Tag: Russia

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Europe Russia

Unexpected Social Norms – Russia Edition

Russians really aren’t as different as you would expect, after you get past a first impression stage with a Russian, you’ll find they are incredibly similar to Americans or western Europeans. There were very few things I found to be surprising, and they’re all quite minor.

First, if you text a Russian, even if you are friends, you should include a greeting. I will go months between texts with my friends and just jump back in and say “OMG did you see that so-and-so is pregnant?!” with no introduction. Even if you text someone regularly about the same type of thing, you are expected to start a text with something like “Hi X, how are you? Do you want to get a coffee with me today?” It’s a bit unnatural to me. Normally, I’d just pipe right in with “Coffee today?”

A side note to texting Russians, expect to see a bunch of single sided parentheses after texts. ))) You may be smarter than me and realize that this is supposed to be a smiley face, but maybe not. The reverse also works and ((( represents sadness.

Second, if you work in Russia, expect to change clothes and shoes constantly. I didn’t like this at first because I hate carrying stuff around with me, but it’s actually pretty nice, especially if you have to wear a uniform at work. You can wear something nice or super warm for your commute and for a possible outing after work, and keep your work clothes completely separate.

Third relates to holidays, specifically birthdays. Russians have a special skill for speeches. While the typical Russian is quite closed off, they tend to gush very sincerely for your birthday or any celebration get together. If you have a coworker, I would recommend spending a few minutes and thinking of some kind of speech about things you like about them and things you hope for their future.

Fourth is more of an observation, and not necessarily anything that will affect your life in any tangible way, unless I suppose you are a man, and you choose to date a Russian woman. When you walk on the street in Moscow expect to see at least one man with a huge bouquet of flowers. Flower shops are wildly successful because there are constant occasions to give flowers in Russia, and lots of rules and superstitions surrounding them. The type of flower is of course important, but surprisingly, so is the number- you must not give an even number of flowers no matter how many flowers you end up with because that is reserved for funerals.

And lastly, superstitions are rampant, but don’t regularly affect expats; mostly in the simple things that don’t happen normally anyway. For example, if a girl sits on the edge of a table, she will never get married, if you sit on the cold ground, you’ll be infertile, if you whistle indoors you’ll be poor, and everyone’s favorite, if you shake hands or accept a package through an open doorway its bad luck. Make sure you either step out into the hall, or you invite them inside.

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Personal Philosophies Russia

How to Never Be Happy Again- Wherever You Go

Compaaaaaaaaaaaaaaare, compare, compare. Comparison is the thief of joy. – Teddy Roosevelt

People always say that once you live abroad, you leave a piece of your heart wherever you go, and that will always be true, but trying to compare the places you’ve been and dwelling on the past can’t lead to anything good.

I lived in Italy, got the travel rush and immediately started planning for China. Paperwork took so long that I was miserable waiting at home. I made it to China and ended up not really liking it as much as I thought I would, and started planning for Russia while we were still there. I went home for a week between, and I think it wasn’t quite enough because as open minded as I tried to be about a 2 year commitment in Russia, I really missed home.

Moscow had one of it’s coldest Septembers ever, right when I arrived and I am a desert rat who had just spent half a year in the tropics! It was a tough transition, and it certainly didn’t help that I hit the ground running and went into my first day of work about 4 hours after landing.

I felt stuck, I felt homesick, I felt cold. I was watching my friends posting Instagram stories of the never-ending summer activities I knew and loved in AZ while facing my first Russian winter, and anyone who had to deal with me got an earful of how unhappy I was.

I liked living abroad (I still do), but I think I rushed too fast into another round and then I really leaned into it and made myself feel more trapped and miserable than I really had reason to be.

Between bad management, poor work environment, abusive coworkers, and Covid, it took me about a year to really give Moscow a chance and settle in, and it’s one of the biggest regrets of my life.

Moscow has so much to offer- comfort, convenience, cost, and culture, but I didn’t let myself recognize it fast enough, and now that I finally made it back home, I’m realizing all that I had there and didn’t appreciate enough.

Mindfulness could have solved all of this. If I had addressed my issues head on, I would have escaped a whole cycle of sadness.

Working less, going out more, finding friends and hobbies, and calling my family more also helped me turn it around, but I wasted a lot of time getting there.

Try not to compare, but instead throw yourself into all the best the place that you’re in has to offer!

Living in the US right now is honestly not great – cost of living has skyrocketed, and pay hasn’t improved at all, food culture is not spectacular, transportation is terrible (as always). But my family is here, and there is beautiful nature, I have far better professional development opportunities, and I can speak the language!

I have now been home for 2 months and I am fully settling back in to Arizona life. I miss Russia a lot, but I’m going to do my best not to let missing somewhere else ruin another possibly fantastic experience.

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Personal Philosophies

It’s OK to Prioritize Romance

It took me a long time to get to this point, but like with all other situations- doing what you want is totally okay.

