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Author Topic: Trepidatiously Moscow Bound....  (Read 31864 times)

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Offline Jerash

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Re: Trepidatiously Moscow Bound....
« Reply #275 on: August 09, 2017, 04:10:06 PM »
I've now passed the six month mark.  I have been looking for a place of my own for the past few weeks and it has been a gruelling experience.  I'm really lucky, because a friend I met has taken this on as her own personal responsibility, without my even asking.  For almost the past two weeks, she has been calling and trying to set up appointments to arrange viewings (that sounds funereal, but I don't know a better expression), accompanying me to the appointments whenever she can, and two times sending her best friend to meet me when she couldn't (!!!!).  Don't ever tell me that people in the West will make the same efforts for a fish out of water.  It is like the hand of God, the way these Russians look after and help me.  By now I should be in a sewer somewhere  :ROFL:

Coincidentally, this good friend who has saved my hide, is going to Canada in less than two weeks for a long stay.  Funny the way the world works.

With luck, as I'm learning in Russia, I'll sign the contract tomorrow on a place that I like and is suitable. Moscow is a very big city, with many different neighbourhoods, different flats, and different circumstances.  For a foreigner trying to make the best decision, it's easy to look like an indecisive twat))

In this most recent endeavour, I've had all kinds of ups and downs, Russian style, whether they be fake ads or being told by an English-Russian interpreter living in England that they have decided they will only rent the flat to a Russian speaker.  Seems like you never know what will happen here.

I've been seeing a Russian girl here in Moscow and learning a lot about the Russian mentality.  She is twice bitten and fatalistic and has told me clearly that she is reserving her feelings.  More like, she won't let herself feel too much for me.   Tomorrow she has to move and I will go over there after I finish work at 9pm to help with everything that is left to do.  Today, trying to get some hint from her, I said "I hope I have some use for you".  Her kind Russian response was "I also hope for this"))))  Lots of background to that comment, actually, but these Russian girls are difficult to crack!  Everything left is now packed in the car, so tomorrow I will just go with her to the new flat and move it all in.  Then, stay the night and commute into Moscow on Friday.

My Russian is coming along.  For the flat I hope to be able to sign the contract for tomorrow, my friend set up the appointment, but I went there alone.  Met the agent and the owner, who both spoke just about zero English, and I was able to get all my questions answered and they were able to communicate everything they needed to.  I only used the translator to find the word "owner" and "I will decide".  I'm quite proud of how I managed with it today.  I think my Russian is better than I thought it was.)

Offline Jerash

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Re: Trepidatiously Moscow Bound....
« Reply #276 on: August 09, 2017, 04:30:39 PM »
I have now spent many weeks asking students about their upcoming holidays, how their holidays were and on and on.  The timing of my move has meant I am working through the summer as to get better established.  It's a tough slog on some days, as I just want to be on the dock, kicking up my feet, without a care.  That being said, my cares are much less than what they used to be when I first joined this forum and I am happy with my life, despite the fact that it is less clear what the future holds.  To paraphrase an old song I like, You're in Russia now.  tiphat

I'll have some time off starting in December.  Because of the big New Year's holiday in Russia, I'll be able to spend a solid three weeks with family in Canada.  I'm looking forward to it, but I'm happy with it all here as well.

I'm enjoying being in this culture and trying to figure out how to translate it back to the culture I'm familiar with.  I am very familiar with many cultures in this rather small and big world, and I would say that Russian culture is familiar for a Westerner on the surface level.  Once you dig beyond, there is something very unique and special, and specifically unlike anywhere else. 

