Just remember, I covered it first!
So, after CNN (who noticed this after me), the local English news channel, Russia Today, picked up the clip of the Liberal Democrats presidential candidate fighting with the campaign manager of the presidential candidates for the Democrats (just Democrats, not Liberal...big difference here). Anyhow, though I posted this clip yesterday - this one comes with the blessing of English subtitles. Watch, laugh, and then remind yourself that this country has nuclear weapons, is a G8 member and wants to enter the WTO. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvw_pEzmA08
Oh man....
Okay, so, I'm hoping this happened because it's a slow news day. Anyhow, the other day a television debate was held between the two meaningless Russian presidential candidates. Well, one of the candidates, and the other candidate's campaign manager. Yea, a little unconventional...but just watch. http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2008/02/28/vo.russia.studio.brawl.ap
Signs of progress
Since returning to Moscow a few weeks ago, I've noticed some change since I first arrived in August of last year. Most of these changes are positive, and this gives me hope for the future of this country and her people.
Though politics is still stuck in the gutter here and the government continues to modernize at the rate of molasses, other things seem to be moving forward quite rapidly. Two of the best examples I've seen thus far come in unlikely form.
Recycling
While walking to catch a bus home the other day, I saw an unusual vending machine standing next to one of the food vendors I usually pass. At a second glance, I realized that this was in fact not a vending machine, but in fact a can and bottle recycling machine! Why the exclaimation point, you ask? I'm incredibly excited about this because a) Recycling is almost non-existent in Russia, b) There is litter everywhere in Russia, and c) This is a step in the right direction. Offering this service to the Russian population is a small, but significant step towards creating a cleaner, greener Russia. Russia has beautiful countrysides, green spaces and wilderness that has been completely ruined over the last 17 years due to a lack of municiple planning and resources.
Motor Vehicle Safety 
Wearing a seat belt in Russia (or any other country in the former Soviet Union, for that matter) is taken as an insult to the driver or a lack of faith in God. I usually wait until the driver has started driving and isn't paying attention before I click mine on, but I have never been told to wear one. Though I gladly obeyed, I couldn't help but ask why out of curiousity. "Well," responded our gruffy driver from the South Caucasus, "unless you've got 500 roubles to pay for yourself, and other 500 to pay for me, then you've got to wear one." Seems that Russia is starting to figure it out. Apparently, along with the placement of recycling machines on the streets, a stricter seatbelt law was passed in January. Now, not only does the driver get fined, but the passenger as well. And, the fine itself is considerably larger, over three times the usually 150 ($6) roubles that is standard. This is good both for the safety of those riding in vehicles, and (this is key) considerably more profitable for the Russian traffic cops. Ahh, you just gotta love Russia.
Motor Vehicle Safety
Anyone who's spent some time in Russia or any region of the former Soviet Union will tell you that getting in a car is taking a risk with your life. Some 250,000 people die yearly in Russia due to motor vehicule accidents, which is over five times the roughly 43,000 motor vehicle accident deaths we see in the US. Take into account that the US population is roughly double that of Russia and this statistic becomes even more alarming.
This is due to a few factors, most notably the boom of car ownership in Russia over the last 15 years. But, there are other factors in play. There is of course the overwhelming problem of alcoholism and alcohol consumption, and the lack of traffic law enforcement. Driving with a Russian can be very much like driving with an 80 year-old speed demon with no knowledge of current traffic law who has free reign of the roads.
Traffic cops in Russia are regarded to be on the lowest level of society, for the fact that their jobs do not serve any other purpose but to increase their measely pay. Most traffic cops pull people over to bribe them, and this is how it works. If you do actually get pulled over for a violation, your penalty is a fine of whatever amount that cop feels like asking for...but usually it is nothing serious if we compare it to US fines.
However, there is hope! After getting out of a movie the other night with some girlfriends, we decided to catch a cab home. Yes, I know that I just compared getting in a car with Russian roulette, but that is life in Russia, and I didn't feel like walking 4 blocks in the cold, much less at night, then having a 30 minute bus ride home. (A cab for this right would cost me approximately $8 - so cheap!) After getting into the car, my friends and I were promptly told to buckle up. Buckle up? Was I still in Russia?
