![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
avreliaI haven't written much of what I was planning to write. We've had a major computer overhaul - again (still with Linux). I am still feeling extra-cautious about settling with comfort with my archive and stuff - is it permanent?
Anyway, the last days were busy on the other reason - I've got a job intervieeew - out of the blue, really (I sent my resume there months ago, they called on Monday, invited me for interview yesterday, and promised to give the answer today. It seemed so surreal that I began to hope that I will be hired, but no, I am not, and the life is back to its sensible, self, and I am still unemployed. But, at the very least it dragged me out of the stupor I was in recently. Plus, one more interview - even failed - not bad. How do people get their jobs?
And, finally, the long ago promised the story of my vacation in Moscow:
Moscow. I love this city. It is as simple as this. But also not. it is a part of me - this city, this love. it is not an only city or place Ilove, but it is the place I feel fully as mine, and I am a Moscow girl through and through. with most favourable and infavourable implications of it (like considering Moscow the centre of the Universe ;p). It is not an easy place to love though. it is not even a nice place to live. it is a big, noisy, dirty, and expensive city, with icredibly riduculous municipal laws. Part of Moscow problems is a soviet legacy, part is brand new, the result is the same: it is not an easy city to love and to live in.
I can see Moscow uglities, I can be angry and bitter about them, and I still love my city dearly and get very defensive when someone else tells me how bad it is.
First impressions are always infavourable. Especially after Vancouver - why the cars are so dirty, even though people clean them more often then in Vancouver? Where are the road markings? (disappeared after winter) What is there instead of air? Noe, after Toronto it doesn't seem so striking. Or may be I know what to expect by now. I pass through my first impressions and jet-lag disoriented state soon enough, and suddenly I get back the sense of normacy of life around me. It is life as it is, not as it should be, not as I remember it being. Just what it is. People who are just people, familiar places, familiar worries. I suppose everyone has different perceptions of what normal is, of course. For me, life as it is in Moscow is a normal one, others are variations - better or worse, but not a norm.
as far as normalcy goes, this one becomes a confusing one. Prices are a continuing puzzle. They grew up in the last years - something more, something less, but I lost the touch of knowing what is what. I used to be able to navigate among prices quite well, but now I had to consult with someone if whatever I am buying is expensive or not. The fact that everyone around speaks Russian also throws me off a little bit. After initial confusion I stop noticing it and just enjoy myself.
First days I and my family spent in our summerhouse, "dacha", that is in a village near old town of Sergiev Posad. We (I and my Polish friend Ania) recently were explaining to a Canadian guy the situation with the real estate in Moscow and Warsaw. He was properly terrified and asked us how exactly people live there. We shrugged and said that they just live. Having a summer house in addition to a tiny apartment is a habit of many city dwellers in Russia - and in Poland, at least. The land is usually 6-8 hundred square meters, and it's enough to have a small garden there with the house. My grandmother had an immaculate garden, and as I was spending all summers with her, I had to help her with all the agricultural stuff. I didn't enjoy it. Yet now I strangely miss it. Not that I would want to spend all weekends working in the fields, tending strawberry, currant, cucumbers and potato. But occasionlly I want to do something. This spring I cut unnecessary branches. It was fun. Another part of what I love there - that special atmosphere of escape from the city, the mix of modern comforts and country self-reliance (the blackout there is a small nuisance, not a near-apocalyptic experience) - plus fresh air, beautiful surroundings, and all kinds of the outdoor fun.
I spent two days there and returned to the city - to meet with my friends and my favourite places.
Anyway, the last days were busy on the other reason - I've got a job intervieeew - out of the blue, really (I sent my resume there months ago, they called on Monday, invited me for interview yesterday, and promised to give the answer today. It seemed so surreal that I began to hope that I will be hired, but no, I am not, and the life is back to its sensible, self, and I am still unemployed. But, at the very least it dragged me out of the stupor I was in recently. Plus, one more interview - even failed - not bad. How do people get their jobs?
