I finally indulged my city-planning interests today. I met with the main architect of the city of Vladimir, which is basically the equivalent of the director of planning in an American city. I expressed my interest to meet with someone involved in planning and development to the director of the American Home a few weeks ago, and she arranged a meeting. The main architect is a busy man, so we only met for about 40 minutes, and there was a big line of people waiting outside his office when we left, but it was great to be back in a planning office. There were big zoning maps on the wall, pictures of completed projects all around, and lots of planning literature. Of course, everything was in Russian, and we talked in Russian, but I have read enough about Russian city planning to be familiar with a lot of the terminology. 

I introduced myself and explained my background and interest in planning, and then we just had a conversation about current projects in Vladimir and problems and opportunities that the city faces. Vladimir is a historic city, and one of the biggest challenges is maintaining the integrity of the historic center while not stymieing development. Another major challenge is transportation; Vladimir is a fairly densely built city that was mainly constructed in a time when few people had cars. With the fall of the Soviet Union, more and more people can afford cars, but the transportation and parking infrastructure cannot handle all the new cars. Vladimir is no Moscow, where a five-mile commute could take an hour, but there are still some traffic snarls. For example, there is just one bridge connecting central Vladimir to all the cities that lie to the south, and this bridge is always clogged with cars and trucks. Also, city planners here in Russia face many of the same problems with controlling advertising and signage that American cities do--aesthetic control is a major goal for the Vladimir administration.

One new project that really excited me was a plan to convert a few streets in the center of Vladimir into pedestrian-only or limited-traffic boulevards. Russians love to walk outside even in the nastiest of weather, and these new boulevards would greatly enhance the pedestrian experience and hopefully encourage some new business activity.

The main architect gave me a link to the general plan for the development of Vladimir, and so I will read that and set up another meeting sometime to talk about the plan. It feels good to exercise my planning knowledge again!       

Facebook tells me that Ohio is also getting some winter weather (there's lots of complaining and pictures of snow-dusted parking lots). Well, Ohio, don't get too bent out of shape; it could be worse. Here's what my street looked like this morning, and that was before it snowed all day long:

I think there must be about three feet of snow on the ground, and we haven't seen the grass here since early November.  The interesting thing, though, is that no one seems to really care. Yes, this is has been a very long winter for Vladimir, and normally things are at least starting to look like spring by now, but there is no media sensationalism, no mass complaining, and certainly no conception of canceling anything (school gets canceled if it is -40F, but that, fortunately, doesn't happen very often). Tthe whole 24/7 weather-forecast-and-complete-and-utter-hysteria thing doesn't exist in Russia. In fact, no one really pays much attention to the weather forecast. There is a saying: "the weather forecast is only wrong once--but every day." It's true--the weather forecast is usually unreliable, and, hey, it's Russia--you have to be tough. People put on a good pair of boots and fur hat and go out into any kind of brutal weather.

I hear that American news channels have started to name regular old winter storms (winter storm March 15th--the worst wintry impact in weeks. Stay tuned for the live doppler 200000000000 coverage after these commercials on your source for winter weather information...). I don't miss that. 

Spring in Russia:

On Thursday, my friend invited me to his last day of student teaching at a school here in Vladimir. He is studying to be a foreign-language teacher, and so bringing a real, live American to class is a pretty cool way to wrap things up. He taught a group of 11 and 12 year olds, and so their English was shaky, but they were really excited to ask lots of questions. Then, we had lunch in the cafeteria--Russian cafeteria food is just as uninspiring as American school food. After I wolfed down my pizza and drank my tea, we went back to the classroom and talked to a group of 11th graders (there are only 11 grades in Russian schools). Their English was better, although they were kind of shy. The funny thing is that I recognized several of the students in that class from the gym or just seeing them around my neighborhood--Vladimir is a really just a big village. They asked lots of questions of video games and movies, and I showed some pictures of my family and even passed around my Ohio driver's license. 

Here are some pictures of the class. It's interesting to compare the classroom and how the students are dressed to what a typical American school looks like and how typical American teenagers dress for school (Russian schools have stricter rules about dress--a lot of schools don't allow jeans, for example). 

