Russian Cars

Nowhere else in the world can you find the different types of cars you find here in Russia. During communist times, the USSR exported some of their Ladas to Europe, Africa, South America, and even Canada. The cars were often re-exported back to the USSR because there was a demand for what was conventionally thought to be a better made export-ready car. Today, many of these junkers, including the domestic version of the Lada (the Zhigouli) are still spattering around this city, fuming at rates that I am sure exceed even a minimum EPA standard from the 1990 Clean Air Act.
Ownership of a car is a status symbol here. To own a car is a privilege, and it's easy to see why not having to rely on the sometimes sketchy Marschrutki, the slow busses, the cavernous metro, or the non-existent tram system is advantageous. But car ownership here is rising. I wish I had access to some of my resources at work to get actual numbers. Also, a number of big auto deals were signed at this year's Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, and this city is fast becoming the Detroit of Russia. I want to write about a couple other points:

1. On some of these older cars, they have these little metal static protectors that run from the chassis to the ground. (See the slideshow and you'll see what I mean). I guess if enough electricity builds up in the body it can short circuit it? I really don't know.
2. I really think the cars are designed with more sensitive security systems. Anytime a motorcycle goes by at least one car alarm goes off for about 2 minutes and then stops.
3. When locking these cars the security systems make the most awful Bleep-Bleep-Bleep that for some reason people like to do it over and over and over again.
4. Honestly I think that people speed up when they see pedestrians crossing the road where crossings are unmarked
   
5. There are no posted speed limits in this city that I've ever seen.
   
6. You can actually buy 76 octane gasoline here. Simply put, the higher the octane, the higher the temperature (and the more efficiently) your motor can work. When the price of this gasoline is half the price of 85 or 88 octane gasoline, you can imagine what people might be encouraged to buy. I've figured out that 85 octane gasoline here is actually around $2.70 per gallon, but that's still about half of what it costs in the rest of Europe.
   
7. So, with no speed limits, universal construction, few street signs, and your typical New York cabbie driving all the little Marschrutki, you can imagine how this would not be the safest place to be a pedestrian.

Balancing out: What I'm enjoying about St. Petersburg

To balance out what I think have been a couple salty, yet true, posts I want to write about a couple more positive things about this country so I don't scare all of you away from visiting. These past couple days I've explored the nightlife of the city even more, talked to the people in the Productы (insert guttural sound at the end), went on a daytrip to Gatchina, and sampled the sweets.

The last week here has been beautiful every day, with highs around 80, almost no humidity, and then dropping to a comfortable 60 at night. Perfectly blue skies every day have made for a couple postcard-ready pictures. (sans construction, of course). Below, you can see Palace Square in the top left corner.

I've also been frequenting a bar called Dyunie (I believe this means dunes) where some Germans have found an empty courtyard near the Church on Spilled Blood (view from the bar, to the right) and have dumped a big pile of sand, added lawn chairs, and stuck some wood in the ground for bathrooms. They play a mix of euro hip hop, reggae remixes, and 60's motown and soul music. Weird mix, but it actually works and we all keep going back. You can get beer for around $2-3 and you can then add all different kinds of syrups to it. We kick off our shoes and just relax. For me, getting home from this area is a bit of a walk (around 40 mins) after the metro closes, but my feet have gotten used to it and I've enjoyed peeking into all the other little stores that are open late, sampling Moroshenaya (ice cream) and laughing to myself about the people stumbling home.

Dyunie, very early in the evening

My friends from the discussion club have also been eager to show me some of the sites of the city they call home. One of them took me to a little art exhibition with some cool photographs and some promotional materials for what the new city of St. Petersburg will look like. I felt very in-the-know with my own translator by my side. Another friend took me to a little doughnut shop, called Pishki, right off of Nevsky Prospect that serves doughnut-sized funnel cakes, covered in powdered sugar. They were very good, but I actually preferred the candy they sold there, and I plan to bring home a bunch of it to share with all of you (hope it doesn't melt).