And, finally, the long ago promised the story of my vacation in Moscow:
Moscow. I love this city. It is as simple as this. But also not. it is a part of me - this city, this love. it is not an only city or place Ilove, but it is the place I feel fully as mine, and I am a Moscow girl through and through. with most favourable and infavourable implications of it (like considering Moscow the centre of the Universe ;p). It is not an easy place to love though. it is not even a nice place to live. it is a big, noisy, dirty, and expensive city, with icredibly riduculous municipal laws. Part of Moscow problems is a soviet legacy, part is brand new, the result is the same: it is not an easy city to love and to live in.
I can see Moscow uglities, I can be angry and bitter about them, and I still love my city dearly and get very defensive when someone else tells me how bad it is.
First impressions are always infavourable. Especially after Vancouver - why the cars are so dirty, even though people clean them more often then in Vancouver? Where are the road markings? (disappeared after winter) What is there instead of air? Noe, after Toronto it doesn't seem so striking. Or may be I know what to expect by now. I pass through my first impressions and jet-lag disoriented state soon enough, and suddenly I get back the sense of normacy of life around me. It is life as it is, not as it should be, not as I remember it being. Just what it is. People who are just people, familiar places, familiar worries. I suppose everyone has different perceptions of what normal is, of course. For me, life as it is in Moscow is a normal one, others are variations - better or worse, but not a norm.
as far as normalcy goes, this one becomes a confusing one. Prices are a continuing puzzle. They grew up in the last years - something more, something less, but I lost the touch of knowing what is what. I used to be able to navigate among prices quite well, but now I had to consult with someone if whatever I am buying is expensive or not. The fact that everyone around speaks Russian also throws me off a little bit. After initial confusion I stop noticing it and just enjoy myself.
First days I and my family spent in our summerhouse, "dacha", that is in a village near old town of Sergiev Posad. We (I and my Polish friend Ania) recently were explaining to a Canadian guy the situation with the real estate in Moscow and Warsaw. He was properly terrified and asked us how exactly people live there. We shrugged and said that they just live. Having a summer house in addition to a tiny apartment is a habit of many city dwellers in Russia - and in Poland, at least. The land is usually 6-8 hundred square meters, and it's enough to have a small garden there with the house. My grandmother had an immaculate garden, and as I was spending all summers with her, I had to help her with all the agricultural stuff. I didn't enjoy it. Yet now I strangely miss it. Not that I would want to spend all weekends working in the fields, tending strawberry, currant, cucumbers and potato. But occasionlly I want to do something. This spring I cut unnecessary branches. It was fun. Another part of what I love there - that special atmosphere of escape from the city, the mix of modern comforts and country self-reliance (the blackout there is a small nuisance, not a near-apocalyptic experience) - plus fresh air, beautiful surroundings, and all kinds of the outdoor fun.
I spent two days there and returned to the city - to meet with my friends and my favourite places.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-06-02 07:20 pm (UTC)Sorry about the job, though. But, hey, interview - that's good! Somethign will come up eventually. I'm not sure how I get my jobs, mainly a combination of luck and knowing people I think. Have you tried recruitment agencies and the like? They can be a big help, if you can put up with the over enthusiasm and the hard sell.
no subject
Date: 2004-06-06 01:38 pm (UTC)I'm not sure how I get my jobs, mainly a combination of luck and knowing people I think.
I think that's how most of people get their jobs - but I know too little people in Toronto yet, so no help here. And, yes, interview is good in any case - at least my resume can attract some attention.
no subject
Date: 2004-06-04 11:48 am (UTC)Your feelings about Moscow mirror my own. I haven't been back since the summer of 2000, and every time I used to visit, it would be the same story, the same feelings. One thing that strikes me the most is how normal everything seems, despite the changes.
no subject
Date: 2004-06-04 06:10 pm (UTC)I've been told that we friended jonesiexxx around the same time.
This is quite curious recommendation. ;)
I am happy to see that I am not alone in my feelings. It's getting hard to defend my ability to love this city, despite all things I don't like about it. Since 2000 things hasn't changed much: prices grew up, some places look better, some places look worse, some buildings appeared, some disappeared (Manezhnaya Ploshchad looks strange without Manezh); people are all the same, only with cell phones.
Nice meeting you! (Well, I've seen you around, but haven't figure out that you are from Moscow, too.)