Job Discussion Forums

[stacyrey]

Has anyone taught in or been to either of these towns? If so, please let me know your impressions. They are both close to (suburbs?) of Moscow. Thanks for any thoughts!

[maruss]

Zelenograd is a former scientific town which used to be closed to outsiders,situated north-west of Moscow.As it's name suggests it is surrounded by forest and pleasantly green ,but unfortunately most buildings are Soviet era high-rises and I honestly found it monotonous and not particularly friendly-I certainly would not want to live there!(you can also ask 'Sashadroogie' on this site for his opinion of the place!)
Balashika is an army town just to the east of the Moscow ring-road and the most inspiring building I ever saw there was a Macdonalds!
I am wondering why you are interested in these two places-maybe you also have the same romantic notions that perhaps smaller satellite towns outside the capital will be quaint and more friendly,just like I used to before I visited a lot of them!Most are commuter towns whose inhabitants work in the capital and were built in the Soviet era,consequently they tend to be unremarkable and not necessarily that much cheaper than Moscow for daily necessities.But the Mac Schools with branches there often try to lure you with promises that you will need less and consequently pay lower salaries!Unless you have at least a working knowledge of Russian I would not advise going to live in these places either.

[stacyrey]

Thanks, maruss, that's exactly what I was looking for. Wanted to know how much was hype and how much was practical! I'm too old to have romantic notions, but wanted to know if the descriptions I've read were anywhere near the truth.

[maruss]

Few satellite towns around Moscow are attractive or picturesque because they were built to function as suburbs outside the ring road once most of the land inside it had been built on and in the Soviet era,aesthetics rarely concerned state planners!If you go further way there are a few nicer places but as a rule,towns and villages tend to get more decrepid the further away they are from the capital:country areas tend to be taken over by city people to use as 'dachas' for the summer and weekends and range from modest huts to what are in reality luxurious villas and cottages for the lucky few!For example,Solnechnogorsk,further up the highway than Zelenograd has a lake and some lovely surrounding forest but the town is non-descript and crummy looking and the people seemed miserable and unhelpful when I went there.Another example is Istra,a well-known spa town with a famous monastery-quite pleasant if you have the time to go there for a visit but it seemd nothing remarkable to me...yet property there is horrendously expensive and much sought-after by rich city people!
The most attractive things I ever saw in Russia were natural things such as the forests and rivers and local people are well aware of this too!
For the flip side,just take a look at how ugly and inhuman many buildings are in Moscow,apart from the older historical ones,many of which have been demolished over the years by corrupt and greedy developers-and then similar replicas have been erected on their former sites!The former mayor and his wife has their fingers in this pie for years-until the regime got tired of them a few months ago and had him replaced!But that's another story....

[stacyrey]

I taught at a Mr. English Tour summer camp and I know what you mean about things falling apart. My roommate and I had to rig up our shower with cord we had brought to use as a clothesline!

I am more interested in having places to run high mileage because I am training for a marathon and I thought being outside of Moscow might be more conducive to green space and places to run.

[maruss]

Despite other things which can be not so nice,one thing Russia does have is open spaces and plenty of them!Of course I mean outside the cities......

[smithrn1983]

There's plenty of places to run in Moscow. The city actually has more 'green' space per person than any other city in Europe. Izmailovo is a huge park in eastern Moscow, and is right on the metro. If you get bored of that, there's several other large parks in the city that are easily accessible by metro as well.

[maruss]

Lesnoy Ostrov in the north-east is probably the largest and apparently it still has wild animals,including bears!Bitsevsky Park is the one on the opposite side-the only thing that put people off it some years ago was a serial killer on the lose there,but fortunately they caught him!
Ismailovsky is probably the most accessible from the centre though and of course there is the weekend market if you enjoy that kind of thing.
But if I was walking-or even more so if I was running-for exercise or leisure,I would try to avoid the polluted air in the streets which is often pretty bad in many urban areas of Moscow.

[spiral78]

I lived (and ran) near/in Kuzminky park, but I'd recommend other locations

[maruss]

I used to walk right across it from Volzhkaya metro and enjoyed the changing seasons...until a Russian friend told me that they used to test chemical weapons in the lakes there during the Soviet era!Of course it's probably quite safe to walk there nowadays and nobody is going to drink the water!Actually there are many 'toxic' sites around Moscow and in many other parts of Russia which have since been built on and from time to time scandals are publicised in the media and cause a lot of public outcries!Knowing the corruption in Russia,such issues are very sensitive and airing them not exactly encouraged by the authorities!

[spiral78]

[maruss]

Dried,salted fish is very popular with beer in Russia and quite tasty,even if it is unhealthy!Perhaps this is why my best Russian friend always warned me to be careful where I bought it from and to stick to shops with certified traders as there is a lot of inferior quality food sold by small private traders whose quality and origin leaves a lot to be desired!

[stacyrey]

Thanks to all for the suggestions and comments!

[kazachka]

[kazachka]