Russia, November 10, 1997
Freaks on the Streets
For a while there, I was being followed by giant rats!
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Moscow is scary! You never know who your going to
meet on the street, and how drunk their gonna be. I've seen some
frightenly drunk people stumble by in my time here. Public
drinking is overlooked, public urination is only slightly discouraged,
and public altercations are frequent but short.
So it is no surprise that I ran into a string of freaks in one week. First, as I was walking with another PCV, Ariel, I stumbled into the J-7 Juice mascot. He was promoting the Russian(?) juice in Moscow, but strangely at a random kiosk far from a metro. Don't ask what we were doing there. We were so shocked we had to get our photos taken with the mouse/rat. I am sure Ariel will turn her photo into a Christmas card, or other such joe-cool craft item, she's like that. I just put my photo on this unseen web page. Now it was fun to see the Russians getting creative with their logos and advertising, but I think there is a conspiracy afoot. The very next day, as I was walking on the opposite side of the city, I saw another sight. It was the Tetley Tea guy, well guys. I have a photo of me with the short and stout one, while the tall thin guy was passing out free samples. Looking at the Tetley Tea label, it has a strange mix of Russian and English. The company name and type of tea (Peach in this case) are in English on the front. On the back, the history of Tetley Tea, the ingredients, and the directions are in English, while only the ingredients and the directions are in Russian. Hmm. Today, as I wandered around Moscow, I saw a chicken. A young woman was dressed up as a chicken, and of course, I had my photo taken with her. The poor girl, I've seen her before, and both times she was standing by a metro exit handing out fliers to people looking quite cold and funky. I wonder what she tells her family she does? Impersonations? Direct marketing? She sure has a lot of guts, and thick skin, to take the human abuse all day long. That chicken suit doesn't help her figure either! I wonder who I will see next? Maybe I will luck out and see Captain Crunch or the Cracker Jack Kid! Captain Morgan would be more realistic. |
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In 1970 on the day of a major Soviet holleday I was waiting for a bus at a bus stop. Police truck was collecting drunks who blacken out in a street. I started count drunks. In area of one only bus stop police picked up 8!!!!!!! bodies.