Arriving in Moscow


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Europe » Russia » Northwest » Moscow
August 4th 2006
Published: August 4th 2006
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My experience in Moscow was much different than in St. Petersburg. For starters I had no one to greet me at the train station when arriving in Moscow, a very different experience from my arrival in St. Pete where I was met by Alla, and things were taken care of from the moment I arrived.
After roaming the train station for about an hour trying to get my bearings (truly, I did not accomplish anything in the train station; I was trying to find a map or an information desk that could help me figure out how to get to my hostel, but failed), I exited the station to find, right outside, a huge map of the city. As I approached the map I noticed that there was a woman seated on the stoop below the large map, she was well dressed, clean, but in her eyes she seemed lifeless. Her head was slumped to one side, her hands were in her lap, with a blank stare on her face. In the same moment that I approached, another woman approached from the side and began yelling and gesturing at the woman seated by the map. This woman, like the one seated, seemed to be drunk and a little crazy.
As time passed the woman’s gestures and words became more intense, and she was moving closer to the seated woman. Other bystanders became involved, some in support of the woman’s rantings and others in support of the woman seated below the map.
It became clear that, for whatever reason, the yelling woman wanted the seated lady to get up and move. And although I don’t think the principal reason was the fact that I needed to use the map, the yelling woman did gesture in my direction numerous times as if to say ‘can’t you see he is trying to use the map?’
In an instant, the exchange escalated. The yelling woman began hitting and pushing the seated woman, grabbing her by the shirt and hair, and then dropping her back in her seat. She started hitting her in the head. Another woman (apparently also intoxicated, judging by her inability to hold her balance for more than a few seconds) came over to try to get in the middle of things, which just made the situation worse. Now there were three women, one sitting motionless on the stoop and the other two arguing and pushing each other. I was sort of backing away from the scene, and I must have looked away for a moment because when I looked again, the third woman had grabbed the seated woman by the arm and by her hair and began dragging her off. Every few steps she would try to hoist the sedated woman to a standing position, but failing miserably. Finally, as if waking up from a deep trance/sleep, the sedated woman came to and stood, immediately looking around, then walking hurriedly down the street as if nothing had happened.
The scene was over. It was one of those strange moments where it was over, and I wasn’t really certain what had just taken place. It was like that scene in ______ (I can’t remember the name of the movie) where the two guys stage a fight scene in a café terrace with one killing the other, then after a few moments the two break character and bow to the horrified onlookers. I was waiting for the bow, but it didn’t come. During the fight I was also waiting for someone with some sense to step in and do something, but this never happened. It was as if this was a normal event outside the train station on a Saturday morning.


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