Quirks of a Cold City

1. The metro, a sprawling network of underground passageways and astounding efficiency, smells like baking bread. I can’t figure out why. There are these tiny booths from which people sell bread and pastries, but are they baking things in their 4 x 4 box?!

2. After a performance, during the curtain calls, the audience claps in rhythm. Instead of random applause, they fall together like automatons: clap, clap, clap, clap… It is a bizarrely creepy experience.

3. There is no exaggerating the fur thing.

4. Respectful and rude. Russians have a very strict code of civility. Students, for example, must stand and be silent when the teacher enters, not drink anything during class, and stand when they leave. At the same time, people will shove you in the subway, invade personal space, and stare unashamedly when they figure out you’re a foreigner.

5. Russians don’t like to give direct orders. When they say “It would be better for you if…” or “Maybe you want to do this…” it actually means, “You better damn well do this.”

6. “Salads” mostly consist of meat and mayonnaise or vinegar. And anything shredded.

7. Russians can put anything in a dumpling or pancake and make it fabulous.

8. Cashiers grumble when they have to give you change, but the ATMs won’t give you anything but 500 or 1,000 ruble notes. There’s a conflict here.

9. I thought people might have exaggerated the lack of color in Russians’ clothing, but it’s true. Looking out over the sea of people in the metro, you see black coats, grey hats, black boots, grey scarves. I’m hoping for a change in spring.

10. Stray dogs take the metro. (ABC News: Stray Dogs Master Complex Moscow Subway System) I’ve seen them sleeping in stations, but so far none on trains yet. That’s a cultural experience worth waiting for.