Príspevky

Zobrazujú sa príspevky z dátumu apríl, 2018

Intern in Russia, part 7: Through the Caucasus in marshrutka

Obraz
More than once in your life you will find yourself standing at the confluence of two river beams, having to decide whether to set off along the already familiar bank, or you'd better explore the rather crooked stream - and instead of booking a flight ticket on the route Rostov - Tbilisi you will reserve a seat in a marshrutka. Armenian transport company has a quite precisely designed website for the post-soviet world, I click on a date in the calendar and I am announced, that I have successfully reserved a place, however, I don't get any confirmation mail, no one asks money in advance - I feel like I should somehow seal the deal. The next day I call Armenia and ask - are counting on me for sure? Yes, yes, come to Rostov to the old bus station, the driver will call you the day before departure. The driver actually reaches me on the very day of departure when I'm already on my way the platform, firstly he orders me to pay for my ticket at the cash desk on the

Intern in Russia, part 6: Special episode about taxi drivers and conductors

Obraz
Perhaps in every country you could find one occupation, that has special spirit in this particular part of the world - let's say a rikshaw driver in India or gondolier in Venezia. In Russia you definitely must fall for taxi drivers and conductors.  I walk down the stairs and come out of the second entrance on Kurchatova 8, the taxi is waiting in front of the third one -  when it comes to addresses  in Russia, the determining information is the number of the house, then the number of the entrance, followed by the number of the flat. The system of numbering is chaotic, therefore a non-local will find it hard to navigate around the hood. The taxi driver got the order of the entrances incorrectly, I walk a few metres towards him, I get in, I intend to fasten my seatbelt, however, there is none. On the contrary, the taxometer represented by a cellphone app is flashing on the dashboard. In Volgodonsk taxis are such an affordable option of transport, that they can pretty much re