Don't Forget to Take Your Shoes Off Before You Come In

While I love traveling and sharing my experiences with you it is sometimes difficult to find the time and the internet to be able to post to my Blog. I do keep notes on my travels for topics that I want to write about. When I find the time (such as now for example) I type up stuff just for you.

I very much enjoy the city of Moscow and the people that I have the opportunity to meet there. Some things strike me as odd in the way they deal with dirt. It is almost an obsession that as you enter a building or home you should remove your shoes and put on your spare shoes (you know the second pair that we all carry with us right). Last year I was puzzled by this behavior but I followed suit because as they say, when in Rome… This year I was able to better understand a little more about this obsession.

It is difficult to describe the level and consistence of the black silt that is pervasive in the city. When you get a fresh snow as is often the case while we are there this silt is not as evident however, when the temperature rises, the snow melts and you can imagine the results. The origin of this is not clear to me but I do have some ideas. The city of Moscow has about 9 million permanent residents. On any given day the city is actually host to about 18 million people. This is because of a multitude of reasons. Moscow is the home of many national services that must be transacted in person and theses services are unique to the city of Moscow in all of Russia. Of course tourism makes up a great deal of this extra population, I am sorry to say I am a contributor to this number as well. That many people in one place can create a lot of refuse. I imagine that trying to keep up with such refuse production is a daunting task.
In addition to the population density there is also the problem of increased automobile use. A friend of mine let me know that the use of cars has increased substantially in just his life time. He had even noticed a dramatic increase in the last four years alone. All of these vehicles can create a lot of silt and dust to be left for the city to collect.

A final note is a personal experience I had at McDonald’s. We had just finished a snack and I was going to get a refill of my drink. I of course did not expect to get free refills and I had my money ready when I approached the counter. I removed the lid from my cup and explained in broken Russian that AI wanted to refill my drink. The man behind the counter, while friendly, was adamant that he would not reuse my cup. The exchange was very quick but the message was clear, if I wanted a refill it required a new cup. This may be health code of some other reason but the idea is exemplary in the refuse problem. Trash receptacles are few and far between so if you happen to have trash the easiest solution is to just drop it where you are standing. This seems to work out well because with 18 million people there, the trash is quickly trampled to a dust to be added to the rest of the silt.
This all leads us back to the shoes. When the snow melts and the silt mixes it creates a special black mud that sticks to and dies everything it touches. I have a pair of pants this trip that may never recover from the ordeal. With all of this extra information I now better understand the need to remove your shoes as you enter a building. I think next year when I return I will bring a second set of shoes to wear inside to help reduce spreading the dust and silt throughout the places I visit.