My Apartment

I got my apartment and have included the pictures below. This is in an excellent location as I have less than a 10 minute walk to three different metro stops and there is a nice sized park nearby for jogging in the summer (there's no spring or fall here apparently). Additionally there are two small grocery stores at the bottom of the building . Best of all, my landlord speaks english and will be my neighbor. I actually had to "interview" (it really was an interview, "tell me about yourself") for the apartment as she wanted to see if I were going to be a quiet neighbor or having parties - I definitely do not want to have any parties and clean up after other. I'll also have a cleaning lady coming every other week to clean my apartment and do my ironing for me since I'm not into ironing.



The entry way to my apartment.

The living room looks pink, it's really not, it's more like a red and that couch is a pull-out bed in case anyone would like to come visit. There's enough space to move the second chair into my bedroom to turn this into my weight room once my shipment gets here.

The kitchen stuff - stove/oven, dishwasher, cabinets and such.

Kitchen table which is expandable, a TV hooked up to Russian satellite TV - about 20 channels - I don't think I'll watch too much of that.

The wardrobe and dresser in my bedroom.

Bed and dresser.

That thing about the toilet is a water heater. In Moscow, at the end of every winter, during the thaw, in May, the central hot water is turned off for the pipes to be repaired and we are left to fend for ourselves - luckily I'll be prepared with my water heater.

I can do my laundry from the can! How about that? I always called it the office, now I'll be doing some work in there. Unfortunately there is no dryer here - I just have to let my clothes hang dry on a rack.

CSKA - Spartak Hockey Game

On Friday night I got to go to the CSKA Moscow - Spartak hockey game. Both teams are based in Moscow and there is a strong rivalry between the teams. CSKA (Central Sports Army) is the famous Russian team which played many teams from the NHL and includes hockey greats such as Igor Larionov and Viachelsav Fetisov who won Stanley Cups with Detroit in the 1990's after the fall of the Soviet Union. In the office on Thursday I met Andrey and we discussed hockey and checked the schedule and noticed we could go to this game on Friday. Andrey bought a few tickets Friday and invited another friend of his in the office, Sergey.

Andrey got us great tickets right on the glass behind the CSKA bench (seats are elevated for good viewing, 500 roubles each or approximately $20) and it was a great game. I'm not sure of the exact number of seats, but I would estimate about 5,000 as it was roughly the same size of the Erie Otters arena (I'll go to a hockey game anywhere). Unfortunately there were no nachos or beer at the game, and not even Vodka! The fans were very passionate throughout the game as there were sections for each set of fans - it almost felt like college football with the cheering and enthusiasm of the crowd, truly an awesome experience.

The level of hockey was impressive - I would put it between NHL and college hockey as there was a very good skill level but the game was not extremely physical. It was exciting to watch the game on the big sheet of ice and it allowed for a lot of scoring. CSKA held a 5-3 lead late in the third period but after some suspect calls by the officials in favor of CSKA the Spartak fans took exception and began throwing coins onto the ice which took some time to clean up - the officials were picking them up one at a time and people continued to throw them. After resuming play Spartak scored a couple of goals to tie it up and force overtime, and then a shoot-out. Spartak won 3-2 as it went to four shooters each but it was an awesome game to go to. Hopefully I'll be going to more in the future.

Me, Sergey and Andrey

The Russian national anthem before the game. Note that the flag being held by the girls in the center of the ice is that of the home team, Spartac, and not the Russian flag which was up in the rafters. Spartak was red, CSKA white.

Spartak skating around during warmups while the CSKA fans display their banners, apparently this soldier is killing a pig. I have no idea what this really means, but it is not good for the Spartak team which is skating around in front of it.

CSKA celebrating a goal, the CSKA fans in the background going crazy. Too bad I couldn't zoom in enough on the Spartak fans on the other side of the arena who were chanting "F*!& You CSKA" and showing their middle fingers in unison.
I had no choice but to root for CSKA as PwC sponsors them.

As you can see below, sportsmanship isn't just for the playoffs in Russia. Good game everyone!

Getting the feel for things...

Sorry, no good pictures this time as I didn't take my camera around with me over the weekend or today, but I felt that I should put something up in case people checked - didn't want any disappointed readers.

I got into Moscow Friday morning around 10am and when the plane landed there was applause - this also happened when I came here on vacation in June and it's a Russian tradition apparently. I feel like going into Chris Rock's comedy here, "You can't take credit for something you're supposed to do" - it's along the same lines of applauding for an ordinary event. Customs went smooth as I was near the front of the plane and a driver was waiting for me at the airport. Traffic in Moscow must always be bad, because around 11:15am on a majore highway (4 lanes in each direction), traffic was at a stand still and all the Russians were out of the cars, smoking cigarettes, and some even seemed like they decided to just walk wherever they were going.

Friday night I went out for drinks with some of the expats as they were celebrating a departure of one of there own. I thought it wouldn't be a long night, just getting in on the flight, but I ended up being out until 4am, no complaints at all, just really tired the next day (and hungover). Saturday I took it easy and went to visit Jim, Carrie and their new baby which was great - made me feel close to home and a relaxed environment; if they play their cards wrong they could be temporarily adopting a 26 year-old as well.

Sunday I just explored the area I'm staying in a bit with some long walks in the afternoon. I decided that I should do some grocery shopping so I'd have something to eat. The grocery store in itself is fairly normal, but with a decent walk back from the place it's hard to carry the bags, especially if buying a decent amount of stuff. I saw people using these little fold up carts to get their stuff home, but since I didn't have one I thought that I could use the following instead:

Yes, my carry-on roller bag. I thought my big one would stand out too much, so this one did the trick. I should have thought of taking a picture with it full of my groceries at the time, but maybe I'll do that some other time.

Departure and Temporary Housing

Due to visa complications I depart for Moscow on Thursday, September 4 to arrive on Friday, September 5. When obtaining a Russian business visa you can only enter Russia 6 days after the visa is issued (more than 6 is OK), and then upon my arrival my temporary visa will be switched over to a permanent (1 year) visa. (If you want to come for vacation it's a bit easier of a process, also if you have a reasonable time table.)

I was being flown coach to Moscow, a direct flight from JFK to Moscow SVO, but luckily from my years of traveling to Guinea I have plenty of frequent flier miles to upgrade myself to business class for my trip there, and hopefully for my trips home over the next two years as well.


As many of you know Moscow has been the most expensive city in the world for several years. My employer will put me up in a temporary apartment for two weeks while I search for an apartment with there assistance. I've attached a link for my temporary housing (http://www.likehome.ru/apartments/flat/111) - it's common for people to rent an apartment for a few days to a few weeks rather than stay in a hotel due to the high cost of hotels in Moscow (typically upwards of $700 per night) vs. the apartment which is less than $200 per night. This should allow me to cook a few meals for myself rather than indulging in the fine local cuisine on a nightly basis.