There is a term used in Russia- Decembrist Wife, which is commonly used to represent true love and devotion of a wife to her husband. In the 19th Century, a group of rebels called the Decembrists led a revolt against Nicholas the First taking the throne. The revolt failed and the leaders were sent into exile- but their wives stoically chose to follow them.

Feminism in Russia is really interesting- women still expect their men to pay for absolutely everything with absolutely no irony. They follow social rules about women not lifting anything too heavy, *eyeroll* but really value strong female ~values. That’s why Decembrist wives as a romantic ideal are so interesting to me. Most Americans would consider “following some guy around” to be quite the opposite of what a “strong, independent woman” would do; But Russian’s don’t see it that way at all.

I am clearly not an expert, but I love the way Natasha Lavrishina put it on her blog. She says “the “Decembrist wife” is taking her decision independently. She often fights for it and   maintains her degree of autonomy, borderline detachment  through the entire journey.  Furthermore, the “Decembrist wife”  in her pure form is not taken for granted. She is appreciated, even glorified by those very men.”

A Decembrist wife is a strong woman, true feminist, etc, simply because she knows what she wants and she is willing to do anything for it. She’s independent, and brave to give up her comfortable life to go into an unknown situation to support her husband.

I’m not saying I’m a Decembrist wife for following my boyfriend to Russia for his Master’s program, because Modern Day Moscow is certainly not the same as exile, but I’m no less of a feminist for putting my own life or possible career goals on hold to be here with him.

Women can do whatever they want. That’s basically the point of feminism. If you want to pursue a high power/pay job, that’s great! If you want to stay home with kids and cook and take care of your house, that’s great! The point is that as long as you are free to do what you want, and no one is forcing you to do the opposite, then congratulations, feminism is working!

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Russia

Supply Chain in Russian Grocery Stores

Grocery stores in Moscow (and from what I’ve read, it seems like stores throughout the rest of Russia too) will have something one day, and then never have it again. They frequently run out of common things and won’t get more in for weeks on end. You also need to make sure to check expiration dates super closely, because the product turnover rate is so low (especially in hypermarkets like Ashan.) I’ve never had to check an expiration date in-store in the US before, even in the biggest stores! The whole situation drives me absolutely up the wall, so I have done a little bit of research to try to figure out what is going on.

There are 5 main reasons that supply chain is so bad in Russia

  1. Russia is enormous
  2. Russia is corrupt
  3. Poor transport infrastructure development
  4. Not enough storage facilities
  5. Poor professional logistics culture

From: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284747022_Designing_FMCG_and_Retail_Supply_Chains_in_Russia

In the United States, you can get any fruit, any time of the year. The downside is that this is not only expensive, but pretty bad for the environment. Constant shipping and movement costs and wastes add up if you want access to things grown around the world. Russia isn’t great about protecting the environment, but at least they do tend to stick to fruits and vegetables that are actually in season!

I set out to find out ~WHY supply chain here was such trash, but then I realized that just knowing the reasons why doesn’t actually solve anything for me.

The only “solutions” I can give are to get to know more than one grocery store and be willing to hunt down the stuff you want when one store is out, and if you see something you want, buy it right then, because you’ll never see it again.

It sucks, but it seems like that’s just the way things will be in Russia until someone figures out how to move products around more efficiently!

Categories
Russia

Making Moscow Home

MOSCOW, RUSSIA SEPTEMBER 28, 2019: A view of the Moscow Kremlin and St Basil's Cathedral at night. Marina Lystseva/TASS (Photo by Marina LystsevaTASS via Getty Images)

So I’ve been having some major issues dealing with seasonal affective depression alongside homesickness and I made it significantly worse by visiting my warm, sunny, amazing home over the holidays and then coming back in the middle of JANUARY.

In an effort to be more mindful and thankful for my current living situation (and to help mitigate my depression) I’ve been actively trying to notice the really great things about Moscow.

Honestly there aren’t that many amazing things in Moscow- a few cool attractions, but mostly its just really easy to make it home.

Public transportation is AWESOME. I’m hesitant about busses everywhere I go because they have been terrible everywhere I’ve lived. They take forever, they don’t go where you need, they cost more than it’s worth when you can just walk. But the busses here are incredible, especially in conjunction with the metros which are laid out really nicely and run every 1 or 2 minutes!!! Everything works on a Troika card which you can refill on an app and it’s so cheap. And even when you don’t feel like taking public transportation, taxis are SO affordable. Infinitely better than anywhere in the US or Italy at least. Slightly more expensive than China though.

Grocery stores are EVERYWHERE. From the front door of my building I can get to 3 grocery stores in under a 5 minute walk. And within a 10 minute walk I can get to an Ашан megastore (but I think that was just the luck of the draw because there are only 3 of them in Moscow). And I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again, you can find practically ANYTHING you might need/want in a Moscow store.

