Name Three Things

To curtail the endemic expat complaining about life in Moscow, one of our friends likes to play a game we call "Name 3 Things." Everyone is supposed to name three things they like about Moscow, thereby adjusting their attitudes about the Motherland. I've never actually witnessed a successful round, one where each participant can indeed name three things. It is especially hard since limits are put on the categories. Items that involve leaving Moscow such as "It's so much easier to travel to other places" or "everything seems so much nicer in comparison when we go somewhere else" don't count. Since we're in the heart of winter, and in my least favorite part of the season, where the temperature creeps above freezing and the city is bathed in a perpetual supply of mud (the "Rasputitsa" I think), I thought I'd see if I could come up with three things I like about winter in Moscow:

1. Snow Removal. I've never seen anything like it. The snow falls and it's gone from the streets and sidewalks within an hour. It's like magic. As bad as the weather is here, the roads are never slick or icy. Washington, Utah and New York certainly couldn't beat it. I can even hear workers scraping away with their shovels, removing snow from the secluded alleyway where we park our car long into the night. A private alley/parking lot like that probably wouldn't even get cleared in most cities, but ours is always clear within hours.

2. Cross country skiing. They love it here. There are lots of parks and beautiful wooded areas near the city to ski and the snow is great. I often see people riding the metro and busses with their ski gear. And it just so happens, that I really love cross country skiing. It keeps me from going crazy (until March anyway) here during the winters. It's maybe my favorite thing about the winters here (though there were few competitors in that category). I'm even willing, like today, to drive an hour to meet friends outside of town to ski a measly 5 km. I feel like the 206ers we used to make fun of.

3. The falling ruble. 6 months ago $1 bought you 24 rubles, now it's almost to 35. I know it's not good for those whose salary is paid in rubles, and it may signal bigger problems ahead or even a reduction of our COLA, but for now, for us, since we get paid in dollars, it's great. Finally it's like things are on sale here. Okay, so the prices of most things I buy just go up with the ruble because they're imported, and our main expense, rent, has always been in dollars, but if I want to stock up on cigarettes, vodka or russian handicrafts, now is a good time. But tomorrow it may be even cheaper.

That's very interesting, Christine.