Interesting, it seems that there may have been a demographic change. The expat as a social class may have largely disappeared. I don't mean the been there, done that, read the book, bought the T-shirt kind of expat like Nick Rees and others who have been around since god used to have to go to May 1 and Nov. 7 rallies.
But, the you know, the ugh... this phrase ages me, the young expat, the 25 to 35 year old. The ones who used to fill the clubs, talk loud in Coffeemania, explain to the guards at Soho that the guards are idiots for not letting them in. My impression is that this demographic has collapsed. If they are the ones who would look for a job (possibly) through the Moscow Times the laughable (on one count 85% of ads from iMedia itself) help wanted pages on Wed and Fri would seem to indicate that there are no jobs. Had an occasion to be at the, ugh... just gets worse... ophmatologist, at the American Medical Center (well... at least the building is clean, though I can't otherwise recommend it), and well... it's no longer the "American" Center (it's Medsi) and there are no expats. Asked the doctor, she said, well... there are guys your age (40+), but no, no younger ones. Why do I bring it up? Well... thoughts of Turkey Day, I distinctly remember when there was some place near 1905 Metro station, Navarro's? And well the food wasn't terribly good, but 3 years ago they needed 2 full sittings to fit everyone in, last year a couple of large tables at Correa's and it's all dynosaur expats (40+) and in a few cases, their wives. This year... a hearty handshake and sandwich? Seriously, not that I care, but it's weird to be part of a dying demographic. As Kurt Vonnegut wrote, "and so it goes". Perhaps, though, the most relevant Vonnegut quote was: Bad guys turned informer. Good guys didn't no matter when, no matter what. Not that it's relevant to anything in Russia. _______________________________________________ Expat mailing list [email protected] http://www.lists.ru/mailman/listinfo/expat http://www.expat.ru/forum/
