One of the main tourist attractions of Russia is St. Petersburg. Coming to this part of Russia but not visiting Peter (as the natives call it) would be like going to France and skipping Paris or going to the UK but missing London.
We have now hosted visitors on at least 6 trips to Peter. Generally people have only a limited time, so we have managed to cram the highlights into 2 very full days. The oldest person to survive our Peter death-march was my Aunt Millie, 83 years young at the time. By the end of these two days, most sane people have lost all desire to ever again go inside a cathedral or a museum.
Transport
Opinions vary about the best way to get from Moscow to Peter. We have taken the night train to Peter and back only once. Upsides: Maximize touring time by traveling during the night when you would be sleeping anyway. Save on hotel costs for two nights. Downsides: What makes you think you will sleep on this train? Arriving in Peter at 6 am tired and sore is a tough way to start this grueling adventure. Our vote: the train is fun to do once, but we suggest the plane. Note--several Russian friends have suggested a high speed train that leaves Moscow in the afternoon. This is worth looking into.
We take a late afternoon flight to Peter and a late evening flight back to Moscow. We generally get a good nights sleep in Peter before starting on the 2-day tour.
Lodging
There are plenty of good hotels in Peter, but they tend to book quickly and are expensive during the peak tourist season. We stay in serviced apartments owned by Pulford Real Estate. They are generally located very close to the Hermitage, are pretty reasonably priced, and include some food in the fridge. For a fee, they will drive you to and from the airport. Book in advance; they also fill up in peak season. The head of the office in Peter is an American (at time of publication) which helps with communication when making arrangements.
The tour
Day 1: Morning:
Hermitage. We strongly recommend getting a guide--it makes a big difference here. If you do not arrange for a guide in advance, you will be out of luck. Sometimes guides will also take you to the front of the very long lines. This happened with us once when the first 50 people in line were a German tour group. On the whole, Germans do not look kindly upon cutting in line and I imagine that there were some threats of bodily harm in the German words they were yelling at us.
Focus on the Winter Palace area and if you are into art, on some of the art. You cannot see everything here, so you should work out with the guide what art you want to see. Personally, my favorite was the Impressionist collection and the Rembrandts. The museum opens at 10 and is closed on Mondays.
Afternoon:
Church on the Spilt Blood. This church was built on the site of the assassination of Tsar Alexander II. The entire inside of the church depicts the life of Christ in mosaics. This is my favorite cathedral in all of Russia. It does not take long to walk through it, but is a must see. We have been through with and without a guide. This one can be enjoyed either way, but a guide will tell you about the history and restoration (it was used as a warehouse during Communism and was shelled by German troops in WWII). There is a small souvenir market across the square from the entrance to the church
Lunch. Not far from the exit of the Church on the Spilt Blood on the side of the canal closest to the Neva River is a small cafe with decent cheap food and relatively fast service. We do not know the name; it has a yellow awning and an area that is semi-enclosed for dining. If you are standing at the exit of the church looking down the canal, it is on the right hand side maybe 75-100 yards.
Isaakovsky Sobor. This is the huge gold-domed church that dominates the very center of the city along the bank of the Neva river. If you climb up the stairs to the collonade (recommended), you have a great view of the city.
Bronze Horseman Statue. Just behind the Isaakovsky Sobor, toward the river. This is a statue dedicated to Peter the Great. We recommend reading Pushkin's poem of the same name before you see this. English versions are on the internet.
Evening:
Feel Yourself Russian. This is a folk-dancing and singing show that has never ceased to impress our guests. You should call in advance to reserve tickets and get there early to get a seat. They do 2 shows each evening. Rather pricey, but worth the money. It is a 20 minute walk from the Bronze Horseman in a restored palace at Ploshad Truda.
Dinner. There is a decent Chinese restaurant across the street from the theater. A bit pricey, but with good food and service.
Day 2: Morning
Peterhof. This is Peter the Great's summer palace, located on the Gulf of Finland. You can get there by train, car or Hydrofoil (boat). We strongly suggest the Hydrofoil; we have never tried any other way. You meet the boat and buy tickets at the dock on the Neva River, across the street from the Hermitage. We recommend you go early as the lines form later in the day and the park gets crowded.