Heating and hot water are better than you could possibly imagine. When we were in Milan, it was SO COLD, but heating was SO expensive, so we never turned it on, we just wandered around our apartment wrapped in blankets. Its way colder in Moscow, so I was worried about our heating bill, but then I found out that the heat is set by the GOVERNMENT?!?!? (Apparently they set the interior temp based on last year’s temps that day, so sometimes it gets too hot and we have to open a window.) The heater in our house doesn’t even have an option to adjust it. It’s always so nice and toasty warm, and all of our utilities together have never been more than $30 a month. Also you know how in winter you always seem to run out of hot water? Not in Moscow. Unlimited SCALDING hot water- instantly. Seriously, it’s so hot you can burn yourself, and I still forget all the time and turn it all the way to maximum hot.

Drying clothes indoors is MAGIC? Because heaters are always running full blast the air inside is super dry. If you put sopping wet clothes on a drying rack indoors, they’ll be bone dry within 24 hours. For reference if you’ve never lived somewhere without a dryer, out on the balcony in the wind in Milan, it still took 2-4 days, and longer indoors. (Side note, dryers are horrible for the environment and you should try to airdry as much as possible! It makes such a difference and it’s way better for your clothes!) This super dry air makes everything really shocky though- way too much static electricity. I work in a kindergarten and I always forget that its so shocky and I feel horrible when I shock my babies on the face or head.

It’s easy, it’s accesible, its cushy, it’s comfy, it’s cheap. I would probably recommend living in Russia if I was being honest! As long as you don’t mind snow and can pick up a tiny bit of Russian, you’ll settle right in!

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Uncategorized

Where to Teach English Abroad: Russia vs. China

Mixed China and Russia flag, three dimensional render, illustration

Pros and Cons

This is just based off of my experiences, but I think for the most part they are fairly similar to most people’s experiences. Paperwork for both is equally TERRIBLE.

Pro-China: great pay, low expectations, low cost of living, easy to get the job

Pro-Russia: organized, official, good communication & expectations, more western culture

Anti-China: poor communication, often unofficial, unstructured, unpredictable

Anti-Russia: snobby, critical, lower pay, high rent

The Good and Bad of China

I’m definitely glad I did the China experience. That being said, I’m still glad I limited it to only 6 months.

China is tricky- you can’t predict what kind of job you’ll land (the school, the location, the manager, the people, the PAY) but in general, it is fairly easy to land a job. If you have a bachelor’s degree, are a native English speaker, and have a TEFL degree, you’ll have no problem. If you look around enough you can find a REALLY well paying job, and there are TONS of schools that are always looking. If you’re going for money alone, China is your place- highest pay coupled with the lowest cost of living. Don’t settle for those low paying ones though.

It’s kind of a show up and start system. you don’t get a lot of training at most places, which would be bad, except they also have matching low expectations for teachers. If you want to learn how to teach without limitations, restrictions, or really any structure at all, this would be ideal. It stressed me out though- I love teaching, but I need some kind of structure to follow beyond “teach shapes for 4 weeks straight.”

Living in China is tough: questionable hygiene, very different food, and very different culture. Its very common for your managers to not tell you expectations for events or meetings and then expect you to learn a complicated dance in one afternoon. By far the most difficult thing to get accustomed to though was that literally no one speaks English. In most European countries you can throw a rock and you’ll find someone who can speak English, not quite so in China. Working with people you can’t talk to gets pretty lonely. I constantly felt like I didn’t know what was going on, because, well, I didn’t.

The Good and Bad of Russia

I would say overall Russia has been better than China for me. From the beginning, expectations were made clear. The interview process was THOROUGH. They wanted experience, teaching videos, and a mock lesson- it felt a lot more like a real job from the very beginning. I had support and advice for the whole process of my initial paperwork.

Russian is super hard and I think it helps Russians be really good at languages. Of all the people I’ve met who speak English as a second language, the Russians have the best mastery of it. It makes a big difference at work to be able to talk to my coworkers, and I think the fact that Russia has a more Western culture than China made a big difference for me too.

The flipside of all of the nice things about Russia though is that they expect a lot more. The highest paying jobs in Moscow are patroned by the ultra-rich, and they want to be in control of every word you speak to their children. And unlike China, the parents speak enough English to actually know what’s going on. Culturally, Russians tend to be a little bit brusque with their criticism and it comes off as harsh, especially to Americans. That’s difficult to get used to, but if you like following really specific rules and love structure, it could be great for you.

Rent in Russia is also more expensive. Not crazy expensive, not like Switzerland or Austria or anything, but Moscow and St. Petersburg’s costs of living are significantly higher than anywhere in China. Even the highest paying English teaching gig in Moscow pays a lot less than you could be making in China, and that’s not ideal when paired with higher rent costs.

Should I teach in China or Russia?

They both have good and bad. I like living in Russia more, but its definitely a harder workload with less money than China. But at least the kids are cute in both countries!

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