2004 August 22

Weather Report – crazy… it’s been hot (85 degrees) then cool (55 degrees) then hot again… when will fall get here? The weather throughout August has been strange indeed…. It’s getting to be the end of the month, and it’s still very warm (most days are in the 80’s)… although the humidity is relatively low…

Interesting Observations – every Friday on the way home from work… there are a ton of vendors on every street, with dozens of plastic crates… and they are selling alcohol – to everyone that walks by… I think people get their paychecks… and decide to celebrate a little. The public drunkenness is not too significant of a problem here in Novo… but it is a big problem in Moscow…

Adjustment Challenges – the football season is kicking off… we are starting to feel the withdrawal of not being able to sit in a crowded parking lot drinking beer, cooking shrimp, and throwing a football with thousands of total strangers. We will have to start counting the days to our October visit to the US (Iowa @ Penn St on Saturday, Oct 23, then Denver @ Cincinnati on Monday night) – we’ll have to cram a season’s worth of tailgating into one weekend!

OK OK OK… so it’s been a little… I thought I’d catch up by reviewing life over the past few weeks…

August 2

We had a cake party in my office today (my IT team only). This is a very interesting tradition… when it’s someone’s birthday… they bring in cakes, chocolates, juices, fruits, to celebrate their birthday. The rest of the team collects money and buys the celebrant a gift. What is most interesting about this – is the Russian culture looks down on gifts that have corporate logos (i.e. company shirts, etc.) and highly values practical things. For this particular person’s birthday, she received a new black leather purse. For the event, we made coffee & tea as well… and sit around and talk for a little bit. It’s a very nice tradition.

August 3

So our air shipment finally arrived today… it was kind of like Christmas… our main home computer, our video projector (instead of a traditional TV, we are using a projector which travels better than a television, gives you a huge picture (ours is about 70” diagonal) and works on both 110 and 220V power systems). My Xbox and video games showed up, and Sara’s good cookware and knives were in the shipment… along with food and treats for Joe & Rommel… everyone was very happy!

So I figured I’d plug in the home computer (which is where we keep all of our music) and connect up the rest of the stereo stuff so we can have some music… so I got out the computer… plugged in my 220V power cord… plugged it into the power strip, and flipped the switch on the power strip. Instantaneously… like an IT manager’s bad dream… I heard a very loud “crack” and then half the lights in the cottage went out.

I killed the computer… I forgot to flip the little switch on the back from 115 to 230. So preventable was this little disaster… I just made a mistake. So frustrating because I should have known better… I should have double checked. So frustrating because everything else (electronically at least was going so well). For example:

Xbox – this video game system (from Microsoft) comes standard in the US with an 110V only power supply. I found a company in Hong Kong that made power supplies that are switch able from 110 to 220… so I bought the new power supply and installed it prior to leaving the US… I remembered to configure it properly, and the Xbox started up no problem…

• Projector – we bought a DLP projector from Dell specifically because it was so light and worked on both power systems… works like a champ – and I think we might have the biggest TV picture in all of Novo.
• Home Theater – we bought a new home theater system here in Russia. We bought a LG brand (LG makes good quality products, and they have been in business in Russia for about 10 years – so their prices are lower than most people). Russian DVD players are encoded to Region 5 (whereas the US is encoded to Region 1) – I’m not sure what the benefit of regional encoding is – other than serving as a means of control – but Region 1 DVDs don’t play on Region 5 players. Sara and I have lots of DVDs – so we have a problem, right? Nah… a quick search on our old friend internet (as Martin Sargent of Unscrewed on TechTV would say) provided me the right codes to reprogram our new home theater from a Region 5 player to a multi-region (region 0 player). Success!

So a quick call to my Dad, who provided sound advice (as usual) suggested that the computer was probably dead, but perhaps get an electrical tester to verify. Since I didn’t have a tester, Sara grabbed one of the local maintenance guys a few days later… who confirmed that, it in fact, was burned and dead. He pulled the power supply out of the computer and found where the small flame-out had occurred. I’m hoping I don’t need to replace too many parts to fix this thing… but needless to say… I’ll be out shopping for new computer parts now J.

