Views of Russia which may surprise you!

You’ll never see these flowers in a

Russian Hospital !

 

Occupations...

Optician stores... that don’t adjust what they sell. We assumed the people who sold us glasses would adjust them, but they can’t... and don’t worry about it.  Typical of many people here who don’t want to expand their knowledge to gain more customers.

Pharmacies rarely have a pharmacist on site, just clerks.  A written prescriptions is only necessary for some psychological drugs.  What’s good is that there’s no charade of professionalism by placing a personalized label on a vial... pills are sold in the same package they are shipped in to the pharmacy from elsewhere in Russia, Germany, India, wherever.

Supermarket managers feel in an elevated position, but are not eager to talk to customers.  They don’t have a badge with a photo and have no customer desk to welcome you.   

Russians favor black more than most Americans.  It’s easier to keep your clothes looking clean when you have a car.  Now I see splashes of color more, including orange, which is surprisingly popular.

Apartment hallways are often drab, dirty, and poorly maintained.  I’ve never seen an inspection form posted in an elevator. Elevators are often vandalized and have graffiti.  Russians often don’t seem to care much about poor and unsafe building conditions outside of their own apartments.  Exterior appearance, what realtors call Curb Appeal, gets little attention.

Flowers are not welcome at hospitals (they’re considered unsanitary).  Are Cut Flowers Really Bad for Hospital Rooms? refutes this belief. Russians don’t send Get Well cards but telephone instead.

Russian cities don’t have good and bad neighborhoods... no ghettos as in America.

A thought... Russians mostly live in vertical villages, in apartments, Americans horizontally in houses.

Laundry soap is sold in small boxes, the size of a large paperback.  Large economy sizes don’t attract Russians.  Small sizes remain popular perhaps partly because many people carry groceries home from the store.

Smoking...

  60% of Russian men smoke, 20% of the women... but younger women smoke 10 times more than older women, so this is trending up.  In contrast, 20.5% of American men smoke, 15.8 of American women. smoking United States  (If you figure that Russia has 1/2 the population of the US, but their men smoke three times as much...  the result is more deaths from cigarettes in the Russian male population than in American men).

  You can buy smokes for 60 rubles, around $1.50.  Cigarette prices 2013 Bloomberg.com  A pack of 20 Marlboro cigarettes costs $1.74 in Russia, compared with $6.36 in the U.S.  Soon an increase will make an average pack price double to $3.00.

  The Russian government has banned smoking at work, at theatres, museums, beaches, parks, playgrounds, restaurants, hotels, markets,  government offices, apartment lobbies, schools, hospitals, clinics, all trains, buses, planes, within 10 meters of bus stops, and railroad stations. 

  Cigarettes cannot be displayed in stores, only a price list.  No cigarette advertising is allowed, no more sponsored events, TV and movies may no longer show smoking, unless artistically necessary.  The ban on smoking in restaurants, trains and hotels will be effective this June.  RIA NOVOSTI  The Russian prison system will have separate sections for smokers.

  I was surprised to see that unified steps to discourage smoking haven’t been possible in the US because smoking regulation is left to each of the 50 states, local towns and cities, territories, and tribal areas.  European countries are well ahead of Russia with smoking bans. 

Food...

Prepared food generally has fewer or no additives than that sold in America.  Russia has stricter rules about healthy food... Little or no GMO grain imports.  Medicated and bleached chicken,  and beef with hormones are frequently refused from the USA and elsewhere.

Most mayonnaise is sold in squeeze bags, not bottles or jars... ketchup, too.  Russian mayonnaise has sunflower oil.

Butter in Russia has no salt.  That’s good for lower blood pressure, but the missing iodization means higher levels of retardation.

Bread has no sodium propionate to retard spoilage.   An extra loaf lasts a long time if placed in the freezer. 

Cheese is more likely to get mold because of few or no preservatives.  You can keep it fresh by putting a piece of cloth soaked with vinegar in the holder.

Russian behavior...

Men shake hands, but usually look away while doing so.  My mother’s advice to ‘smile, look them in the eye, and use a firm  handshake’ doesn’t seem to apply.

Russians mind their own business.  They aren’t quick to call the police to complain as many do in America.  In America the police seem to be everywhere, but police in Russia are often absent, don’t swagger, don’t feel they are paramilitaries on terrorism alert.  However, they may not be available when you need them.  They respond to a crime, but usually have no interest in prevention, or detection.

It’s very hard to scare a Russian.  They are sympathetic about 9/11 but have seen much worse without panicking.

Comment or send an Email...

You can leave your comment by clicking the title above or the word comment next to my name and date below.  Or you may click Write Us in the right hand margin to send a private email.  I’ll be sure to respond.

 

Technorati Tags: Opticians,pharmacies,supermarkets,taxis,home repair,education,medical costs,transport,flowers,neighborhoods,packaging,smoking,mayonnaise,unsalted butter,sodium propionate,cheese,social customs,9/11.

