Making friends in Moscow

After seven months of planning, learning a bit of the language and becoming somewhat culturally savvy, 14 Friendship Force members, myself included, arrived in Moscow to stay for one week with Russian host families.

We landed in a brand-new world of more than 15 million people, with speeding underground trains connecting acres of public squares, metro stations as resplendent as art galleries, spectacular palaces, enormous apartment buildings and pigeon-swept monuments.

This May ’08 Friendship Force exchange was not a tour but a chance to make friends with people across cultural barriers and to see how real Russians eat, work, play and shop. Our group included 12 people from the greater Des Moines, Iowa, area plus one each from Texas and Washington.

First impressions

Moscow is mammoth. Its sprawling population includes immigrants from the former Soviet republics who flock to the city looking for work. The street traffic was unbelievable, with eight lanes of traffic trying to squeeze into six. Cars are now within the financial reach of average Muscovites, who are responding enthusiastically.

Many building exteriors look rundown, as the state owns them all and typically refuses permission to repair.

However, the ancient capital boasts many parks with bright, blooming flowers plus playground equipment and sandboxes for children.

The people, themselves, appeared sad and somber until we got to know them. An estimated 10 million Russians ride the metro every day and, for the most part, they ride expressionless, rarely talking. However, once you meet them, I found, they are warm and welcoming.

Because most of our meals were provided by our host families, as were our accommodations, we were able to avoid the high cost of living in Moscow.

Each of us tried to take our hosts out for dinner, which was difficult because the hospitable Muscovites wanted to provide everything. One group member managed a pizza for her host; another bought some fancy desserts and coffee, and a third treated her family to dinner at a local chain buffet restaurant called Moo-Moo, where three adults and a child ate quite well for 1,100 rubles, about $30.

Seeing the sights

We visited Red Square and the breathtaking St. Basil’s Cathedral, with its eight multicolored onion-shaped domes, and strolled around the 68-acre grounds of the Kremlin. We also attended an evening Bolshoi Ballet performance of “Sleeping Beauty” in the glittering Kremlin Palace.

Our traveling troupe danced and sang through a fantastic welcome party at a knockout country residence located in an area of million-dollar homes. Tables had been set up in the large garage in case of rain, but the day turned sunny and warm.

Our hosts, members of the Moscow Friendship Force club, grilled shashlik, spicy barbecued pork and beef that was eaten with soft lahvosh flatbread and accompanied by a variety of fresh spring vegetables. Vodka, too!

A brilliant guide whisked us through the Tretyakov Art Gallery, a treasure trove of icons and sculpture. Later that day we toured an impressive grade school which boasted an indoor winter garden and a small WWII museum, where one of our members, a war veteran, received from the teacher and students the black-and-orange Order of St. George ribbon for his service.

Some free time

Each of us spent the better part of two days free with our families in Moscow. Some attended Victory Day celebrations, memorializing the deaths of 30 million Russians during WWII. Besides parades and fireworks, there were many bands playing, and men wearing their old military uniforms danced with women dressed in the fashions of the ’40s.

Others went shopping at the trendy GUM department store, one person spent the weekend at the family’s dacha and another attended the legendary Moscow Circus.

Most of all, we loved meeting the Russian people, staying in their homes and apartments, sharing meals at their tables, discussing world concerns and doing our best with the language. The subjects of both Putin and Bush came up for spirited discussion.

On the final day of our visit, we took part in a “round table discussion,” expressing our impressions of Moscow and how to encourage the youth of our countries to become involved in Friendship Force. As one Russian said to me, “The young people are most affected by propaganda against the US. Getting to know teens and families overseas will make the difference.”

About Friendship Force

Friendship Force is an international organization headquartered in Atlanta, with about 350 clubs around the world. The Des Moines club is one of its most active and has organized more than 100 foreign exchanges in its 31-year history.

In order to go on a Friendship Force exchange, the traveler needs to be a member of a club. The membership fee of our FF club is $30 per year — not burdensome.

Travelers may look on the FF website (www.thefriendshipforce.org) for news of upcoming trips sponsored by clubs worldwide. Usually, these are open to applications from potential new members.

For this Moscow exchange, I was selected to be the director. As exchange directors face weeks of work to coordinate all of the trip details, my club agreed to cover my airfare ($1,575), which was split between the other tour members.

The price of the tour was based on actual costs. Each member paid about $3,332, which included a 5-day visit to St. Petersburg following our stay in Moscow.

For more information, contact me, Kathie Swift c/o ITN.