Every time I sit down to write a blog it seems a new adventure comes along and distracts me. So before that happens this afternoon, when we head off to explore a new place on the island, let me tell you about this week!
Yesterday I had one of those "you know you're in Russia when..." moments at the grocery store. Every expat who has attempted grocery shopping here, even once, learns a couple of things the first time.
1. The cashier will likely not be smiling and while they might mumble a barely perceptible Здравствуйте (hello), they will never ever ask, "How are you?" or "How's your day going?". They are not interested in small talk with strangers, they reserve those questions only for people whom they know.
2. Should you attempt to pay in cash without correct change, you will receive a glare. This is extremely impractical as many of the ATMs in town dole out 5000 ruble bills (roughly $130), which have to be broken somehow. You just have to push through and insist this is all you have and eventually they will find a way to provide change, but usually not without obvious distaste. You get used to this and it almost becomes comical when they protest breaking 5000, 1000, and/or 500 ruble bills. Stand your ground, they will break the bills.
3. Russians tend to shop day by day many times because that is what they can afford to do. Therefore, when an American rolls up with a full shopping cart the cashiers tend to be annoyed, as evidenced by facial expressions.
4. You sometimes need to bag your own groceries: not an issue, just an observation that at first takes a little getting used to.
Back to my experience yesterday though, because I believes it trumps all of my previous grocery store experiences here times 10. I went to one of the chain supermarkets in town to pick up some groceries for the weekend. At first I was quite pleased as I discovered this must be the local watermelon season. I got a watermelon for just 129 rubles ($3.50)!! This is compared to the normally available 1000 ruble ($30) Japanese watermelons that can occasionally run up to 2000 rubles ($60).
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| Seriously....$60 for one watermelon...no thank you! |
Feeling pretty good about my shopping experience I headed through the rest of the store getting most of the things I had hoped to buy. You never know what will or will not be available on a day to day basis with or without sanctions. Yesterday it was goat cheese and lettuce that was unavailable at that store.
Upon reaching the checkout counter I unloaded all of my products and the cashier started to scan them. She got to one item and when she tried to scan the barcode it didn't register in the computer. She then told me (in Russian, of course) that I could not buy it and placed it to the side. I asked why and she responded by telling me to try at the other open register. Which I did and it also didn't work. Again, I was told I could not buy it. I guess I was feeling feisty because I decided to again ask why. I said that I didn't understand how they have a product that I want to buy, but they will not allow me to buy it. I asked that they have someone check the price, and offered to go look myself, which they did not want me to do. They finally sent someone who I thought was checking the price, but she returned only to show me barcode stickers and say again that because this item was missing a sticker I could not buy it. I said to them that I thought it was very strange for a store to have items out that customers cannot buy. This was met with apathy. And then I gave up and said okay, I will just pay for the other items.
(I was tempted to say this is crazy and bad for business and to ask to speak to a manager, but decided to give it up this time. Maybe next time I will try, if I go back. Not one of the 4 workers near checkout (2 cashiers and 2 others standing around) cared that it was bad for business as there is little to no incentive for them to take initiative in this situation.)
So I pulled out my card to pay and then one of the workers standing nearby and the cashier asked something I didn't understand and asked them to repeat. They then pulled a 50 ruble bill out of the register drawer and I realized they were asking me to pay in cash, which I did not want to do. I insisted on paying by card, which they reluctantly swiped. I signed and got out of there as fast as I could. It is not my job to fill their register drawer. Especially when I pay an extra $25 every time we withdraw money because of US bank fees. Russia is crazy sometimes (so are US banks)!
Russia can also be wonderful and surprising and as I was pushing my cart out the door a 9 or 10 year old boy stopped to hold open both doors, which I acknowledged with a большое спасибо and a smile! I also explained to my driver what had happened as he helped me load the car and we had a good laugh about it and agreed it was сумасшедший, or crazy.
Ok, enough about the grocery store. On to more fun, exciting things about living here...
We get to see mountains almost every day here (unless they are covered by clouds).
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| The road to our house with a mountain view |
We live 45 minutes from a beach. The water is absolutely freezing (I have, at Red's insistence, put my feet in for a couple of minutes...I think if I stayed longer I may have needed amputations!) On cloudy days, or on sunny days, it's still the beach.
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| An afternoon visit to the beach on a stormy day...My message for Red |
We scored some beautiful free photographs of Sakhalin and Kuril island nature at a local museum on our date night Thursday!
In conclusion, living in Russia is always an adventure!
