The good things

Since I pretty much went off on all the bad things that happened to me. Those shouldn't be what I remember of my time in Russia. There are good things that happened that came in the form of people and the places I've been to.

First of all the people. I've met a mix of both expats and locals, even if the locals come from the far east of the country and moved to the western parts. Heck I've met Russian-born Canadians too. I can pretty much divide the Krasnodar people into two groups: My friendly co-workers and the wild bunch. Yekaterinburg I pretty much didn't venture out to make connections. There was one guy I knew from the internet that took me places outside the city. Had I stayed longer we might have met up some more. There was also my roommate/co-worker at the Yekaterinburg school who was awesome (in the sense that both of us pretty much keep to ourselves. It was cool said roommate was into Turkic stuff).

My co-workers were a friendly bunch, however it was sad when two of them had to leave when I just started working there. On the plus side they run their own school now so no annoying directors (that's their role now :p). One of them stayed on but at the same time wanted to leave because of the bad environment. Those three were supportive during my stay at the school in Krasnodar and when I was let go from it. They helped in making sure I wasn't let go early when I hardly started and helped out in making sure I didn't leave too early so if and when I found a new job I had a place to stay (pay a monthly rent instead of a daily rent). I should also mention the 4th co-worker. I ended up replacing said co-worker but this one showed me around the city and knows how to get to places (even if giving directions is not her forte). All and all they knew when to call bullshit on something (especially of what went on at the administrative level). A lot of it happened, trust me. The knew the teaching method professed by the school wasn't ideal, they knew the set-up of the classrooms weren't ideal, and they knew what orders that came from the top were not really justified. I miss hanging out with them.

Other people I miss hanging out with are people form one of the largest (maybe only) expat/conversation club in the city. I saw them biweekly at the club (because it met every two weeks) but there was the random occasion in which I'd join up with them when it wasn't the club weekend. It was eventually later during my stay/close to my leaving that I'd participate in post convo club activities. Through them I rediscovered my love for karaoke. I'll say this: I am not a world class singer, let alone one for karaoke. But it's something I enjoy. I don't care if I sing bad as long as I have fun doing it. These people who came from various parts of Russia and other countries such as the UK, Ireland and Australia. (There were also people from Nigeria and Brazil I believe, and at least one person from Taiwan showed up and the club was run by an American). I brought my set of Cards Against Humanity with me to Russia and I'd play the game with them at times. It did attract large crowds to the game but irritated this one guy who acted a bit like a dad towards the teenage (17-19 y.o.) attendees. He was most likely a dad though if he didn't want people to play, joke or not. If not for the job loss and the move to Yekaterinburg in hopes of keeping the job alive, I'd do karaoke nights more often and maybe explore more Russia with them. Maybe we should gather one evening and play Cards Against Humanity online?

And then onwards to Yekaterinburg. While my time was short the staff there was one of the friendliest I've worked with. Everyone was quite supportive, even if it takes a million kicks to my head to go with their advice for certain things (mainly from one of them I'd say). Compared to the school in Krasnodar the private language school itself was more organized and had better resources (except for Monopoly. Had I survived the trial period for that school and got a renewal contract, I'd bring my version of the game with me. Had things not go sour in Krasnodar I'd bring it as well). No one was required to dress like they're leading a board meeting and the administrators and senior teachers made sure people had something to do. Well there was still the air of  "If you're not needed around you don't have to be around" but they know how to take care of their employees. Can't really say much more since I was only there for a few weeks.

There were also a couple of other people worth mentioning. One was my roommate and co-worker. I'm not one to approach people directly to get to know people (as I mainly go to someone because I need something from them) but I think a common thing we had was we were both learning Turkish (not at the same time and I need to brush up on my beginner stuff) but that's one thing we had in common at least. Said roommate has been to Azerbaijan, I almost went there (and the roommate knew it wasn't easy to get in there). Second was a guy I knew from an internet penpal site. The guy used to be a taxi driver and apparently knew where I lived and how to get there from a picture I posted. I also contacted this same guy and was able to get to the Europe and Asia border as well as the monumental resting place of the Romanovs. The meet was a bit awkward as while in my mind I had hope for some conversation, I couldn't bring myself to ask question and stuff.