She then took me to the edge of one of the canals where if you throw a coin on this little oft-stolen bird (called Chizhik Pyzhik) you're supposed to have good luck. My coin landed on the bird (action shot shown below), but it fell in the river. Oh well. There's a song for the bird too that goes, Chizhik Pyzhik Gde Tы Bыl, Na Fontanke Vodka Pil (meaning "Where have you been? I was on the Fontanka [canal] drinking vodka"). It was named after the group of students at the Chizhik law school who went there often to unwind after classes.
My day trip to Gatchina was kind of spur of the moment, but it turned out to be a nice escape from the city, and I welcomed the fresh air (bus ride home in hot, sweaty-smelling Marshrutka balanced that out nicely). My german friend and I left on an elektritchka (electric commuter train) and the trip took about an hour. I snapped this picture quickly from the train.
It was a beautiful day and some of the art in the Palace was very nice. The park was pretty also but it was so big we didn't get to see all of it. Hands-down, the cafe there made the best cinnabon-like things I've had here. Speaking of food, here's a nice picture of the beautiful, sweet pirog's at Cafe Stolle.
So, there've been many positive things that I've grown to love about St. Pete and this region. Most importantly, I never really could grasp the concept of the "Russian soul", but I think now I'm beginning to understand what that means. Hopefully I can put those thoughts into words when I get back from Moscow next week. I don't think I could ever live here, but I wouldn't turn down an opportunity to come back for a little while someday (provided I have time to buy a jar of peanut butter).

City planning in Russia

I've been waiting to write this post for awhile, and I think I finally have enough examples to make it work. Some of my Russian readers have asked me to note that some of the observations I'm making are really generalizations, so please keep that in mind. Still, I've come to the realization that becoming and being a civil engineer or some contruction planner/worker must be vastly easier than it might be in other parts of the world. Why?

1. Street signs on corners are never required. Sometimes they're midway down the street, hidden behind some other sign. I would not want to try to drive here.
2. Drinking fountains in buildings or in any public place are never required. Then again, drinking the public water here will subject to you parasites. In fact the St. Petersburg Times reported today that 3 million tons of used water is dumped into the Neva. Two-thirds of that amount falls into the river completely untreated.
3. There is no need to mark construction sites. Russians are expected to be on the lookout for random cracks, holes, crags, scrap metal, and especially loose planks. Those nice little yellow and black-striped danger tapes, or normal orange cones are RARELY if ever used here.
4. Let's say you start building something. Let's say in the end things don't end up being very level and you need to throw a little 4 inch step in the middle of the hallway just to make things even out. Perfectly normal, right? Yeah, until you spend your break watching every single person jar their knee as they walk from one end of our building to another. A yellow strip or a "watch your step" sign would work wonders. Plus, it's not just our building, it's my house, and many other restaurants and buildings.
5. A smushed-in spare tire is a perfectly acceptable way to fill a hole in the sidewalk.
6. If you're boring a hole in the sidewalk with a massive saw and creating incredible amounts of dust, there's no need to either contain some of the dust you're making or allow for people to walk around you (without getting hit by the car speeding down the street).
   
7. I think it's worth mentioning yet again that people here actually accept they won't have hot water in the summer for 3 weeks.

Thanks for letting me rant. As my mom points out, I think it also probably has a lot to do with the abundance of personal injury lawyers in the states and probably many statutes concerning negligence and legal stuff about which I am not an expert.

How to wait in a line

Dear Russian People,
Yesterday I, a foreigner, ventured into your train station to try to buy a ticket. After walking into your station I walked around for five minutes until I could find the ticket counter. After surveying the scene I decided to wait in line at a window, only to realize 15 minutes later that you don't accept credit cards and I had to go wait in another line. Frustrated, yet still understanding, I switched into another line. Someone in front of me left the line and went to another line, labeled something to the effect of "War veterans only, documents required". Just as I reached the window, 15 minutes later, the same guy came back over and tried to cut in front of me. In broken Russian I exclaimed " Nyyyyet, I've already been in line twice, and you left!" and surprisingly he stood down and waited behind me. Repeated experience with your cutting-inclined brethren has made me more aggressive these days. Allow me to give you some tips about how Westerners wait in line. I think it might lessen the mayhem that exists at your train stations, restaurants, and other places of interest.

• One line, one ticket counter, unless otherwise indicated. You may not tell your wife to go wait in another line to see who is served first.
  