And the lesson of today, kids? Triple check the status of power supplies / switches before providing power to your favorite electronics. Got it?

August 5 & Aug 6

I spent Thursday and Friday in our office in Moscow. This was quite a trip… lots of bizarre / strange things… let me share a couple of them

• Driving to Moscow – I shared a ride with two of my colleagues (Gerard & Elena). We left Novomoskovsk at 6:30 AM… expecting to get to the Moscow office around 9:30 AM (at the latest). We were happy as we had a very good driver (Valeriy) – who had a well-maintained Audi A4 (it had about 250,000KM, or about 155,000 miles, but it was only 4 - 5 years old – which is like new for a car in Russia). When we drive from Novomoskovsk to Moscow, it normally takes about 20-30 minutes to get on the highway (Novomoskovsk is set a little ways back from the highway)… then another 90 – 100 minutes of highway driving to Moscow… then 30 minutes to get through the normally horrendous Moscow traffic). We were on the highway all of 20 minutes… and we hit traffic… very surprising as it was nice sunny morning. We literally sat, unmoved in traffic for about 90 minutes when we finally got moving… we anxiously awaited to see what type of accident had caused our delay… turns out it was an 18-wheeler truck filled with paint and a large dump truck filled with dirt. Can you imagine the mess on the road? Paint and paint cans were everywhere – and were being thickened with the dirt that was all over the road. Clearly two drivers who weren’t paying attention. Fortunately, it appeared like no one was hurt.
• Working in the Moscow office was fine… and generally uneventful. I used the time to get to meet with a few people in the office, and work on a couple projects that I’m handling. Unfortunately, the traffic caused me to have to reschedule a few meetings, but it was a nice, productive day.
• After working in the office for the day, I had a taxi arranged to take me shopping… normal stops for me in Moscow – IKEA and Ramstore (another large grocery store – but is part of a mall that has a food court and lots of stores). Traffic was again, very heavy, but I had a successful couple stops. Got what we needed at IKEA (curtains, curtain rods, a few other odds and ends). I then went to Ramstore, and had a generally good trip. I made a point of stopping for dinner prior to shopping…. Went to Pizza Hut – had pizza (which actually kind of tasted like regular Pizza Hut pizza) and a beer. It really hit the spot.
• Friday started out well… stopped at the hotel café and had a cappuccino and a croissant before going to the office… read a bit of the Moscow Times… and then headed to the office. Working in the office on Friday was fine… my trip home was another story. I had arranged to ride from Moscow to Novo with a taxi / courier that we hire to travel between the two offices to pick up / drop off interoffice mail. The driver was a nice-enough guy, with a very old (and right-handed driving) Toyota “Crown” (this apparently was a semi popular predecessor to the Camry in the 1970’s and 1980’s). We left the Moscow office around 5PM… drove almost to the edge of town, and the driver’s cell phone rings. Turns out, one other person was supposed to join us for the ride, but she was late getting to the office lobby… so we turned around and headed back to the office. Total time wasted: well over an hour. It rained quite a bit of the trip… and… and… we hit, what I’d call “dacha traffic”. Every weekend, throughout the spring, summer, and part of fall (at least until the snow hits), tens of thousands of Russian’s pack up their Ladas and Volgas (the two most popular brands of Russian cars) and head out to the country to their dacha to explain the craziness of the city. The roads were absolutely packed… lots of poorly maintained vehicles filled to the gills with all sorts of people and things, including lots of boxes tied to the roofs… of course there were breakdowns, accidents, etc. I saw a guy pouring beer into the overheated radiator of his Lada… I guess you do what you have to do J. We finally got out of “dacha traffic” and made our mostly uneventful ride back to Novo. About 30 miles outside of Novo… our driver pulled over… turns out he was about to run out of gas… but thankfully, he had a spare container of fuel in the trunk. I’m not sure why this is better / safer than just filling up the tank normally – but needless to say, I won’t be riding with this particular driver again.

