That was pretty much the recurring theme of my day today. I got yesterday morning at 7am and finished my packing. Got a ride to the Pensacola Regional Airport and waited about 90 minutes for the flight to Washington International Airport. The flight was maybe 2 hours or so and not really worth mentioning. I had a 2.5 hour layover at Washington Dulles Airport though and was one of approximately 4 people on the flight to Moscow of the 156 passengers that wasn't Russian. First things first, this was my first international flight and holy hell that jet was massive. Second, there was apparently some kind of "Let's Go To America" field trip and roughly 1/3 of the passengers were 10-12 year old boys.
To start off with, all of them was dressed identically, from the horizontally black-and-grey striped sweaters and black Dickies pants to the black I-wish-I-was-as-cool-as-Johnny-Depp fedoras. Oh, and one of them had a pierced ear... that's important, because he's obviously the non-conformist of the group. Seeing as it's obviously impossible to keep that many little boys quiet, they ran around the concourse screaming and hitting each other for the entire 2 hours. When we finally boarded, as soon as the fasten seat-belts went off it turned into a free-for-all that reminded me of a mosh-pit. Every single person on the plane got up and started wandering up and down the isles like they were on some sort of weight-loss show and they couldn't afford to sit down even for 5 minutes. 9 hours of kids running up and down the isles screaming and throwing things and hitting each other and old ladies jazzercising past them and preventing anyone from sleeping by knocking against anyone close to an isle later, we finally arrived in Moscow at Domodedovo Airport.
I have to say that flying over the countryside for some 50km before landing I got a decent idea of the architecture and ... well, I don't know that it can really be called that honestly. There are structures with roofs. None of the roofs match, and in fact there seems to have been an effort made to ensure that no two adjacent houses had the same color roofs, red, green , orange, green, red, blue. My friend Petr's cousin picked me up and instead of driving into the city and then back out to Troitsk (spoke-shaped city) we drove directly west to the city. This is where the journey got really exciting.
To begin with, our flight got in an hour early, and so I had plenty of time to get through passport control and acquire my luggage (passport control alone took nearly 45 minutes with a thousand people trying to get through 15 lines... yeesh) before heading outside to sit and watch people try to get themselves killed for 30 minutes. Regarding Russian driving/road habits, I have to make it very clear to anyone that has ever driven in any country that is NOT Russia, don't ever try to do it in this country. The drivers here are absolutely the worst in the world. Never mind the lines on the center of the road, just drive where ever the hell you want. Traffic moving too slow? Just drive onto the dirt path on the sides of the road and pass up the traffic to cut in at the beginning of the line.. I mean, after all, that's why the dirt path is there, right? From all the millions of drivers that did the same thing before you! Did I mention the pedestrians that just wander into traffic when you're driving at 90km/h? Yeah .. a young woman wandered right in front of the car and Sasha actually had to slam on his breaks to avoid hitting them. I guess the rule here is look left right left before crossing, and then disregard whatever you saw and do whatever you want.
On the outside of the dirt paths lining the roads are the garbage dumps. Ever driving down the road and just decide you don't want something anymore? Maybe your lunch wrappers, an old tire, that screaming baby in the backseat? Just through it into the swamps on the sides of the roads. I have never seen so much garbage in one place in my life... well, except in a New York City certified garbage dump... and New Jersey... (just kidding New Jersey .. maybe) Beyond the mires are the remnants of old buildings long forgotten except when you pass through small cities (villages would be more accurate), and your entire journey makes for an incredibly thrill ride as you hold onto your seat for dear life as the innumerable potholes threaten to shake the car apart. All this while people are flying past you at 110km/h.
At some point driving from Domodedovo to Troitsk we passed a field where there were men burning ... nothing. They were just setting grass on fire next to the roadway. Of course people were too busy driving way over the speed limit and passing people by driving off road to be bothered with watching where they were driving, and 4 cars piled up right in front of us within 10 minutes of me getting on the roads of Russia for the first time. Someone in front of us stopped his car dead in the middle of the road to watch, and someone else headed towards us was turned around watching too and nailed the guy parked in the middle of the road, ricocheting off into the woods on the side of the road. Luckily, both gentleman got out of their cars and appeared to be uninjured, but holy hell... just ... wow.
So I got my USD exchanged for РУБ and I will be going with Petr tomorrow to the city to get a Russian phone and meet some of the students I will be tutoring. Amazingly, after all of the day's incredibly random events, I am having a really awesome time. Talking with Petr and his cousin, we discussed that the reason that the Russian government has allowed their roadways to get into such horrible shape is actually a brilliant plan to protect the country: with a country this lousy, Russia doesn't need an army! Who would ever want to invade?
The resilience of the Russian people amazes me more now than ever. I have been given the opportunity to witness just a small piece of life in this country already, and I can't help but be shocked that a people living in such conditions can have such an excellent sense of humor. They seem to find the greatest joy in laughing at their own predicaments, and I think a lot of people could really take a lesson from that. There are some things in life that you can change, and others that you can't. Nothing to do but do the best you can with the cards you're dealt.
All that being said, I'm actually having a blast! Maybe I'm crazy, but I actually enjoy it. Granted, it kind of still doesn't really feel real, and I'm half expecting to wake up tomorrow back in the US. The way I see it, an adventure is an adventure, and one taken purely for adventure's sake ... well, you can't really go wrong if that's your only goal. Trust me, while it lasts I'm going to do my best to enjoy every minute of it))))
To start off with, all of them was dressed identically, from the horizontally black-and-grey striped sweaters and black Dickies pants to the black I-wish-I-was-as-cool-as-Johnny-Depp fedoras. Oh, and one of them had a pierced ear... that's important, because he's obviously the non-conformist of the group. Seeing as it's obviously impossible to keep that many little boys quiet, they ran around the concourse screaming and hitting each other for the entire 2 hours. When we finally boarded, as soon as the fasten seat-belts went off it turned into a free-for-all that reminded me of a mosh-pit. Every single person on the plane got up and started wandering up and down the isles like they were on some sort of weight-loss show and they couldn't afford to sit down even for 5 minutes. 9 hours of kids running up and down the isles screaming and throwing things and hitting each other and old ladies jazzercising past them and preventing anyone from sleeping by knocking against anyone close to an isle later, we finally arrived in Moscow at Domodedovo Airport.
