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Travels in Russia

KLM Rocks Across Europe!
Santa Claus in Moscow
Television Is a Time Suck
The Reality of Irrelevance
Salute Mayor Luzhkov
Impeachment Happens
I Am Not The Only One...
I'm Back! Did Ya Miss Me?
Chechnya Burning
Weddings in Winter
The Jews Are Here!
Gailyn Goes to Town
Is There a Central Bank?
Santa Barbara is Real
Nick's Thanksgiving in Russia
Den' Rozhdeniya = Birthdays
Those Crazy Expats
It's Just a Few Drops of Vodka...
Elections Are Always Rigged
The Blind Leading the Blind
Good Russian Grooms
You Say 'Boris Berezovskiy' Fast
Too Cold to Care!
Russian Oil Towns
Sneaky Siberian Tigers
Which Way is St Peterburg?
Where am I again? Oh, yeah...
I Love Me Some Vodka
It's a Gosorg Halloween
Hunger Comes to Us All
Why Don't They Just Learn English?!
Post-Crisis, Life Goes On
Is Yeltsin 'The Man'?
Murmansk - Brrrr!
Taganka Hides Her Secrects
These are Communists
It's a Power Vaccum
The Commies are Back
Propaganda is Good for You
You Better Buy Russian!
Sex Ed Soviet Style
Party over, oops outta time!
Russian Healthcare in Moscow
What Russian Financial Crisis?
YE Prices in Russia
The Hungry Duck
Russian Caviar Mafia
Magical Mushrooms
Shhhh! We're Bear Hunting
Soviet Street Scams
Bez Dollarov
A Koshka Konspiracy
On The Dacha
The Banking Implosion
Surviving Army Life
Shashleek is Steak on Steroids
Dacha Thinking
Beach Weekend
Dos Vedanya
Hello from Vladivostok
Equality Means Only She Works
Jogging is an Extreme Sport
Russians Have Reunions Too
My Folks in Massive Moscow
Better than Fireworks
Miners Are Real Men
The Russian Mafia is the Roof
No One Smiles in the CIS
One Year Anniversary
Russian Brides Rock
Laura is My St Pete Connection
Change is in the Wind
Chuck Norris' Beverly Hills Casino
The Expat Woman's Predicament
Street Food is Yummy!
Spring Flowers Make June Leavers
The Provinces Are Provincial
Ever Take an Elektrichka?
The English Invasion
Nuttin Like New Money
Rules Are Made to Break
All Black is Russian Fashion
Easter Memories = Easter Dinner
Politics, Russian Style
Theresa Tries to Russify
I Go to Gay Clubs Worldwide
I Hide on Women's Day
New & Shiny: Nizhny Novgorod
Psst! Wanna job in Moscow?
Fili Park Has All the Bootlegs
Web Page Reactions
Take a Break at Dom Odaha
Expat Living in Moscow is Swank
They Look Like Telephones...
In Need of a Decent Hairstylist
Smashing Bottles in Red Square

Readership

Russia, January 19, 1998

Why Are You Remonting?

They will remont all of Moscow by the time you read this

I just love the Grand Tradition!
Looks like 'progress' to some

This is all I really wanted

Shopping in style
I've had a long day today. I worked hard for my money and then went to doctor's office about my knee. All I wanted to do was buy some cereal and milk for the morning, but such was not to be.

Russian business owners are idiots. Plain and simple they are fools, driven by ego more than sense or money. There is a great grocery store across the street from my house. The Irish House grocery store is Western, convenient, expensive, and I love it. Everything I need is right there, from cereal to cheese, all on shelves where I can caress the cans and jars before I buy the food.

Tonight I went there to get the cereal and milk I needed, but I was confronted by a store under remodeling (remont in Russian). I asked a lady working in the store next to it and she said they were changing it into a clothing store. Figures. Right next to the grocery store is a mini mall of about seven stores. All the stores sell outrageously expensive clothes, twice or triple the cost of the exact same clothes at the department store next to the Irish House. I personally have only been there once, reeling horror at the prices, and I have never seen anyone there when I was shopping at the grocery store. Actually I have seen people there, store employees, who mobbed me when I walked in there the only time, falling over themselves to have something to do.

Clothes though, especially outrageously expansive clothes, are more prestigious than food. I figure, with all the people I saw in the grocery store, and the high markups on the food, they were making money, but that isn't what really dives the Russians, its glamour! So now I've lost a great grocery store to more overpriced crap. Russia!

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