We have never been inside the palace; the attraction here is the incredible fountains. Check to make sure the fountains are working; they only work in the summer. This trip takes several hours, so plan accordingly. It can get chilly on the gulf, so take umbrellas/jackets.
Afternoon:
Peter/Pavel Fortress. This is across the Neva from the Hermitage. This is also an outdoor place, with the exception of the church where many of the Tsars are buried. The entire family of the last Tsar, Nicholas II, is buried here. We have always taken a taxi here, which means it is not very convenient. If you need to skip something, this is a good candidate. We have skipped this with a few groups of guests when they were begging for mercy at the end of Day 2.
Evening: Travel back
Disclaimer--everyone has their favorite thing in Peter, so you should do your homework and see if there might be something else more interesting. We have also been to Catherine the Great's summer palace in Pushkin Tsarskoye Tselo) and it is impressive. The main attraction there is the Amber Room. Check times and availabilities of everything. Plan your trip to the minute detail before you go; do not leave anything to chance.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Sunday, August 3, 2008
So You Want to Drive?
Buying a Car in Moscow
We arrived in Moscow in September 2002. We soon realized that, although the metro was convenient and cheap, we needed a car to get our kids to school and to accomplish weekly essentials such as shopping and church. We hired a driver who started driving his own car. The driver, Kostya, turned out to be a good find (friendly, reliable, still a good friend to this day). However his Russian model car smelled strongly of gasoline, had no way to filter the outside air and seemed to break down at inconvenient times and in inconvenient places. One morning the car broke down on the middle of Leningradsky Prospect, one of Moscow's main roads. Kostya had to abandon the car in the middle of the road and flagged a cab to get the kids to school. So after some hand-wringing, we set out on our first real adventure--to buy a car. Little did we know what awaited us.
Odometers
After canvassing the Russian used car markets, we came to believe that Russian used car salesmen make US used car salesmen look like boy scouts. We checked the histories of several US model used cars online (CarFax and similar services) to compare mileage and check for accidents. Without exception the odomoters had all been turned back so that the odomoter reading was 50-100% less than actual mileage. At one market Josie confronted a salesman after he admitted the odomoter reading may be a bit understated, asking him how he could justify such blatant dishonesty. He said "You know, this is Russia and people here like to believe that things are better than they really are. So actually we are doing people a favor."
The Test Drive
We realized that we did not have the risk tolerance to buy a used car in Moscow and proceeded to look for a new car. At a Rolf dealership we fell in love with a Mitsubishi Carisma (OK, it was the cheapest Japanese-made car we could find in Moscow). The salesman asked if we wanted to take a test drive. We agreed, but were frankly a bit confused as to where and how the test drive would work. The car dealership was located on one of Moscow's busiest streets and rush hour traffic was bumper-to-bumper. The salesman took us out back to a small parking lot surrounded by a brick wall topped with razor wire with a padlocked gate.
The salesman sat behind the wheel and invited us to get in the car. Josie and I, naive as we were, willingly got in the car. Our driver Kostya, who was helping us with the purchase, sensed that something was wrong and at first declined to join us. After much urging, he sat in the back with an expression of foreboding on his face. The salesman fired up the engine and I waited for someone to come open the gate. That someone never came. Instead, the salesman gunned the engine and we careened across the parking lot headed straight for the brick wall. As we closed in on what we all thought was certain death, the salesman locked up the brakes and we screeched to a halt. Then the jammed the car into reverse and proceeded to repeat the exercise going backwards. All this time he was expounding on the merits of the car ("great engine. . . really good brakes, see?). After 4 or 5 trips across the parking lot, the adventure came to an end and we got out of the car. Kostya looked pale and laughed nervously, one eye twitching slightly.
