Red-Tape Russia Strikes Again.

I arrived safely in Saratov after waiting nearly 2 months for my visa to enter Russia. However, the visa is actually a 2 step process. Now that I am here, I am required to register my visa. This is not as easy as it sounds. It's not like simply going to the office and saying, "OK I'm here"

Last year when I was here in Saratov, I made an arrangement with a private school that was in the same building where I was living. They provided me with a 1-year educational invitation so I could apply for a 1-year student visa. This was great because the normal business visas I've been using changed a couple years ago. Now, on the 1-year business visa, you can only stay for 90 days, then you must leave the country for at least 90 days before you can re-enter for another 90 days. This creates obvious problems for renting a flat and living normally. This situation with the school was mutually beneficial. When they heard that I took classes at UCSB for TESOL teacher training (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), they insisted that I teach an English class in their school.

Teaching English in that private school was interesting, and the students are really great but it certainly wasn't any kind of income. $6 an hour, 4 hours a day, 2 days a week - less than $50 a week isn't going to pay the bills, and it was not even worth my time, but the students really made the experience enjoyable, so I did it.

Anyway, last November when I reminded the school that my visa would need to be renewed in January, everything seemed fine. However, the director of the school dragged her feet, and it forced me to fly back to California to await a new visa. I booked a round-trip ticket and gave myself 3 weeks of processing time. I would leave January 28th and return February 18th. The director of the school decided until after I purchased my ticket that she would have the papers by February 24th, and my girlfriend would send the documents to me in California. Over a month to prepare the invitation, when last time it took less than a week. OK, no problem. But I had to do something about my return ticket. I calculated a generous 7 days to send the documents to me using Pony Express (similar to FedEx), 2 weeks to send my passport with the invitation to a handling company I have used several times in the past who takes them to the Russian Embassy for me, and another couple of days just to be safe. I rescheduled ($151) my return ticket to Russia on March 18th. I had to reschedule the ticket before the date I was scheduled to return so that I didn't simply lose the ticket, otherwise I would have waited until I had my documents in-hand.

February 24th comes and no documents. February 28th and there is still no invitation. In California, I am calculating the days before my flight and I see that I do not have enough time now. Those extra few days lost again made all the difference. So, now I'm stuck with the decision to reschedule my flight again (until when who knows), or to use the company I am using for my visa processing for visa support also. I decide to pay the $364 visa support + $24 FedEx fee so that I don't have to drag this out forever and wonder what's going to happen. However, this means that I can only stay for 90 days. No problem, we are planning to come back to America for Summer anyway. I will just have to leave a week or two earlier than originally planned. No problem, it works.

The last time that I was in Saratov and tried to register my visa which I had gotten through this visa support company, I had some big difficulties. Russian bureaucracy is an enigma. You need to have your passport, immigration card you got at the port of entry, any documents with your name, your boarding pass from the flight that brought you to this city, your 6th grade locker combination, and a lock of your hair certified and signed by a government approved geneticist just so you can be allowed to go stand in the next line to see the person who will tell you what you should do next so you can get done what you were told you had to do by today. And that's if you are lucky enough to get to the window during the 2 hours they are working that day, but be careful, they take a 2 hour lunch break in the middle of that 2 hour work day.

I'm not bitter, really. it was actually a little fun being Russian and politely snow plowing through the crowd of people who were apparently in-line. Lines in Russia are very different than the nice, polite line etiquette in America. In America we have personal space even when standing in a line. We leave a nice buffer in between us and the person in front of us, just-in-case they decide to pull a crazy-Ivan and spin around, flailing their arms all around or something. Who knows exactly why this buffer has become common, but it is, and any less space given makes all involved uncomfortable. In Russia, it's like Nascar. Rubbin' is racin'. If you leave enough room between you and the person in front of you for another person to fit, somebody will certainly move in there. Even if there isn't enough space, people will politely elbow and seemingly innocently end up in front of you while looking the opposite direction. I'm 6'3" (190cm) and quite big. I can play this game well, kind-of. Believe it or not, it's the little old ladies (babushkas) who play this game the best. I could never compete.

Anyway, the problems I had last time registering my visa was that the company who actually invited me was from Samara, another city entirely. The agency I used for visa support said that I would not have this problem again, they would supply me with a letter asking the local registration office to register me in Saratov. But, they needed a copy of my immigration card to write it. So, when I landed, I took a photo of my immigration card and emailed it to them. Fortunately, they prepared the letter and emailed it back in time. Since everybody must register within 3 days of entering the country, there was a time issue.

My girlfriend also needed to come with me to show all her documents and register that I would be living in her apartment. So much red-tape it's unbelievable. So by this time, I had jumped through quite a few hoops to perform for the Russian bureaucracy, with more hoops anticipated.