Leaving the Nest Unlikely in Russia

 

 

Security or independence? What we value affects whether and when we leave home.  But, many Russians never are emancipated this way.

Most Americans teens are eager to leave home.

Americans help with college, but at some point they expect their children to sink or swim on their own. The parents want their own independence, filled with hobbies, travel, and activities... not encumbered with adult children at home.

This home-leaving ideal has been tempered by hard economic times and permissiveness in recent years.  The number of grown children living with parents, the Boomerang generation, has gone up.  These stay- at-home adults are called KIPPERS in Britain... Kids In Parents’ Pockets Eroding Retirement Savings ¹ Investopedia [hotlink]

 

Many Russians never fly the coop!

Russians expect to care for offspring well into adult years. Their culture expects them to devote much of their remaining energy to raising grandchildren and helping their grown children.  

Sometimes the older generation buys a car, or even co-signs an apartment purchase, not thinking how this generosity limits and puts at risk their own security.

Russians find stories - that are normal to Americans - shocking and wrong!

In 1970, at 28, I finished my Navy time, came home to Maplewood NJ,  and started a teaching assistant–history masters program at Seton Hall University in the next town. That winter my mother sold her house and moved to a retirement community at the Jersey shore, and told me to find another place to live.

Our Florida friend was a wild kid growing up in Bridgewater NJ.  Finally his parents had it with him, and kicked him out at 17, no longer welcome to live at home.

For how long and much should parents feel obligated?  Parenting shouldn’t be a life sentence. Children need to be taught increasing independence and self-sufficiency as they grow up.

Get up and go or stay and take over?

The expectation in the United States is that children become independent at 18 or college graduation and find their own way.  Mark Twain left home at 17, Jack London worked in a cannery at 13, and Steve Allen rode the rails as a runaway of 16.

Russia never had the same exuberant can-do spirit traditionally found in the United States.  Even now, it’s difficult to get up and go on a whim.  Rigid registration laws make it inconceivable that you could travel to another region of Russia without a arranging a job first.

In Russia, society assumes children will stay home until marriage, and often, even then not leave, but just add a spouse to those living in the apartment.  Instead of grown children leaving, they gradually take over!  No wonder pull-out beds are popular in Russia.

Hard to shake your kids in Russia...

It’s difficult for young adults to be financially independent in Russia.  Students are not expected to have part time jobs, which could lead toward more financial independence. Children here don’t look for work cutting grass, shoveling snow, baby sitting, as they do in the United States.

Part of the contrast is because of the Soviet effect of propiska... that everyone has a right to a place to live from which he cannot be forced out. An individual still cannot be evicted without the where-with-all for a replacement place provided.  (Russian Housing Code, Art. 31, part 4.) 

People confuse the former propiska law with registration laws now in force. Those officially living in an apartment may have a right to a proportionate share in its sale value. You can’t kick your son out... because he has a traditional right of ownership of a proportion of the apartment you all live in.

What cultural expectations are in your life script?

Russia for centuries has laid heavy expectations on parents.  As they age, it’s expected the older people, especially the grandmothers, will take on much of the care of grandchildren.  Grandparents often make  room for a growing family in the apartment by moving to a smaller room, and assuming a lesser role.

In America, people talk about old age as the Golden Years, and a time for fulfillment.  As, they say in the States, Freedom is when the dog dies and the children finish college.  But here people frequently say,  Ста́рость - не ра́дость.  Starost – nee radost. Old age is no fun.

Cultural expectations teamed with economic realities are as strong as the salmon’s instinct to swim upstream, spawn, and die.  There’s no right or wrong, but they determine much of your life script.  Do you feel their pull?

You’re invited to make a comment, or send us an email using the strip at the bottom of this page.

Technorati Tags: Le aving the nest,leaving home,Boomerang generation,Kippers,fly the coop,Mark Twain,Jack London,Steve Allen,propiska,Russian registration laws.

A Remont Man, Refinisher, and Brigadier Apply Russian Skills to Our Vanna

Ремонт means Renovation

I recently read A Year in Provence and Under the Tuscan Sun.  They include renovations in rural France and Italy.  Well, we’re in urban Russia, and I see that quaintness and incompetence can be found most anywhere.

 

Russians do a lot with small spaces.  (Measures rounded)

Russians apartments have a room separate from the toilet for the sink, tub and washing machine.  Light switches, that turn on when pushed down, are in the hallway. 

Our 1988 apartment covers 50 meters², which includes a  toilet room 1m², and a bathroom 2.6 m².   (In feet, the apartment is 538 ft², including a toilet 11 ft² and a bathroom 28 ft²) 

  An average living space here is small compared to those in Britain, Western Europe, America, or Australia (with progressively larger dimensions).

Wives are motivators...

Now, 21 years after Soviet times, Russians are pouring their money into remont.   Although husbands such as I argue that if it works, don’t touch or fix it, many wives feel such an attitude is just laziness, and they demand improvements!