August 7

Unfortunately, we missed the Grier Family Reunion (held today @ Countryside Campground). It was sad to miss this – it would have been great to catch up with family. Since we couldn’t attend in person, we sent the message below to Dad & Kevin, asking them to read it at the reunion.

As some of you may or may not know, Sara and I have moved our family to Russia and are now living in the small town of Novomoskovsk (novo-mosk-ovsk). It’s located about 120 miles south of Moscow. I have accepted the role of IT manager for the Proctor and Gamble plant in the town. We are quickly learning that the culture here, while different, is very enjoyable. People here are very friendly and seem as eager to learn about us as we are to learn about them. Joe and Rommel (our dog and cat) have adapted quite well and seem very happy here.

We regret that we were unable make the reunion as we are sure to be missing out on a great deal of fun. However, we are thinking of all of you and hope that everyone is having a peaceful summer. Please stay in touch. We have a web site that chronicles our trials and adventures here in Russia. Feel free to visit.

www.experiencegrierproject.com

With much love,

Mike and Sara

Additionally, today we received an offer of sale for our house in Cincinnati… it took longer than we expected (about 30 days) – but the Cincinnati market in general was very slow throughout July. The offer was a low-ball (but we learned the buyer was a 1^st time buyer and the agent was new – so they were like the blind leading the blind when they thought about their offer strategy). Not only did the buyer make a wacky offer… but they gave us 3 hours to respond – even though they know we live in Russia, and it was the middle of night when they made their initial offer. If there is one thing in this world that completely baffles is clueless people. Anyways… enough whining… we countered with pricing data and, after 2 rounds of trading off – we agreed to terms. All in all, a relatively easy transaction – but it consumed too much time on tiny details.

Sara and I really loved our house in Cincinnati… but for some reason, it wasn’t too hard letting go of it. In fact, this whole transition has been amazing easy… either we are very adaptive to change, or the reality of this hasn’t hit us yet. We spend each day enjoying the predictability and simplicity of our lives.

• Predictable – we set the alarm for about 6:30 AM… finally get out of bed at 7:45 AM (yes – 75 minutes of snoozing (Note to Mom & Dad – some things will never change… except our cottage doesn’t have heat pipes that you can bang on to wake me up J). I hop in the shower, get dressed, have a cup of coffee, and the van / shuttle leaves the compound at 8:30 AM sharp. My day in office is somewhat unpredictable, but that’s the nature of the work. I catch the van/shuttle and head back to the cottage @ 6PM every evening. Sara makes dinner (or we go out)… and we conclude dinner with a drink or two (and sometimes more J) and perhaps a walk with the dog around the compound. Later in the evening, we may watch a movie together, or I’ll play a video game while Sara reads… and we are in bed by midnight.
• Simple – we are without many of the trappings of our lives in the US… because we live in corporate housing, we don’t have any bills to pay (P&G deducts money for housing and utilities from my monthly pay), we don’t have cars to take care of … we don’t have much house maintenance to do (the guys that work here are great – and have been here almost every day since we got here taking care of things for us). Our biggest challenges are things like trying to understand how much something is going to cost us at the open markets.

August 11

Sara and I had a wonderful evening out together… in what is becoming our Wednesday (sometimes Thursday) night tradition – dinner @ Kleopatra’s. We had guests for dinner this night – two of my colleagues who are working in Novo and originally based out of Poland. The one (Adam) is spending his first visit to Novo… not exactly enjoying himself – as Novo is not exciting the hot-bed of excitement. We had nice chat together (especially as this was Sara’s first time meeting Adam).

August 14

Today was a little tougher… a couple of our favorite things were happening in Cincinnati… so it got me thinking about living in the US. Specifically, August 14 was the day of the Barenaked Ladies concert at Riverbend. BNL is probably one of my favorite groups (they put on great live shows… we’ve seen their concerts several times) and they just generally have a lot of fun in their work.

