The final chapter in the Moscow trilogy:
A few afterthoughts about Moscow and family life. We had a lovely, intelligent 27-28 year old guide, Olga, whose father was also a guide and fluent in Japanese. She was a University graduate, a divorcee for three years now who had moved back home with her family. She shared it wasn't easy living with mom and dad again and many of her friends married early to pool resources and get out on their own. I wonder why they just didn't live together? She says most of her friends are now divorced.
The average small apartment is about $1000 per month and that is the monthly salary of educated person. So, a couple gets to go out to dinner (with dinners being $100 an evening at least, it doesn't go far), get some groceries, pay utilities, transportation ... There is nothing left over. In fact, to make ends meet, most young people live with their parents and most young couples hold down several jobs. Life has dealt older couples a cruel blow as well. Sold the idealistic life under socialism, folks didn't need to work for money. Things were taken care of for them. They couldn't own anything and didn't make much, but medical care, education, housing and even vacations were supplied free of charge. They were even able to save money over their lifetime - enough for a little dacha and to retire at age 55. Then, the new Russia came about and the ruble was recalculated and essentially devalued and pensioners found themselves with nothing for retirement as their savings were devastated. They now went from government subsidized living to a life were they had no savings and had to support themselves in an economy with a yearly inflation rate of 20%. Pensions? They can only count on about $200 per month. Hence, most, if still alive, still work well past retirement. Sadly, many never make it to retirement age as the median survival age for men is 57 and women, 72. Men's lower age versus women's is a combination of stress drinking and no medical care. Women tend to succumb to illness caused by lack of inability for early diagnosis of the overburdened medical system, with long waits for appointments, or women so busy with working for survival that they neglect their own health.
Russia is certainly a land of conundrum. It offered gender equality much earlier for high level jobs, but neglected to offer the right to freedom for any gender. The one comment all lecturers and guides bring up is "what is the best period in Russian life? Communism? The New Russia?" it seems that the answer is "whatever the person's era was when they were young and in love and had no responsibilities." Quite honestly, they seem to have gone too much into capitalism without a thought to a place for the middle class. The wealth I have seen far exceeds that of the US and the struggles are far greater.
Moscow is pure grandeur. It is quiet, elegant, clean. It's people have a laid back, yet cynical humor. There is no pushing in the subways, no honking in the streets. At the circus, there was sheer delight. If someone took someone else's seat, a person, would just smile and take another. There was no aggression towards one another. However, there is passive aggressive thievery. Our guide, Anna, told us matter of factly that apartment managers become extremely rich by taking mark ups on everything that needs to be done. Our Hyatt hotel was impeccably maintained and exquisite. Yet, we received a letter of apology for it's appearance and were told that a total renovation would be undertaken. When we mentioned this to Anna, she laughed and said "of course! How else would we afford our new roads and be able to justify charging even more for our rooms?" Gosh, the rooms are already $1300 per night for a basic room!!!!
Russia has so much history and so much to offer. But at $100-$300 per meal, $1300 per room, $300 per person for a guide per day and entry fees everywhere, are they taking capitalism so far that they will drive tourists away?
Traveling along the Volga river today I am struck by the mansions, lovely river towns with very genteel towns. This is not the Russia I expected to see, nor the Russia that the average Russian obviously experiences, no matter how superficially lovely.