I went to the Piknik concert with a couple of my coworkers tonight, and it was awesome. I'm very tired and am getting up early tomorrow to go speak to a class of 10-year-olds (my friend invited me as a guest to his last day of student teaching), so I'm going to make this quick. The concert was in a nice hall--not your standard rock concert venue, but, then again, this isn't a standard rock concert. Piknik is a legendary group with its own very unique style, and it would be hard to exactly put Piknik into any particular genre of music. I really like Piknik's haunting sound and intriguing lyrics. They played for about an hour and a half to a packed house. Some musicians are very talkative during their concerts, and some aren't. Piknik is definitely the latter type; the lead singer said all of about three phrases during the concert ("здравствуйте," "перерыв 15 минут," "спасибо"). But the audience loves loves the group regardless, and everybody was standing and dancing and clapping by the end of the concert. Here are some pictures:

Here's a shot I snapped this morning while I was waiting for a bus. You can see we got a little more snow. Also, that short building behind the #14 bus is one of the strangest buildings in Vladimir. First of all, the coloring is weird, and, although it is hard to see, the building has these odd round covers over the balconies. I was, after all, a graduate of an architecture school (KSA shout out), and, although my degree isn't in architecture, I love to analyze buildings. Russia, unfortunately, isn't a good place for that--there are really just a few types of buildings. There is the standard grey apartment building (there are varying numbers of floors and layouts, but all apartment buildings look very similar), the standard ugly hospital/school/municipal building/office building/military base (all civic buildings have a very similar look), and the standard gaudy, post-1990 shopping center (the uglier, the better).

So anyway, for someone who appreciates the finer points of Russian vernacular architecture, this little building by my bus stop is an unusual find. Also, it is really three smaller buildings put together, and there is about a foot-wide gap between the individual buildings that I sometimes squeeze through as a shortcut to get to the bus stop. There is a well-worn trail through this little passage, so I know I'm not the only person who knows about this shortcut.

Today was the last day of Maslenitsa, which is a week-long celebration before the beginning of Orthodox lent. We went to the little, historic city of Suzdal for the festival today. The whole town was full of people, and the roads were closed. On the main square, there were tons of shops and food stands set up, and there was a concert going on.

This holiday has quite a few traditions associated with it. These include eating blini (thin pancakes) and burning an effigy (it is a giant doll that symbolizes winter). There are also a lot of traditional games and activities, such as climbing up a tall pole and a having "friendly" fistfight. There was a pole that people tried to climb--one guy even made it to the top--but sadly we didn't see any organized fistfighting. We walked around Suzdal, ate lots of blini, visited a few of the many churches and monasteries, had some medovukha (a somewhat alcoholic, very traditional Slavic drink made from honey), and then watched the effigy of winter get burned. It was a good day!

Also, somewhere in the course of the day we remembered that is it also St. Patrick's Day. Although I forgot to wear any green and didn't do anything related to the holiday, I wish everyone a happy St. Paddy's Day from the other side of the world.

Here are some pictures of the day's festivities.

We had a big snowstorm that turned into a rainstorm yesterday, and now the whole city of Vladimir is a sea of giant puddles and rivers. Here are a few pictures of almost-spring Vladimir. I happened to catch this guy riding his horse past my apartment building yesterday morning. I'm not sure where he was going, but he picked a nice snowy morning for a ride. The next picture is on the sidewalk of Vladimir's main street and is a good view of the Golden Gates. The last picture I snapped on my walk back from the gym this afternoon. Gotta love that nice Lada rounding out the Russian scene.

The group Piknik is coming to Vladimir next week, and I'm planning on buying tickets to go to the concert--they're my favorite Russian rock band. Piknik has been coming to Vladimir every year for something like ten years running, and they have quite a following, so all the tickets might be sold out, but I'll see if I can work some connections and get a ticket (life in Russia is all about using your connections). Here is one of my favorite Piknik songs. It's called Королевство кривых (kingdom of the crooked).

Here are the lyrics and a rough translation:

Огнями реклам, неоновых ламп
Бьёт город мне в спину, торопит меня.
А я не спешу, я этим дышу,
И то, что моё, ему не отнять.

Минуту ещё, мой ветер не стих,
Мне нравится здесь, в королевстве Кривых.
Минуту ещё, минуту е... Мой ветер не стих,
Мне нравится здесь, в королевстве Кривых.

Здесь деньги не ждут, когда их сожгут,
В их власти дать счастье и счастье отнять.
Но только не мне, я сам по себе,
И тёмные улицы манят меня.

