my Moscow chronicles - part 2

I know that when you travel around a city in a chauffeur-driven car, you don't really see real life. But I try as much as I can to take it all in, the good and the bad. I try to look beyond the golden domes into the huge towers that look kinda ravaged and imagine what life can be like. I observe people through the window as they walk passed me and try to guess where they're headed. For some, it's easy to know...

For example, the illegal immigrants (mostly tadjiks or kazakhs I think) will try to find a job for the day or longer. All they have to do is stand by the side of the motorway in the morning and wait for a car to stop. Some will be chosen but some won't and they will still be there at night.

Well, travelling by car really puts everything in perspective. You see the panoramas, you get a feel of the distance and the time it takes to get from one place to another. You see the crappy towers next to the brand new buildings. The funny thing is when in France we tend to build smaller buildings than before, here people seem to enjoy living in flats in huge complexes. I don't really know if they enjoy it but it seems to be the only choice for housing that you get in the city.

You also get stuck in traffic jams but it gave me a chance to see lots of crazy things I wouldn't see in my little town in France. There are absolutely no rules when you drive (well there are but nobody seems to care about them) so you see people drive on the sidewalks, do crazy u-turns in the streets, take one-way streets the wrong way. You also see bus drivers smoke at the wheel. When we have too many rules in France, it feels like total freedom.

I have seen a lot since I arrived and it is really difficult to report how I feel about things and give a clear feeling of what it's like to be here. I feel like an observer. I don't speak russian so I'm cut from spoken and written information. But it seems like I am just left with the essential, simply life.

When I come back, I will have a clearer mind and I'm sure I'll remember things better when I take a few steps back.

:: listening to russian radio