The Payment
We arranged to buy the car. The dealership wanted us to pay for the car in cash ($15,000). After much negotiation, they agreed to a wire transfer. But the wire transfer would need to be broken into two payments and sent to an account in Seychelles (small island off the coast of Africa). Don't worry, they said, this is how all car purchases are made in Russia. [Note--we have a friend who bought a Lexus for $70,000 in cash and had an armed guard accompany him from the bank to the car dealership]. In 2005 we purchased another car from the same dealership and the process was much simpler and cleaner. They explained that tax enforcement had become much stronger and they have increased the transparency of their payment system.
Insurance
We now had come to the end of a 6-week process and had bought a car. The only remaining task was to buy insurance through a broker sitting at a desk inside the dealership. Too risky to drive the car off the lot without insurance. This seemed to be deceivingly simple. We completed a lot of paperwork. Then the broker gave us a quote based on how long each of us had been driving (Josie, Kostya and myself). Kostya had been driving only 5 years, so the rate was based on his driving experience as he had been driving the least amount of time. When the rate was figured and agreed, we produced our drivers licenses. The broker frowned and said that according to Josie's license, she had only been driving one year (she had just renewed her Illinois license). We explained the US system and assured her that Josie had been driving since she was 16. No luck. The broker explained that if we had no way of proving that, then the rate would be the "new driver" rate as if Josie had just started driving the previous year. Something in us snapped. The scene turned ugly as we did everything we could to try to convince the broker that their position was ridiculous. No amount of yelling, crying, or appealing to reason or fairness would sway her. This might seem like small setback, but it was the closest we have come in 6 years to packing our bags and leaving Russia. [Note--in Russia documents are everything--passports, visas, registrations, migration cards, etc. If your documents are in order, you can sleep peacefully. Without the right document, you are in for a lot of grief.] We finally bit the bullet and paid the extra money for the insurance. We drove home wondering what had ever possessed us to move to this country.
[Note--our two other car buying experiences went much more smoothly. We bought another car from a dealership after our Carisma was destroyed in an accident and then bought a minivan from another expat. Both times the payment and the insurance went quite smoothly.]
Registration
Each of the cars we drive has been officially registered in Kostya's name. We drive the cars under a power of attorney. Having the car registered in the name of a Russian eliminates some of the headaches of owning the car as a foreigner. For example, when we first arrived foreign-owned cars had yellow license plates. We considered this to be a measure to help the police decide which cars to stop for document checks (i.e. bribe extraction). The yellow license plates have since been discontinued. But foreigners are required to re-register their cars more frequently than Russians and some registration procedures require the actual owner to wait in long lines. So we opted for the "find a trusted friend" route.
Driving today
Kostya worked for us until 2005, driving Josie and our kids around in our car. We no longer have a driver for Josie and the kids; Josie drives herself and the kids take a bus to school. Jeff has a driver provided by his work. Moscow can be daunting at first--people driving on the shoulder of the road, people driving on the sidewalk, creating 5 lanes where there should be 3 etc. But after some time you get used to it and driving here is well within the reach of any expat.
We arrived in Moscow in September 2002. We soon realized that, although the metro was convenient and cheap, we needed a car to get our kids to school and to accomplish weekly essentials such as shopping and church. We hired a driver who started driving his own car. The driver, Kostya, turned out to be a good find (friendly, reliable, still a good friend to this day). However his Russian model car smelled strongly of gasoline, had no way to filter the outside air and seemed to break down at inconvenient times and in inconvenient places. One morning the car broke down on the middle of Leningradsky Prospect, one of Moscow's main roads. Kostya had to abandon the car in the middle of the road and flagged a cab to get the kids to school. So after some hand-wringing, we set out on our first real adventure--to buy a car. Little did we know what awaited us.
Odometers
After canvassing the Russian used car markets, we came to believe that Russian used car salesmen make US used car salesmen look like boy scouts. We checked the histories of several US model used cars online (CarFax and similar services) to compare mileage and check for accidents. Without exception the odomoters had all been turned back so that the odomoter reading was 50-100% less than actual mileage. At one market Josie confronted a salesman after he admitted the odomoter reading may be a bit understated, asking him how he could justify such blatant dishonesty. He said "You know, this is Russia and people here like to believe that things are better than they really are. So actually we are doing people a favor."