Wearing a seat belt in Russia (or any other country in the former Soviet Union, for that matter) is taken as an insult to the driver or a lack of faith in God. I usually wait until the driver has started driving and isn't paying attention before I click mine on, but I have never been told to wear one. Though I gladly obeyed, I couldn't help but ask why out of curiousity. "Well," responded our gruffy driver from the South Caucasus, "unless you've got 500 roubles to pay for yourself, and other 500 to pay for me, then you've got to wear one." Seems that Russia is starting to figure it out. Apparently, along with the placement of recycling machines on the streets, a stricter seatbelt law was passed in January. Now, not only does the driver get fined, but the passenger as well. And, the fine itself is considerably larger, over three times the usually 150 ($6) roubles that is standard. This is good both for the safety of those riding in vehicles, and (this is key) considerably more profitable for the Russian traffic cops. Ahh, you just gotta love Russia.So, though ever so slowly, things are getting better here. Once the sun comes out from its 6 month vacation, I'm sure I'll be seeing many things in a new light. Tomorrow night I'm off to check out a new Russian conversation group for expats...oh, the adventures of living abroad. Miss you all!
Odds and ends about my life in Moscow
So, this weekend was the first time in a year that I can remember having more than enough time to get things done. Of course - I didn't get the things that needed to get done finished, but I did get many odd jobs done that I'd been putting off. That seems the way with everything.
My Internship at Moscow Carnegie Center
Anyhow, life has slowed down a lot since I've gotten back and it is a welcome change. Thinking with a straight head is a new thing for me - those of you who know me well will be relieved to hear this (the rest of you will just find it funny). My internship at the Carnegie Moscow Center is going well, work is slow (I want to meet someone who aspires to be a librarian), but there are conferences and seminars during the week that are very interesting to sit in on. Additionally, the Center is located on Tverskaya Street, right across the street from Pushkin Square, and all kind of events take place there. Just this Thursday we hosted a delegation of representatives from the Carnegie Center for International Peace in Washington, DC, and this was enough to provoke a protest from a few ultra-nationalists. It was more funny than scary - most of these people have no understanding of the
situations they protest against, and the delegation was in town to speak with human rights representatives from the Russian government and to hold a seminar on the US elections. (Let's me just mention here that if it were not for such delegations/meetings, these people wouldn't even be able to hold their demonstrations without being harmed or throw in jail.)
We're gearing up at Carnegie for more such protests as Kosovo is getting ready to declare independence and has the support of the US. (Russia supports Serbia, and does not want Kosovo to declare independence.) Being a US-funded organization is not a wonderful thing in this instance, though we are only a think-tank, many "mistake" us for the US Embassy and protest outside our doors instead. Anyhow, I get a good view of it all from my view in the library - though I do have to crawl up on my desk to look out on the window (and do, often - as I did to take the picture above.)
Russian Presidential Elections
The Russian Presidential Elections are coming up very soon - March 2nd. It's hilarious to me that Russian government officials even bother to call them democratic. Dmitri Medvedev named as the favored successor by Putin himself in the fall, and the other candidates are all but on the Kremlin payroll, running as opposing candidates as a formality.
However, I do like that public service advertisements are everywhere encouraging Russians to vote. This campaign poster, which is at a bus stop right outside of the MGIMO dorm, reads "We vote as a whole family". I do think encouraging responsible citizenship and high voter turnout is important, though in this case it is important to the Kremlin not for holding democratic elections, but for lending legitimacy to a illegitimate campaign. Even if they don't have to rig the elections literally to get a win for Medvedev, the whole process is a formality - politics here is highly personalized - when a president with an almost 70% approval rating says, "Vote for this guy", it's pretty sure that a democratically complacent society will do just that.
Living in the MGIMO dorm
Well, now that I'm back to cooking in the dorm, I'm getting more creative. I arrived back from New York to discover that one of our two poorly-working stove-tops had been removed from the kitchen on our floor. So, we have two working ranges for the 50 students living on my floor. Yea, I think it's time to go out and buy my own little hot plate. However, I've started to experiment with my little toaster oven. Over the course of the last year, I mastered baked and roasted potatoes, baked chicken, pizza, open faced sandwiches and a bruschetta. Now I'm working with desserts. I started this only recently because actually, dessert is incredibly cheap to buy in Russia. Beautiful cakes, tarts, cookies, chocolates and candies are all over Moscow, and are cheap when compared to the price of the ingredients and time needed to make something comparable.
One thing however, than I cannot find in Russia, is a cake of the consistency that we as Americans would normally associate with cake. Cakes in Moscow are a little drier and denser - not the fluffy, moist confections that we love to gobble up on special occasions. Brownies, too. So, while I was home, I invested in some small, disposable foil tins that I could fit into my toaster oven. My hope was to conduct my first experiment before Valentine's Day, but alas today was my first free moment. So, equipped with the Toaster Oven Chef's recipe for Death by Chocolate Brownies (www.toasterovenchef.com) and my Russian ingredients, I made a batch of brownies today. My working space was cramped, but the brownies came out considerably well and I hope that Hot Tamale will agree with me.
