Sometimes I forget that I'm a foreigner in a foreign country. The Russian government, however, doesn't forget about my legal status. On Friday morning I had just finished shaving and was just about ready to leave for the gym when someone rang the doorbell of my apartment. I opened the door, and out in the hallway stood a middle-aged man in a dark jacket. He flashed a police badge and asked for my documents. 

Well that got rid of whatever sleepiness remained in my system. I grabbed my passport from my room and went back out into the hallway. I showed him my passport and visa, at which point he asked me "кто вы вообще?"--literally, "who are you in general?" What he wanted to know was whether I was American or something else. So I told him that I'm an American and that I'm here to teach English. He then asked how I found my apartment, how long I've been in Russia, when I plan to leave, and where I work. He wrote down all my answers and said he would check them against a database. With that, he left. 

My roommate and I had no idea what to make of that encounter. When we got to work, we asked our boss about it, and she said no to worry--stuff like that happens all the time. One of the neighbors probably called the police and reported foreigners living in the building. The plain-clothes police officer was there to check on our legal status (Russia also has issues with illegal immigration) and make sure that everything was on the up and up. She told us that it is a very common occurrence--the police were just following up on a tip. What's a bit disconcerting to me is that someone recognized our foreign status and called the police about it--someone who knows exactly where we live. Welcome to the police state, I guess.