The Test Drive
We realized that we did not have the risk tolerance to buy a used car in Moscow and proceeded to look for a new car. At a Rolf dealership we fell in love with a Mitsubishi Carisma (OK, it was the cheapest Japanese-made car we could find in Moscow). The salesman asked if we wanted to take a test drive. We agreed, but were frankly a bit confused as to where and how the test drive would work. The car dealership was located on one of Moscow's busiest streets and rush hour traffic was bumper-to-bumper. The salesman took us out back to a small parking lot surrounded by a brick wall topped with razor wire with a padlocked gate.
The salesman sat behind the wheel and invited us to get in the car. Josie and I, naive as we were, willingly got in the car. Our driver Kostya, who was helping us with the purchase, sensed that something was wrong and at first declined to join us. After much urging, he sat in the back with an expression of foreboding on his face. The salesman fired up the engine and I waited for someone to come open the gate. That someone never came. Instead, the salesman gunned the engine and we careened across the parking lot headed straight for the brick wall. As we closed in on what we all thought was certain death, the salesman locked up the brakes and we screeched to a halt. Then the jammed the car into reverse and proceeded to repeat the exercise going backwards. All this time he was expounding on the merits of the car ("great engine. . . really good brakes, see?). After 4 or 5 trips across the parking lot, the adventure came to an end and we got out of the car. Kostya looked pale and laughed nervously, one eye twitching slightly.
The Payment
We arranged to buy the car. The dealership wanted us to pay for the car in cash ($15,000). After much negotiation, they agreed to a wire transfer. But the wire transfer would need to be broken into two payments and sent to an account in Seychelles (small island off the coast of Africa). Don't worry, they said, this is how all car purchases are made in Russia. [Note--we have a friend who bought a Lexus for $70,000 in cash and had an armed guard accompany him from the bank to the car dealership]. In 2005 we purchased another car from the same dealership and the process was much simpler and cleaner. They explained that tax enforcement had become much stronger and they have increased the transparency of their payment system.
Insurance
We now had come to the end of a 6-week process and had bought a car. The only remaining task was to buy insurance through a broker sitting at a desk inside the dealership. Too risky to drive the car off the lot without insurance. This seemed to be deceivingly simple. We completed a lot of paperwork. Then the broker gave us a quote based on how long each of us had been driving (Josie, Kostya and myself). Kostya had been driving only 5 years, so the rate was based on his driving experience as he had been driving the least amount of time. When the rate was figured and agreed, we produced our drivers licenses. The broker frowned and said that according to Josie's license, she had only been driving one year (she had just renewed her Illinois license). We explained the US system and assured her that Josie had been driving since she was 16. No luck. The broker explained that if we had no way of proving that, then the rate would be the "new driver" rate as if Josie had just started driving the previous year. Something in us snapped. The scene turned ugly as we did everything we could to try to convince the broker that their position was ridiculous. No amount of yelling, crying, or appealing to reason or fairness would sway her. This might seem like small setback, but it was the closest we have come in 6 years to packing our bags and leaving Russia. [Note--in Russia documents are everything--passports, visas, registrations, migration cards, etc. If your documents are in order, you can sleep peacefully. Without the right document, you are in for a lot of grief.] We finally bit the bullet and paid the extra money for the insurance. We drove home wondering what had ever possessed us to move to this country.
[Note--our two other car buying experiences went much more smoothly. We bought another car from a dealership after our Carisma was destroyed in an accident and then bought a minivan from another expat. Both times the payment and the insurance went quite smoothly.]
Registration
Each of the cars we drive has been officially registered in Kostya's name. We drive the cars under a power of attorney. Having the car registered in the name of a Russian eliminates some of the headaches of owning the car as a foreigner. For example, when we first arrived foreign-owned cars had yellow license plates. We considered this to be a measure to help the police decide which cars to stop for document checks (i.e. bribe extraction). The yellow license plates have since been discontinued. But foreigners are required to re-register their cars more frequently than Russians and some registration procedures require the actual owner to wait in long lines. So we opted for the "find a trusted friend" route.