Offline dcguyusa

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Re: Trepidatiously Moscow Bound....
« Reply #277 on: August 09, 2017, 05:58:19 PM »
Glad to hear that adjusting to life there has not been too difficult for you.  As for Good Samaritans helping you out, it can be very beneficial to both persons.  Just be wary that there are also "pretend" Good Samaritans who have some hidden agenda.  If the acquaintance will be going to Canada soon, then that makes it almost providential that you both met.   :saint:

As for fatalistic attitude, having been to third world regions, that type of mentality is prevalent with people there.  When an "outsider" comes to their area, it may bring some extra activity and interest to the area, but they also know that life will return back to the same routine afterward. :snivel:

Good that the translator helped you out with people who spoke no English.  When you live in a foreign location after a while, you get the hang of the place.  The one big difference with some foreign country holidays is that it can last for one week or more.  In the USA, there are only one day holidays.  Not unless the Government shuts down like in 1995-6.   :laugh:

People all over are about the same.  It is the living standards and culture that varies.
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Offline msmoby

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Re: Trepidatiously Moscow Bound....
« Reply #278 on: August 10, 2017, 02:22:03 AM »
Jerash,

Glad you are keeping 'busy' during the most frustrating enforced holiday of the sporting calendar ;)

I am exploring the Dacha culture - getting to know neighbours and insisting I can't drink Vodka, Cha Cha and various other intoxicating liquors

Good luck with the new place
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Offline Jerash

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Re: Trepidatiously Moscow Bound....
« Reply #279 on: January 03, 2018, 11:16:27 AM »
2018 has arrived and I have decided to post an update.  This thread is not dead, nor is the original dream.

With the arrival of the new year, I reflect with gratitude on the following, in no particular order:

1) That I live in such a great city as Moscow
2) That I have lots of work and continuing potential for more and better paying work
3) That I met my end-2017 goals of earning 200,000ru/mth.
4) That I am debt free.
5) That I was able to go on holiday in November, travel to Canada for Christmas, buy my flight back to Moscow, have my January rent put aside, and still have roubles.
6) That friends have gone out of their way to visit me here in Moscow
7) That I have my own, warm, modern flat, 6 minutes walk to the metro station, which is 15 minutes to Red Square (moved in a few days before Confederate made a clever post about my pathetic communal life  :chuckle:)
8) That I have so many intelligent and extremely interesting and accomplished students
9) That the future looks bright and I feel good here in Russia
10) That the girls are so incredibly beautiful
11) That I have been able to spend some quality time with some of these girls
12) That I have a wonderful Russian girl in my life now
13) That I was able to see my family in Canada over the holidays
14) That I now have with me 1.5kg of the highest quality Canadian Cheddar Cheese
15) And lots of Maple Syrup for myself and for presents

Moscow is a great city and I've learned so much since I arrived here in February 2017!

Offline Contrarian

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Re: Trepidatiously Moscow Bound....
« Reply #280 on: January 03, 2018, 01:30:52 PM »
2018 has arrived and I have decided to post an update.  This thread is not dead, nor is the original dream.

With the arrival of the new year, I reflect with gratitude on the following, in no particular order:

1) That I live in such a great city as Moscow
2) That I have lots of work and continuing potential for more and better paying work
3) That I met my end-2017 goals of earning 200,000ru/mth.
4) That I am debt free.
5) That I was able to go on holiday in November, travel to Canada for Christmas, buy my flight back to Moscow, have my January rent put aside, and still have roubles.
6) That friends have gone out of their way to visit me here in Moscow
7) That I have my own, warm, modern flat, 6 minutes walk to the metro station, which is 15 minutes to Red Square (moved in a few days before Confederate made a clever post about my pathetic communal life  :chuckle:)
8) That I have so many intelligent and extremely interesting and accomplished students
9) That the future looks bright and I feel good here in Russia
10) That the girls are so incredibly beautiful
11) That I have been able to spend some quality time with some of these girls
12) That I have a wonderful Russian girl in my life now
13) That I was able to see my family in Canada over the holidays
14) That I now have with me 1.5kg of the highest quality Canadian Cheddar Cheese
15) And lots of Maple Syrup for myself and for presents

Moscow is a great city and I've learned so much since I arrived here in February 2017!

But what about pancake mix? You can’t have any maple syrup without pancakes!  :laugh:

BTW congratulations! Well done.

Offline Jerash

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Re: Trepidatiously Moscow Bound....
« Reply #281 on: January 03, 2018, 01:43:46 PM »
2018 has arrived and I have decided to post an update.  This thread is not dead, nor is the original dream.