Additionally, this was the scheduled date for the Bengals preseason game in Tampa Bay (which was actually rescheduled to Monday night due to the hurricanes in Florida. While we probably wouldn’t have gone to Tampa for the game, we definitely would have been watching it, preferably at one of our favorite sports bars in Cincinnati.

Today wasn’t all bad though… we went to Moscow for the day… we left our cottage at 7:00 AM with Valeriy (in the black Audi A4)… and had a reasonably uneventful drive to Moscow… they weather basically sucked – it poured rain all day. We went to Auchen first (the large grocery store)… we are finally getting the hang of grocery shopping here… first stop at the ATM and get cash (as you may remember from previous journals, Auchen doesn’t take credit cards). Then – get your cart and go get the big items (cases of beer, water, etc.). We also know enough not the fight your way down the overly packed aisles… so we leave our cart at random places throughout the store and go separately to pick things up. Sara and I really are working together well in the stores now J. After shopping at Auchen, we put our groceries in the car (we brought a cooler for the meats and frozen things) and had our driver leave us off near the main entrance of the MEGA Mall. We went inside… I wanted to give Sara a quick tour of the mall, especially the indoor skating rink. We walked the mall for a bit, and decided that we wanted to get a light snack (by this time, it was about 11:30 AM). We found what looked like a reasonable bar / restaurant (called Hippopotamus). They apparently had some rule about serving food prior to noon, but we persisted and they brought us an appetizer sampler and 2 beers. Good enough to cover our appetites for now.

We moved on the IKEA (I’m starting to think I can’t ever go to Moscow without going to IKEA). We picked up the few things that we needed at IKEA, and headed back to Valeriy’s car.

Out next stop – lunch in downtown Moscow. We had both been craving Asian food… so we got a recommendation for a restaurant called “HKong” in downtown Moscow… this turned out to be a beautifully decorated Asian restaurant (see the pictures 1 2 3) with food that, while expensive, was well prepared and presented. Might be my 2^nd favorite place for Asian food… with the 1^st being China Grill in South Beach, Miami.

We had a wonderful lunch together… and… then collected ourselves for the ride back to Novo. Thankfully, the trip, while still raining heavily, was fairly uneventful.

August 15

After a long day yesterday, I think we slept until about 2 in the afternoon today… nothing better than a nice quiet Sunday at home…

August 16

So the Bengals played and lost their 1^st preseason game to Tampa Bay. While we did not get to see (or hear) the game, the media write-ups afterwards indicated several Cincinnati outages. Here’s hoping for a better showing against New England on the 21^st.

Every Monday is kind of special for us… we normally get a taste of the US via interoffice mail. Almost, without fail, on Monday AM, I get a copy of Time, Autoweek, ESPN the Magazine (every other week), Road & Track once a month, Computerworld, NetworkWorld, etc. It’s great that our Cincinnati office continues to forward magazines along to us… Sara and I really look forward to receiving them.

August 17

Finally, finally, finally, the work in our house is complete… fresh paint on all the walls, new lighting, home theatre is (basically) set up… so now we can enjoy movies and video games on a nice big screen (we had the painters paint a big white rectangle on the wall to serve as a display panel). What a huge difference with better lights and fresh paint – this is really starting to feel like home. I can’t wait for our surface shipment to arrive.

August 19

We had dinner tonight with John and Carol… we went to a restaurant called “Black Knight”. It was German cuisine… very tasty, and the décor was quite nice, but the menu was all in Russian. Fortunately, Carol and speak and read Russian, so she helped us navigate the menu… dinner was very good, although this restaurant was noisy (almost all Russian restaurants have “entertainment” at dinner time… this normally consists of a semi-professional karaoke signer… they normally sound OK… but the whole concept is a little different, and normally it prevents you from having a normal conversation.

