Actually …

… we don’t want to ….

(carianna)

Random Thoughts About Shopping

Some interesting observations about shopping in Russia:

I have been wondering why in Russia there are a lot of stores where you first have to tell the lady behind the counter what you want (to look at) and just then can look at. Today I had “some” idea why that might be the case: Maybe as in Soviet times (and probably also before) there wasn’t that much choice (and maybe also not that much money) people would just go to the shops when they already knew WHAT they had to buy. So they would just exactly tell the lady behind the counter: “Please give me that and that!” and it wouldn’t take to long.

For me it’s interesting though because for us (Austrians) it’s just normal to go around the shops and just to look at the products but here I sometimes have the feeling, that I kind of have to buy the things, if I go in such a shop with a counter.

Anyways, another interesting thing is that there isn’t really any such phrase in Russian as “shopping” or “to go shopping” or to shop. There is this phrase “ходить по магазинам”, which means something like “walking around the shops”.

Funky Places to Situate a Shops
I already wanted to close this blog-entry but then I remembered that it might be quiet interesting to know, that in Russia, a lot of shops are just situated in the strangest places, where you wouldn’t at all expect a shop to be. You are walking along the street, might be on your way to a friend of yours, you enter the backyard through an iron-gateway (that might even need to be opened with a special numeral code) and then in the backyard you find a beauty salon, or a small 24-h-shop or anything else. A lot of shops are also situated in cellars – that might or might not be accessable or viewable from the main street.

Russia and its shops are just great I love them: They are open 24/7 and they sell anything you can dream of but hardly any Russian products.

Little time and short days

We are starting into our last week of university. It’s only three more weeks that are staying in St. Petersburg and as I am writing this and thinking of it, it is a pretty weird feeling. It’s 9 in the morning here and it is only starting to get light. Days here are very short and thus to me it feels like time is passing by even more quickly.

(anna)

Being Girly Again

Forever young … Andrea and I just got tattoos on our hands and we are chewing “Hubba Bubba” chewing gum. The Skittles over here are also great. Everybody loves candy, especially women. The sweeter the better.

hubbabubba

kiwi

erdbeer

bubba

hubba

cola

mango-maracuja

“And girls just wanna have fun …” could be the title of our small night blogging session. Because simple is easier than complex.

(andrea+carina)

I am …

… curious about the U.S. election results!

… awaiting them desperately!

… commenting again!

For the last 30 minutes I have been wondering who would be the new president of the U.S.

either

… the attractive young man with the black skin, the nice smile and the nice wife, who is seamingly the better choice for America, at least from the Austrian point of view

or

… the elderly man with the wrinkly and scarved skin, the pretended smile and the wife with the dyed sheer-blonde hair, who is seamingly the better choice for America, at least from some Russians point of view.

This was just about appearance, stereotypes and fun. It’s not really fair to judge people by these things but isn’t it actually how THEY (the politicians) really want us to judge THEM. Aren’t they just acting all the time, because they want people to vote for them. I think yes! And I know, I am totally speaking AGAINGST my own business now. I think this hokeyness is the reason for so many people being sick of politics. I don’t think, no actually I know, that people are rumbling their acting.

But who really cares about my opinion? Is there actually any point in talking about it now? Time will bring the answer, I think, no actually I know.

(carina)

Running to Observe the Crises

few words in advance: I know that this following blog entry isnt’t at all perfect – especially not in a journalistic way. Still I want to post it. Take it as a motiviation to comment and to talk about the observations about the “financial crises” in your surroundings. I think it is a great opportunity since people from (many) different nationalities are reading this blog. It would be really interesting (for me) to hear/read about it!

Construction site in St. Petersburg's city centre, seen from top of Saint Isaac's Cathedral.

A few days ago I watched a newscast on ORF (on-demand) about the financial crises and how it hit(s) Russia. The next day I was jogging in my neighbourhood and since the Austrian newscast talked about “Russian construction sites having a break lately because of the financial crises”, I was really amazed that the construction sites in my neighbourhood were still lively. The following day, I passed this place again and workers were even working at night (or at least when it was already dark). Another day I was doing a little bit of sightseeing in the city center and see there, on top of the Saint Isaac’s Cathedral, you could see a lot of construction sites, where people were still working.

Another thing mentioned in the newscast: Some shops in Moskow were offering fewer products and some products were even already sold out. To be honest, I haven’t really noticed that in St. Petersburg yet (actually not even yet, about two weeks after the mentioned newscast).

People’s feeling
People I talked to about the crises don’t feel any impact on their daily life yet but they think that they will feel an impact in the upcoming months.

