Items not listed, either because they're obvious, mundane, or secretly awesome, include: weather; lack of a dryer; the higher level of chivalry; mullets; getting thrown around in practice by 19 year olds; traffic; me.
Bureaucracy: Things in Russia just don't get done sometimes. It was enough of a pain getting an invitation for my visa - which I could have just gotten through an agency for far less concern/money - but then I had to register that visa. Sounds like something they could do in just a few days, right?
Well, it took us a few days to just figure out what we needed to do. We went to one place, needed a different document, went to another place, went to the office in the center of Moscow, found out we were missing a form, returned the next day, and finally paid a decent amount of money (About $120) to seal the deal. They promised to call us in 7-10 days, and meanwhile I went around Moscow with just a photocopy of my passport and key documents.
Which was fine, if a bit uneasy every time I saw a policeman on the street. But then that paper got more and more rumpled in my pocket (my fault but also inevitiable) and 10 days passed, and then 10 business days, and then 3 weeks, and no call. Finally, wanting to have a passport and be street legal, never mind to travel, we called them. "It's been ready for weeks, we were waiting for you to call us." Oh.
That's run of the mill, and it's annoying. Of course the policemen lead to another issue...
Racial Attitudes in Moscow: This goes beyond the obvious fact that much of Europe is more racist in attitude, if not in practice necessarily, than America. It stretches farther than the mutual exclusive identification of "Russian" or "Jew" that is more specific to Moscow, and farther than the strong national sentiment many hold here. And of course, the idea that racial profiling is not exception or underlying practice but point of fact run of the mill m.o. here is just a simple part.
People just put more stock in where you're from historically/racially/genetically. They're curious to know where you're from, because then they'll get a better feel of what you're like from the get go. And if they haven't heard of your answer, they'll lump it with a place they know.
For example (and this is fairly representative in so much as these sort of attitudes are prevalent in far more hoity-toity and learned places than a locker room), when I'm in the locker room or hanging out with wrestlers I get exposed to a lot. Firstly, most of the wrestlers are from the Caucauses - Daghestan, Checneya, Ocetia, Georgia, Armenia. Then there are wrestlers from out east, Siberia or farther, Yakutsk, and wrestlers from the west near Belarus and Ukraine. Which is to say we have a fairly international national club here, if that makes sense. And if I don't understand everything in the locker room, it's usually because they're speaking other languages.
But it's interesting to hear how often I'm asked if I'm a Christian (usually to counter against Muslim), or how one Chechen teammate said, "We respect Christians who converted to Islam much more than regular Muslims. If someone were to point to you and say, 'He converted', I'd immediately have more respect for you than a typical Muslim I didn't know." He also showed me clips on his phones (and phones are more advanced here than in the U.S., with videos, radio, mp3s, at least I don't think we have those as often back home) of Chechen fighting and nationalistic scenes, set to sad Chechen music (definitely the best part of the package). I wasn't sure how to react at all, so I kept my mouth shut either way.
Back to the main topic, which is racial views. Another day I was walking to the metro station with one of the coaches - the only one, in fact, that really looks out for me and helps me out with my wrestling, partly because he's one of the lower profile coaches there, partly because his son lives in Canada, so he considers me "a distant relative" - and somehow he got into how peoples with big noses will never catch up. Lumped into this category was, among other groups, Arabs, Africans, and most of the Mediterranean (most notably Italians). It was a flabbergasting display, in a perfectly reasoned, undramatic way. Interestingly despite correctly inferring I was Jewish, he didn't offer anything but positive views on Jews, who happen to possess both Mediterranean roots and big noses.
Anyway, this is just how these things go over here. It's not everybody, but it's more common than in the States. I'm not interested in crusading these days, but it is a little unnerving all the same.
Portable Audio Players: Ok, this isn't really serious, and I hate these in the states too. But here people tend to listen to the things even louder than at home, and the generally Russian musical taste is worse. Meaning where as at home I would run into somebody's irritating choice of heavy metal at audible levels on the bus once a week or so, here I can almost count on somebody listening to DMX or an incessant house beat loud enough for me to hear ten feet away each day on the no. 88 to practice. Not so sweet.
All in all, the feel from Moscow is that things work in spite of themselves. Anyway, really, things are good here, I just figured it's my duty to mix it up. Seriously, let's have a nice group hug, and my next non-event post will be about good things. Here's a picture to close with a smile.
I should note that my neck really hurt after this pose. It was just a few hours after practice, you know. And today in the sauna I took a complete digger stepping down the benches, leading to a landing right on my butt. Only the grace of a D-1 Athlete, I tell you.
Dan
No comments:
Post a Comment