Driving today
Kostya worked for us until 2005, driving Josie and our kids around in our car. We no longer have a driver for Josie and the kids; Josie drives herself and the kids take a bus to school. Jeff has a driver provided by his work. Moscow can be daunting at first--people driving on the shoulder of the road, people driving on the sidewalk, creating 5 lanes where there should be 3 etc. But after some time you get used to it and driving here is well within the reach of any expat.
Josie's Letter to Aspiring Expats
This is a sample letter that Josie has written several times to people who are considering moving to Moscow. It addresses many of the typical questions of families with young children. [Note: the letter references "LDS" and "branch" because we are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (see www.mormon.org) and most of these letters were written to members of our church who found us through friends. LDS stands for Latter-day Saints and branch is the name for an LDS congregation in Russia.]
Hi Bill and Sue,
I'm happy to answer any questions you have about life in Moscow. We've been here for almost 6 years now and have a 14 yr old, 10 yr old, 6 yr old and 15 month old. The first question most people ask is if I had the baby in Russia--no. I went to the states. It's not an easy way to do it, especially if you have older children. We've known one expat who delivered here and she had a great experience. Others have gone to the states, Finland and Germany. Our main reason for leaving was that if there were a problem we would really want to be able to understand what was going on. We both speak quite a bit of Russian, but not any medical terminology.
Schools
We've used Russian preschools and the Anglo American School of Moscow. We've really liked both. AAS is expensive so hopefully your company would pay tuition there. There is also a British school that some members of the branch have sent their children to (in my opinion, not a good school and it is equal to AAS in cost) and there is a new International School that I don't know much about. I believe this year was it's first year and that it also runs on a British system. AAS has a long waiting list--especially the elementary school. Unless your company has a prepaid seat (and therefore a spot is certain) I would get on the waiting list asap for your older child. AAS goes from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade. Their website is here (http://www.aas.ru/) The Russian preschool we've used also has a website here (http://www.cvr-mitino.ru/). We LOVE it there and plan to have our 15 month old start "mom and me" classes this fall. They were fantastic to work with our daughter and we have referred 3 friends there who've loved it as well. We currently have one home-schooling family in the branch but in the past have had others.
Housing
There are two popular housing complexes, several newer, smaller ones, and of course, city living. We lived in the center for two years, moved a bit closer to the school for one year although still lived in the city in an apartment, and for the past three school years have lived in Rosinka (http://rosinka.ru/). The other popular housing complex, Pokrovsky Hills, is right next door to AAS (http://www.hines.com/property/detail.aspx?id=228) and a lot of people live there just for that. They are both also extremely expensive and generally speaking, people live there only if their company will pay. They each have long waiting lists as well, so if you think either would be an option you should get on the lists now. My opinion on housing--we loved living in the city and would still be there if we didn't have small children. They couldn't go outside and play without me and they didn't have any friends in the neighborhood because they didn't go to the neighborhood schools.
As far as choosing between Pokrovsky Hills and Rosinka--they each have good points. The main thing Pokrovsky has going for it is that it is close to the school and closer to the center. The rent there is more expensive and the homes, generally speaking are smaller. They do have some larger homes there and Rosinka has some smaller homes. Pokrovsky residents are allowed to use the gym equipment and pool at the school at certain times during the day/evening. It is basically townhomes, set in a circle around one main common area. Rosinka is more spread out, has three parks, it's own restaurant, pool, gym with indoor and outdoor tennis, classes for children and adults, but is a drive to school and further to the center for work too. They both have buses to the nearest metro stop and Rosinka has a bus to AAS. There are currently 14 LDS families in Rosinka (including church employees, mission president and area presidency), and 5-6 LDS families in Pokrovsky. US Embassy families live in both places. Our branch also currently has about 6 couples with and without young children living in the city center. I believe they are very active socially with one another and we often have them here as well. If you are going to live there, I will put you in touch with some of them so you can find an apartment near them. I believe they all pay their own rent. Some of them have cars and some don't.