As we walked towards the regional immigration office, we passed some interesting things I wanted to show you about life in Russia. It is very common for people to be selling anything on the streets as you walk from place to place. Here is a vendor selling a variety of nuts and dried fruits. Amazingly, when the rain or snow starts to really come down, it doesn't effect them much.

Here are some apples for sale. The cheap ones are about $1.40 a kilo (2.2 lbs). It looks like she has some parsley for sale too. These probably all came from her orchard (maybe just a few trees) in a nearby village.

The weather is not especially great right now. It's in-between the good seasons in my opinion. The snow is still around the streets but it's dirty and starting to melt. It's still cold enough it isn't going anywhere fast. As a matter of fact, just as I wrote that my girlfriend said, "Wow, it's snowing outside, such big snow". And yeah, there's big flakes coming down. I guess it will renew the coverage here. In a few days it will just be more mud I guess.

Along every street there are mobile vans and trucks where people sell just about anything out of the side or back. Here is one selling various fruits and vegetables. Prices range from about 50 cents for a small bunch of cilantro to $3.50 for a kilo (2.2 lbs) of cucumbers. The prices are actually cheap right now.

A nice truck for baked goods. They sell things like cabbage-stuffed bread rolls, jelly donuts, fruit tarts and cakes. They don't actually bake inside the truck, there's no kitchen in there like some do, but they take food from the local bakeries and resell it here.

I am always amazed how people find anything. Here is the entrance to the official government office for this region where we needed to go to start my visa registration process. There is absolutely no signs in most places we go. It is quite common for people to ask strangers on the street for directions to places nearby, and people are always polite and helpful with answers.

Being a big man, I notice things like this more often than most I guess, but when we were told to go upstairs to the main floor to find out about my visa, I laughed a little. Here is the stairs in the government office where we were. I hate to use the phrase so much, but in America, this looks like a lawsuit waiting to happen. It's more vertical than it looks in the picture. Coming down I had to walk sideways so my feet fit on each stair.

Official police car parking lot.

Walking around the city is a pleasure. It's certainly more common to walk around here than it is back in California. Around every corner can be some interesting piece of 1000 year-old architecture. This church is actually brand-new, only 6-7 years old, but created in that old-style architecture.

Near this church was another gathering of street vendors. This one is selling textiles: blankets, sheets, socks, shoes, house slippers. I am sure all of this stuff is imported from China, and then resold on the streets. This is how some people make their living. I don't know how they will survive in the future Russia where hypermarkets and shopping malls are already popping up everywhere.

Do you want some beets, apples, or onions? Looks like she only has one cabbage head left so you better hurry. I always wonder how they end up with the products they do. I mean why not sell semi-related items if you only have a limited selection. Maybe today we will sell cabbage, mayonnaise, and carrots; tomorrow will be onions, potatoes, and sour cream. Just an idea. I'm sure there's a reason behind it. I should stop and ask why one of these times. Notice they always have a scale nearby to measure out your purchase (and a heavy thumb) when you are ready.

This one never ceases to amaze me. Chunks of meat out in the open air for sale. Health inspectors would have a field day if I decided to do this on the streets in Santa Barbara. I wouldn't doubt it if a mob started picketing my table. Even animal-rights activists screaming in my face, the local news coming down for a special report, even a presidential candidate hopeful coming down to show he's tough on crime. Crime? What crime? Actually when you think about it, around here the ambient air is colder than it is in your refrigerator at home. There's not a lot of germs and bacteria that thrive in temperatures like this. Remember that delicious porterhouse steak you paid $60 for at the restaurant last week? That was dry aged, hung out in cold air, in the restaurant's refrigerator (not frozen) for at least a week. At least this stuff is fresh and I know it. This guy probably killed his cow this morning or late last night to chop it up and bring it here to sell. Admittedly, I'm still a little scared of street meat, but if I see a good piece, I'll consider it.

We continued our walk to the office where I needed to register my visa. The one we went to before of course told us we needed to be at a different office for my exact purpose. Waste disposal is important in any community. I took this picture just because I wanted to show that yes, we have garbage disposal too, but it does look different. These dumpsters usually service a few of these Russian-style apartment houses. Placement of the dumpsters is strictly for convenience of the trash truck driver who comes empty them. No consideration is given to aesthetics or even proximity to the access doors of the apartment buildings themselves. Near our flat, people sometimes simply throw their trash near a neighbor's yard to avoid the inconvenience of walking all the way to the dumpster. It makes me smile about typical neighbor arguments in America; "look what your dog did on my lawn!" None of that here, there really isn't any sort of beautification efforts that I can see.

The beauty really lies in the history around here. I really enjoy seeing a beautiful piece of architecture that it seems most locals don't even notice. This stone work must have been done by some master craftsman decades ago. I definitely appreciate his efforts today.