I have to say that flying over the countryside for some 50km before landing I got a decent idea of the architecture and ... well, I don't know that it can really be called that honestly. There are structures with roofs. None of the roofs match, and in fact there seems to have been an effort made to ensure that no two adjacent houses had the same color roofs, red, green , orange, green, red, blue. My friend Petr's cousin picked me up and instead of driving into the city and then back out to Troitsk (spoke-shaped city) we drove directly west to the city. This is where the journey got really exciting.
To begin with, our flight got in an hour early, and so I had plenty of time to get through passport control and acquire my luggage (passport control alone took nearly 45 minutes with a thousand people trying to get through 15 lines... yeesh) before heading outside to sit and watch people try to get themselves killed for 30 minutes. Regarding Russian driving/road habits, I have to make it very clear to anyone that has ever driven in any country that is NOT Russia, don't ever try to do it in this country. The drivers here are absolutely the worst in the world. Never mind the lines on the center of the road, just drive where ever the hell you want. Traffic moving too slow? Just drive onto the dirt path on the sides of the road and pass up the traffic to cut in at the beginning of the line.. I mean, after all, that's why the dirt path is there, right? From all the millions of drivers that did the same thing before you! Did I mention the pedestrians that just wander into traffic when you're driving at 90km/h? Yeah .. a young woman wandered right in front of the car and Sasha actually had to slam on his breaks to avoid hitting them. I guess the rule here is look left right left before crossing, and then disregard whatever you saw and do whatever you want.
On the outside of the dirt paths lining the roads are the garbage dumps. Ever driving down the road and just decide you don't want something anymore? Maybe your lunch wrappers, an old tire, that screaming baby in the backseat? Just through it into the swamps on the sides of the roads. I have never seen so much garbage in one place in my life... well, except in a New York City certified garbage dump... and New Jersey... (just kidding New Jersey .. maybe) Beyond the mires are the remnants of old buildings long forgotten except when you pass through small cities (villages would be more accurate), and your entire journey makes for an incredibly thrill ride as you hold onto your seat for dear life as the innumerable potholes threaten to shake the car apart. All this while people are flying past you at 110km/h.
At some point driving from Domodedovo to Troitsk we passed a field where there were men burning ... nothing. They were just setting grass on fire next to the roadway. Of course people were too busy driving way over the speed limit and passing people by driving off road to be bothered with watching where they were driving, and 4 cars piled up right in front of us within 10 minutes of me getting on the roads of Russia for the first time. Someone in front of us stopped his car dead in the middle of the road to watch, and someone else headed towards us was turned around watching too and nailed the guy parked in the middle of the road, ricocheting off into the woods on the side of the road. Luckily, both gentleman got out of their cars and appeared to be uninjured, but holy hell... just ... wow.
Petr took me to a grocery about 3-4 minutes walk from the flat and we stocked up on essentials. Had a lot of fun with people in the store who kept looking at us funny because we were speaking English, and even had a little girl following us trying to figure out why she couldn't understand us. . . was pretty awesome. It came to my attention that people here walk the same way they drive. Get in their way and they'll walk through you. It struck me as odd coming from a country where you stop before running into someone and say excuse me when I had an elderly woman just push me out of the way. After that I learned to be more aware of the people around me and move out of the way when they started walking towards me. I would also recommend to anyone that chooses to visit not to bother smiling at people ... or really even acknowledging they exist unless you have to have interaction with them (ie shopping, etc) because they're just going to ignore you anyways. If you actually talk to someone, so far they seem to be incredibly friendly and helpful... but unless you're having a discussion, just mind your own business seems to be the rule here.
Came back to the flat, fixed up a nice meal, then went to some places that Petr knew people and had some fun sending me in first to talk to them in English until they were so thoroughly confused what was going on that they were almost in tears, and then he came in and they busted his chops for messing with them. Ahhh, messing with people in foreign languages... good times.
So I got my USD exchanged for РУБ and I will be going with Petr tomorrow to the city to get a Russian phone and meet some of the students I will be tutoring. Amazingly, after all of the day's incredibly random events, I am having a really awesome time. Talking with Petr and his cousin, we discussed that the reason that the Russian government has allowed their roadways to get into such horrible shape is actually a brilliant plan to protect the country: with a country this lousy, Russia doesn't need an army! Who would ever want to invade?
The resilience of the Russian people amazes me more now than ever. I have been given the opportunity to witness just a small piece of life in this country already, and I can't help but be shocked that a people living in such conditions can have such an excellent sense of humor. They seem to find the greatest joy in laughing at their own predicaments, and I think a lot of people could really take a lesson from that. There are some things in life that you can change, and others that you can't. Nothing to do but do the best you can with the cards you're dealt.
All that being said, I'm actually having a blast! Maybe I'm crazy, but I actually enjoy it. Granted, it kind of still doesn't really feel real, and I'm half expecting to wake up tomorrow back in the US. The way I see it, an adventure is an adventure, and one taken purely for adventure's sake ... well, you can't really go wrong if that's your only goal. Trust me, while it lasts I'm going to do my best to enjoy every minute of it))))
Man it all sound great! What kind off motorcycles they have there? You take Care of your self.
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