• Lines are supposed to have a shape, and are not meant to be an amorphous mass of people sticking their arms in front of each other to get ahead
• Just because the lady at the counter who is too busy to actually look you in the eye says "Ya Clooshayoo" (I am listening) does not mean she is listening to you since you got in line after me
• If you are drunk, you do not have special prvileges and you may not fall on top of me or other people in line. Also, you should shower.
• If you leave the line, and don't come back for twenty minutes, you can't have your place back. Sorry, buddy.
• Compliance with the above simple rules will ensure that excessive police presence is not necessary.
  

Thanks,
Foreigner

So, to avoid problems with the ticket lady I wrote down what I wanted: the times, date, etc. and amazingly walked away with a ticket to Moscow for around $130 roundtrip. I can't read anything else the ticket says but I think I know which train I need to be on and when. Phew.

Some insight on Russian society

Through my friend and through the volunteering, I've met several Russians who are patient enough to either let me speak in English or are patient enough to speak slowly to me in Russian. Last week, in addition to our English Discussion Club meeting on Monday, we went out to bar with a beautiful view of the Neva. I want to share a couple interesting little tidbits that I learned from them:

• It's apparently common in Russian Internet parlance to use Albanian words to make yourself sound funny. For example if you want to call someone a Krasovchek (a handsome guy), but you replace the "k" with a "g", thereby sounding Albanian, it's supposed to be funny. I tried repeating it a couple times, to broad laughter. Replacing almost any "k" sound with a "g" is just funny sounding to them. I don't really know what an equivalent might be in English.
• There's an entire site called www.vkontakte.ru (lit. in contact) that is a basic copy of www.facebook.com. I now have a profile, sort of in Russian. It's hard for me to type the cyrillic letters without these little decals you can buy for your keyboard.
  
• People in this country are forced to go into the draft, unless they are enrolled in a University or have children. What's quite common here I'm told is that families will pay off doctors in order to get them out of having to serve. I realize this happens in a lot of places though, not just Russia.
• I've been asked repeatedly here about why Bush was elected president a second time. It's amazing (and unfortunate) how some Russian people's image of America is based solely on our leader. When we turn the table to Russian politics and ask who will follow Putin, the unanimous opinion is that they are pretty sure they will only get to know him for a very short time before he's "elected".
  
• As I have mentioned before a lot of this city is under reconstruction. I don't think I can describe to you the extent to which almost every 5 buildings has some sort of scaffolding and every other block's sidewalk will have at least one ditch in various stages of filling. Apparently, there is a lot of money to be made in this business, but the money is being used to only renovate the facades of the buildings, not the courtyards (like this one which Dostoevsky wrote about), pictured below. There is more money to be made in renovating the buildings since that costs more, than in just knocking them down and rebuilding.

Inside

Outside

Well, I am off to go eat some more Bliny's and try my hand at buying a train ticket to Moscow. I have lots more to write about now that my econ tests are over.

Cafe Stolle: Why my life in Russia has markedly improved

As I said earlier this week, I've been spending a lot of time studying for 2 economics placement tests so I haven't had a chance to write. What I do want to write briefly about is that I've recently found a new chain of restaurants here called Cafe Stolle, one of which is conveniently located not more than a five minute walk from my house. They make these wonderful little pirog's that are basically pastry bread with fillings inside. There are some pictures on their website. The fillings are sweet and savory, ranging from meat to chocolate. My new favorites are the salmon with dill and cream and the blueberry. In other food news. I've recently been on a bliny rampage. Between the bliny stand that I've begun to sample near my house and the plethora of Teremok's all around the city I've eaten quite a few this week. One day I went to a really great place called Russkiye Bliny and got one of which was a double-sized blintz filled with fruit and whipped cream and shaved nuts on top.

In other news, my host mother has informed me we are not going to have hot water for the next 2 weeks while they are doing maintenance at the water station. Luckily we have an electric water heater that plugs into the wall above the shower. There seems to be many of these such devicese in Russia, no worries about the safety concerns of having 220V of electricity running through your water, since my friend (read about it at her blog) has also had to use a similar device from Bulgaria to wash clothes in the bathtub. The first time I had to use it on Friday, the water pressure was kind of lackluster, so to input more water, I had to turn up the machine to max. Little did I know that after more than a minute on full power, it blows the fuse. Really fun standing there in the dark, covered in soap, and not being able to remember the russian word for HELP! Don't worry, I'm fine, and I've resigned myself to lukewarm water for the next couple weeks. I should accept this, as I've been told by many a Babushka, teachers, and friends, "It's Russia!".