Yakutsk (Siberia)

Yakutsk is considered to be the coldest city in the world. Built on permafrost it's got about 200,000 people, but it's in such a small area as it's all Soviet housing blocks so it was quite interesting to see. For more details on Yakutsk I found this website which is pretty interesting: http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/europe/yakutsk-journey-to-the-coldest-city-on-earth-771503.html

True to the name of the blog I arrived in Yakutsk, Russia on Monday morning. I flew 7 hours East of Moscow in coach with a six hour time zone difference. Upon landing in Yakutsk we got off the plane on the tarmac and had to shuffle across snow and ice to a bus which took us about 100 meters to the airport exit - there's no where to walk to the baggage claim. We found our driver at 6am in the pitch black and got to sit in an old Soviet van which looked like a VW Bus until the bags were transferred to the baggage claim which was a separate unheated building. There was only one door in and out of the baggage claim and everyone had to show their baggage coupon and compare it to the ticket on the bag in order to get out the same door people were trying to get in while only one person was performing this check - chaos of course.

The van then took us along ice covered roads at approximately 30 km/h to our hotel which is quite amazing, I never would have expected one this nice in the middle of nowhere Siberia but that is not the case at all. (http://www.alrosa-hotels.ru/en/hotels/poljarnay_zvezda/)

After the first day of work we went to a restaurant in another hotel which we were told has Yakutian national meals. On the menu I saw a meat platter which was noted to be a national dish - upon arrival it was cold pieces of meat, pretty much corned beef, salami, and jumbo - needless to say I wasn't too impressed with the national dish.

On the last day of the trip we went to a restaurant recommended at the hotel that would also be a cool place to spend a Friday night apparently. When we got there it had a steep cover charge according to my staff, and it wasn't worth it so we decided to go somewhere else. It was quite cold when we were waiting outside for our cab and it didn't seem as if it were coming so we got in a car with two guys in there twenties as they offered a ride. It seemed as it they were driving us somewhere shady to take our money. We tried to get out at a light but realized the doors were locked and the guys up front said that everything was OK and they were taking us where promised. I really had no idea, and didn't trust them, but it was also in single digits outside, so it wasn't as if I could have walked back to the hotel, I couldn't call another cab (don't speak Russian, or know the phone number), so we were pretty much stuck and hoped that the beer guzzling (while driving, almost like Guinea) driver took us where promised. Eventually we did arrive to a bowling complex, and got inside, ordered some food and beer and bowled a few games. I wouldn't argue that I "fit in" everywhere I go in Moscow, but certainly more-so than in Yakutsk as most people looked more Chinese than Europea although this should have been expected based on the location of the city.

I've included some pictures of Yakutsk below, I wouldn't recommend going for any tourist activities. I didn't take these pictures they are just pulled from the internet, but it's about what it looked like.

Moscow Zoo

I went to the Moscow Zoo one weekend to walk around as I didn’t have much to do on a Saturday morning. It’s a huge zoo right in the middle of town with apartment buildings surrounding it. There were lots of families walking around and I was certainly out of place but it was definitely interesting to be there. I was really surprised with some of the animals there such as squirrels and raccoons, and the fact that people found them fascinating. At home I could walk through Phillips Park near Carrick High School and see about 50 squirrels running all over the place, and there they were, in a cage at the zoo. The water wasn’t very clean in for the aqua exhibits, but I guess in the wild it doesn’t look like swimming pool water either. People seemed to have no problem feeding anything to the camels, even garbage from what I could gather. I have a few pictures included below but unfortunately it was difficult to get good ones.

Zoo entranceThe raccoon

Camels up close
Shocking, the lion was hiding somewhere...
Polar bear exhibit - I should see these in my backyard pretty soon

Training in Turkey

I got to spend a week in Antalya, Turkey for training at an all-inclusive resort on the Mediterranean. This training was the Technology and Entertainment group of PwC-Moscow (I work in Energy, Utilities & Mining) and also included former Soviet Union nations such as the Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Georgia, etc. It was a great opportunity to meet people from all over the region and I made some new friends at this training, but most were expatriates – all expatriates seem to mix together wherever I go, whether in Guinea or Russia. This training could have been more effective if performed over three days in Moscow, but who’s going to complain about a trip to a beach resort at the end of September?

There were many interesting things to note at this training such as people wearing sandals, shorts, jeans, t-shirts to training. A partner at my table was playing solitaire on her iPhone while another partner was instructing a session. There was heavy drinking through all staff levels, up through partner, even on week nights at a club at the site (I witnessed someone pass out on a couch by the speakers). I did have a couple hangovers, and went swimming in the Mediterranean Sea a couple nights after the club, but was up every morning at 7 to eat breakfast by myself and check my emails and the news in our ever slumping economy.

One day at training there was a team building event in the afternoon where the dress code was “beach casual.” (Sorry guys – I forgot to take my camera to this.) It was unbelievable what people were wearing and no one in HR at the US Firm would have let this happen, and it was surely a sexual harassment lawsuit waiting to happen.

Anyway, enjoy some of the pictures below and the link to the hotel.

http://www.antalyaresorts.com/listingview.php?listingID=9

Me and some new friends at the club at the hotel.
There was a Pirates night on Friday night in which dressing up as a pirate was encouraged and it had a pirates theme - it was very bizarre. They had belly dancers (two of them were men) and other strange things going on.
I didn't want to dress like a pirate, but I did have some Pittsburgh Pirates gear in Moscow so I thought I'd be slick because technically I did dress up if any partners were keeping track.
One of the team building events was to try to cross this floating bridge in the pool. As you can see, Speedos are not frowned upon. (Again - I didn't take my camera, these pictures were taken by a girl.)
Tug of war in Speedos - there are girls in the background if you look closely.

A joust as part of the team building.

Unattractive women jousting - they were probably from Kazakhstan and not Moscow.

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.