Job Discussion Forums

[jasonr37]

Hey! My father tried many times to convince me not to come here. He too was very paranoid about the posssibility of being kidnapped and held for ransom. Or locked in a "Siberiean Prison Camp". I feel safe. Actually I feel safer then I did in most american cities.

It seems like most classes are either in the morning or in the evening. as early as 8 and as late as 9. Usually they do a decent job of blocking your schedule. So you wont have to work classes at both ends of the spectrum.

[maruss]

I guarantee nobody would have any interest in kidnapping you with the wages BKC pay but there are plenty of other things that might make you wish someone would!

[Sef]

The hours at BKC can be pretty brutal if you're on a 30 hour contract and you get split shifts - 9am til 9.15 or 9.30pm. But as Jason said, they usually try to block your classes. Most people I know work blocks from about 4pm til 9.15. If you're more of a morning person I think it's possible to get in-company classes from as early as 8.30am.
As for personal safety, I agree with Maruss. BKC teachers are the plankton of the Moscow food chain. You won't be kidnapped.

[mdk]

$450 a month is pretty lean pickings. A lot depends upon what sort of room-mate they have you stuck with. A drunk or a whack-o (not that any such would ever be an ESL teacher) can make life pretty tough.

Still, If you can speak a bit of Russian you can do OK on food. For instance Oatmeal is - obsyanka and kartofell is our friend Mr. Potato. Turkey meat is Indieskii and pork is svinina. A chicken leg is a "Nog Bush" (ha! ha! inside Russian joke) If you can get yourself a hot plate and a small pan you can cut a lot of your expense. Try the Yarmaka (flea market) next to Bagrationskaya metro station. If you want to buy clothes that's a good place and also the big clothing street market at Sportivna. You have to look sharp and go out the exit that faces it.

If you don't blow your cash on beer and clubbing you could probably survive for a time at $450 a month.

Just don't go down to Stockman and load up on oreo cookies and Bush's Baked Beans until you get that raise to $750

And always remember that "Kopchonie bedro kuritza" (a smoked chicken thigh) makes a mighty fine lunch. And don't forget the mushroom blini you can get at the teremok stands.

[maruss]

Teremok and 'obshaniye kasha' bring back a lot of memories!Actually, you should try to eat plenty of fruit and vegetables for the vitamin content because stodgy Russian food plays havoc with your immune system,especially in that cold weather and dirty,polluted environment!
I can still remember standing outside Teremok eating 'bliny' at minus 28 celsius in January 2006!!!When I look back I still think why the hell did I do it,even though I was making around $2.500 per month!
Just out of curiosity,I wonder which area BKC put this guy to live in and how far he has to travel every day?Also if he has a person sharing his flat?
I shared with Irinafrom Donetsk,Ukraine-a forty year old widow who was dark and delectable and just right for me at 54!She was a great cook and liked going for walks in the forest nearby-but then I discovered she also had a habit of wanting a certain activity when there was nobody else around!What a terrible time I had in Moscow that winter!

[mdk]

Well, BKC gave everybody on regular staff a 3 month metro pass which went along way towards mitigating the hardship. You could go almost anywhere especially if you were prepared to hoof it a smidge.

All the pharmacies (apteke) can sell you centrum vitamins. A month's supply is well worth it.\

A hot ham and cheese blini at minus 28 degrees C. Man! that's good eating! Just be sure to get out of the wind. It's not that much worse than Minneapolis.

[maruss]

An engineering miracle and a tourist 'must' but hell to use and becoming worse day by day,due to overcrowding by the people who keep flocking to Moscow to earn a living from other places!It is not just uncomfortable but downright dangerous-some of the carriages are decades old and ready to disintegrate- the dark blue line for example-but never mind,Putin says everything is improving,live is getting better and everyone has a smile on their face-or damn well had better have!!
Disasters don't happen in Russia,just 'small-technical and administrative problems!!'
Having to use the metro every day is probably worse than trying to survive on a BKC salary-at last you can breathe outside the metro,even thought he air is polluted and freezing cold!
I know this all sounds 'tongue in cheek' but I'm being serious and wish I wasn't!

[mdk]

Well, if you have to stand, the metro can be a bit trying, I'll admit, but it's not that much worse than BART.

I am a sneaky person and I have been known to catch the train going in the opposite direction far enough to where the crowds have thinned out and I can get a seat. This trick also stood me well with the autobus in Tomsk (Now there was a strenuous puppy) because it only cost about 15 cents a ride.

Sigh! I wish they had the metro here where I live so I could park my car and that's even with the crowds in Borovitskaya.

[jasonr37]

I must say that I find this all very interesting. Hearing of your experiences and giving a few tips on life in Moscow. Very nice.

