>From: Wojtek Sokolowski <sokol at jhu.edu>
>
>Chris:
>
> > I was thinking of, in Moscow, being able to hang out in the
> > park drinking
> > beer at 10 am with no one looking at you the wrong way (maybe
> > I'm thinking
> > more of the US there). Or being able to get into long
> > conversations with
> > total strangers you meet on the street. Or not having people
> > make caste
> > distinctions based on income or age.
>
>
>I know exactly what you mean. I initially thought of Western European
>cities as too well ordered (which btw is also a common trope in the
>protrayal of Italy v. Switzerland/Germany relations) - but then realized
>that order is not necessarily bad, especially when you are taking a
>train or want to make a hotel reservation or do some official business.
>On the other hand, some of my best going-out buddies are British and
>Germans.
Not bad, just boring.
>
>But there is a diffrence between the bohemian life style - which I
>suppose is what you mean by not being boring - and sheer lawlessness and
>criminality.
I wouldn't call it bohemian, unless $80 of the population of Moscow is bohemian.
It is one thing to meet some strangers and drink beer with
>them in the park - which used be quite safe in Eastern Europe and I
>presume in the US (judging, for example, from Jack Kerouac writing) -
>and being accosted by a bunch of strangers and being robbed by them. I
>think that the latter is much more common in Eastern Europe than
>bohemian lifestyles, at least since the so-called "fall of communism."
You have to, well, know what you're doing. I hate to say it, but I would be pretty hesitant about just yaking with strangers who look like they're from the Caucasus, just because it does correlate a lot with criminality. Caucasian features, Moscow street-hood scullcap -- no way.
>Another thing is that whaterver you say about Western European cities,
>they are a much better places to live in every respect than the American
>cities (with the possible exception of NYC). Perhaps my perspective is
>jaded by the then-year experience of living in Baltimore, but I am just
>tired of contant noise emitted by cars and car radios, loud and
>obnoxious people in the streets, arrogant and silly teenagers, paranoid
>conservative suburbanites, corrupt self-righteous politicians, boarded
>up houses populated by vagrants winos and druggies (they are mostly
>harmless, but it is distressing to see people in such a condition), the
>barrage of phone calls from telemarketers (which are the majority of the
>phone calls I receive), the lack of transportation, etc.
Moscow doesn't have the last two (best metro system in the world) or the conservative suburbanites (though maybe you could substitute elderly Communists, though they're at the other end of the income spectrum), but it has the rest in spades. I like the loud and obnoxious people. I love Moscow.
Of course I am aware that I live the life of a middle-class Muscovite when I'm in Russia, probably in the upper 20% income bracket, so I am priviliged. I do not live the life of a struggling worker or pensioner, in which case things would probably look a lot different.
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