Moscow: Challenges & Rewards

  
The biggest challenge for a non-native in Russia is the language. Everything from the signs on the streets to the menu in the restaurant is in Russian. To get a sense of the challenge –

My office area - "City" (The most modern part of Moscow)

 Imagine sitting in a shared cubicle, with handshake distance from team-mates and just hearing spurts of speech without understanding a word, all day long (would you feel like a piece of furniture?)

Imagine going out on lunch with co-workers and not having an idea about what the big discussion over the table was!
 
Imagine not being able to go out somewhere, not because you don’t have time or interest; but because (as silly as it might sound) you don’t know how to use the metro or negotiate with a cab. 



Reading the post so far, probably you can envision a gloomy picture of stay in Moscow. But, the intention is to tell you despite of these challenges – it still is a fun place! (No sarcasm involved)

Once you know the people here, you realize that they are actually very kind and friendly. Speaking in English is “kind of stressful” for many people – English is to be used only when talking with someone who doesn’t know Russian (you need to accept and appreciate this to actually understand the people here). If you take initiative and ask for translation, people are actually very happy to help you understand the discussion. The environment in office is super amiable. You see lot of laughter around; team lunches are order of the day. Besides, they have their own traditions (common to most offices in Moscow) such as – whenever someone comes back from vacation he/she get sweets for the team, if it is your birthday expect a small celebration in the office – things which bring back memories of working in India!

Weekends at Moscow have been something to look forward to – again thanks to the friendly people. Few of the new friends I have made are kind enough to come all the way to the hotel just to pick me up to the show the city, take me to parties….basically make sure that I don’t get bored over the weekend in an alien land!

An adventure which brings new surprises every day continues to unfold…