Assignment #2

I came to Moscow having so many expectations about my intern placement and about the city in general. I thought that the placement will automatically be a great hit for me from the start and that the people would all be so kind, I did not think I would be facing much challanges since the I was going to a country that was close to my 'origin' of culture in a way - I was wrong.

I am working at Oxfam GB office in Moscow. It is truly an amazing workplace, the people that I work with are extremely nice and interesting - interesting because they have truly seen the world while working on various projects with Oxfam and with other NGOs. My work entails a lot of translation, english-russian and vice versa. Considering the fact that my Russian is at about a gr.7(?) level - it has been extremely challaging for me to translate form english to russian specifically. Furthermore, although I am completely fluent, the Russian that I use on a daily basis is basic and I use it on a strictly personal level when I communicate. Here, my translations must be done in a professional manner - professional russian is quite different, very complicated for me at the moment, and it is a certain level that I am definitely not used to. I explained that to my supervisor, but there are a lot of expectations of me and I am doing my best not to diasspoint, but this aspect of my job is one of the biggest challanges for me!!! I know already that this experience will definitely enhance my professional russian skills but at the moment, it is definitely putting a lot of pressure on me.
This internship is teaching me to handle and work with a different kind of employee/boss relationship in a professional environment. My previous work experience has been in restourants/bars which are not very professional environemnts. Thus, I am extremely happy to be learning this type of communication skill because I know that in my future it will definitely be a crucial asset.

So far, Oxfam GB participated in 2 conferences in the past month. One was on Health Care in Russia, in which other members of the GCAP movement also participated. I attended the conference and found out many of the problems that exist within the Russian health care system, as well as the positive impact that NGO's (working within the health sector) have on helping citizens obtain their rights concerning medical assistance. The second conefernce that I attended just recently, was in the Higher School of Economics (A State University) where I have met some very interesting people. One of the individuals that I met was John Kirton who is the director og the G8/G20 Research group at the Munk Center of International Studies (U of T). I was able to have some interesting conversations and make very strong contacts with professionals in my field of study which is absolutely amazing.

Furthermore, I have been quite proactive in visiting a number of sites in the city such as the Tretyakovka Museum, the Kremlin, Church of the Lord our Saviour, and Gorky Park. I also had a chance to go to a theatre play and a a National Russian Dance Show. I am extremely excited for this weekend because I planned a trip to go to St. Petersburg. Everyone, even here in Moscow, has told me to go there because it is a tuly beautiful place. Hopefully I will be able to see much of the citys attractions in so little time.

PEOPLE IN MOSCOW

Moscow is a very multicultural city, in a way it reminds me of Toronto. People from all over come to this city to find work. One of the big differences between Moscow and Toronto is that multiculturalism is not very much welcomed here. By multiculturalism I mean people of differenent races - not necesserily cultures. There are a lot of illegal persons here coming from places such as Tajikistan to work as cleaners/drivers/movers. A lot of Moscolites (people born and raised in Moscow) are appaled by the vast migrants who come to find a 'prosperous' life here in Moscow. I have talked to various people about this topic and I found out that there deinitely exists much hostility towards individuals of different races coming to work here.
I have also noticed that it is a "seller market" here in the stores - not a buyers market. The customer service that exists here is definitely not like in Canada. Ex. I went into a store to buy shoes and I asked an employee to bring me a size 7.5 and an 8. She brough me only one pair - a 7.5. I asked: Is there not size 8? She responded: Whats the difference, it is the same thing! The tone of her voice showed her annoyment with me for asking such as question. Thus, the impression that I get here is that, a seller does a customer a favor for selling them a certain product. In Canda, this would never fly because businesses in Canada are all about customer satisfaction. Here in the stores it is totally different. But....when you are in a large market place, the tables turn.

Yesterday I went to the "Chirkizovo" market place. It is one of the biggest market places in Russia where vendors from Georgia, China, Moldova, Tajikistan, Armenia... are trying to sell their products. Once I got into this market place it reminded me of a chicken farm that I went to when I was in the US once. Everyone at this market place is crazy! There is millions and millions of products to choose from and everyone is begging you to come in their "part" of the market to look and buy something - anything. It seems that every vendor is fighting for your money and for your business. At this marketplace you can find anything - toys, furniture, blankets, bags, fake name brand clothing, any kind of tools etc.... The most important thing is to bargain with the vendor about the price - unforuntaley I am horrible at bargaining, but my roomate was able to get me some pretty cool deals, so after 5 hours in the "chicken farm" I was happy with my purchases :)

Oh, about my living! I found a roomate on the internet through a russian website. I was really scared about the fact that I must use the internet to find a person/place to live with/in because you know what they say about the internet! (Its a scary place). Unfortuntaely the internet was my only choice, because I did not know of anyone who could have offerened me a place to live for only 2 months. Luckily I found a very nice girl in a 2 bedroom apartment that is about a 10 minute walk from the subway. Althought the apartment building was only built 8 years ago it look extremely old. But, there is a bed and internet access - that is all I need. My roomate is very cool, outgoing and active. Right behind our building we have a huge park and we go jogging almost every evening together.

Anyways, that is it for now. I apologize for the informail language and structure in my blog. There is just so many experinces and so many thoughts running throuh my mind when I start writing!

PS: Food here is good, and the prices are almost the same as in Canada. I am cooking at home a lot to same some money. But today I ate McDonalds here, and for some reason it seemed a little better than the McDonalds in Canada.