Driving
Many expats use drivers. We used one during the week and drove ourselves on the weekends for the first three years and then we started driving ourselves full-time. Jeff changed jobs (from a law firm to a local cell phone company) and now has a driver he uses to get to and from work. I have a van I drive unless I don't know where I'm going or there isn't good parking--then I use the driver. He is available to us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We generally do not ask him to work on Saturday or Sunday though. If you need to drive yourselves--don't worry. The church employees and US Embassy in Moscow drive themselves from day one and they all do fine. GPS systems in English can be found.
Language
Moscow is not like Europe where you can always find someone who speaks English. Most people have not learned English in school although it is required now. I took Russian lessons for three years. Jeff still takes them. The kids have had lessons at home and at school (foreign language starts in pre-k and in high school you can take two foreign languages). I would suggest using a private tutor at home.
Domestic help
Most expats employ nannies and housekeepers. It's a great way for your kids to learn Russian and gives you some extra time to do things like take Russian lessons. I think the hourly rate is around $5-6 for either one. We pay by the week rather than by the hour and are definitely above market for the hours worked. We pay 5500 rubles per week.Social outlets--Pokrovsky and Rosinka are both very social places. Rosinka organizes get togethers for it's residents in a variety of ways. Honestly, we don't participate much because we are so involved at church, school and with our family. The American Women's Organization also is very active and there are lots of interest groups to attend there. Our children also play youth soccer in the fall, basketball in the winter, and baseball/tball in the spring. Their leagues are very international and include some Russians. Many of the children from both the British school and AAS play in the leagues.Church--the branch in Moscow is awesome. Everyone is very supportive of each other and helpful.
Expat package
For someone new to moving to Moscow with a family, I would suggest that you are certain your "expat package" includes salary (+ Cost of living adjustment-about 20% higher than NY is what our law firm used to give), housing (no less than $10K per month--although housing in the city can be found for less still I believe--our rent is currently $15K/month), school tuition from at least kindergarten and up, driver or allowance for a driver, all visa support including airfare and accomodations to travel for the visa, and many have some sort of travel allowance whether it is called R&R, home leave or just an amount of money to be used for travel however you would prefer. Not everyone has all of these things, but they make life much, much easier and your longevity here will be greater if you have this support.
Any other questions you have, just let me know. I'm happy to help and can give you some other names if you would like a different point of view. Good luck and I hope to see you in Moscow sometime!
Josie
Hi Bill and Sue,
I'm happy to answer any questions you have about life in Moscow. We've been here for almost 6 years now and have a 14 yr old, 10 yr old, 6 yr old and 15 month old. The first question most people ask is if I had the baby in Russia--no. I went to the states. It's not an easy way to do it, especially if you have older children. We've known one expat who delivered here and she had a great experience. Others have gone to the states, Finland and Germany. Our main reason for leaving was that if there were a problem we would really want to be able to understand what was going on. We both speak quite a bit of Russian, but not any medical terminology.
Schools
We've used Russian preschools and the Anglo American School of Moscow. We've really liked both. AAS is expensive so hopefully your company would pay tuition there. There is also a British school that some members of the branch have sent their children to (in my opinion, not a good school and it is equal to AAS in cost) and there is a new International School that I don't know much about. I believe this year was it's first year and that it also runs on a British system. AAS has a long waiting list--especially the elementary school. Unless your company has a prepaid seat (and therefore a spot is certain) I would get on the waiting list asap for your older child. AAS goes from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade. Their website is here (http://www.aas.ru/) The Russian preschool we've used also has a website here (http://www.cvr-mitino.ru/). We LOVE it there and plan to have our 15 month old start "mom and me" classes this fall. They were fantastic to work with our daughter and we have referred 3 friends there who've loved it as well. We currently have one home-schooling family in the branch but in the past have had others.