In one of our lectures called Russian Political System we also talked about the crisis and its impact on Russians. Our professor said that “normal” people hadn’t yet realized the consequences. But when he had been to Moskow about two weeks ago, he had had the feeling that “nice restaurants” hadn’t anymore been as crambed as they had used to be about two months ago. He said that this was already a sign that wealther people had already started changing their consumer behaviour.

(carina)

Waiting for …

… better times!

No not really, just for the first results of U.S. elections.

You wouldn’t think that it is that hard to wait some more 30 minutes for some stupid results of some stupid elections. Some information that we get from the www. Some information that we rely on, even though it is transmitted electronically – maybe we even rely on it more because of the FACT that it was spread electronically and NOT personally.

Alright … I will keep posting now till I hear some first results. Write to you soon … (carina)

P.S. I nearly forgot to tell: That’s the first time I think the time difference is stupid because in Austria it’s still two hours earlier.

Contacts, Contacts, Contacts

So many things have been going on lately, that I don’t really know where to start, but I have to share some thoughts, experiences or rather ongoings with you.

1st Work Experience: Lesson – Russians and Their Networking
Today we have talked to Vadim, the head of the English departement and also one of our two coordinators, about a PR-internship. Quickly he hooked us up with a very nice “девушка” (translated as girl or better to say young lady but actually Russians use the word “девушка” for speaking about any female, whether she is five or 99 years old, selling fruits in a shop or still playing with her dolls). Enesch, thats her name, again instantly hooked us up with another guy (Actually I think it is her boss).

Half an hour later she already called to tell us that she had talked to her director and that we just need to call him to negotiate with him ourselves. Well, tomorrow we are gonna do that. I am excited and also a little “scared” because of talking Russian on the phone with this guy. But it will work out just fine, I’m sure (That’s how I keep motiviating myself). I will keep you updated on that one. By the way this internship would be at an PR-agency called Agency Information Resources.

2nd Work: More Prospective Work
We have another internship option. A lady from the PR-departement of our Faculty would help us with. We have an appointment with her tomorrow.

3rd Interview: PR in Russia
I am excited because tomorrow I am gonna “interview” one of my teachers about PR in general and PR in Russia. The result you will find on this blog soon.

4th Language: Happy Just Because of Simple Russian Language Skills
I have the feeling that my Russian is improving any day. I am soooooo very excited. The downfall: It seems that my Italian and Spanish is just disappearing as quickly.

(carina)

Туфли or better boots?

There is this cliché that women think of shoes a lot. With us this is definitely the case at the moment. We are now sharing our observations with you – can you find some answers to our questions?

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who has the highest heels of all?
No matter how old they are, no matter in which shape they are, no matter where they are, no matter which weather, what Russian women have in common are their shoes. Sometimes it seems as though they were competing for the “highest high heel in the country”. Sometimes we really admire how ALL of them can walk in these shoes.

Do you fancy my funky shoes?
The choice of shoes is really huge, some pairs are really super-funky. We have already found a lot of shops with funky shoes, but everyday that there is even more funk around.

How do high-heels affect architecture?
For weeks we have been wondering why the stairs in our faculty and also in other buildings are so flat – with sneakers you can easily take three at a time. As Carina was wearing high-heeled shoes today, she suddenly understood that they must be high-heel friendly stairs.

Umbrella or high-heels?
Today it is raining cats and dogs. One reason for wearing high-heels could simply be the rain and the pot-holes full of water. High-heels serve as stilts and women can walk over the water.

Any more questions?
We still have plenty and have already planned the next shoe project.

(carianna)

One month … and we are following the current

We are celebrating our jubilee. We have been to St. Petersburg for a month now. Time seems to be flying and maybe it’s because of the distances and the time you are spending in public transport that days seem to be over so much more quickly than at home.

We are expecting our first guests next week. That’s really crazy. We are looking forward to it, though.

We had a really interesting lecture yesterday. We watched some well-known Russian cartoons and discussed the picture of the Russian character and mentality that was drawn in them. One of the cartoons was about a hegdehog that fell into a river and decided to just follow the current.

Somehow we are “following the current” here. To some extent that is probably what you have to do. If you want to go by metro during rush-hour and you are already queuing at the entrance, you are kind of stuck. You are following the current.

We are following the current as we are trying to adapt to Russian lifestyle. There are times that we don’t have hot water. For a day or maybe two. That’s just what it’s like and we are fine with that. We might have been overwhelmed by bureaucracy during the first days, but when we got our train-tickets for Moscow (yeah, we are going to Moscow), we expected to be queuing at the train-station for some time. If this is the way things are done over here, we do them that way. We are growing and learning. Intercultural communication and understanding at its best – and we are happy about this experience.

(anna)