With the arrival of the new year, I reflect with gratitude on the following, in no particular order:

1) That I live in such a great city as Moscow
2) That I have lots of work and continuing potential for more and better paying work
3) That I met my end-2017 goals of earning 200,000ru/mth.
4) That I am debt free.
5) That I was able to go on holiday in November, travel to Canada for Christmas, buy my flight back to Moscow, have my January rent put aside, and still have roubles.
6) That friends have gone out of their way to visit me here in Moscow
7) That I have my own, warm, modern flat, 6 minutes walk to the metro station, which is 15 minutes to Red Square (moved in a few days before Confederate made a clever post about my pathetic communal life  :chuckle:)
8) That I have so many intelligent and extremely interesting and accomplished students
9) That the future looks bright and I feel good here in Russia
10) That the girls are so incredibly beautiful
11) That I have been able to spend some quality time with some of these girls
12) That I have a wonderful Russian girl in my life now
13) That I was able to see my family in Canada over the holidays
14) That I now have with me 1.5kg of the highest quality Canadian Cheddar Cheese
15) And lots of Maple Syrup for myself and for presents

Moscow is a great city and I've learned so much since I arrived here in February 2017!

But what about pancake mix? You can’t have any maple syrup without pancakes!  :laugh:

BTW congratulations! Well done.

Flour+water+milk+oil=bliny!) Thanks for well wishes!

Offline Jerash

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Re: Trepidatiously Moscow Bound....
« Reply #282 on: February 06, 2018, 02:03:48 PM »
On 7 February, 2017, I stepped off the train at Kievskaya rail station into the -20C air with a fresh-off-the-presses single-entry Russian visa.  I was excited and, well, trepidatious.  I can't believe a year has passed already!

Today's weather was similar, only a few degrees less cold, but also after a mega-dump of snow.  The city is still getting back to normal.

Offline Lord of the Dance

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Re: Trepidatiously Moscow Bound....
« Reply #283 on: February 06, 2018, 02:55:38 PM »
On 7 February, 2017, I stepped off the train at Kievskaya rail station into the -20C air with a fresh-off-the-presses single-entry Russian visa.  I was excited and, well, trepidatious.  I can't believe a year has passed already!

Today's weather was similar, only a few degrees less cold, but also after a mega-dump of snow.  The city is still getting back to normal.

Congratulations to your first year.  :thumbsup:
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Offline Tripleg

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Re: Trepidatiously Moscow Bound....
« Reply #284 on: February 06, 2018, 10:27:23 PM »
@Jerash, what's the end-goal of your journey? Is it to gain Russian Citizenship and start a busines? Surely you don't plan on being an English teacher your whole life....

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Re: Trepidatiously Moscow Bound....
« Reply #285 on: February 07, 2018, 08:46:14 AM »
On 7 February, 2017, I stepped off the train at Kievskaya rail station into the -20C air with a fresh-off-the-presses single-entry Russian visa.  I was excited and, well, trepidatious.  I can't believe a year has passed already!

Today's weather was similar, only a few degrees less cold, but also after a mega-dump of snow.  The city is still getting back to normal.

It is a sign of the times or perhaps the lack of news worthy articles but the Moscow snow of the last couple days has received almost as much coverage as the first Tesla being delivered to an outer orbit. Mind you no doom and gloom about Moscow as opposed to Boston a few years back just a bucket full of snow landed on the Kremlin and surrounding regions.

As for your anniversary, well done!  tiphat
“If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?” T.S. Eliot

Offline Jerash

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Re: Trepidatiously Moscow Bound....
« Reply #286 on: February 07, 2018, 01:25:23 PM »
@Jerash, what's the end-goal of your journey? Is it to gain Russian Citizenship and start a busines? Surely you don't plan on being an English teacher your whole life....

