First Day of Work Experience 14/10/13

Masha had to wake up early to go to school and then I had a bit of extra time until her mum came and picked me up from the flat to go to work. The work day starts at 10 in Russia but often workers go in at 11 and work later, it took about an hour to get the office because of the morning rush hour. 

The Friedrich Ebert Stiftung has the fourth floor of a building near Moscow's business centre. I was briefly introduced to some of the employees and then talked with Masha's mum a bit about the organisation. One of the workers is at a seminar this week so I've been put in her office, and I've been asked to do some background research into some of the speakers who will be coming here next month for a seminar and they need some notes of each of them. I also spoke with two other employees throughout the course of the day. The first, Dasha, is the person in charge of all the ecological sustainability issues within the organisation. She gave me loads of the research packs and conference subject material to have a look at and keep. A lot of what they do is heavily related with the economy and finance, some of the data and information is in English and I'm sure my brother and sister, who are both studying economics, would find it interesting from that point of view. The organisation deals heavily with international relations has has offices in over 100 countries (I think actually 101 countries). Then I spoke with (don't ask me to try and guess her name) the woman in charge of political issues in the FES (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung) she told quite a bit about what she does here, which was also very interesting.

At the lunch break I went with Masha's mum to a food centre in a business centre 10 minutes away. There was loads of things to choose from but we went this Asian section and I had this type of stir-fryed chicken with vegatables (loads of cabbage or something and peppers, olives, etc.) and rice. It was really tasty and I hope we go there again one day this week. After lunch I met with the boss. He is actually German and is quite weird, my brother would get on with him quite well - quite a profound thinker with strange analogies and examples to explain what the organisation actually does. He began by saying that if I probably was quite confused about some of the things FES did, by the end of this meeting I would probably be even more confused but by being confused comes the motivation to learn and discover more. He also told me that he would like to cut the string holding the UK to Europe and send us on our way to the USA, this is after he told me everyone who lives on an island is 'special'. He has worked in many of the FES offices, including ones in China, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and so on. 

This experience is going to be really great for my German because that's all I've been speaking in the office and obviously in the long car journeys with Masha's mum, the only time I spoke English in the office was with the boss, which is ironic I know, seen as he was the only actual German one, but he enjoys speaking English when guests come to the conferences.

The work day for us finished at 6 and then we were stuck in traffic for 2 hours getting back to the flat, but I did have a very interesting conversation with Masha's mum about her job and the differences in the Russian and British education systems among other things. Overall it was a really great day, loads to do and to learn and can't wait to see what the rest of the week will be like. 

After so long waiting in anticipation I am finally in Moscow, capital of Russia. I arrived last night at 19:30 local time in Vnukovo Airport just outside the centre of the city. I'm quite used to travelling and suppose that I actually prefer travelling alone because it means not having to wait around for others and of course only having one suitcase to stand around waiting for at the other end. The flight wasn't that bad, but four hours without much leg room can get slightly irritating but thankfully I had a row to myself on the plane and could easily pop my feet up on the neighbouring seats. What I also found quite surprising was that I was probably the only or one of the only english-speaking passengers on the plane. I flew with Transaero Airlines, a Russian airline company and had quite a bit of fun pretending that I was Russian to the cabin crew as they came around with food and refreshments.

After arriving in Mosocw and a small mix up with what terminal I was in I was met by my Russian friend Masha and her mother, whose workplace I will be attending for work experience. I was told that it would be a twenty minute drive from the airport to the flat but we hit the masses of the Saturday night traffic and ended up in the car for about an hour or so. Always being the optimist I guess it gave me a chance see a bit of the Moscow nightlife. I don't know what I had been expecting my first impressions to be of Moscow, but what I saw was not them. The motorway was massive, in the sense that it was so wide with at four or five lanes, cars were swerving from one lane to another but not in a way that it felt unsafe. The only comparison I think I could make of it would be to say that the roads reminded me of Bangkok, driving from the airport into the city. From the plane when we had been getting ready for landing I got a few sights of Moscow from above and it was interesting to compare them to the ground view. From above many of the streets, and what I presumed were residential areas, were lit up to appear like a maze or labyrinth and I found the patterns of lights and darkness quite idillic, the darkness seemed like the sea and the lights were such that they seemed to look like cruises floating in the ocean.