My grumbling...

Consumerism, which quickly becomes a vice, is rampant.  One of the keys to successful sales is to disturb people, making them discontent with their situation.  Envy is  particularly strong in the Russian psyche.

Many changes...

We decided to replace our chipped and faded tile with something more contemporary. 

Instead of one faucet that worked for both sink and tub we now have separate units.  A dim lamp high on the wall is gone, and in-ceiling lights brighten the room.

We have two new mirrors, two hung cabinets, and built in drawers under a smaller sink.

How things ‘work’ in Russia...

It seems half the businesses in St Petersburg are above the radar, while others are ‘Black Businesses’.  They  avoid taxes, lack insurance, and don’t file necessary paperwork.    Everything is verbal... no display ads,  business cards, or estimate forms.

Often they are just a few people scrapping for a living, who lay low from government and mafia harassment. But these people may be too smart by half.  With scanty paperwork, they have no recourse if they are injured or stiffed by the people they work for, and also may have insufficient information to know whether they are making a profit.

The Brigada Option...

Local papers and the Internet  advertize companies which may be more or less legit.  But the company you select could be an oiled machine of several workers who speed too quickly through the work.  It’s hard to check on quality and costs when they run up the final price with or without a contract.

Organization and communication...

An expat friend who has worked in St Petersburg several years wrote me that organization and communication are weaknesses here.  We saw these weaknesses with the friends of friends which we hired.  This husband and wife wall papered and put down linoleum in our kitchen and toilet last year. 

I asked for a written estimate, but only got a scribbled sheet of basic tasks and costs the last day. It’s hard to be specific with Russian workers.  Many are not much on planning a job, and resist setting a price for the completed work at the start.  They’ll say on work completion, “Well, what do you want to pay?” Maybe they figure they get more this way.

With my American and Scottish background I find it unnerving to not have a plan and final price agreed to at the start.  A clear understanding is more business-like, avoiding some unpleasant surprises.  Clarity is  especially hard to accomplish when a Russian spouse negotiates with other Russians.

Hey Bub, Finish the Tub!

We also used word-of-mouth to find a bathtub man.  Soviet-built tubs are large, well made, a shame to throw out. We weighed the cost of buying a new tub, installing a shell liner, or using one of the available processes to refinish the tub. 

I read cautions on the Internet about shoddy, fumy, work. We found someone who refinishes with acrylic and had good reports from another friend.

Squeaks like an angry parakeet!

The company that sold us new doors for the vanya and toilet sent a master to install them.  He is also called a brigadier, one of a  group that specializes in door installation.  Roman is tall, wears intelligent looking glasses, is carefully dressed, neat about everything, and acts with assurance. 

Master in Russia just means someone fairly competent, and has no connection to the Western master plumber  union designation. 

We had had a long conversation about the USA while he was packing up his tools.  On the way out he handed me a padarky, падарки, a lense cloth for my glasses!  Russians love to give small gifts.

Shortly afterwards, the toilet door started squeaking.  We called Roman and I asked him to return to fix it, while Larissa swung the door back and forth in the background so he could hear the horrible squeak.  He was back that evening to make things right.

Accurate is a word used in Russia to describe personal appearance.

Russians are as a rule fastidious.  The workers changed in the kitchen from neat street clothes into work clothes, draping their good outfits over kitchen chairs, sort of like a doctor entering surgery.

Fastidious about appearance, but not health or safety...

The remont man used a percussion chisel to blast off old tiles but didn’t wear mask or goggles.  The tub man applied acrylics without goggles, portable ventilation, or respirator. The brigadier gave no thought to sander dust. 

All were unconcerned about the cumulative effect of  work place pollution.  Larissa offered the tiler a mask, which he politely but scornfully refused. 

Chip, sand, saw, glue, paint... and breathe deeply!

Russians have a bravado about work place danger.  A nonchalant attitude about risk along with multiple effects of smoking and drinking, are factors in the early  death of many Russian men.

What, from where...

The tiles came  from Belarus.  Our Santek sink is Russian.   We bought a German Hansgrohe  faucet at French-owned LeRoy Merlin.  It was the first time I took notice of angled faucet spouts.  Russians are willing to pay for quality, especially if they feel a brand has status, a ‘pree-ma’ brand.

After the dust had settled...

The final cost of materials was around 36000 rubles, $1,200.  Labor worked out to about the same, so this remodeling set us back $2,500... including odds and ends.

A happy American in his Russian tub...

I think I hear Bobby Darin across the vapors of time...

Splish Splash, I was takin' a bath
Long about a Saturday night, yeah
Rub-a-dub, just relaxin' in the tub
Thinkin' everything was alright

Well, I stepped out the tub, put my feet on the floor... ¹

(bubble, bubble)

1  Lyrics by Bobby Darin and Murry the K (Kaufman) with the first line and the music by Murray’s mother.

 

We’re curious...

