FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE

Este es el segundo relato de nuestro blog, una visión distinta del tema que nos ocupa en este blog, ya que no solo existe la emigracion de obreros, existe de la misma manera una fuga de cerebros, gente muy cualificada que no encuentra trabajo que cubra sus espectativas en España y decide buscra suerte en otros lugares .
Esta historia es un caso de "fuga de cerebros", una persona que ya dejo su pais natal, Alemania , por España y ahora con una vida hecha aqui tiene que embarcarse en una nueva aventura, la de abrir y hacerse cargo de una nueva sucursal de su empresa en Rusia, todo un desafio para esta jefa de marketing que habla perfectamente cuatro idiomas, aunque entre ellos no esta el ruso... La redacción está en inglés , si no entendéis alguna palabra o creeis que es mejor que lo colguemos en español, por favor, no dudeis en comentarlo y asi sera.


Pilar García
Estefanía Cedeira


FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
PART 1

We made it!
We arrived in a completely different world.
The first hurdle was to get into the country. With
difficulties we found a necessary host which would
invite us. Peter had the honour to be invited by the
Russian Olympic Committee, myself by a tourist
operator. A couple of trips to the Russian consulate
and the visa’s were sorted.
I left on Sunday morning. Enjoyed the stopover in
Frankfurt, had a quick coffee with my sister, we
started talking so much, that I almost missed the
flight. Finally I made it. I arrived at 11 at night and
my two bosses (one Russian one German) were picking me up. Since I didn’t
have anything to eat in the house, they went shopping with me, thanks for 24
hour supermarkets. Everything is open around the clock here. It was quite an
experience shopping with your new
bosses at midnight not understanding a
word of anything. The language is quite
a challenge. Completely different from
any language we know.
Arriving at my new home for two
months was a surprise. It seemed like I
was back in old East Germany 30 years
ago. Well I guess the lift in the building
is even older. But my Russian boss told
me, he never got stuck in this elevator.
(Well he’s used it twice.) No need for worries as well about breaking into this
place. The house is as safe as a bank. I need to unlock three heavy iron doors
to get into the apartment on the sixth floor. It took
me three lessons and a couple days of practice to
open them.
Actually that was the way how I met my neighbour
standing in front of the door trying to open my
door. He was wondering who was trying to get into
the place. What a nice surprise. I guess, the only
Russian person fluent in English was living right
next to us. He has been a great help to us finding
our way around the city. He even turned out to be
a well experienced programmer. Without him we
would have never been able to get the internet
working at the house. Everything is so complicated
here. If you thought Germany or Spain
were bureaucratic, welcome to Russia.
Everything has to be proved, signed,
checked and double checked, and
even though you might not get what
you want. Even at my work they didn’t
want to let me in without a pass. And
my boss told me to take the passport
everywhere. If you can’t prove your
papers, you might get arrested right
away and spend a day in prison. You
also find security everywhere.
My first week of work was filled with very strong impressions. The office is only
10 min away, which is great. It is very basic. No colour printer, the computers
are run down, no server, well at least the Internet is working and the people
are nice. The first day it took my boss a full day to tell me what was going on
and I am sure there are still missing parts. I also
travelled around to see dealers one day. And I
was lucky enough to participate in a testing of our
machines with the whole staff outside of the city
in the woods with lots of snow. There I was
baptized in the middle of nowhere with lots of
vodka and a traditional barbeque. (I thought you
only could do such things in the summer, but no,
it is possible as well at well below 0 degree’s)
Thursday I picked up Peter and found my new
private Taxi driver, a man from Armenia who
probably spoke as little Russian as I do. That is
probably the reason we got along so well. He
gave us an unofficial ride for the 1/3 of the real
price.
The weekend was full of sightseeing by day and by night. Sergey, our
neighbour, was proud to show us his city. It is much more beautiful than we
expected. Astonishing buildings everywhere you go in the city. So much culture
and art in one city is almost impossible. We also bought tickets for next week at
the world famous Hermitage
Museum and Mariinsky Theatre.
We fall into sleep right away at night
after exhausting days full of
excitement and new impressions.
We wish you could share this
experience with us!