So far that what I can remember. If I had miss any reference or mention to you, I miss you guys too.
What's for me in the future? One of things I'm looking to get is a driver's license. If there is a situation in which I can't travel there, but you guys come to visit, I'll be able to drive you to places. If I do make my way back there one day, I'll have some experience driving a car. If I can't repay the kindness by returning the favour there, maybe I can pay it forward and help others here. Or maybe I can send you guys some maple candies (provided postal workers are cooperating). Here's hoping to meet you in the future again some time.

Thus this blog has come to an end. Maybe I'll start a new project some day.

So it's been a while ...

... and it'll be a year this July that I started my Russian journey. Am I still in Russia as of this posting? Sadly I'm not as I went back home to Canada in March. The reason? Well let's say that while I like the teaching job and the nice people I've met, the job did not like me. I have no idea why I was let go (though I do have some idea which may be plausible) but there are some things that I've learned just from being abroad.

In summary I've been in two cities (two and a half counting Adygea and a small town outside of Krasnodar) during my stay in Russia. There was a bit of a break when I went to Lithuania to get some new docs but in total I've been about 9 months and a couple weeks as an expat. I've taught in 2 private language schools (plus contributed to a friend's school) learned a bit about working overseas as a teacher and a bit about people who go to private language schools. It's not enough to make a huge generalization but it's enough to overpower the little guy in these places.

As rookie teacher I pretty much entered the world with having a teaching certificate, practicum observation and teaching, and volunteering in an ESL classroom. Was that enough to bring with me as experience? I'd say it depends. It's a bit of an advantage over someone who has never taught or worked in a classroom setting, but someone who has a bit more charisma and comfort around working with people (and giving speeches) will have a slight advantage at winning people's attention. Rookie or not everyone needs training and orientation.

So with my training and experience as my weapons, it was a bit of a hit in the face getting thrown into the job the next day after my arrival in Krasnodar. I was offered to start early in the summer as opposed to September. The reason? Someone was leaving. So after being put to work the next day (and given some time to work things out with the clientele) I apparently was not what they expected. 2/3 of their clients weren't too satisfied with me and refused to pay. The manager of the school at that time (no teaching experience, but has learned a foreign language or two) complained about my looks and found the way I present things not showing a lot of confidence. Hey that's what you get for throwing someone into the lion's den without the proper equipment. Thankfully enough the manager and a well-known, experienced teacher form the schools other location saved me from being sent home early. As for the manager of the first location? I learned that said manager left because of bad management.

Learning a foreign language, especially English is a hot thing in Russia. There are many schools with many trained teacher (most of them native Russians) but not that many that hire foreigners. There are a couple of things for this: Licencing and documents. I'm not sure how it is in other cities but friends I've made (who happen to be former employees of the school in Krasnodar) started their own school but in order to hire foreign workers they have to jump through a lot of hoops to get a certain type of license. That takes who knows how long if you know Russian bureaucracy. The second thing is the documents and they aren't cheap. I'm not sure how many rubles but contracts usually say that visa is covered and also things like an apartment (whether it's shared or solo). So while little guy school is good there are things that prevent them from getting things to make them, well, big name schools. Sure foreigners can work in schools that don't have  the special license but the way that works is to be tied to a Russian or have some sort of citizenship.
           As for the big name schools, you got to be careful of them as well. While they are well known in the cities for their excellent services provided to the clients, there may be some things that aren't so well known to their clients. For example, how well someone knows how to run a business and what type of business. With private language schools you need a combination of teachers who know what's good for the clients and the business people who know how to market to potential clients. They have to be working together side by side, hand in hand, pretty much chained together. Even with that there may be one business partner who wants to take control of everything because anything that's hot will bring in a lot of money. These can come in the forms of cutting essential services or training trial periods, heck making workers work on a part time basis when you've been offered full time. If controlling business partner doesn't like you then said partner (who may be the main owner) can let you go without no rhyme or reason.Whatever money is earned from full time students may not be spent on salary but it could be on things that the school doesn't need. I could go on but hey it can happen. There are businesses, not just private language schools that do this.