How do costs compare in your country? Please let us know in Comments or by an email through the Wibiya strip below.

 

Technorati Tags: remont,master,A Year In Provence,Under the Tuscan Sun,vanna,black business,brigada,LeRoy Merlin,Bobby Darin,Murry the K,Splish Splash.

Your name unspoken when Russians chat.

 

An Avian Conversation Without Names

I’ve tried since 2000 to get used to life in Russia but some things always will be problems.  After nearly 12 years here, and me close to 70 years old, we’re not moving back to the USA because it would take more money than I have.  So I just have to continually remind myself to adapt!

I miss the Small Talk and friendly greetings heard in the USA and some other parts of the world.  People in In Russia don’t smile at strangers. (They say here you must be drunk or insane to do so.)

The lack of smiles I’m used to, but I haven’t adjusted to people not saying my name during Small Talk.

A major social difference in Russia your teachers didn’t warn you about...

In the US most people understand the importance of  names.  Dale Carnegie pointed this out.  If you remember someone’s name... your neighbor, supermarket checker,  store clerk... you try to use it as a sign of friendliness, respect, and to make the talking go easier.

No one expects in Russia to be addressed by name when  neighbors or acquaintances meet. If I see our next door neighbor walking outside or in the corridor I say, ‘Draszy, Gala’.  Her reply since I’ve known her never includes my name.  Typical, but for a small town boy such as I, it gets on my nerves.

Also, a typical Russian doesn’t know or use a store clerk’s name even though he may speak with him a few times a week. I feel this keeps a layer of frost on casual greetings, diminishing good feeling on both sides of an otherwise pleasant exchange.

This is the way things are, and will be. 

Greetings without names is neither a negative reflection on Russians or intended rudeness.  Here name greetings of acquaintances is considered unnecessary... maybe even effusive, gauche, or trespassing.

In European reserve often wins over simple friendliness.  This behavior is enhanced in Russia by their customs on what to call people, and when to employ a name.

How Russians call each other... (if they do!)

In the Russian language, names are not used as often as when speaking English.  It’s the flip side of what I advise Russians about courtesies... When speaking English you must use more of please, excuse me, thank you, and try not to give yes or  no without softening words.

If it’s family or a close friend, you may hear a simple first name... but less frequently than in English.

My son-in-law and his mother have always called Larissa with her patronymic, Ivanova tacked on.  But Larissa Ivanova sounds too formal to Larissa’s ears.  Authority figures at work, and people you don’t know well are called this way, a first name... then a middle name, a patronym based on the first name  of the father.

If you don’t know the full two name greeting, it is sometimes considered better to skip it than to use just a first name.

The good and bad of American social attitudes...

Wide open smiles, enthusiastic and loud greetings, and ferocious eye contact by some Americans can be a little scary to more reserved and diffident Russians.  Americans have no trouble initiating conversations  with strangers, say on the elevator or in your own apartment building.

This friendliness is usually innocent and just what I miss, but their is a dark side to American social dealings. They are often seen as aggressive... a steam roller, the conquering American.  I understand this reaction as I am put off by brash attitudes in some American television we have on our TVs here.

Violent thriller movies, the Discovery Channel, and now the Disney Channel are examples.  The Discovery Channel is especially awful... Bragadochios hefting guns, driving huge noisy trucks, swaggering.

Russians are a more passive people than Americans, also  sometimes good, sometimes bad.  They are less aggressive than Americans in simple social exchanges, and even geopolitically. 

They don’t have the background which makes the American culture prone to missionary zeal, and semi-psychotic preventive attack.  Americans feel they can change the world to fit them.

Here, people are more ‘live and let live’ believing in minding their own business.  They are less likely to have an agenda when dealing with other people... but also they are not as adventurous in finding new friends. 

Full circle!

Social attitudes in Russia and the USA are revealed by how and if names are employed in normal greetings.  I still use names when greeting my Russian friends and acquaintances but understand that they won’t or cannot return the favor.

Comments appreciated!  I’m eager to get your take on name/no name greetings. 

- When chatting casually do you learn and try to use the other’s name?

- When speaking another language do you switch etiquette gears? 

- Have you noticed a similar situation in other regions or countries?

 

Technorati Tags: small talk,greetings,patronym,Dale Carnegie,social attitudes.

 

The Russian Pochta becomes a bureaucratic challenge

Copyright 2012 Photobucket Corporation.  All rights reserved.

Russian postal clerks and local deliverers are women.

There’s the easy way, and then the Russian way...

Larissa observed when we were living in the United States, that ‘Everything is for the people.’ meaning that the convenience and comfort of Americans is often considered and provided for... easy dealings with the bank, free coffee samples at the supermarket, lots of clean restrooms wherever you are.

