I'm sure most of it has to do with being American and believing in something we call "customer service" among other things...but some days are very hard here b/c things never happen as "simply" as you expect them. Take for example trying to register Chuck when he arrived here in the city. Typically we would go with the friend of ours who was going to register him to the UFMS office, fill out some paperwork, they would stamp a little piece of paper inside his passport and send him on his way. Nope. When JB took Chuck to get registered they found out, to every one's surprise that things had changed recently (no notice posted on the door or anything published anywhere...) and in order to register they'd need to go to a different building clear across the city. Okay. An hour car ride later the building can't be found... No one seems to know where it's located! After searching and searching our friend called her friend and had her look up the building online- turns out the lady at the UFMS office gave the wrong address- the building is actually right near our house! So... after find the correct building we find out that our friend can't register Chuck b/c she rents and doesn't own her own apt- so that would require her landlady coming into the city to register him. Hmmm... now what?! So, we called another friend who owns her own apt and she came and registered him the next day. It's amazing how simple it was when we registered a visitor last time...but since everything changed before Chuck's visit- it was such a headache! What JB thought would be an hour ended up taking nearly all day- and didn't actually get completed till the next day! But, at least we'll know for next time...providing things don't change again :)
Then, today... Several weeks ago we rented an apartment for our teammates that are returning. The contract began on the 1st of August, even though they weren't scheduled to arrive until the 14th (originally, though now we're hoping to see them the 22nd or 23rd- thanks for visa processing being slower than we expected, anyway)... so, a few ladies and I went over this morning to clean the apartment so that we could pick up their things that are being stored and move them in tomorrow. I put the key in the door and it wasn't working. I couldn't get the key to fit into the keyhole. When I look into the hole I see that there is another key already in the hole from the inside. Hmm. So, we knock on the door. Who could possibly be inside since we rented the apartment 2 weeks ago, and we have the keys?! No answer. So, I ring the doorbell several times. Over the domophone we hear a voice wanting to know who WE are?! I told her I'm the person who rented this apartment and then asked who SHE was. No answer. Then she says that the apartment is not ours until the 15th of the month! And we go back and forth for a few moments through the intercom about how OUR contract starts on the 1st and why was she living here? After getting no good response, we pack up all our cleaning supplies and head back to the car to call the realtor to make sure our contract really began on the 1st. Sure enough it does- and she offered to call the landlady to find out who she gave another set of keys to. Never did find out exactly who was living there, but were reassured that she'd be out by tomorrow and the place would be all ours! HUH? My two friends couldn't understand why I was so irritated...eventually they just looked at me and said, "Iris, this IS Russia..." I should know by now that things like this happen everyday, but sometimes it still shocks me! In the end my friends figured that she knew our teammates wouldn't be moving in just yet and 'rented' it to a friend of hers for 2 weeks to make a bit of extra cash. Wow. So...back tomorrow to try and clean the apartment!
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