Минуту ещё, мой ветер не стих,
Мне нравится здесь, в королевстве Кривых.
Минуту ещё, минуту е... Мой ветер не стих,
Мне нравится здесь...

Он занят игрой, и каждый второй
Да, каждый второй замедляет свой шаг.
Но только не я, я весел и пьян,
Я только сейчас начинаю дышать.


The lights of advertisements, neon bulbs
The city beats me in the back, rushing me.
But I'm in no hurry, I breathe it,
And what is mine, it won't take away.

A moment more, my wind hasn't died down
I like it here, in the kingdom of the crooked.
Another minute, a minute is .. My wind hasn't died down,
I like it here, in the kingdom of the crooked.

Here money is waiting to be burned,
They have the power to give happiness and take it away.
But just not me, I'm alone,
And the dark streets beckon me.


A moment more, my wind hasn't died down
I like it here, in the kingdom of the crooked.
Another minute, a minute is .. My wind hasn't died down,
I like it here....


He's busy with a game, and every second
Yes, every second person slows his step.
But just not me, I'm happy and drunk
I'm just now starting to breathe.

I don't really understand the whole Harlem Shake thing (the song is good enough, but the videos just confuse me), but I saw a funny video the other day that I wanted to share. It's the Russia version of the Harlem Shake. Now, there's a lot of stuff in this video that is meant to be a take on stereotypes of Russia; the video has a dancing bear, someone playing the balalaika, an old man downing vodka, and a whole family crammed into a tiny apartment.

These are stereotypes, and yes, some Russian get ruffled when foreigners make jokes about these things. Being here and making friends with regular Russians has made me a lot more aware of what cultural biases and stereotypes I use--consciously and unconsciously--in my daily life. Although I love America, and living abroad has only strengthened my love of country, I consider myself an open-minded person and not exactly a red-blooded, flag-waving patriot, but I have come to realize how deeply (the Russians would say "to the marrow of my bones" до мозга костей) I am an American. The things I value, the beliefs I hold, the freedoms I treasure all have been molded, shaped, forged, and hardened by the fact that I grew up in America. And now I'm meeting and building friendships with people whose values and beliefs have been formed here in Russia. They look at the world and its problems and questions through a different lens. I know some very patriotic and nationalist Russians, and I know some Russians who are quite the opposite, but they all have a different set of life experiences, a different cultural upbringing than I do. Things that seem quite logical, inoffensive, and natural to me can seem almost heretical to my friends. These can be little, seemingly insignificant differences (Americans drink cold milk; Russians think cold milk will make your throat hurt), or they can be some really big, thorny, ugly divides (open distaste for other races, for example). I'm not advocating relativism--hatred toward people simply because of their skin color is wrong regardless of what culture you were raised in--but it is important to understand these cultural differences and comprehend the role that your own cultural upbringing plays in every decision you make.

Anyway that is a very long way to say that this video is a first and foremost a joke. Maybe you'll find it funny; maybe you won't. Maybe it's because of what culture you were raised in.

So I think spring is coming to Vladimir...eventually. It's still pretty darn cold (the low tonight is 3F), but lately the sun has been shining. Although that makes for a pleasant day, it also melts the ice and snow that covers every walking surface here in town. Although it hasn't snowed much at all for probably a month, the sidewalks remain uncleared, and now most of them are covered with about a five-inch-think layer of hard, dirty ice. And, because the top layer of that ice melts during the day and then refreezes into a glassy-smooth sheet at night, it is really treacherous to walk around this town.  Russians are pretty good at the half-walking, half-skating commute home, but even they fall sometimes. Here's to hoping that spring eventually comes and melts this whole icy mess. 

Today is March 8, and that means it is one of the biggest holidays in Russia. For those who aren't in the know, it's International Women's Day. OK, so the day isn't really that international; outside of feminist circles, few people in America have ever heard of this holiday. But in Russia, it's a really big deal. Everyone has the day off, and men congratulate women and buy flowers, chocolate, and other gifts for them. Think of this holiday as Valentines Day and Mothers Day rolled into one and amplified about 50 times. Although I know some American women think the way Russia celebrates this holiday is patronizing, belittling to women, and indicative of a man-dominated culture--and all of these are valid points--one should step back and appreciate the spirit of the holiday. Women, after all, make up more than half of the population, and they carry a tremendous burden between working and raising a family (these gender roles are especially strict in Russia), and so maybe it is good to have a big holiday to recognize this.

