not Russian – but a fairly tasty beer)



Joe and Rommel seem to be settling in pretty well… the cat is talking an awful lot… I’m not 100% sure why… but she absolutely loves all the windows in the place.





Thanks for reading…



Michael