View from Moscow: part one
19th May, 2008
Over the next couple of days, Moscow resident and blogger Chris Helmbrecht will share his thoughts in the build up to the Champions League final…
It was 2003 when I decided to move to Moscow. Many of my friends called me crazy for leaving Tenerife, where I used to live before, but after my first visit I kind of fell in love with Moscow. Nowadays it’s more of a love hate relationship, but there are not many energetic places like Moscow and none of them is as close to home as this city. The energy and the development are why I am still here. Being a German I am often flying home to Munich or other cities like Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne. My friends there seem to have a wrong impression of Moscow and that is why I started to write the Moscow-Blog.com four years ago, which became sort of famous among expats and visitors.
It’s exactly 9pm as my Germanwings jet from Cologne is touching down on the Vnukovo runway. Vnukovo is one of the three local international airports. International air travel became more and more important in the past years, but it’s mainly the national travel that drives the vast expansion and modernization of these three airports. Russia is huge and centralistic. About 10 per cent of the country’s population live in Moscow. Everybody who wants to do business has to come to Moscow and have an office here. That is the reason for outrageous rents and hotel prices in town. Besides, more and more people from the “regions”, that is how the rest of Russia is called by Moscovites, come to the capitol to participate in its economical success. Everybody wants to have a piece of the cake.
I was bored in Germany this time. I spent 10 days in Berlin and Cologne. Being deeply involved in the DJ and party scene, I have a lot of club contacts in both cities, but for some reason I just didn’t seem to have as much fun as in Moscow. I felt kind of happy to get back when I checked in my luggage, but soon after I started to regret it. There are cultural differences between Russians and Europeans. Many visitors see European looking houses, streets and people, but Russia is much different, even though it’s geographically still part of Europe. In fact Moscow is Europe’s largest city with an estimated 14 Million citizens. The official count is 11 million, but you need to add a few million who are illegal immigrants and people from the regions, which are not officially registered.
You may ask yourself what I mean with cultural differences? It’s a wide impression and so are the differences. Here is an example. I am just boarding the bus to the aircraft. After the first boarding call most Russians jump up and run to the first bus. Instead of an ordered line there is always chaos with people passing left and right, trying to sneak in. It seems to be a sport for many Russians and I just don’t need that extra little stress before my flight. Russians seem to love to be packed together and to feel like in a Moscow metro at rush hour. That is usually how the first bus feels. Hot, stinky, sweaty and some elbows between your ribs.
Taking the second bus has the advantage of having more space for yourself. I am standing in some empty corner, as a Russian grandfather comes over. He steps on my foot and pushes me aside, even though there is plenty of room elsewhere. I am starting to get upset and I get a painful reminder what Moscow feels like. How could I forget that in 10 days and even miss this city? Ok, I move a step aside to gain freedom, but Dedushka, that is how you call grandpa in Russian, moves after me and steps on my foot again. I give him a bad look, but he ignores me and doesn’t seem to understand me.
Don’t get me wrong. Generally I like Russian people, they surely have their qualities, but there are so many things, which drive me crazy and even after living here for almost 5 years I can’t get used to them. It’s just a different culture compared to our Western culture. Something more central Asian. Today, our plane is full with 90 percent Russians and 10 percent Germans. Most of the Germans have drivers or taxis waiting for them. I am searching for a “mashrutka” instead. That is a small van which drives from street to street towards a metro station and drops you off wherever you want along the way. The ride is 70 Rub (2 EUR) and its much less comfortable than a taxi, which is about 800 Rub (20 EUR). Still I take it, because riding a mashrutka is always an adventure and working in advertising and market research, I need to see and feel the local Russian audience. I can’t understand how other foreign advertising and marketing experts can sit in their company cars, chauffeured by drivers, never taking the subway or a mashrutka, all alone by themselves.
In the following days, I will take you around Moscow. Of course I’ll also try to catch some of the preparations of the game and the arrival of the fans. Just yesterday I checked some of my forums and communities on the Internet and I found various request for hotel rooms and apartments. They seem to be sold out all over Moscow. Tickets as well. They are sold for about 3000 EUR each (for a regular ticket) on the Internet these days.