No, I definitely don't plan to spend my whole life as an English teacher.  I've already spent half of it doing other things.  :laugh:

But more seriously, it's a fair enough question.  Possibly by "English teacher" you imagine that I am bound to a school where I go every day and spend all day there and that I do this for peanuts.  Definitely that is an option in Moscow, and boy are they suckers, the ones who do it.  I follow several boards connected with language teaching in Moscow and I'm positively scandalized by the offers that come from those schools.

As for me, I'm basically a freelancer.  My clients come through 4 or 5 different schools/agencies, and I have some of my own students independently as well. At this point in time, my lessons are all one-on-one and are typically held in offices and to a lesser amount, private homes and cafes.  I count a number of well-known brand companies among my clientele, and also some private clients in extremely lucrative positions.  I'm earning well and continue to see potential for increasing my income going forward.  My money is sourced from people who know that I am a serious professional and not a hipster using ESL teaching to travel the world, etc.

Year one was spent on credential training and then establishing myself, while also learning about where I had landed.  Year two is about consolidation, applying what I've learned, and diversifying.

That's only in the professional sphere.  Part of the reason I came here was to meet a lovely girl to settle down with and have a family.  I've been dating locally for a year now and I'm really hoping that I may now have hooked into something truly serious and that that area of my life is going to bear fruit.

The future is always open-ended.  I should have been locked down into a good lifetime job in Canada, but after a decade doing it, I was unfulfilled and decided it wasn't worth trading my happiness in for a good salary and a great promise down the road.  My attitude hasn't changed and I guess it never will.  I have to be versatile and adaptable and try to plan ahead so that I can be ready for any number of options.  Return to Canada with family?  Sooner or later?  Staying in Russia longer term? Permanently?  Relocation with family to a third country altogether?  These are all possibilities, and I think my strength is that I'm open to all of those possibilities.  Some of you may disagree.

So I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing.  Keep learning and trying to be better than the last month.  Opening a business is definitely something I'm considering, but it is early early days for that.  I'll need to learn more about the Russian requirements and continue building my contacts.  But it's only one of the options.

I'm happy with the direction things are going.

Offline msmoby

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Re: Trepidatiously Moscow Bound....
« Reply #287 on: February 08, 2018, 02:36:10 AM »
Dear Jerash,

please forgive the lateness of my congratulations.

Personally, I couldn't live in a big city  - but your experiences have softened my attitude to Moscow ;)

Hope the next year will be as interesting
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Offline Steveboy

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Re: Trepidatiously Moscow Bound....
« Reply #288 on: February 08, 2018, 10:59:39 AM »
@Jerash, what's the end-goal of your journey? Is it to gain Russian Citizenship and start a busines? Surely you don't plan on being an English teacher your whole life....

No, I definitely don't plan to spend my whole life as an English teacher.  I've already spent half of it doing other things.  :laugh:

But more seriously, it's a fair enough question.  Possibly by "English teacher" you imagine that I am bound to a school where I go every day and spend all day there and that I do this for peanuts.  Definitely that is an option in Moscow, and boy are they suckers, the ones who do it.  I follow several boards connected with language teaching in Moscow and I'm positively scandalized by the offers that come from those schools.

As for me, I'm basically a freelancer.  My clients come through 4 or 5 different schools/agencies, and I have some of my own students independently as well. At this point in time, my lessons are all one-on-one and are typically held in offices and to a lesser amount, private homes and cafes.  I count a number of well-known brand companies among my clientele, and also some private clients in extremely lucrative positions.  I'm earning well and continue to see potential for increasing my income going forward.  My money is sourced from people who know that I am a serious professional and not a hipster using ESL teaching to travel the world, etc.

Year one was spent on credential training and then establishing myself, while also learning about where I had landed.  Year two is about consolidation, applying what I've learned, and diversifying.

That's only in the professional sphere.  Part of the reason I came here was to meet a lovely girl to settle down with and have a family.  I've been dating locally for a year now and I'm really hoping that I may now have hooked into something truly serious and that that area of my life is going to bear fruit.

