I couldn’t decide if it was a better to talk about the good
or the bad first, then I decided it doesn’t really matter so Ill save the
“worst for last”.
So first the good! Last Friday was International Women’s
Day. However, the international part
does not include the United States (I hope to change that next year). Originally, the holiday was to
celebrate the liberation of women from the home and into the work force. Now, on March 8th women get
the day off from work and school (only slightly ironic) and are showered with
flowers, chocolates and other small gifts. Traditionally men will cook and clean on this day but from
what I have witnessed most men have to go to work since all the women have the
day off. For me it meant a trip to
starbucks and dinner with a bunch of girls from my university.
I also have kind of a side story but it was on women’s day
so I guess it counts…
I have heard that Russian dorms are extremely strict and
miserable to live in (particularly in Moscow). My first time in a Russian dorm was on Friday to have dinner
with people from my university.
Anytime there is a guest they have to be “signed in” and leave their ID
with the person at the entrance.
The guy who was at the entrance was so drunk and only got drunker when
we were trying to leave. It took
us forever to get out IDs back because one second he would be handing them to
us and the next he would forget and be giving us a lecture or asking us
questions. Finally, after a long
lecture about how we broke their policy in some way or another (I’m not sure he
even knew what he was talking about) he finally gave us our IDs back. Not the most exciting story but it was
a very different experience than a dorm back in the states.
Now the bad.
Last Thursday I was walking to school and saw a dead man lying in the
street. At first seeing a dead
person alone just gave me the chills but then it was more than that. People were just walking by him,
glancing, and then pretending like he wasn’t even there. NOBODY even cared. The police weren’t even doing anything;
they were just waiting in their car waiting for someone to come take pictures
for the accident report. I later
found out that Russia has a law that after someone is killed they can’t be
moved until the accident report has been finished and this can take hours. It was sad that not even his family was
there let alone that no one else seemed to be bothered by the once living
person lying dead on the side of the road.
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