Anyway back to my journey. So from one bad thing to another I eventually got let go from the school in Krasnodar after apparently being too weird (in my opinion). While I've heard that I'm a good teacher from co-workers, this didn't translate well to upper management who wanted some to fit their image. So for some months I was without a job but somehow managed to stay in the country with my visa which was multiple entry at the time. Technically once you're let go of a job your visa is no longer valid (after approximately 3 days after your last day of work). So I was pretty much out of a job for some time. On advice from former co-workers I had to move to another part of the city (since they heard that I was going to be charged for living in the apartment since they couldn't get the deposit back until the end of the payment month and the owner of the flat was returning). After moving into the new space two things happened: I found another job and the old workplace was offering me something.

Starting with the old workplace, they made a contract with some corporate clients and since I had the most availability the old workplace manager offered me the job. Said manager knew I wasn't the strongest they can offer but I was a native speaker and had a "British or American" accent. (Canadian accent is close enough to American). The corporate clients were located in a town outside of Krasnodar. I agreed to it because it gave me something to do in the meantime (until I started new job). Unfortunately what was suppose to be a two week thing only lasted two days. In my opinion most of it had to do with miscommunication in what the corp clients actually wanted.

So after that blunder and a stay in Lithuania it was on to Yekaterinburg, in the dead of winter. Now compared to the school in Krasnodar this place was more organized. It used to be part of a big name school across the entire country (and many others) which eventually became a big name school in the city (even if it's the only school in its name). While I'd hope I'd work there for at least longer than I did in Krasnodar my time there was quite short. I think it may have to do with starting in the middle of the year kind of and again with my teaching style. While I was able to get a filled schedule (even if most of it at that time was taking over portions of other teachers' classes) there was trouble filling it. And because I wasn't generating much money I had to be let go after what was three weeks. Friendly staff, not so friendly clientele (or maybe just hard to win over with me).

While not all of the people I've encountered teaching in both schools were antagonistic towards me, all of them were different in what they wanted out of teaching. Some like a lot of talking going on the the classroom, others want more learning the core material. With kid learners some want more dynamic things going on in the class, others refuse to go along with you even if you make it dynamic. Most of the time it's the parents that force their kids into these classes and they have unrealistic ideas of results. Believe me I had a kid's grandma complain that the grandkid doesn't show of their skills outside the classroom. While my style is a bit of a more laid back "This is what I'm giving you, now do it on your own" I found there are those who would rather have the teacher give them the answer and then explain. Maybe some work better that way I guess. Also there was this thing called conversation club which carries two meanings: It's either a place where people talk and hang out or it's that plus a seminar aspect (with handouts). The latter was more common and in my mind I was hoping for a topic and people freely talking about it with what they know (they can do it, but depending on the level may lack vocabulary to express themselves hence the handouts and seminar-like aspect).
              Yet again there are factors beyond both mine and the school's control. Someone comes to learn with a native speaker and maybe they're not ready for one just yet. Scheduling may be a thing as well, especially if it's a university student who can't make it to class on time. The result may be "I can't do it now" and that has nothing to do with how good or bad I am. Then there is the placement testing. A student may place at an intermediate level according according to the criteria but in reality may be below or advanced for intermediate (this may be in control of the school and they may be moved to another class which won't change in income but if there's no class offered it's a bit of a loss).

Maybe it's just my luck. The same thing could easily happen in China or Korea, even if they have more opportunities for things. I'd thought I'd have better luck outside of Moscow and Saint Peteresburg because those cities are well-known compared to others in Russia so less competition. It turns out it's not just about competition but maybe it has to do how the person hiring has confidence in the person they're hiring. Had I started when I was supposed to start maybe I might have adjusted since new management came in around the time I arrived and they've already settle in. Maybe the same thing would still happen and I'd have been sent home in October.

