On our way to the present, I thought it
might do to stop in around 2002 and see how things were then.
With Putin in power now, the absolute
lawlessness of the Yeltsin years had been elminated. Now instead of
mob thugs in vinyl warm up suits, the criminals wore expensive
Italian suits and held office in Moscow as part of Putin's close
circle.
The infrastructure in Saint Pete was
failing at an alarming rate. I missed by just a few minutes perhaps
being killed when one of the 1950s-era metro stations in the center
of the city suffered a collapse, burying dozens of people under
concrete. And the aging fleet of city buses which could no longer
support the load of passengers was replaced by private marshrutki.
These were small 10 passenger vans that traveled a set course through
the city and could be flagged down for a pickup or dropoff anywhere
along the route. The price was higher, but they were more dependable.
Small restaurants and cafes were
popping up around town. Most of these were parts of Western chains
(Pizza Hut, MacDonald's, Subway, a weird Scandinavian chain called "Carrollan's) that managed to wedge their way into
the big city. There was also a growing number of kiosk-style
restaurants. In a box not much bigger than a phone booth, the one-person cook took your order, made it, and handed it to you through
a tiny window. For example, here's a group of my friends enjoying
bliny in front of Teremok, the bliny kiosk.
The stores were certainly improving.
The "fish" and "milk" store had been gutted and
turned into mini-marts with a little produce section, a meat counter,
a HUGE dairy counter, and some other food, most of which was either
cookies or alcohol.
In the early 2000s, it was so much
easier to keep in touch with people back home. There were internet
cafes every 10 feet in the city center. Of course, that meant a 40
minute trip from dear old Chajka. Internet access wasn't too
expensive, but overall my dollar didn't go as far as it had in the
past.
In 1995, the exchange rate had been
5,000 rubles to the dollar. In the early 2000s, it was around 30
rubles to the dollar. That revaluing of the ruble, which came out of
the 1998 Asian economic crisis was devastating for Russians.
Overnight, they government just declared the old money invalid and
people had to begin using the new money. I know of people who could
have bought a car one day, but the next day could barely afford to
buy a new coat. The result of this was that people were crazy about
converting their money to a stable currency. The euro was good, but
the dollar was accepted just about everywhere (not, legally of
course).
My impression from talking to Russians
was that their opinion about their place in the world had changed
significantly. In 1995, there was a sense that they had been through
a terrible jolt and that they were working hard to improve their
situation. In the early 2000s there was an edge of bitterness and
anger now. The sentiment was, "We are an industrialized nation.
Why are we tolerating a country that's falling apart and corrupt? Are
we really worse than people in the West?"
It was also at this time that Russian
women's style really seemed to turn tawdry. Regardless of the
weather, they wore the highest heels and tiniest, tightest skirts
they could find (along with the most garish makeup). If you asked me
to graph out the trajectory of their fashion evolution, I would have
said that somewhere around 2015 they would be naked except for stilleto heels, a wide belt, and a gash of red lipstick.
The women really were alarming. All
tarted up and hungry for dollars, they would accost nearly any man on the
streets in the city center and mewl at him, "Khello, please. You
vant to buy me some ice kream pleeze!?," batting their impossibly-long fake eyelashes all the while.
The only thing that hadn't changed was
our dear old Chajka. The same can't be said for the dump out front, however. From dawn to dusk (a long time during the White
Nights) semi-drunk construction workers were pounding in the pilings
which were to become the foundation for a new apartment complex.
Compare this picture to the one from 1995.