I wish these old buildings were maintained better. Most are in various stages of decay, and I doubt they will last much longer without attention, and who will give the attention? In any case, these are simply great. If they survive, it will be due to the incredible work by the people who built them.

When we got to the right registration office, My girlfriend had to run to another office to create a document saying that she was allowing me to stay in her flat that she knew they would ask for. Yes, another document. She left me there to do the line-dance with all the other people there trying to get to the same window as I needed. Finally we handed off all my documents, including the letter from the company asking to register me in this city, and was told I couldn't be registered. Really? I have been jumping through hoops for almost 3 months and, no?

I was told that I should be registered in the same city where the company is that invited me. That company had no office in Saratov, so I am not allowed to be registered in Saratov. The lady behind the counter said that she had been called about me exactly, the American will come soon and you should not register him. This gets a little too complicated to go into, but the lady that called, who is an important boss in the immigration service, is also a friend of the school director who was too late getting my new invitation to me. There is no other way this lady would know exactly which regional office to call. Soap opera stuff, maybe I should write something entertaining about the politics around here. Apparently, I have become more famous than is good for me.

In any case, I was given a 2 week registration, instead of the 90 days my visa is good for. So I was happy, because I didn't break the 3-day rule of getting registered. If I broke that 3 day rule a second time (a couple years ago we had issues, but that's another story) I would be immediately deported and banned from re-entering Russia for 3 years. So, two weeks, fine, at least it buys some time.

While we were waiting for the registration documents, we were approached by a guy who overheard what was going on. I won't go into detail what he said, but let's just say he let us know about some other things regarding the lady that called to block my registration. We decided to go to another office, which hierarchically is above the office where we were. It's the office that controls all the regional offices. My girlfriend called to see if we could speak to somebody with power there and found out that the big boss there rarely sees people, but as it turns out, he would see people the next day.

We decided to go meet with him and when we explained the situation, he said that he knew I was here legally and that I should be given registration for 90 days, not 2 weeks. Remember, this isn't even about having a valid visa... I have a good visa, I just need to register it. So the big boss, which is 2 bosses higher than the one who called to block my registration, said we should go see his right-hand man, and he would fix the problem. We went, everything was nice handshakes, all is good, and away we went. I would pick up my new registration documents tomorrow, because somebody else needed to prepare it and they were not in the office.

On our way home, we took one of the mini buses. It seats 10, but is fairly comfortable, and gets you there quick. 12 rubles (42 cents) gets you were you need to go.

I should mention that at the bus stop is one of these food vendors, though this is slightly different than what I've shown you before. It's an actual chicken rotisserie. They roast dozens of chickens at once, and for 170 rubles ($6.00), you can have one bagged up to take home. They also sell different sauces and lavash which is similar to tortillas but tougher, thinner, much larger, and not so tasty.

The street we walk down to get to our flat from the bus stop also has a lot of these street vendors. Some with surprisingly good deals and fresh produce.

There is also of course always somebody selling socks and other various clothing items, at rock bottom prices. It's always funny to me to see underwear laid out on a table for all to see.

Even though these kiosks and street vendors don't seem to agree with my cultural paradigm of sanitation, I just have to keep telling myself that if they were killing off customers with what they were selling, they'd go out of business, right? Most of the stuff is dried or cured somehow anyway.

Though no matter how much I convince myself it's safe, I don't think I could ever buy dead fish out of a bucket. Alive... maybe, but already dead, sorry. Is it cold fish soup already?

We did however buy some eggs from this kiosk. I am not exactly sure why the different prices - I guess it is based on size. But it seems like a strange difference in prices to be based simply on size. From 32 rubles ($1.13) up to 44 rubles ($1.56) for 10 eggs. Yeah, not 12, 10. So I guess I have to change my habit of referring to eggs by the dozen. We bought some brown eggs and continued home.

Want some pickles? This lady had some already bagged up for sale, and seemed very anxious to sell them. I don't know exactly what flavor pickles she was selling, there are so many different types here in Russia, I don't know what the normal pickle is here. I still have not found a great tasting dill pickle here, but I have some ingredients and I think I will try to make some dill refrigerator pickles soon.

One last stop at the market closest to our flat to buy some butter and a couple things for dinner then we finally got in out of the cold and relaxed.

The phone rings today, "According to the rule we can't register you for 90 days, only 2 weeks". Back to the drawing board. There's always a bigger boss somewhere. I'm checking flight options for the eventuality that I will need to go back to California a lot sooner than I had planned, and the ticket prices are not looking favorable. We have a birthday party to go to tonight so I'll have to dive into this problem more later. More to come about the Russian Red Tape and this Californian's battle through it.