This Thursday I'm off to London to visit a friend for a few days over the Russian holiday weekend. I'm getting very excited....!
My Internship at Moscow Carnegie Center
Anyhow, life has slowed down a lot since I've gotten back and it is a welcome change. Thinking with a straight head is a new thing for me - those of you who know me well will be relieved to hear this (the rest of you will just find it funny). My internship at the Carnegie Moscow Center is going well, work is slow (I want to meet someone who aspires to be a librarian), but there are conferences and seminars during the week that are very interesting to sit in on. Additionally, the Center is located on Tverskaya Street, right across the street from Pushkin Square, and all kind of events take place there. Just this Thursday we hosted a delegation of representatives from the Carnegie Center for International Peace in Washington, DC, and this was enough to provoke a protest from a few ultra-nationalists. It was more funny than scary - most of these people have no understanding of the
situations they protest against, and the delegation was in town to speak with human rights representatives from the Russian government and to hold a seminar on the US elections. (Let's me just mention here that if it were not for such delegations/meetings, these people wouldn't even be able to hold their demonstrations without being harmed or throw in jail.)We're gearing up at Carnegie for more such protests as Kosovo is getting ready to declare independence and has the support of the US. (Russia supports Serbia, and does not want Kosovo to declare independence.) Being a US-funded organization is not a wonderful thing in this instance, though we are only a think-tank, many "mistake" us for the US Embassy and protest outside our doors instead. Anyhow, I get a good view of it all from my view in the library - though I do have to crawl up on my desk to look out on the window (and do, often - as I did to take the picture above.)
Russian Presidential Elections
The Russian Presidential Elections are coming up very soon - March 2nd. It's hilarious to me that Russian government officials even bother to call them democratic. Dmitri Medvedev named as the favored successor by Putin himself in the fall, and the other candidates are all but on the Kremlin payroll, running as opposing candidates as a formality.
However, I do like that public service advertisements are everywhere encouraging Russians to vote. This campaign poster, which is at a bus stop right outside of the MGIMO dorm, reads "We vote as a whole family". I do think encouraging responsible citizenship and high voter turnout is important, though in this case it is important to the Kremlin not for holding democratic elections, but for lending legitimacy to a illegitimate campaign. Even if they don't have to rig the elections literally to get a win for Medvedev, the whole process is a formality - politics here is highly personalized - when a president with an almost 70% approval rating says, "Vote for this guy", it's pretty sure that a democratically complacent society will do just that.
Living in the MGIMO dorm
Well, now that I'm back to cooking in the dorm, I'm getting more creative. I arrived back from New York to discover that one of our two poorly-working stove-tops had been removed from the kitchen on our floor. So, we have two working ranges for the 50 students living on my floor. Yea, I think it's time to go out and buy my own little hot plate. However, I've started to experiment with my little toaster oven. Over the course of the last year, I mastered baked and roasted potatoes, baked chicken, pizza, open faced sandwiches and a bruschetta. Now I'm working with desserts. I started this only recently because actually, dessert is incredibly cheap to buy in Russia. Beautiful cakes, tarts, cookies, chocolates and candies are all over Moscow, and are cheap when compared to the price of the ingredients and time needed to make something comparable.
One thing however, than I cannot find in Russia, is a cake of the consistency that we as Americans would normally associate with cake. Cakes in Moscow are a little drier and denser - not the fluffy, moist confections that we love to gobble up on special occasions. Brownies, too. So, while I was home, I invested in some small, disposable foil tins that I could fit into my toaster oven. My hope was to conduct my first experiment before Valentine's Day, but alas today was my first free moment. So, equipped with the Toaster Oven Chef's recipe for Death by Chocolate Brownies (www.toasterovenchef.com) and my Russian ingredients, I made a batch of brownies today. My working space was cramped, but the brownies came out considerably well and I hope that Hot Tamale will agree with me.
This Thursday I'm off to London to visit a friend for a few days over the Russian holiday weekend. I'm getting very excited....!
Me on Russian TV! Oh, and the US primary in Moscow...
Ok, so this exact clip didn't make it on, but there were a couple that did, and in the local news...I'll add more here as I find more as I continually Google myself......probably shouldn't have written that for everyone to see!
RIA Novosti - Video: "Americans Vote in Moscow. RIA Novosti video"
Russia Today - Video: http://russiatoday.ru/news/news/20740/video
Anyhow, cool thing is over 120 Democrats living in Moscow came out to vote in the primary. We get to vote abroad, almost like a separate state. Pretty cool, eh? Even cooler since the Republican Party doesn't allow anything like with their members! (Sorry...had to rub it in). The best part for me was helping the Russian-Americans living in Moscow who were voting for the first time - they were so excited to not only be casting a vote for an American presidential candidate, but to be able to do so from abroad. God bless the USA.