What could be simpler than having my wife stop at the local post office to get a book for me?  Now, in late January, it’s too cold in Russia for me to make the walk,  minus 10 to 16 degrees centigrade.  Larissa brought along our Internal Passports, and the package arrival notice she found in our topsy-turvey mailbox.

We have new apartment post boxes since last summer.  Unfortunately someone painted numbers upside down, and put the boxes up so that when you open your box your mail naturally falls, even often when you carefully slide your hand in the box to catch the mail.  To fix this would be to admit the management had supervised something done wrong.

Unexpected bureaucracy strikes!

Larissa has collected some books before but this time the post mistress refused to release my package without a handwritten power of attorney.  The lady explained  it was from across the border, and maybe I didn’t want my wife to see the mail I was sent.  They had a problem with a divorced spouse before... but that was their mistake as current married status is clearly stated on internal passports.

Is delivery possible?

I was going to wait until the temperature improved but the long range forecast had no warmer weather for the next two weeks. 

Sometimes the post office has occasionally delivered book packages straight to our apartment landing, so I decided to call to ask them to deliver what they had refused to release.

My Russian works!

Larissa printed what to say in Russian.  Using these notes, I scanned and ad-libbed.  I enunciated clearly and distinctly, and was happy to be understood with no problem. 

I said, Прошу пожалуйста.  Доставить пакет на дом.  Я не могу придти, болен...  which means... Please deliver my package to my home address.  I can not come there.  I am sick.

Yes!

The clerk I spoke with (after maybe twemnty rings) said they would deliver the package, and a second book that had just arrived, that very night or the next day.

I handed the phone to Larissa to make sure everything was clear, and then we relaxed and felt happy with anticipation.

No!

Within a few minutes we got another call saying they couldn’t deliver without a do-vear-en-noct delivered by hand first with this stipulated phrasing ...

доверенность  Power of Attorney

I, –name-, (internal passport numbers and dates) address, give permission to get all my correspondence which comes to this post office branch to my wife, (her passport information).

Signature Date

Signature Postal Supervisor  Counter signed in my presence.

The post office is open 10 am to 8 pm, so Larissa figured she would go after 5 pm in the bitter cold and solid dark to deliver the dovearennoct.  She said they were pleasant about it .  Later, at supper, I asked Larissa (before thinking what country I was in)...

Were they sorry about the inconvenience we experienced... Did they apologize?

Larissa look at me and said in a flat voice,

Robert, people in Russia never apologize. 

Especially true when it is some type of official problem! 

This story is typical of Russian bureaucracy, which is more burdensome than what I’ve heard about France.  Still, confronted with such situations, you can survive with patience, a level temper, and persistence. 

But yes, I sure miss the friendly flexibility of the average American bureaucrat!

Comments welcome, or you may use the Wibiya strip below.

Technorati Tags: Internal Russian passport,post office bureaucracy,Power of Attorney.

 

Good Taciturn Russians

Many long conversations take place at the kaleetka, калитка, gate.

This past year we welcomed new neighbors to our summer village of Zaloz’ye... Gennady and Tatiana next door, Alecsei and Galla just across the dirt road from our property. I still have no idea what any of them specifically do for a living.  No one would be so forward as to ask.

In America, when someone moves in, it’s expected that newcomers will be greeted, and all will introduce themselves and mention what occupations they have, and tell something about their history.  Comments may be at times even self-promoting, and include a lot of information about interests and enthusiasms.  This type of chitchat doesn’t happen here. 

Most personal details are learned indirectly from the gossip circuit.  Slowly over years a portrait is filled in, but with missing pieces.  Gregarious Russian is an oxymoron (unless a lot of drinking is involved) and they do not considered Outgoing a good personality trait. 

People arrive and leave throughout the summer usually with no helpful tipoff as to their plans.    Information is more likely withheld then offered, secretiveness trumps openness.

Russians will not ask what I as an American would consider friendly questions.  But, then again, I’ve never been put on the spot by uncomfortable interrogation... except about money.  Many Russians think it’s OK to ask about pension or salary amounts.

 

A front window of the veranda looks out on the gate, fields, and Lake Vselug.

Last summer Gennady was alone, his wife still in the Moscow environs.  I suggested that we invite him sometimes for supper, explaining to Larissa that this is a normal impulse in much of the United States in such a situation.

When we broached the idea with Gennady he put on a wry face.  Larissa said Americans like to invite people if they are alone.  His answer, with a negative shake of the head, “This is Russia.”

People like to chat by the gate.  It’s a social step to get some neighbors to come inside the fence.  Not many visitors take the next step and take off their shoes to sit on the veranda, perhaps for tea with pastries. 

Valla came here to live with her husband’s family around 50 years ago.

Few come in the main part of the house, and not many once there will sit down if asked.

In past years our neighbor across the way, Valla, was our guest occasionally for my New Jersey style spaghetti dinner, or a meal cooked by Larissa.  She lived here intermittently  since the 1960s, selling last summer.  She is circumspect when she feels it necessary, but also has a social impulse.

