Bookstore

There's this bookstore here in Moscow called библио-глобус (Biblio Globus) and they have a massive store right by my university next to лубянка station. I needed to get a diary and I wanted one in Russian so that I could learn the days & months better. They love Moleskine here, but that's no use to me as it's in English AND double the price of London (& Moleskine's not cheap in London either!). 

I walked into the store and my mouth dropped open! But I was hassled by the security guard. They have this thing here in Russia with people bringing shopping bags or bags of things into stores. I think it's because there are a lot of poor people so I guess that stealing is common. If you go to the supermarket or OBI (which is like the Russian Home Depot) and you have a bag of shopping from another store you have to put it in this generic plastic bag & seal it! This security guard hassled me because one of the books in my handbag, my lovely Moleskine set off the detector so he made me put it in a plastic bag & seal it. That perturbed me a little. 

The store is one of the most fabulous things I ever seen and for a book worm it's literally like heaven! It has about 3/4 floors and different зал's (halls is the English word but they're not actual halls more like sections). They have a large section of foreign language material, including books in French, German & English, as well as books to learn English - a LOT of books to learn English! My favorite thing is to find English books I know but written in русски язык (Russian) and see how their title has been translated, such as P.S I Love You or Pride & Prejudice. It's rather amusing. Sometimes they translate directly,'P.S. я лублю тебя' или (or) Звёздный путь which is Star Trek, or they translate it into Russian in a way that if you directly translated it back into English it wouldn't actually mean the same thing or make sense. Just something I find amusing. 

I had a long wander and perused the different sections. There was also an antiquarian section with lots of gorgeous smelling old books & lots of old Soviet coins & paintings. I ended up purchasing only what I came in for, a diary or as my Canadian friends call it a planner, in Russian with россия on the front cover & a large Russian flag and also some new Sharpie pens. I forgot my Sharpies and I always need a Sharpie for something!

          The concept of queuing is something the Russian's haven't quite grasped yet and as a polite foreigner I often end up waiting the longest in queues or refusing to push through everyone to get on the escalator on the subway. It has been noted by a number of people quite how polite I am, and this is reflected on my British upbringing. My parents must have done something right!! So I queued in the store for about 15 minutes, got a student discount of 5% and was given a plastic bag free of charge (unheard of in Russia!). 

Then I went home in order to have dinner & prepare for dance class. I do love being squashed like a sardine on the Russian subway. If you're near the front of the crowd to the doors you will just be pushed onto the train and you have NO way of controlling this. Then you have to stand like a penguin and rock from side to side as the train bumbles along. I've started to be a little more Russian and less polite when it comes to the subway. They just push their way through and don't even say excuse me or sorry, it makes it obvious that I'm a foreigner when I say "umm...извените пажалуиста....." nervously. I'd probably get berated on the tube in London if I acted like a Russian!! But I'm assimilating Russian culture and I'm here to learn so if that's the Russian way then I'll just follow suit! 


P.S. It's OCTOBER! This means I only have 2 months & 23 days left in Russia. That actually makes me sort of sad. 

Casual picture of St Basil's Cathedral & the statue of the 2 men who saved Moscow from the Polish!