Hugo Chavez, Zoo and a New Job

Last Thursday I went to a lecture on the situation in South America. Normally, I’m not really interested in South America, but the invitation proclaimed that Hugo Chavez, who came to Moscow to meet Mr Putin and Mr Medvedev, would also hold a speech. Therefore, my colleague and I sent the organisation an e-mail to register for the lecture. The lecture was supposed to start at 4:30, but the whole event was badly organised, so it took us an hour to get into the lecture hall, because the security guards started to check the passports and bags of all guests only when the lecture was already supposed to start. First, some Russian experts on South America talked about the situation in South America until it was the turn of Hugo Chavez. He has a really deep voice and is an excellent speaker. However, throughout the lecture I didn’t understand what he was saying because he spoke in Spanish and it was only translated into Russian. Therefore, I didn’t really know whether I should clap. Because sometimes he talked about North Korea and I didn’t want to clap when he was saying that it is the best country of the world. So I just didn’t clap. And he also criticised the United States several times and said how great Venezuela was. But at least I can say that I’ve seen Hugo Chavez. Yeah!

On Saturday I went to the zoo in Moscow. They only important thing to mention is that the living conditions for the animals are pretty upsetting. The cages are small, seldomly cleaned and the animals just sit around, look sad and are bored.

Yesterday I went to a refugee centre in Moscow. When I came to Moscow our country coordinator told me that I will also work in this refugee centre. I had thought that only the other volunteers would work there, but it sounded interesting so I was excited and happy to have the chance as well. We’re going to work in the centre one or two times a week after our regular work and help children with their homework or just teach them how to study. Every volunteer can choose what he wants to teach and he or she will get one child to take care for. I believe that next week I will get a call by the head of the centre to find out when I’m going to start my work.

Russian Post, Reparing Windows and Sergiev Pasod

You need a lot of patience in Russia. Patience and a lot of time. I had to experience that last Thursday. And although I thought that I’m a patient person, the Russian Post definately did proof me wrong. Sometimes one of the volunteers at the Holocaust Center has to go to the post office to pick up a package or a letter. This time it had been my turn to pick up three letters. So I walked to the office and waited in the queue. There were only 5 people in front of me but I had to wait 50 minutes until the lady at the counter helped me. I still can’t believe how slow a person can be. The staff at the post offices are everything but consumer oriented. The whole post system is so circuitous. Although, some other employees were working at that time, they didn’t seem to think about opening another counter. This woman even helped one of her colleagues to fill out a form, instead of continuing to serve the customers. I became more and more annoyed. When it was finally my turn, the lady told me that they only hand out packages at this counter and that I had to go to another counter. So 50 minutes for nothing. I went to another building to reach the other counter. But this was apparently the immigration office. After waiting 10 minutes the lady at this counter, however, showed me the way to again another counter. Finally I was able to pick up my letters. Next time I will carefully look whether I have to get packages or letters so this doesn’t happen to me again.

On Friday I went to my Babushka as usual. This time I cleaned her windows and I did the caulking for her windows. I guess I haven’t done that much repair work for ages. After that she prepared lunch and we listened and talked about classical music.

On Sunday I went to Sergiev Pasod with a group of business students from Moscow. The volunteers from Moscow including me got to know these students, because the students meet every Tuesday to drink one or two beers. And we normally join them there. Some girls planned this day trip to Sergiev Pasod, a city 90 minutes outside from Moscow. It’s famous for it’s Lavra, which is something similar to an abbey, just a little bite more impressive (as you can see in the picture at the top). We met really nice people, ate great food, saw beautiful buildings and walked through the Lavra. The weather was amazing and I really enjoyed this trip.

A weekend celebrating German Unification Day

I spent the last weekend practically eating, drinking, and talking all the time. I also had the possibility to listen to a concert and of course celebrate German Unification Day. The best thing about it - everything was for free. My friends and I started our festivities at the German culture and education institute Goete, which invited all Germans and people who study German to their central office. After some introductiory words and quiz games, it was time to eat. I had hoped for a buffet, but it turned out that the institute had organised waitresses which walk around with food and drinks. This however, wasn’t really the best idea, because everybody was hungry and the waitresses were chased by the masses and the trays were already emptied after seconds. Therefore, I also had to punch myself through the masses to snatch at least bites from the different kinds of food and beverages. Later on the German band Anajo from Augsburg played a conert in a big festival tent outside in the garden. The concert was really good and we all had a lot of fun.
The next day was a little more formal, because all German citizens were invited to the German embassy. It took us ages to walk to the embassy, because it is located between two metro stations and we didn’t know that it would take us 45 minutes. But we arrived and we were allowed into the embassy after we had shown our passports and passed the security check. Luckily, I had worn my Action Reconiliation for Peace T-Shirt. This way some people approached us and talked about our projects. Overall, the evening in the embassy wasn’t as good as the one in the Goete Institute, but the food was slightly better which is of course very important.

How to Treat an Old Lady

Today I went to my Babushka for the first time on my own. I called her half an hour before I arrived at her place. Surprisingly, this phone call went better than I had expected, because I'm normally not the best when it comes to talking Russian on the phone.
I also took the right bus and stopped at the right station on the way to her place. I went up the stairs in the house to her flat. The doors were already open, because her bell isn't working at the moment. I stayed there for half an hour and we talked a bit about what needed to be done in the flat and what we had to buy. We then together took the bus some stations further to go to a supermarket and a kind of building supplies store. It was a special social supermarket where everything was way cheaper than in other supermarkets. One could really feel that she had to decide and calculate what she really needed, because she recieves such a low pension. Although, it wasn't that far it took us 3 and a half hours to go there and back, because, as I already mentioned previously, she can't really walk well. Especially the three floors in the house are troublesome. But also daily life such as crossing the street and taking the bus are difficult. However, I enjoyed helping her and talking to her while walking with her arm in arm, because I felt like I did something good and that it really helps her when I carry the bags. When we came home, she cooked for me and we talked again about her life and about my family. That's what interests her most. I had taken my laptop with me to show her pictures of Kiev, because she was born there. She really seemed to enjoy looking at the pictures and talking about her experiences there.

P.S. I have a new (or rather a used) mobile phone. So I can really call people now and they will understand me. Yeah!