Thanksgiving Day in Moscow is the same as any other day

Happy Thanksgiving! My Thanksgiving day is in full swing, and I'm at work! No break for the Americans on our holiday ... thus is life. We do have plans to have Thanksgiving dinner at our apartment (Rachel's and my apartment) on Sunday. It sounds like it will end up just being a big party, but hopefully it's fun and somewhat Thanksgiving-esque. The plan is that everyone will bring what food idems they need for it to be Thanksgiving for them (other than Turkey :). We will be eating chicken instead of turkey because it's easier (as in we don't have to cook it all day). There's a kiosk that sells delicious rotisserie chickens near our apartment, and we have a 24 hour grocery store, so in case we are running low on food or drink we can run and get more!

Snow and clearing snow

While the public sidewalks appear to have been cleared by motorized vehicles, or at least a machine with wheels and a plow, the drive that goes through our apartment complex is cleared by manual laborers. Who these people are or why the complex does not feel it would be better to invest in a vehicle is perplexing. As Rachel and I walked home from the metro last night, and as it continued to snow, we came across one of these workers. He had a large snow shovel and even waited for us to pass before continuing his work. While on the one hand I am blown away by this, it also makes some sense. The apartment complex has cars parked randomly all over, so there’s no real way that a vehicle could possibly be as thorough as a man with a shovel. At the same time, this is like saying that when you are painting walls, you should just use a paint brush because you would have to touch up the corners with a brush anyway.

The snow is simply beautiful as it has covered everything out at Kon’kovo and our forest, Bitsevsky Park is now, as Rachel said, a winter wonderland. I wrote this the morning of the 26th and the snow has continued to fall since then. In the city, the snow is slush, but out near our apartment, it’s still gorgeous.

Happy First Snow!

It snowed today, but I was indoors and didn't realize it until after work when it was dark. It is currently snowing!


This is the view from my balcony Wednesday evening.


The view Thursday morning.

It is getting dark here earlier and earlier. Monday, when I was paying attention, I noticed that it started getting dark at about 4:30 which feels a little weird.

Starbucks: a taste of home

Today was tough, I'm am trying not to fall into the deep rut of homesickness. With the holidays coming up and no snow on the ground (yet! It should snow Thursday, and we got a hint today!!), I am definitely feeling my heartstrings pulled toward missing family, friends, Thanksgiving dinner, and Christmas decorations, songs, etc.

On the one hand, of course I am excited to be in another country, and of course there are other Americans around to celebrate Thanksgiving with, but on the other hand, holiday traditions vary around the country in America, so things won't be exactly what any of us are expecting.

Additionally, I keep running up against the wall of phrases and cultural references that other Americans don't understand or haven't heard before. I am realizing more and more the regional identities of Americans and why we cling so close to our states. When you ask an American where they are from, they do not typically say "America" like Russian's say Russia, Canadians say Canada, and Scots say Scotland. More often Americans will tell you the state (I do this too). "I'm from Idaho, in the United States. It's in the western part" is my response.

Taking all of this culture shock into consideration, after work today, I went to Starbucks for the first time since I arrived in Moscow. I did not expect it to be the same. I expected it to be a spin off of the American themed Starbucks, like McDonald's isn't typically what American's think of as McDonald's (even if they do serve exactly the same food). But when I walked up to this Starbucks (that is a two minute walk from work!) and looked in the window, it seemed so familiar (despite the Cyrillic which phonetically spelled Starbucks: СТАРБАКС), and when I walked it I felt like I was in the United States. The decorations were Christmas themed red and green. The drinks were all exactly the same ... caramel macchiato, mocha, and the Christmas themed drinks, peppermint mocha and gingerbread latte. The merchandise was the same, the wall colors and furniture types were the same! I was so relieved and happy, I am almost ashamed! I think that anytime I start feeling the pangs of homesickness, I will go to Starbucks and be greeted with a smile, a joyful "добрый день! (Dobry Den!)" - "Good Day!" and the friendliness that Starbucks has a trademark.

The Myth about blue jeans in Russia

Before I came to Moscow, many people suggested that I should stock pile name brand jeans and sell them here. When I arrived, I got the impression that this actually might not work as well as many people thought. Everywhere I looked, people were wearing jeans. As I observed this, I felt slightly out of place because I only brought one pair of "blue jeans" with me, and Moscow is surprisingly prolific in jeans. I believe that the myth about the demand versus supply stems from how things were in Russia the decade or so following the opening of the iron curtain. After clothes shopping yesterday, I know that while you might be able to sell SOME jeans on the street, prices would have to be low, low, low because jeans are in an overabundance here. I was looking for work clothes yesterday -- nice trousers and tops -- and some shops I went in had nothing but jeans, jeans, jeans wall to wall (and this was true in several shops, not just the Levi's store).