It’s a Long Way to Tipperary

The best way to describe the Russian transportation system is to describe my upcoming trip to America—after almost one month in Russia we are returning home. We will make this trip today. 

We will catch the train for Moscow at about 1 AM. We will either go by taxi or our nephew will take us to the station. If we take a taxi it will cost at most 90 rubles—about $3. There are several reason for the price. First is that the Russia wage rate is much lower than the corresponding American wage rate. Another reason is that it is not that far to the train station. Russian cities have a much higher density than the USA, so for a medium-sized city (115,000 or so) like Murom the trip is not long. 

I hope we do not meet any spies! Once on the train we will go to our beds. We decided not to spend the extra money for a private bedroom, but we did decide to spend the extra money for an extra seat so we have our own alcove. There are three of us and an alcove normally seats 4. There is bedding available for a few dollars. Our biggest suitcase will not fit under the bed, so it will be a little crowded. Since I will not have my breathing machine, I will snore. Hopefully not too loudly. In the morning the attendant will provide us, for a price, with chai, hot tea. 

The service is similar to what one can get in America, if the train actually stops in your city (unlikely), and if you decide to pay the extra money and time for traveling by train. In Russia it is cheaper, a lot cheaper than flying. Most Americans have not traveled by train for any distance. My son Drew did for a scouting trip, but he had to be driven 3 hours to the train station and did not have a bed but slept in a seat. Part of the reason the troop went this way was to give the guys the experience. You may have seen the 1930 equivalent in old movies, or movies set in that era like "Some Like It Hot." 

BTW, Russian trains tracks are in pairs of two, so there is constant traffic in both directions.

When we arrive in Moscow we will walk through a tunnel to the metro. The trip to Murom was my first experience with mass transit. I did not like it much, but it was tolerable and much superior to trying to make the same trip by car. We will change subway cars once. Then we take an intermediate train to the new Moscow Airport. 

After a three hour wait, and breakfast!, we will leave Moscow for Los Angeles. The flight will be 13 hours long. As we are crossing 11 time zones the flight will take 2 hours. The movie selection was reasonable and each seat had its own TV. (Those traveling with iDevices, even though it says it is not charging from the USB port, it is. Just slowly. If you charge while you are using it you will not lose any battery life at all.) What can you say about sleeping in a chair? It is uncomfortable. 

IdyllwildBased on past experience it should take about 1 to 2 hours to get through American Customs. In Russia, unless you had something to declare, you just went. There was Passport control of course, but that takes 15 minutes. I will blog later about the odd phenomenon of Russia heading in the direction of freedom, while the US is headed in the other direction. In some ways Russia is already more free than America. After that we will drive to Idyllwild. Unfortunately we will hit the freeways at the beginning of rush hour. All together the trip will take 26 hours. 

I do not know that I would have any objections to instituting such a system in America. There would be big problems as, through the big government subsidies, we Americans live by the car. As oil prices increase we may also die by it. The bullet trains that Obama wants are a dumb idea unless you put a mass transit infrastructure to service it. If you have to drive your car for several hours to the train station and then park it for the trip, how much does one really gain? And the expense of such a system would be hideous. So if you want such a system, cut government expenditures elsewhere to pay for it. Since we need to cut government expenditures by 42% just to balance our current deficit, I do not see this as likely. 

Of course all of the above about our trip is the “plan.” But I must remember what James 4 tells us:

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

So if the Lord is willing, and the creeks don't rise, we should be home today.

I Am The Milkman

"Hurry, we will be late." Not having much for me to do in Russia this haste was unusual. But unless we left now we would not be able to buy milk! Of course you can buy the store-bought milk at any time, but if you wanted the raw milk you had to hurry. It was a ten minute walk away. I carried my milk pail. We got there and waited in a short line to get our milk. It was a tank truck of some sort. The lady ladled the milk into our pail and we were done. The truck went to its next stop soon after, this is why we had had to hurry. The walk was rather nice-behind and through the multiple 5-story apartment neighborhood of my mother in law. But be careful, very careful when you cross a busy street. 

There are signs of decay everywhere. The abandoned theatre where Elena first saw one of her favorite movies, "Some Like It Hot." Better known here by its Russian name "In Jazz, Only Girls."  The theatre is from the Soviet era with a mural of a dramatic worker on the side, and a mural of Muromets. The Theatre was the largest in Murom, but was not economical. There seems to be some repair going on however. Building infrastructure is fine, but it must be productive infrastructure. Some of the abandoned stores are being renovated and are beginning to make a comeback. 

On the way back we went to the pensioner's market. I call it that because the pensioners with a garden spot grow extra food to sell to supplement their modest pensions. So the result was 12 sellers for 6 customers as each sold their own produce. We bought "bullheart" Tomatoes. This is a special variety from our area. The closest I can describe bullheart tomatoes is beefsteak tomatoes. Russians have not adopted national uniformity as we have. Most vegetables are not selected for the necessity to haul them a thousand miles. They are produced locally. And they taste much better. Everything tastes fresher.  

I enjoyed our walk but knew that I would not enjoy it as well if it was winter.

So today I was the Milkman. 

Oh BTW I shocked my mother-in-law when I told her that I said on Facebook that I was drinking raw milk. No proper Russian woman would do that! The milk pan is placed on the stove and boiled, cooled and then put in the refrigerator. 

