Some Odd Things about Moscow

September 10, 2009

1. I've spent a lot of time here on escalators. These are HUGE, TALL escalators...bigger than the Washington, DC ones. Often, the Moscow escalators are on the wrong side, that is the are on the left side of the hall. This means everyone is walking on the left side instead of the right which can be very confusing and has made for more than one uncomfortable bump with a Russian.
2. In Moscow, you can park anywhere you want. All the other cars are parallel parked and there is not enough room for your car? No problem, pull in diagonally...it doesn't matter that the back half of your car is sticking out. Or, if you don't want to do that you could just park in the middle of the road near the spot you wanted to park. That will make the small road even smaller and less useful, but no worries! If you are concerned about the size of the road, you could also park on the sidewalk. This is the most highly recommended way to park in Moscow.

1. In Cyrillic, typed letters look different than handwritten letters. Sometimes, a typed letter looks like a different letter handwritten. However, they make different sounds!
2. There is no such thing as nonfat milk. However, if you would like 7% fat...you will have no problem!
3. The people that work on the street handing out fliers for all kinds of things all wear a patchwork outfit of red, green, yellow, and blue.
4. There is a popular chain of restaurants called "My-My" pronounced "Moo-Moo" that is cow themed.
5. Things are either very expensive or very cheap. My tall latte at Starbucks was 170R. At the convenience store near our apartment, my two nectarines, three bananas, 1/2 loaf of bread, bag of Russian cookies and box of cereal also totaled to 170R.
6. Russian's middle names are their father's first name +vich for a male and +ovna for a female. My name would be Natalie Maxamillovna Sheils.
7. I have seen more mullets here in two weeks than I have seen in my entire life combined. Men, women, and children ALL have mullets.