I arrived at the flat rather exhausted but seemed to find some store of energy to look around all two rooms of it. The flat was Masha's family's guest flat, which they normally rent out at certain parts of the year, but during my stay I would be living there with Masha. After a quick dive onto my new bed Masha's mum made some pancakes, and despite my protests of really not being very hungry (especially after the brilliant homemade banana bread made by my mum), I was forced into trying these Russian pancakes with salmon wrapped up inside them and to be fair, they were really nice and I also had my first mint tea in Russia (with many more to come). Before falling fast asleep that night I managed to stay awake to give Masha and her mum the many gifts I'd brought with me from Wales and I even had a bit of a cultural experience, watching Russia's version of the Voice, known here as Golos, or голос.

Now, today began with a nice lie-in, which with an alarm set for 8:30 may be a bit of an overstatement. Today was also the only chance of a full tour of the city, so Masha got her tour guide hat on and I wrapped up in two coats, scarf and boots to brace the cold outdoors. We firstly walked to the Metro station and went on the underground to the Red Square, where I had the opportunity to take a few pictures and really get a feel of the city.

Masha then took me to probably one of my favourite places in Moscow so far (not that I've seen that much of it yet), somewhere known as an Anti-Cafe. Masha told me that we were going to a place to have a cup of tea and a sit down, so I was walking down the street looking out for some sign of a cafe of some sorts, and it was at this moment that I felt like I was in Harry Potter or something. Suddenly Masha stopped in the middle of the street and turned to the front door of a house with a numbers of flats inside, she pressed the buzzer and said, "Циферблат", meaning, "Dial, " as in on a clock. This was the password to get in, the door opened and we walking up a flight of stairs and entered a door which should have led to a normal flat but instead inside was a counter with a young woman standing behind. Masha explained to me that in this Anti-Cafe you take a clock out of the cupboard and take a seat in one of the many rooms of the flat, you are then free to take cups of tea and small sweet snacks and at the end, instead of paying for all the food and drink you've taken you simply pay for the time you've spent there. In this Anti-Cafe you're also free to play one of the many board games there or even play the piano. Masha told me that this place was very popular with students of history and literature and that there was also an Anti-Cafe used mainly by maths students but that it wasn't as interesting as this one was.

Our next stop on the tour of Moscow was to a Moscow's biggest park, where we met up with a friend of Masha's, Olga. Together we went for a tea ice-cream, one of the weirdest but strangely interesting things I've ever eaten. Then we went on a boat tour of Moscow with Olga and Dasha, another one of Masha's friends. Food was served on the boat and I enjoyed a Capreza salad and salmon with beans in a pumpkin sauce. We all went on the top deck of the boat to look at the sights of Moscow while shivering.

After the boat tour I went with Masha and her mum to go for tea and dessert. We went to a bar restaurant, which was on the top floor of a high rise building in the city centre. The dessert was amazing and the atmosphere in general was extraordinary, another place I would definitely go to again if ever visiting Moscow. The views of the city as night was falling were amazing and the restaurant was so swank and fancy, but I had to gulp when I saw the prices of the desserts, which really did reflect the quality of not only the food but also the place itself.

Now all I can say is that I honestly need my bed to collapse into after such a full-on but exciting today. Tomorrow is the first day at the workplace and I can't wait, but I think my brain needs a little bit of time to rest, I would say it's quite full of everything. Not really helping is the fact that I am speaking English with Masha, German with her mum and listening to Russian everywhere I go, but still it's better than being bored, isn't it.

Getting ready for work experience!

In two days times I will be flying off to Moscow to undertake a week's work experience at the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung's Russian office. I'm really excited now and don't exactly know what to expect. I haven't been told much about the company but from doing my own research I know the work will fascinate me; a company centred around international relations, education, languages and loads more -what else could I possibly want to do with my week!

I can't wait to see what Russia will be like and to learn a little bit more of the (really complicated) language, but first I need to go through the stresses of last-minute packing! I think I'm definitely going to be needing a warm jumper and scarf - from what I've heard the temperature is dropping,
and I don't really want to experience a full blown Russian winter any time soon.



http://deu.fesmos.ru