I tried a teremok for the first time the other day. Not bad. I think I prefer the burritos I can get next door. Called shrooma or something. i don't remember. They are a bit cheaper. More for my money I think. But probably not as healthy.

Now concerning roomates. I never had a problem with roomates in the states. Not even once. But I've been stuck with a rather unbalanced racist nut from south africa. Hes white and hates blacks. thankfully he is moving out today. He wouldn't be so bad if he would do some cleaning and take off his shoes when comes inside. I hope that my next roomate is not anything like this. Personally, as long as whoever I live with cleans up after themself and is respectful I don't care about anything else.

I live in Войковская. Which I like to be honest. I havn't had to travel more than about 30 -40 min to work yet. I have a nice flat. Except the refrigerator stopped working last week and since then I have been puting everything on the balcony. But other than that the flat is nice and big. I even have a washing machine. The tv and radio work. The oven I havn't tried but the stove is great. Allthough I could use some proper cutlery. I like to cook.


Live to love and love to Live Jason

[maruss]

If you ever feel like a bus trip outside Moscow for a change,try going to Solnechnogorsk from Voikovskaya-it is north off the Leningrad Highway and takes about 40 minutes.The town is nothing special and the army base nearby is the main activity but there is some lovely forest and countryside with a lake in the area and also a school that pays foreign e.f.l. teachers more than double what you are getting!
Try asking if you can keep the flat for yourself where you are now, rather than risk getting a worse person to share it!I think BKC will probably agree as they are usually short of teachers anyway due to the terrible wages they pay!
You can manage technically without a fridge at this time of year as long as you don't keep frozen stuff outside and remember the temperature in Moscow can go above zero,even in winter so be careful what you store!Above all,keep it well wrapped-up or preferably in a sealed container because of the dirty air and possible scavengers!We did this in the flat I stayed in down in Lyublino in the winter of 2005/6 as we didn't have a fridge but it was exceptionally cold that winter!!

[mdk]

1) The window thing works pretty good, but you have to be careful because the birds may figure that you are being generous. I did this in Tomsk once.

2) BKC is paying your landlord for a one (1) each functional flat with working appliances. On Monday go over to Borovitskaya and tell Darya and those guys that the fridge isn't working. They should deal with the landlord for you. It's part of your pay to offset the paltry $450 you're making.

3) It is very un-Russian to wear your shoes into the house. My Russian girl friend would have sorted out your boorish roomie in about 2 seconds. The ladies in the BKC housing office would probably regard such behavior as little better than toweling off with the window drapes.

If you can find one, try the ponchiki stands (fresh doughnuts fried up right there with powdered sugar on them). Yum! When you go to see Novodevichy Convent (as everyone should) you come out of the Sportivna metro on the other side from the street market and walk (north?) There is a good ponchiki stand on the corner.

[rusmeister]

[mdk]

Yes, but the operative phrase was "not that much worse".

I drove down to say goodbye to the hummingbird exhibit at the San Diego Zoo the other day. (Before I leave the states again) The traffic going through LA was undescribable. I would infinitely prefer the rush hour crowd on the metro coming in from Altufevo than that. I suppose it is a matter of taste. At least you don't have to worry about being rear-ended on the metro.

I've seen BART trains as crowded as the rush hour metro. Granted it was after a Raider game, but a crowd is a crowd (and a hundred mile traffic jam moving at stop and go is an entirely different kettle of fish. Ugh!)

Anyway, I hope the OP gets his kholodilnik fixed so he doesn't have to put his productii in the window sill

[jasonr37]

Hello everyone, hows life!!? My refrigerator was fixed and I was throughly beginning to enjoy myself. But I have just been moved from Войковская to Динамо. Dinamo has one benefit. Larger and closer shopping areas. But since I live further from the metro the fact that the station is closer to the city doesn't matter. Also It is HELL of a lot noiser. Car horns are my new alarm clock. I can actually hear womens boots clicking along the sidewalk as they walk by. Oh well.. What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger right? ha!

Anyway, I'm actually writing today because I was wondering if I might be able to get a few tips about a certain topic. There are alot of things to do in Moscow and I am anxious to do them. I am enjoying myself. I will finish my contract here. But after this I was hoping I could go somewhere much smaller. Also I should point out that I am a religous man and I love the outdoors. I have yet to meet anyone in Moscow who goes to church on Sundays. No suprise right? So basically, any tips concerning smaller cities in Russia or outside of Russia (so long as Russian is spoken) where I could continue my work as a teacher and as a christian would be much appreciated.

Well thats all for now. thanks again
Jason

[rusmeister]