So if this seems like a combumbled rant basically this is what I've come to a conclusion after my bad experiences

• There are people who can't run a business properly in the private school business
• There are people who have high expectations of something and won't give people another chance
• It's all about image and people paying more for something that appears to be of good quality
• Time is money and for some there's not enough money to provide training
• One thing can mean two things. Ask what they mean before assuming what's going to happen

In spite of my bad experiences, there are good experiences. I'll save that for the next post.

Teach me how to grechka

And no, grechka is not the name of a dance craze here in Russia. Grechka or grechki (гречка или гречки) is basically buckwheat buds, groats or kasha however you want to call them. It's a food staple not limited to Russia as it's consumed in other places like Ukraine and Poland.

When I first visited Russia in 2011 I believe the granny I stayed with offered some to me but I turned it down. I'm not a fan of oatmeal and I was thinking it was something similar. There is also a fast food chain called Teremok (Теремок) which has meals with grechki as their sides and basically it's one of the reasons I'm less inclined to order food there (though I could just order the blinchiki (блынчики) which are Russian style pancakes stuffed with stuff).

Fast forward to December 2015 when I moved location within the city for the 4th (yes 4th, which I may have to explain at some point) time to a room in a house house. The owner of the house, a granny, offered me some food (it's good to feed your house tennants until they get back on their feet, note this!). One of the sides besides pickled cabbage was grechki. I didn't want to refuse what was offered because I pretty much avoided grechki. On the other hand I wanted to try it since it was a cheap source of food (800 g for about $2 or less depending on which store you buy it from). It turns out it's not bad but at the same time it's an acquired taste.

Since I've never cooked it before I turned to the internet to learn how to cook them. In summary it was almost like cooking rice. A cup of the stuff can pretty much feed a village (of four people that is). Unlike cooking rice grechki have this roasted scent to them as they cook. Once they're cooked you can have as your breakfast cereal (using what the link suggests fresh milk and sugar). You can make your own teremok meal by adding some butter to the groats and having a side of some hot dogs (for example Hannover sausage (ганноверский соусис), fried egg, ham & cheese slices, pickled cabbage, even chicken kiev. For a drink you can have whatever you like although if you want to Russian it up you can have kvass, kompot, or mors to start.

Grechka is your universal food, unless somehow you can't eat it for some health reasons.

Grocery shopping

There are two types of places where you can get food here: продукты and супермаркет.

Продукты is pretty much your neighbourhood convenience store but with more dairy and meat products (продукты means products by the way)

Супермаркет is your standard supermarket. There's also the гипермаркет (hypermarket) which is your supermarket plus department goods. Think something along the lines of Wal-Mart Supercenter or Real Canadian Superstore but the size of a Costco. Some supermarket chains (like О'кей and Лента) will offer discount cards. These usually come in handy as there are sales and specials for card holders (besides the regular discounts just for having a card).

One of the features I find interesting here is that you have to weigh your bulk food before you go to the cash. I don't see it a lot in Canada (maybe certain stores or provinces do this) but here it's quite common. You weight your bulk items like oranges or candy and it prints you a barcode sticker. The machines, however can break or run out of sticker and this is a pain for the cashier to input the code and weigh it themselves.

As for the largest chains here I believe they are О'кей, Магнит, and Ашан (AuChan for all you French people). The latter one is mostly attached to the shopping mall chain МЕГА but they can be stand alone. Then there are some chains not available in all cities of Russia either because they're local to the city (for example in Krasnodar there's Tabris) or they haven't expanded out south or east. Anyhow just a little entry for now.

The giant cheesestring

Each time I pass by the cheese section in the supermarkets I come across two types of braided cheese. One is called чечил (Chechil) and the other is called коса (kosa meaning braid). A bit of a note before I continue and before you Google: Chechil is a bit of an umbrella word for the cheese as there are many variants. The first ones you'll see are the brown braids but it's more than just that. I'm just covering two here.