Most Russians have warm feelings under layers of reserve and subdued exteriors.  I miss the easy give-and-take more prevalent in the States until I consider that some American behavior is superficial, more verbal than based on commitment.  When a Russian smiles at you, you know it’s from the heart.

 

We welcome comments!  Just click below.

What’s your experience with new neighbor greetings?  Do you agree with my comments about Gregarious Russians,  friendly questions and Outgoing?  Can you miss a lot in life by being too reserved?

 

Technorati Tags: welcoming neighbors,secretiveness,openness,outgoing,Gregarious Russian oxymoron.

Two Typical Tajiks in Zaloz’ye Russia

 

Whether from Latin America or Tajikistan, migration can be a rough time.  What do you think about immigration?  Just click comments on the next to last line of this post, and let us know!

Howdy Stranger!

It’s my habit as an American to be friendly to strangers.  This is contrary to Russian custom.  It’s usual, though, for men to shake hands frequently.

Recently I was at the autolavka store, shopping while talking with neighbors.  I call people by name, but only one 90 year old returns the favor.  I  put my hand out to a dark complected man, surprising him so that he dropped his newly purchased cigarettes while taking my hand.

Ctola removing loose composite before patching the Golanka.  The step crack is a telltale sign of foundation trouble.

Later it was explained that I should be slow to shake hands with a stranger, especially with someone from south of the Russian borders, including the stans of Central Asia.  Russia now has many migrants from these countries... especially Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan... but also from Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan. 

Tola and Dovlat

We spotted this same man walking in the village a few days later, and arranged for him and his brother do some work for us.  They are Tajiks... Tola 29, and Dovlat 21.

No matter what stan (meaning... place) the migrants are from, Russians generally call Central Asians Tajiks. True Tajiks, from the Republic of Tajikistan, have a similar appearance to Hispanic Americans... usually dark skinned with European faces. When waiting or congregating they may sit on their haunches, crouching, with just the balls of their feet touching the ground.

Russia’s illegal immigrants

Central Asians are changing the make up of Russia’s cities. They, unlike Americans, don’t need visas but, if they don’t get residency and work permits within a few days, they become illegal.  This influx in the last twenty years is a shock to the people of a formerly closed country who mostly look lily white.

Davlat patching the kitchen pechka with a mixture of sand, and salt and concrete.

Tajiks have a reputation for doing hard work thoroughly, in apartment maintenance, construction or restaurants.  As Moslems, most don’t drink, which is a welcome change in Russia.  But many have poor educations, reflected in their skill level and even their knowledge of Russian.

A few years ago we had three Tajiks stay with us while they finished the veranda and worked on plumbing.  Thinking of the Alhambra, I was sure these Moslems would have no trouble making an archway above the entrance to the veranda.  Instead, it is a monument to their inability to make a simple consistent curve.

Improve your vocabulary!

One night we were leaving for the lake to fix our push pump.  I didn’t remember the Russian for hose clamp.  Davlat asked how could I be in Russia eleven years and not know that?  Larissa said, ‘Your brother has terrible Russian, so why are you surprised about Robert?’

Next time I see Davlat I will hit him on the head with a hose clamp.  He will ask, ‘Why did  you do that?’  I’ll reply, ‘So I can show you I now know the Russian word for hose сlamp... хомутик !’

h

CIA – The World Factbook June 2011

A Poor Country

Tajikistan, has over 7 million people, 80% of them ethnic Tajiks... the poorest of all the stans. It shares borders with China, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan,and Kyrgyzstan and is a stone’s throw from Pakistan.    It is a part of the Central Asian Cluster of landlocked countries, an isolation that makes trade more difficult.

Tajiks were originally Scythian nomads of the steppes who settled down to farm.  Modern Tajikistan territory came under Russian control in the 1870s after the defeat of three weak khanates (kingdoms).

2000 miles from exotic Tajikistan, hoping for better work!

A one way ticket from Dushanbe to Moscow costs at least 10,000 rubles... $350 dollars.

It’s the same distance as a flight from Juarez, Mexico to Newark New Jersey.

.

Tajik Air (VIM Airlines) Boeing 757-230 Fabrizio Gandolfo

Tola and Dovlat are from the capital, Dushanbe.  Unlike the people of adjoining countries, Tajiks have a European appearance similar to some Hispanics  Tajiks speak the Indo-European language Dari, close to that of Farsi in Iran. 

27% of the population in Afghanistan is Tajik.  They are the predominant leaders of the Afghan National Army, which results in problems with the majority Pashtuns.  The civil war which started between north and south in the 1970s continues.

Tajik laborers on average make the equivalent of 5000 rubles a month ($180) in Tajikistan, but in Russia they can make three times that.  Tola and Davlat work in a nearby tour baza, a tourist camp for Russians.  Along with 15 or 20,000 rubles a month they get a place to stay and meals... and the chance to make extra money in surrounding communities during their time off.

