Let's Go Shopping

I've been back for a little over a week now and am starting to get back into a somewhat normal routine. Since I am now a domestic engineer, I am getting quite acquainted with the grocery shopping routine. We have three relatively large supermarkets within 5 blocks of our apartment, the nicest of which is Седьмой Континент (Sedmoy Continent - Seventh Continent) so I frequent this one the most. We also have a продукти (prodookti) across the street (a cross between a convenience store and a very small grocery store), which I frequent for water (two 5 liter bottles at a time) and other little items. I admit that I enjoy shopping for groceries, but it does come with it's special challenges here. Yep, my very limited language skills can be a hindrance even in a task as solitary as grocery shopping.

Example #1 - We needed some things the other day so I trekked over to Sedmoy and filled my basket with the necessities. One has to have fruit in order to remain healthy so I also grabbed some яблоки (yablakee - apples). Reverting to my US ways, I recalled that fruit and vegetables are weighed at the check out counter and the price is calculated there. So I'm here to tell you that it was a very large oversight on my part to think that this is the way it is done in Russia. Apparently, I was supposed to either hand the apples to a person over by the produce (don't recall seeing anyone) or weigh them myself on a scale. In any case, I arrived at the checkout lane with my apples having not been weighed and with no price. The lady at the register was not impressed and directed me to....well, to do something. I smiled at her and nodded thinking that she was only suggesting she needed to do a price check on the apples. After she attempted, unsuccessfully I might add, to get me to act on her instructions she gave up and left the register with apples in hand. She arrived a few minutes later with said apples and a price tag on the bag that they are in. Hmmm, don't recall the price tag being there before. So I turn to look at the produce section and notice the scale and a lady standing next to the scale. Interesting. Did I mention that the ladies at the checkout registers sit as they check you out and that it is self-service bagging? She was not at all happy that she had to stand up, walk all of 20 feet to the produce section and then back. By the way, Olga confirmed that she made the same mistake, but the lady made her go back to weigh the fruit herself. My guess is that Olga had to do the work only because she actually understood what was being said to her. For once my lackluster language skills have worked in my favor!

Example #2 - I'm back at Sedmoy a few days later to pick up some items to make homemade chicken noodle soup and a Russian chicken salad (yes, I can cook). I finish my stroll though the store and am at the checkout lane. I have no fruit today, so I'm thinking I'm in great shape. I'm bagging the groceries as I watch the lady scan the items and then it happens. She seems to be having an issue with the carrots. It appears as though they won't scan properly and I'm now being directed to do something, which of course I don't understand. So I look at the lady and say 'I speak only a little bit of Russian' (hey, at least I said this in Russian!). She's not amused, as she gets up out of her chair and walks the 20 feet to the produce section to get the price. Although I am grateful that she performed the price check, all I really wanted for her to do was slow down a bit so I could try to figure out what was being said.

Oh well, it is what it is. I am a bit concerned though that as the ladies figure out who I am they will all run from the registers as they see my coming to the checkout lane. For my sake and more importantly, for Olga's sake, I may need to buy produce at a different place for a while so that we don't go hungry.

While my language skills are not awful, but I'm also not going to kid myself and say that they are good. Especially after 17 days in the US where I spoke almost no Russian. In any case, I'm just not to the point where I can keep up with what is being said to me and even if I could, my limited vocabulary and understanding of the grammar would get me.

Back in the USSR...

Made it back home with no issues, even landed an hour early! How often does that happen? In NYC and Chicago....let's go with NEVER. Anyway, it's nice to be back home. If you happen to look at the time this is posted you will notice that I am very much still on Eastern time. Nothing like a bit of jet lag to make things interesting. Woke up at 2AM yesterday, back to sleep at 5AM and woke up at 4PM. It's now 2:35AM and I'm feeling very awake. Oh well, in a few days it'll all be a distant memory.

I brushed up on my language skills on the plane by ordering everything in Russian and perusing a newspaper written in Russian. I received the food that I intended to order and the waitress was kind enough to play along and spoke only Russian to me. The newspaper, well that was just a reality check to remind me that I have a long way to go with this language. I am a bit surprised by how much I retained, as I was able to fend for myself with the waitress the other night in the restaurant (Olga kindly left me to take a call when it was time to order). The waitress was very patient and we eventually figured it out (sushi isn't quite as straight forward to order as Italian).

Stepping out of the airport, that was a reality check as well. I had forgotten about the pollution and traffic. It's all what one is used to, right? I'm sure in a few days everything will be back to normal.

Back in the USA

Well, this is my last day in the US for a while again. I'll be on my way back to 'Mother Russia' in a few hours after nearly two and a half weeks on US soil. I've accomplished quite a bit while here including attaining a new visa, seeing many of my friends, catching up with my family, finishing my first half marathon and doing my part to help boost the economy through shopping.

While I've enjoyed seeing everyone I have to admit that I'm looking forward to getting back home to Olga and our home in Russia. I'll also be interested to see how much of the language I've retained after not speaking it for such an extended period of time. This could get interesting so stay tuned!

Time for a Vacation

A few people have made comments about me taking a 'vacation' seeing as though I'm not currently employed, but hey, it is what it is. It's tough work living in Moscow and trying to accomplish even the most basic of tasks on a day-to-day basis. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

So Olga and I decided to 'get away' (that better Dion?). We hit Berlin, Prague and Munich over the course of 9 days and had a very nice time. Although I have to admit that we walked quite a bit even for us and we walk just about everywhere given that we haven't owned a car since we've known each other.

In short, Berlin was OK, but didn't really have that 'German' feel to it. Maybewe just had the wrong expectations. Don't get us wrong, the city is interesting it just wasn't quite what we expected.

Add to that the fact that I suffered a REALLY bad day picking sites on the day that we trekked about 10 miles. Seriously, I went 0-for-3. First, I decided it would be interesting to see another gate, as I thought it would be similar to the Brandenburger Tor, which was really neat. So that is not the case and it turned out that we wandered down a road with Soviet-style housing for more than a mile and the 'Tor' was just nothing special. Strike one. On to a park where we walk up a not insignificant hill that shows a bunker at the top. We get to the top and what do we find? Certainly not what I would consider a bunker. We found a group of 'young adults' enjoying some beverages and chatting. Nice, not even a good view of the city. Olga is less than amused at this point, but hey, we're just looking for interesting sites. Strike two. Later that evening I convince Olga that we need to see Checkpoint Charlie, as it holds such historical significance. We get to the site and what do we find? Again, not what I expected. Checkpoint Charlie is now a metal post in the ground that plays a recorded statement about why this site is important. Strike three...and I'm still hearing about that one.

Prague was much more interesting from a site perspective, but I almost gave up on it the first night. I was caught off guard by how many tourists were there and it took me a bit to get past that. The sites are amazing though and the history is quite rich. We were also a bit surprised at the fact that Prague still has a Soviet-era feel to it.

Munich was amazing. The city has the architecture, the culture and the food of Bavaria all of which we enjoyed immensely.

I'm having some technical difficulty right now and am not able to post pics, but will do so soon.