August 21

Sara and I did a little local shopping in the morning… we had one of our preferred drivers “Ramon” pick us up at 10:45 AM, and took us first to a market called “Magnolia.” It’s on one of the main streets in Novomoskovsk, and it actually takes credit cards (I checked the door when we entered). Apparently, not many people buy beer in large quantities in Novo (Sara and I filled our cart with 16 bottles and got lots of weird looks and a few smiles / smart-aleck comments from some of the shop workers. We picked up a few other items, including fresh break and some homemade cookies, and headed to the checkout. There are two checkout lanes in Magnolia, and they aren’t spaced wide enough apart for two shopping carts to reside side by side… which normally isn’t a problem, as there are only two carts for the whole store. Unfortunately, this was the one point in time where both were in use at the same time… so had to negotiate for position with our competing cart.

We got all of our items on the counter… Sara bagged the groceries… and I handed the cashier my credit card… bad news – the store does accept credit cards – but only at the other register. Our cashier didn’t know what to do… she’s running to the back talking to her manager… meanwhile the lines behind us are getting longer and longer and longer… we had to move all of our stuff to the other counter (where the card reader was)… and had to get rung up again… but we’ve learned – use the register on the left @ Magnolia.

After Magnolia, we had Ramon take us to the Rynok (the open air central market). We were mostly looking for produce and flowers today… the Rynok was packed (you basically just bump into people throughout your entire visit there… there isn’t enough room for everyone.

We went inside first… stopped and picked up two bunches of scallions, half a dozen cucumbers, and a head of red lettuce – cost us total 25 rubles (less that $1). We decided to get a drink, so we dropped into one of the stores, and had the counter worker give us two beers (FYI – there are no open container / alcohol control laws in Russia – many people walk around with beers or vodka all the time. Public drunkenness is an occasional problem in the country). We moved outside… I wanted to visit some of the local gardeners to get tomatoes (these are people who basically sell everything they can pick – every day – and it isn’t much. Most of them do it to supplement meager pensions. I feel compelled to support them vs. bigger vendors). However, we couldn’t find any local babushkas (it was so busy they may have gotten muscled out of their sports)… so we stopped and got a kilo of vine-ripened tomatoes for 30 rubles ($1).

We stopped and got flowers as well… one bouquet for our house (not sure what they are – but 5 big flowers (because flowers are normally only sold in odd numbers here – even numbers are for funerals) and some greens for 50 rubles ($1.60)…. and one bouquet for Kelusha’s grave… we found large beautiful bouquets of gladiolas (I think there 11 stems of gladiolas, each about 4 feet in length… and they cost us 90 rubles ($3).

As we finished out shopping, we headed back over to Ramon’s car… he took us back to the house.

A little later in the day… I began feeling incredibly ill… I had been feeling slightly under the weather for a couple days (body aches, slight wheeze when breathing… felt like the start of flu or bronchitis). I started getting a fever, which accelerated rapidly until it hit 103 F – I think I picked up some sort of bacterial infection… all a bummer because Sara made a great “Scranton” dinner tonight – Texas wieners and fries (for those of you in Cincy – think Skyline Coneys). I just couldn’t eat… I slept almost the entire day… and took a bunch of Aleve to get my fever down. I’m still feeling sick… but the fever is down… so it’s bearable.

August 22

Still feeling under the weather, so I spent most of the day in bed… and reading email and updating the website…also listened to the archived radio broadcast of the Bengals / Patriots game (you can subscribe to this service at http://www.nfl.com/fieldpass). Gotta say… sounds like the Bengals are looking pretty good… kind of hard to listen to the game though… Sara and I definitely would have been at the game if we were still in Cincinnati… would have parked in an overpriced lot right near the stadium (they charge $20 to park even during pre-season!)… certainly would have had the whole tailgate out there… and would have stayed afterwards to celebrate a little more…. ah football season… you’ll make adjusting to life in Russia very hard…

We think the Bengals will fare very well this year, which is good because the Cincinnati Reds took their annual downward spiral in July… and Penn State Football has been a question mark for the last few seasons.

We’re looking forward to our shipment arriving on Tuesday (let’s hope there are no “problems” in customs and it actually arrives)… it will be very nice to have the rest of our things with us. As I was ill over the weekend, it would have been nice to have a couch to lie on!

Thanks for reading…

Michael