RIA Novosti - Video: "Americans Vote in Moscow. RIA Novosti video"
Russia Today - Video: http://russiatoday.ru/news/news/20740/video
Anyhow, cool thing is over 120 Democrats living in Moscow came out to vote in the primary. We get to vote abroad, almost like a separate state. Pretty cool, eh? Even cooler since the Republican Party doesn't allow anything like with their members! (Sorry...had to rub it in). The best part for me was helping the Russian-Americans living in Moscow who were voting for the first time - they were so excited to not only be casting a vote for an American presidential candidate, but to be able to do so from abroad. God bless the USA.
Back in the Motherland...
Well, the last two months have been a rollercoaster to say the least, with rolling knolls, dips, turns, uphill climbs and then vertical plunges....so, what I'm trying to say is I'm sorry I haven't posted, life has been taking me for a ride.
Fast forward from December's last blog, it's a new year, I'm back in Moscow after a month and a half at home, and now at my internship with Carnegie Moscow Center. (Should you be interested, here's the organization's website: http://carnegie.ru/en/) It's been a slow start, I'm in the library and have been designated with re-cataloging everything (it's a mess...really). Such an assignment to someone with experience in Washington, DC, both in Congress and in non-profits, and who has two degrees is frustrating, but, I'm going to do the job well and move on to better things asap. In the meantime, I've got my thesis to work on, the upcoming presidential elections next month to talk about and five months left in Russia to enjoy.
Yes, I did say enjoy.
Now that I'm not shackled to my dorm room and the campus, or financing for two, I'm feeling quite liberated. Carnegie is located in the center of the city on one of the busiest streets in town. I plan on making the best of this, and started Friday night by visiting TGIFriday's with Hot Tamale*, my Spanish roommate, for happy hour drinks and dinner. (Yes, TGIFriday's...I was excited!)
This past weekend I volunteered at the Democrat's Abroad primary in Moscow, which I will write tons more on as soon as I get some pictures to post about it. Needless to say, I am feeling upbeat and back in the political swing of things.
Speaking of photos, good news! Daddy and Mommy Dearest* (let's admit it, that's how I will always think of them!) got me a new camera for Christmas, so I'll be snapping away and posting pictures again soon. Good things come to those who wait (or have no money to fix their old cameras)!
Well, that's it for today - I must get back to the important job of organizing Carnegie's unused library. In the meantime, be sure to drop me a line and let me know how you're doing!
*In order to more vibrantly write about my experiences, I've started to talk about the people in my life openly. Considering this is the Internet and there are lots of strange people out there (you know who you are), the names of these lovely people in my life have been changed to protect them.
Fast forward from December's last blog, it's a new year, I'm back in Moscow after a month and a half at home, and now at my internship with Carnegie Moscow Center. (Should you be interested, here's the organization's website: http://carnegie.ru/en/) It's been a slow start, I'm in the library and have been designated with re-cataloging everything (it's a mess...really). Such an assignment to someone with experience in Washington, DC, both in Congress and in non-profits, and who has two degrees is frustrating, but, I'm going to do the job well and move on to better things asap. In the meantime, I've got my thesis to work on, the upcoming presidential elections next month to talk about and five months left in Russia to enjoy.
Yes, I did say enjoy.
Now that I'm not shackled to my dorm room and the campus, or financing for two, I'm feeling quite liberated. Carnegie is located in the center of the city on one of the busiest streets in town. I plan on making the best of this, and started Friday night by visiting TGIFriday's with Hot Tamale*, my Spanish roommate, for happy hour drinks and dinner. (Yes, TGIFriday's...I was excited!)
This past weekend I volunteered at the Democrat's Abroad primary in Moscow, which I will write tons more on as soon as I get some pictures to post about it. Needless to say, I am feeling upbeat and back in the political swing of things.
Speaking of photos, good news! Daddy and Mommy Dearest* (let's admit it, that's how I will always think of them!) got me a new camera for Christmas, so I'll be snapping away and posting pictures again soon. Good things come to those who wait (or have no money to fix their old cameras)!
Well, that's it for today - I must get back to the important job of organizing Carnegie's unused library. In the meantime, be sure to drop me a line and let me know how you're doing!
*In order to more vibrantly write about my experiences, I've started to talk about the people in my life openly. Considering this is the Internet and there are lots of strange people out there (you know who you are), the names of these lovely people in my life have been changed to protect them.
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