Housing
There are two popular housing complexes, several newer, smaller ones, and of course, city living. We lived in the center for two years, moved a bit closer to the school for one year although still lived in the city in an apartment, and for the past three school years have lived in Rosinka (http://rosinka.ru/). The other popular housing complex, Pokrovsky Hills, is right next door to AAS (http://www.hines.com/property/detail.aspx?id=228) and a lot of people live there just for that. They are both also extremely expensive and generally speaking, people live there only if their company will pay. They each have long waiting lists as well, so if you think either would be an option you should get on the lists now. My opinion on housing--we loved living in the city and would still be there if we didn't have small children. They couldn't go outside and play without me and they didn't have any friends in the neighborhood because they didn't go to the neighborhood schools.
As far as choosing between Pokrovsky Hills and Rosinka--they each have good points. The main thing Pokrovsky has going for it is that it is close to the school and closer to the center. The rent there is more expensive and the homes, generally speaking are smaller. They do have some larger homes there and Rosinka has some smaller homes. Pokrovsky residents are allowed to use the gym equipment and pool at the school at certain times during the day/evening. It is basically townhomes, set in a circle around one main common area. Rosinka is more spread out, has three parks, it's own restaurant, pool, gym with indoor and outdoor tennis, classes for children and adults, but is a drive to school and further to the center for work too. They both have buses to the nearest metro stop and Rosinka has a bus to AAS. There are currently 14 LDS families in Rosinka (including church employees, mission president and area presidency), and 5-6 LDS families in Pokrovsky. US Embassy families live in both places. Our branch also currently has about 6 couples with and without young children living in the city center. I believe they are very active socially with one another and we often have them here as well. If you are going to live there, I will put you in touch with some of them so you can find an apartment near them. I believe they all pay their own rent. Some of them have cars and some don't.
Driving
Many expats use drivers. We used one during the week and drove ourselves on the weekends for the first three years and then we started driving ourselves full-time. Jeff changed jobs (from a law firm to a local cell phone company) and now has a driver he uses to get to and from work. I have a van I drive unless I don't know where I'm going or there isn't good parking--then I use the driver. He is available to us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We generally do not ask him to work on Saturday or Sunday though. If you need to drive yourselves--don't worry. The church employees and US Embassy in Moscow drive themselves from day one and they all do fine. GPS systems in English can be found.
Language
Moscow is not like Europe where you can always find someone who speaks English. Most people have not learned English in school although it is required now. I took Russian lessons for three years. Jeff still takes them. The kids have had lessons at home and at school (foreign language starts in pre-k and in high school you can take two foreign languages). I would suggest using a private tutor at home.
Domestic help
Most expats employ nannies and housekeepers. It's a great way for your kids to learn Russian and gives you some extra time to do things like take Russian lessons. I think the hourly rate is around $5-6 for either one. We pay by the week rather than by the hour and are definitely above market for the hours worked. We pay 5500 rubles per week.Social outlets--Pokrovsky and Rosinka are both very social places. Rosinka organizes get togethers for it's residents in a variety of ways. Honestly, we don't participate much because we are so involved at church, school and with our family. The American Women's Organization also is very active and there are lots of interest groups to attend there. Our children also play youth soccer in the fall, basketball in the winter, and baseball/tball in the spring. Their leagues are very international and include some Russians. Many of the children from both the British school and AAS play in the leagues.Church--the branch in Moscow is awesome. Everyone is very supportive of each other and helpful.
Expat package
For someone new to moving to Moscow with a family, I would suggest that you are certain your "expat package" includes salary (+ Cost of living adjustment-about 20% higher than NY is what our law firm used to give), housing (no less than $10K per month--although housing in the city can be found for less still I believe--our rent is currently $15K/month), school tuition from at least kindergarten and up, driver or allowance for a driver, all visa support including airfare and accomodations to travel for the visa, and many have some sort of travel allowance whether it is called R&R, home leave or just an amount of money to be used for travel however you would prefer. Not everyone has all of these things, but they make life much, much easier and your longevity here will be greater if you have this support.
Any other questions you have, just let me know. I'm happy to help and can give you some other names if you would like a different point of view. Good luck and I hope to see you in Moscow sometime!
Josie
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