March 2011

March 2011 Part II

Dear Friends and Family:

Throughout March, Old Man Winter stubbornly refused to budge. On most days, the temperatures barely got above freezing. As the month wore on, we saw clear skies more often (though never all day!) and less snowfall. The ice would often start to melt and then re-freeze. This made the footing sometimes very sure and sometimes very tricky.

I didn't fall backwards on the ice in March as I had done in February. No, this time I fell forward! And it wasn't on ice either. As I was entering a subway station one morning, I tripped on a weak spot on a step that crumbled under my foot. ;-) But at least on this occasion, the worst that happened was getting my jeans and some of my papers dirty.

Upon my return from England, the work situation was far different than it had been in February. My company was no longer in the employ of the school we had been serving for the past year and a half. At that school, I had taught 25 lessons every week. Moreover, most the individual clients were out of town for that latter half of March. With all this being the case, I taught about 37 lessons during the past month, nearly the number I was accustomed to teaching in a single week.

Thankfully, there were some new clients for me in March (who I'll tell you about in some of the paragraphs that follow), and we are adding more all the time. For the rest of the current school school year, we do not expect to have projects as large as the one we recently concluded. New ones do not generally start up at this time of year. However, the projects we are looking to conduct from the start of next academic year and into the summer of 2012 are very promising and exciting. That said, it's too early (to say nothing of indiscreet) for me to comment any further about them now.

When I was teaching at the school close to where I live, there was a bus I took to and from work every day. That commute was a snap, other than perhaps needing to stand in the aisle when there were not enough seats on the bus. As the saying goes, "It's a different ball game now" ... commuting to and from central Moscow! What can I say other than that it's a commute typical of big cities? But you know that I can think of plenty else to say, so here goes ...

For those like myself who live in one of the outlying communities, the commute starts with the electric train. The formal word in Russian is, "электропоезд", pronounced, "ee-lek-tro-POH-ezd". Most people use the more informal term (which I'm not able to transliterate here), pronounced, "ee-lek-TREECH-kah". I don't have to go into town every morning, but whenever I do, I have a LOT of company! The trains run every ten minutes, and even then, they get crowded very quickly. More often than not, there aren't enough seats for the 30-minute ride (including stops) to the first subway station.

For the electric trains, there are few multiple ticket options. You can get a round trip (return) ticket. In Russian, the word is, "обратно" (pronounced, "ah-BRAHT-nah"). Five-day (but for weekday use only) round trip tickets are also available. But for "regular" single or round trip fares, you can't buy a ticket today and then use it tomorrow.

For the metro system, however, there is a variety of options. If you use only the subway, it's possbile to purchase a ticket ("билет", pronounced, "bee'LYET") for a certain number of trips ("поездки", pronounced, "pah-YEZD-kee". Passes for a single month (or longer time periods) are also available.

If you combine the subway with bus ("автобус", pronounced, "aff-TOH-boos"), trolley ("троллейбус", pronounced, "trah-LAY-boos") and/or tram ("трамвай", pronounced, "trahm-VIGH") travel, you can get a monthly pass that allows 70 subway trips and unlimited passage on any of the buses, trolleys, and trams that belong to the metro system. Tickets the buses, trolleys and trams can also be purchased separately from subway tickets, according to number of rides or time period.

Actually, deciding which ticket to get is the easist part of the commute. Using the Moscow metro system sometimes tests the limits of patience, most especially during the morning and evening peak times. Before I started that tangent on fare options, I mentioned getting off of the electric train and going onto the subway.

In the peak travel hours, the subway trains are rather full, as are the electric trains. Those behind you show how eager they are not to miss the train they're trying to board (never mind that the next rrain will arrive only about a minute after this one leaves!) by planting their palms or their elbows firmly into the small of your back. And of course, everyone tries to place themselves, where they can get out by the time they reach their desired stop.

There are some stations where many riders get off and many more get on. The elbow greasers and palm brokers go straight "back" to work (pun intended) while you are trying to exit, even though the engineers of the subway system are very good at allowing sufficient time for commuter movement off of and onto trains. Of course, those getting onto the train are then treated to the same altogether frustrating experience.

If you must then switch to another subway line, it's now onto an escalator or stairway. You might have to go up one escalator and down another, or along a corridor and around a corner, all depending on how the stations are connected. During peak times, there are, "bottlenecks" getting on to the escalators. For some moments you must wait between steps, as the corridor is crowded wall to wall. The shoving to get onto escalators is not as bas as the shoving getting on and off trains, but it still happens.

Most individual client lessons occur in the evenings, as many of these either work or attend school during the day. However, one of my new individual clients is the president of a milk products company, and so I meet him at his office three days a week (that is, when he isn't traveling on business) for his English lessons. His name is, "Shamilkhan", originally from Chechnya.

Shamilkhan has been a quick study, and enjoys learning. Clients like that are always the most fun to teach. He also provides coffee and nibbles every time I show up. He's even been generous to the point that when I asked him how to go about getting the kind of metro system ticket or pass I would need to take the metro and bus to his office, he arranged to have a monthly metro system pass made for me. This is not anything our clients are obligated to do, but I absolutely appreciate Shailkhan's kindness in doing this.

I also teach the soon-to-be nine year old daughter of one of my colleagues. This young lady has quite remarkable discipline and attention span for her age. She soldiers on through an hour and one-half of solid instruction (that is, two lessons back-to-back). Of course, the lessons are appropriate to her age and English level, but I've taught many older kids who could learn much from this one. And added that my colleague (Katya) and her husband (Vadim) are very nice people, it is always a pleasure to see them.

I decided one day to take the electric train further outside of Moscow just to see the surrounding countryside. I checked the train schedule and bought a round trip ticket to, "Волоколамск", pronounced, "Voh-lah-kah-LAHMSK". It was still very cold and while it was not snowing on this day, there was still much snow on the ground. Some of the stops seemed to be out in the middle of nowhere, although there was usually a house or two visible in the distance. A few people got on or off at each of these stops, so someone had a reason for being there, even if it was not apparent to me!

Volokalamsk is a small village, and when I got there, I took some time to look around. There were a few small houses, shops and cafes close by. Most of the public places were closed, as this day was a Sunday. I stayed within 200 yards/meters or so from the station, as I didn't want to miss the train back to Nakhabino (my own village). The grocery store was open, so I bought a few fruits and vegetables there. It was late afternoon by now and I had not eaten since breakfast, so I also got a sandwich and drink for the trip back.

During the last full week of March, there was a period of about five days when the weather switched several times on the same day from being snowy, windy and gray to being sunny and still ... and then start over again. When I posted this situation on Facebook, my friend Hal, who lives in Houston, replied, "This is like southeast Texas weather on steriods! Yep!!

We have a saying in Texas (and I know that many of you have the same one where you live as well): "If you don't like the weather, just wait ten minutes. It'll change!." I don't think this truism has ever described any time or place I've ever lived as it did late March in Moscow!

Here in the first part of April, it is a sunny day and the ice seems to be in full retreat. That said, snow and rain are forecast for the next four days. I'll let you know how this plays out. I send Happy Passover and Happy Easter wishes those of you celebrating either or both of these occasions this month. Have a great month in any case!

Love and best,

Ben