Back home in Canada there's something called cheestrings which is a sub-brand name of string cheese usually marketed for what to put in your kids' lunch packs. The cheese is usually mozzarella but there are cheddar and marble variants of it. The fun part about cheese strings is you can string them to make fun characters like a person or an octopus then eat it. Or you can be just plain old boring and string the cheese and eat it (even worse if you just eat the stick without stringing it).

Chechil is sort of like that, the first one I'm mentioning here. It's white and it has a mozzarella-like taste and consistency but it's one giant string that's coiled into a tube-like shape.

Chechil

You can slice it and when you do you can push out the middle or you can uncoil the thing. You can also pull apart the cheese and it's almost like pulling apart a cheestring.

you can unwind it and string it apart

The other type of chechil I've tried is labelled as kosa in the stores in Krasnodar. basically its strings of cheese that are smoked, soaked in a brine of some sort, and of course braided.

This cheese is quite salty and it's good to have at parties. Personally the best way to eat it is to cut it into bits along where the bindings are. It's quite salty so pair it up with your favourite live beer (разливное пиво) and maybe some croutons (гренки) or some hunter's sausage

And an honorable mention goes out to Adygean cheese. Not a stringable cheese but someone in a chat group mentioned I should try some by frying it. It's good in my opinion.

Where the streets have names

Okay, it's not a post on experiences but more a commentary on streets and how there named.

The word for street in Russian is улица (compare with ulica in many other Slavic languages). Yes there are other street types here like проспект (avenue), шоссе (highway) and проезд (lane) but I'll be using улица in my examples.

Now улица is a feminine noun and names of streets are adjectives and  Russian is one of those languages where adjectives have to agree in grammatical gender and number. So if you want to name something "Apple Street" in Russian it would be "улица яблочная" or "яблочная улица". (Note Russian word for apple is яблоко, яблочн- is used for adjective uses).

There are, however, some exceptions to the rule and that is if the street is named after a person or a date. Let's say you want to name your street after good old Vladimir Lenin. There are a couple of ways to go about it but the only difference is whether to include Vladimir in the street name or not. The full name of the street would be "улица имени Ленина" or "улица имени Владимира Ленина" which basically translates to "the street of the name of [Vladimir] Lenin". Russian names do decline and we have the use of the genitive here. What escapes this declension is Ukranian surnames ending in -enko for example (and those indeclinable foreign names). There is a street in Krasnodar named after pilot Polina Osipenko which is rendered as "улица Полины Осипенко". The first name is put into the genitive while the family name remains untouched.

And yes, there are street named after certain dates or achievements. Using ones found here in Krasnodar as examples there's 40 лет победы (named after the 40 years since WWII ended), 70 лет Октября (70 years since the October revolution I believe) 1-го Мая and 9-го Мая. The last two I've mentioned are named after the May holidays in Russia (May 1 is Labour Day and May 9 is Victory Day).

A bit of a story to go along with the two streets named after the May holidays. It was my first time getting a taxi on my own. I decided to download a taxi app (which I believe a friend of mine uses) since it was easier than making an order on the phone. It was close to midnight when I was leaving and the people I was hanging out with advised me to get a taxi since public transport was most likely on their last trip. The app was easy to use (and it came with an English interface even though it wouldn't translate поиск такси (searching for taxi) or however it was spelled). So I input where to be picked up and where to be dropped off and 15-20 minutes later I got a taxi.
Now the way taxi seem to work is that the driver knows where you are going because you either told dispatch or they received it from the app. My destination was 9-го Мая but I ended up going to 1-го Мая at first. I guess my driver got confused (and I at first thought he was taking a short cut). I think the driver realized the error after I showed him my phone and he looked at his. It was an interesting experience though (and there were no additional charges since it was a fixed rate and not a metred rate for the trip).

And as for the street names I think I'm just fascinated with the way Russian works. English doesn't have a lot of adjectives that agree with the gender of a noun since not all nouns in English carry gender. (blond man, blonde woman, red house)