We are returning home tomorrow so I will talk about the Russian transportation system to conclude my series about Russia. 

My Man Purse

Seeing more and more men with their man purse led me to go shopping for one yesterday. The ones I really wanted were too little for my iPad, so I ended up with one rather larger than I had hoped. But it fits nicely on my shoulder. 

We had dinner at Cafe 24. I was reminded again of the great care Russians seem to take with vegetables. But even the good cooks at 24 could not do much with Russian beef. It is often tough. Pork is a lot more popular here, and I can see why. For dessert I had one of my daughter's uneaten cottage cheese pancakes with of course sour cream as syrup. I can see your eyebrow going up with my description, but it is very good. 

After eating while waiting for Elena and my daughter to finish their shoe shopping, I sat in the corridor of the retail area. I noticed again the rather odd pointy shoes that seem to be the height of Russian men's fashion. No, no, a thousand times no, I will not buy any! I kept expecting several Russian Men to join hands and sing "We represent the Lollypop Guild, the Lollypop Guild, and we wish to welcome you to Munchkin Land."

I guess the shoes are not that bad, but in some ways Russia seems as strange as Oz. It will take some getting used to if we continue in our plans to spend the summer here in 2013. As enjoyable as the trip has been, I must agree with Dorothy, "There is no place like home." I am even looking forward to work. 

International House of Pancakes

MurometsIt was a great day here in Russia so we decided to go to the park. I remember how pleased I was when I was dating Elena, she knew the English word "park." Alas the Russian word is exactly the same. (BTW, why do we park in a driveway and drive on a parkway?) While called a park, I would describe it as a county fair—bumper swan boats, the octopus ride, and a ferris wheel. The ferris wheels in Russia go at a very slow speed, allowing one to see the whole city. We saw the statue of Murom’s legendary hero Muromets (Илья́ Му́ромец literally the Elijah of Murom). He was a knight-errant type, think Lancelot combined with Paul Bunyon. Murom is well known for its many churches as it was (and is) a religious center. My daughter Stacy had a great time on the Swan and the other rides. 

We walked down to the river and Elena pointed out that the bridge that was there last trip was gone and replaced with a new bridge. Russia has a terrible infrastructure problem, but they seem to be making good progress to fix it. The "air" of disrepair in Russia seems to get a little bit better each year. I read that Putin's goal is for Russia to reach the level of Portugal in 30 years. He said this 10 years ago and it seems to me that the goal is achievable, especially as Portugal is going down faster than Russia is headed up! 

We walked back to the center, and decided to eat at the restaurant Blini- "Pancake." It would be better to think crepe rather than pancake. Sour cream, fish, jam, or caviar are the topping choices. We ended up with lightly breaded fried chicken, potatoes with cheese—actually quite good. 

After walking all day, we rode the bus home—walking and rapid transit…I am not an American anymore! 

Music Video Channels Actually Play Music

Russian apartments are described in terms of rooms. So what we would call a 2BD apartment the Russians would call a three room apartment. The reason for this is that each room must have multiple purposes.  Most couches can be made into a bed. I have never found hide-a-beds comfortable, but because the Russian couches will be used most nights as a bed they are more comfortable. So Elena and I are sleeping on a couch slightly smaller than an American double bed. Our daughter Stacy is sleeping on a cot. 

The kitchen is tiny and when visitors come it is difficult to seat everyone. Storage is at a premium. So the result of this is that one has to shop more frequently. A lot of walking. Not a big problem in the summer but my mother-in-law broke her hip last winter doing her shopping. BTW, she is better and healed well. But the doctor said that when she travels she will set off the metal detectors. 

My mother-in-law receives one bill for utilities that is all inclusive. 

Cable TV for 8 channels costs $1 a month. The apartment has 30 channels but for some reason she has not complained about the free channels. The mix of channels is similar to what one would expect, but music and children's programing is a higher percentage of the total. There are 4 music channels, two for English music, one Russian pop music and one Russian traditional music. MUSIC CHANNELS ACTUALLY PLAY MUSIC! Wow. I prefer the Russian Pop music channel. If I see Snoop Dog one more time sing "I Want To Make You Sweat" I will go mad. I watched for a minute American Baseball and news about Peyton Manning’s neck injury. If you listen carefully you can hear the English. 

Fees to the government for apartment repairs is $17 a month. (You can see why there is an air of disrepair in the apartments’ neighborhood.) All together the bill is about $100 a month. This sounds small to us, but with the low income in Russia it is difficult for most Russians to pay. No doubt the bill is subsidized to some degree. 

The bill used to be based on the size of the apartment with no meter. But gradually meters are being installed, and the price is set in such a way as to encourage meters, especially for apartments with few residents. 

Hot water is centrally heated for the whole community and piped to each apartment. This means that whole neighborhoods have good or bad hot water depending on the state of their equipment. Sometimes the hot water will stop while you are taking a shower, but worse is when the cold water stops! Heat is generated the same way with a central plant with hot water piped to radiators in each apartment. 

The biggest problems I see is that 20 to 30 years from now there will have to be a substantial remodeling of these apartments. The government will have to do it, as the residents will not be able to afford it. This might be a ticking time bomb. 

Since I have a job starting soon, (my first job—I am so proud!) I do not think we will come to visit Russia next year. But we will return in 2013 when the US economy fails.