Working in Zaloz’ye

We paid them 1000 rubles to cut the grass, partly with a scythe, the rest with a power cutter, on our 6/10 acre... and another thousand to do masonry repairs on our печки, heating and cooking fireplaces.  Our neighbors across the way paid 500 rubles for 20 minutes of work to install a TV antenna on top of their flimsy roof.  In Russia, people never think they can be sued if a worker is injured, so they would rather have a Tajik risk breaking his neck than take the chance themselves.

A brother act from a high altitude, with sandals.

A Popular Misconception

We know a Tajik doctor in St Petersburg and have dealt with other Tajiks in the village.  They all seem to believe that America is full of rich people.  They are sure if you get to the States you will be set for life.

My wish...

To understand Russia it helps to know about the many other types of people that migrate and live here.  Now in the last ten years it seems everywhere we go we see Tajiks are making a big population impact.  In time I hope they will win more acceptance.

Good  Reading!

West to the Orient... A blog about life in Tajikistan

 

 

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The Akilter Windows of Zaloz’ye, Russia

 

           A springtime cottage

 

Where am I?

If you wake one morning in a pretty but unknown village, and see some homes with windows leaning both right and left... there’s a good chance you’re in Russia!

Larissa’s country cousin, who calls her ‘sister’ according to village custom, was born and raised in one of the old homes of Zaloz’ye.  Some have kept their original trim appearance, while others with simple foundations have sagged with age and past years of poverty. 

There are houses which are off plumb,  with some boards and logs not parallel, corners not so perpendicular... a wavy effect.  It all goes back to the parable Jesus spoke two thousand years ago.

          Hidden but welcoming!

 

Take our house...

Built in 1988, our foundation settled unevenly.  The logs on the lower part of the southern wall were rotting badly by 2003.  We had major surgery to the foundation the next year... new logs, more stones and cement... but this was just a partial repair, and still the house argues within itself as to which way it wants to slope.

Volody, from the town of Ostashkov, is one of the  few who carries his own tools, trains his helper, and is proud to be a carpenter.  He was installing a window in our summer kitchen a while back and asked, “Would you like the window to look level from the outside or the inside?”  I knew then we had a house with stability problems... forever!

     The window Valody tried to level

 

Our house fails the marble test in every room.  We have a stoop-down basement where we keep preserves over the winter.  But the basement wasn’t excavated to below the frost line, and expansion and contraction of frozen clay has done a lot of damage over just a few years. 

 

     Blue trim is the traditional color

 

It’s as old as the Bible!

It reminds me of the The Parable of the Two Builders, Matthew 7:24-27 and Luke 6:47-49.  The Bethsaida area in Galilee where Jesus spoke has alluvial sand which hardens much like our village clay road in dry warm weather.  The parable tells of a hasty builder, unreasonably hopeful, and not building for posterity on bedrock, who saw  his house collapse.

                Akilter but standing!

 

Freezing depth a powerful concept!

A fellow-teacher once told me about her childhood memory of rocks.  The winter in their part of Pennsylvania froze the ground down to the frost line, pushing up a new crop of rocks that had to be removed from the fields every spring.  It was her task as one of the children to follow the manure wagon and throw in the stones.

When rocks are pushed by expansive soil, water-soaked clay or clay loam frozen in the winter, it’s like a slow motion earthquake.  Foundations are fractured. The house above is now askew, windows akilter, roof lines may be slightly curved. 

 

      Our neighbors across the way

 

How foundations should be built...

You have to dig until you get to bedrock, or failing that, until you have the foundation footers dug or driven below the frost line.  A crawl space or shallow basement will accomplish this goal in some mild climates if the foundation is surrounded with crushed stone and gravel.  Without a basement, it’s necessary to replace clay soil with crushed rock and gravel that won’t shift around the footings in winter.

Water is the enemy of foundations, especially where clay soil abounds and tall trees grow.  Wood ideally should have 14 – 15 % water content, just like the air.  That’s why beams should be aged for one or two years, and (ideally)pressurized and covered with pitch on the last 30 cm. sunk as footing.

The building inspector will have your town’s maximum winter freezing depth, another term for the frost line... but how deep your site will freeze will depend on soil conditions, the trees around, and what and where you are building.  Northern Minnesota and Maine have frost lines of around 80 inches, that’s slightly over 2 meters down!  Moscow’s frost line is 60 inches, just 1.5 meters below the surface.

Tradition, ignorance, defeatist mentality...

Until recently few builders in Russia’s villages had the understanding and gumption to lay a good foundation.  Heavy drinking, longtime poverty, and poor skills have colored attitudes in Russian villages.  ‘Good enough’ and ‘that’ll do’ are the slack mindset of many.

Traditional shallow foundations might hold up in the early years, close enough to get the work done in a way acceptable to most at the time of construction.  But a so-so foundation will eventually announce itself to the world.