And so, to all the women, happy March 8! 

Anyone who has lived in Russia for a while, especially during the summer, dreads the remont--the time when  hot water supply is cut off so crews can maintain the central heat plants. Through some combination of good luck and timing, in all my travels to Russia I haven't yet fallen victim to the remont, although I'm sure my luck will run out this summer. It isn't really that bad to be without hot water. You can still take a shower, still wash your hands, still do your laundry. Sure, it's inconvenient, but it's possible to do all your regular things using only cold water.

Yesterday, though, I woke up and went to take a shower only to discover that there was no cold water. Well, there is absolutely no way to take a shower in scalding hot water, and I couldn't even wash my face or hands. I filled up the bathtub a little way and hoped that the water would cool off enough that I could use it, but after a half hour it was still hot enough to boil a lobster. So, I did the Russian thing and put on some cologne to cover up the fact that I hadn't showered and headed off to work. It's always an adventure living here.

Speaking of water, this is the color of the city water in Vladimir. You can see why no one drinks unfiltered water...

The last two weeks have been really busy, with midterm exams and lots of grading, plus a quite a few billiards games and the annual American Home women's and men's day dinner on Saturday (which was an excellent evening at a very nice restaurant here in Vladimir), and so I apologize for neglecting my blog.

One of the most mundane details about daily life is going to the darned grocery store. And anyone who complains about going to the grocery store in the US of A needs to visit Russia to put things in perspective. It's not that grocery stores are bad here; in fact, there are some very nice ones. It's just that the philosophy on grocery shopping is different. Most people visit the grocery store every single day and buy enough to get them through a day or two. Food products in Russia are usually made without preservatives, so food spoils very fast; a loaf of bread, even if sealed up, will get moldy in two days. Also, far fewer people have cars, and so it isn't possible to do the $250 I've-got-three-teenage-boys-and-this-is-gonna-last-a-week kind of grocery run if you have to lug all that stuff on the bus.

Just like in the US, there are a few different types of places that sell groceries in Russia. First there are corner produkti and zakusochnie stores. These are the bodega-type places that sell mostly alcohol, and everything is behind the counter, so you have to ask some crabby lady to get your bottle of water and loaf of bread. These places are usually pretty beat up and don't have much of any selection of food.

Then, there are the regular supermarketi that look more or less like a small American supermarket. The selection of products, though, is quite different. There are not too many fresh fruits and vegetables, and there are tons of dairy products that you would have a very hard time finding in America. The interesting thing, though, is that hardly any of those dairy products are jugs of milk; people really don't just drink glasses of milk, and usually milk isn't even sold in containers bigger than one liter. Then, there is the all-important bread section; Russians eat a huge amount of bread in comparison to Americans. The bread is often nothing fancy--basic, hearty white or black bread--but it is fresh. The meat section of a Russian supermarket is a lot smaller than at your neighborhood Heinens (Cleveland shout out!), and meat prices are actually equal to or even a little more expensive than in the states (thanks big agribusiness). Then there are the junk-food isles, which are far less stuffed full of junk than in the states--chips take up just a little slice of one isle in the supermarket I go to every day. Shoot, there is more space devoted to pickles and other pickled foods than to potato chips. Don't come to one of these stores looking for anything unusual, that is, anything not in the usual Russian culinary palate. Pelmeni? Got those. Whole frozen fish? Check. Salsa? Forgot it. Lunch meat? Out of the question (you can get sausage, but shaved ham or deli turkey simply doesn't exist).

Recently, some big supermarkets have opened up in Vladimir. There are two huge ones that look almost exactly like giant US grocery stores. They have a good selection of products that go beyond the usual Russian supermarket fare, and you can even find peanut butter in one of the stores here in Vladimir (it's lackluster PB from Denmark, but you take what you can get). The city planner in me doesn't like how these stores are big boxes situated on the very fringe of the city, but they are definitely very popular places in the city. Also, I live basically across the street from one, so if I ever need that PB fix, I can just walk.

Here are a few pictures of the Russian grocery store experience. The amazingly fancy store is Yelisevskii in Moscow, which is a place I frequented when I had my internship in Moscow in the Summer of 2011. Pretty nice, huh?