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Random things about Russia/Moscow
Jan. 22nd, 2012 06:59 pmAgain, all of these are subjective. I'm not an expert, I'm just living in Moscow since September.
1. Russian trains are optimized for long distance travel. You can sleep surprisingly well, during the day you have a couch and a table, and they even have toilet paper.
2. Similarly, the Moscow Metro is also very good for falling asleep. This, however, is often inconvenient.
3. In Moscow they either have a very complicated system for when they remove the snow and sand the streets in winter, or it's random.
4. In some Russian cities it's completely normal not to have hot water for a few weeks in summer.
5. In Moscow you often see small stands selling hot corn on the streets.
6. A classic: There are thousands of different ways to prepare borscht, and since I've been here it hasn't tasted the same twice.
7. Porridge is common for breakfast, or blini, or other warm food.
8. But they do have proper black bread! Not as good and varied as in Austria, but still: proper black bread. A pleasant surprise.
9. It's very rare to see more than one star at night in Moscow.
10. When Russians talk about "skiing" (кататься на лыжах), they are often not talking about skiing on mountains, but cross-country skiing.
11. Russians are proud of their ability to endure the Russian winter, compared to foreigners. ("It's not cold today! Be happy it's not -30°!" I am.)
12. You can buy memorabilia of the Soviet time on every street corner, sometimes literally.
13. The Chinese zodiac signs are as important as the Western zodiac signs.
14. The extremely cheesy Christmas/New Year decorations and giant artificial Christmas trees with very many blinking colorful lights are everywhere from the beginning of December to – well, in many places they're still here…
It's so strange to think that I'm leaving in a few days and might not come back for years. I've become very comfortable in this city, and I enjoyed my stay here very much.
If you have specific questions, btw, you're welcome to ask! If you want an expert's opinion it's better to ask Russians, though. Anyone interested in a "things I recommend if you ever visit Moscow/Russia" post?
1. Russian trains are optimized for long distance travel. You can sleep surprisingly well, during the day you have a couch and a table, and they even have toilet paper.
2. Similarly, the Moscow Metro is also very good for falling asleep. This, however, is often inconvenient.
3. In Moscow they either have a very complicated system for when they remove the snow and sand the streets in winter, or it's random.
4. In some Russian cities it's completely normal not to have hot water for a few weeks in summer.
5. In Moscow you often see small stands selling hot corn on the streets.
6. A classic: There are thousands of different ways to prepare borscht, and since I've been here it hasn't tasted the same twice.
7. Porridge is common for breakfast, or blini, or other warm food.
8. But they do have proper black bread! Not as good and varied as in Austria, but still: proper black bread. A pleasant surprise.
9. It's very rare to see more than one star at night in Moscow.
10. When Russians talk about "skiing" (кататься на лыжах), they are often not talking about skiing on mountains, but cross-country skiing.
11. Russians are proud of their ability to endure the Russian winter, compared to foreigners. ("It's not cold today! Be happy it's not -30°!" I am.)
12. You can buy memorabilia of the Soviet time on every street corner, sometimes literally.
13. The Chinese zodiac signs are as important as the Western zodiac signs.
14. The extremely cheesy Christmas/New Year decorations and giant artificial Christmas trees with very many blinking colorful lights are everywhere from the beginning of December to – well, in many places they're still here…
It's so strange to think that I'm leaving in a few days and might not come back for years. I've become very comfortable in this city, and I enjoyed my stay here very much.
If you have specific questions, btw, you're welcome to ask! If you want an expert's opinion it's better to ask Russians, though. Anyone interested in a "things I recommend if you ever visit Moscow/Russia" post?