      An old house next to the lake

 

Russia has regulations but they are generally ineffective, as building inspectors are likely to only  enforce rules selectively, and are usually not eager to run a tight operation.  The United States has similar problems or there wouldn’t be such a large foundation repair industry.

Better ways to build a good foundation.

Steel piers down to bedrock, or below the frost line are effective.  An even better way is to use helical piers (from helix), to build a screw pile foundation, screwed into a load bearing strata that must hold two times the weight of the house being built.  They can be effective at about 1/3 the distance to the frost line, saving a lot of digging or driving.

A measurement of the individual.

You can tell a lot about someone’s character if you watch him build a foundation, just as Jesus indicated in his parable.  Poverty and ignorance can also play parts in the final result.  It’s one of those things in life where someone’s poor effort can later have big effects on your comfort and security.

 

Further reading.

CoyoteCottage.com

Countryplans.com

Pro Foundation Technology, Inc.

 

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Clipped napkins and a Russian plasma TV

Image via Wikipedia

 

It started with a piece of paper...

I felt true love in my New Jersey kitchen. The food was served, we were ready to start, Larissa took a paper napkin and carefully tore it in half.  “That’s enough for both of us!”

I didn’t understand the napkin bit until my time in Russia.  I saw a waitress cut folds of a napkin, then cut diagonally to get eight pieces. Two ply napkins would open a new horizon!.  These pieces are placed in a glass on tables of small restaurants and stolavaya , cafeterias.  Sometimes you’ll just find scraps of paper.

Hints about a new TV...

I like that Larissa is frugal... or was for years. In the spring, she said casually that maybe it was time for us to get a larger television.  She had sent money during the ‘90s from the USA to help her mom and daughter.  They bought TVs and these were swapped among us.

I knew a good defense against an unwanted wish of another, is to go along with it and hope it dissipates.  So I agreed it would be nice to get a larger TV someday.  In September, Larissa started to measure the kitchen and large room (a bad sign).

Failed stratagems...

I figured it best to not ask why she used the tape measure in the kitchen.  After a few days, she announced that she liked how our cousin’s wife in Washington DC had a small TV in her kitchen.  I thought, breathing out, maybe she was going to let the idea of a new TV in our living room slide.

We usually don’t replace a working appliance just to ‘upgrade’.  Neither of us ever purchased a color television firsthand.  I figured I had negative momentum going!

Larissa starts a consumer roll!

One day in late September, The Good Wife announced she was off to Technosila to look at TV’s, returned with a 15.3 “ LED Vestel and a plan to buy a large Samsung.  She was frugal for so long, all her life, that I agreed to these purchases.

Electronics are more expensive in Russia.

The Vestel 15” Model VST 16850 LCD TV, was made in Turkey.  It is hard to see much from the sides and the speakers are muffled against the wall. With three years service guarantee, it cost $256.63 in equivalent rubles. 

Our Samsung 26” Model LE26C450E1WXRU, Version SQQ01 was made west of Moscow in Kaluga, Russia at a manufacturing plant which Russia is proud to have.  This model is sold in London, but not in the American market.  It’s a plasma TV  as 1. You can see your reflection in it when it’s off, and 2. When it’s on you can see the screen from the sides.

Changing pounds to rubles to dollars, I was surprised to find a Londoner can get the Samsung at a better price than we can in St Petersburg... $460.83 to our equivalent cost $548.39, around 16 % cheaper in England... and more shipping!  But with corruption so common here (the probable reason), a 16% surcharge as a result isn’t so bad.

Impractical consumerism...

I find these sets  have sort of glaring screens and poor sound when compared to our old tube TV.    They can receive high definition transmission, but the actual signal at times  seems to not be up to that speed yet. I do like that they are thin, the Vestal easy to fit under our kitchen cabinets and the Samsung in our stenka (wall unit). 

We are on the slippery consumer slope!

When we got the TV home with our son-in-law’s help, we placed it on the cabinet where our old tube TV resided.  Looked good to me but Larissa had other ideas.  A new wall unit was installed with half a day’s paid labor, which allowed us to view the TV together on the sofa, instead of from two easy chairs.  I liked that!

I asked about the unmatched bookcase, and Larissa at first said it wasn’t a problem.  But later she was out with her tape measure, and convinced me we needed a newer bookcase that would match the wall unit.  A sequence of economic events before my eyes!

The Samsung is sort of nifty and I like that it isn’t instant-on.  You’ve got to wait a few seconds for a pleasing chime, and then it’s ready.

Change can be a good thing...

My Larissa understands economics, seems at times smarter than me, and has good sense.  I’m happy with the new appliances and furniture... just a little bit surprised!

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Have your say about frugality, or let us know your attitudes about television.  Just click Comments at the end of this blog post!

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Geek and Gullibility http://www.blokesontheblog.co.uk/geek-and-gullibility/

 

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