The future is always open-ended.  I should have been locked down into a good lifetime job in Canada, but after a decade doing it, I was unfulfilled and decided it wasn't worth trading my happiness in for a good salary and a great promise down the road.  My attitude hasn't changed and I guess it never will.  I have to be versatile and adaptable and try to plan ahead so that I can be ready for any number of options.  Return to Canada with family?  Sooner or later?  Staying in Russia longer term? Permanently?  Relocation with family to a third country altogether?  These are all possibilities, and I think my strength is that I'm open to all of those possibilities.  Some of you may disagree.

So I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing.  Keep learning and trying to be better than the last month.  Opening a business is definitely something I'm considering, but it is early early days for that.  I'll need to learn more about the Russian requirements and continue building my contacts.  But it's only one of the options.

I'm happy with the direction things are going.

 :thumbsup:
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Offline Jerash

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Re: Trepidatiously Moscow Bound....
« Reply #289 on: April 05, 2018, 03:03:13 PM »
My feet hurt. 14,000+ steps today and yesterday, 16,000+ the day before. I can’t wait til June when things slow down. I want a holiday.


.

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Re: Trepidatiously Moscow Bound....
« Reply #290 on: April 05, 2018, 04:36:10 PM »
Orthodox Easter is this Sunday, so a holiday is very close.  :)
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Re: Trepidatiously Moscow Bound....
« Reply #291 on: July 19, 2019, 03:47:58 PM »
 Here's another guy we haven't heard from for a long time, a Canadian who moved to Moscow. It looks like he hasn't logged in since last Sept. Anyone hear anything about him? Hope he's not in the Gulag!  :laugh:

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Re: Trepidatiously Moscow Bound....
« Reply #292 on: July 19, 2019, 04:09:27 PM »
He's probably too busy with the 10 rotating girlfriends he has now  :laugh: :laugh:.... it really is that easy if you are a decent, well mannered native English speaker in Moscow.  I know.

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Re: Trepidatiously Moscow Bound....
« Reply #293 on: July 19, 2019, 05:07:48 PM »
Quote
The future is always open-ended.

I guess your life can go any direction without concern.  But there will come to a point when a full stop ends it all.   :snivel:
An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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Re: Trepidatiously Moscow Bound....
« Reply #294 on: July 20, 2019, 05:15:01 AM »
Here's another guy we haven't heard from for a long time, a Canadian who moved to Moscow. It looks like he hasn't logged in since last Sept. Anyone hear anything about him? Hope he's not in the Gulag!  :laugh:

Don't worry, unless he has a time machine capable of going back more than 40 years there is no chance of Jerash being in a gulag.
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Re: Trepidatiously Moscow Bound....
« Reply #295 on: July 20, 2019, 05:15:33 AM »
Quote
The future is always open-ended.

I guess your life can go any direction without concern.  But there will come to a point when a full stop ends it all.   :snivel:

We only have a period available to us.
...everything ends always well; if it’s still bad, then it’s not the end!

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Re: Trepidatiously Moscow Bound....
« Reply #296 on: July 20, 2019, 01:01:20 PM »
Here's another guy we haven't heard from for a long time, a Canadian who moved to Moscow. It looks like he hasn't logged in since last Sept. Anyone hear anything about him? Hope he's not in the Gulag!  :laugh:

Don't worry, unless he has a time machine capable of going back more than 40 years there is no chance of Jerash being in a gulag.

 Well he seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth after things sounded like they were going so good for him... maybe he does! lol

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Re: Trepidatiously Moscow Bound....
« Reply #297 on: July 20, 2019, 01:05:27 PM »
Here's another guy we haven't heard from for a long time, a Canadian who moved to Moscow. It looks like he hasn't logged in since last Sept. Anyone hear anything about him? Hope he's not in the Gulag!  :laugh:

Don't worry, unless he has a time machine capable of going back more than 40 years there is no chance of Jerash being in a gulag.

 Well he seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth after things sounded like they were going so good for him... maybe he does! lol

You might be able to find him in old soviet videos on Youtube. He'll be the bloke who looks out of place, waving an iPhone.
...everything ends always well; if it’s still bad, then it’s not the end!


 

 

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