Sound: "Burning Down the House" by the Talking Heads
The first thing that struck me when I arrived in Moscow was how pushy people are. The second thing was the crazy driving, and the third thing was the smell.
One of my classmates described that unique Moscow scent as "the eighties." As in, Reagan-era, economic boom, Dynasty, my Mom's terrible perm, 1980s. I think this arises from two factors: cigarette smoke and chemical cleaners.
In Moscow, almost everyone smokes. And they smoke almost everywhere. You can smoke inside buildings - though this is usually relegated to building lobbies and hallways. You cannot smoke inside your dorm room, a classroom, or an actual theater house. You can smoke in restaurants, but, thankfully, not in the MXAT cafeteria. The prevalence of smoking is, for me, shocking. I grew up in a part of California where people sometimes sue their neighbors over smoking. I rarely saw people smoke in real life - and when they did, they were "rebellious" high school kids, or miscreants. When I moved to the East Coast, I saw more people smoking, but they were definitely still a minority. Now, suddenly, I'm seeing smoking at levels only previously seen in a pre-Pierce Brosnan-era James Bond film. It's inescapable. And, of course, along with a marked lack of smoking, I grew up with an intense fear of second-hand smoke, so now I walk the streets of Moscow terrified of developing emphysema.
As far as the second reason Moscow smells like the eighties, I don't actually have proof that the chemical cleaners here are from that decade of glitz and greed, but based on other aspects of this city - the decor, the infrastructure, men's hairstyles (hey, mullet!) - they probably are.
Oh, and if you were wondering why (or even noticed that) I've been playing the Talking Heads so much, it's because I've decided that if Moscow's going to smell like the eighties, it might as well sound like it, too.
The first thing that struck me when I arrived in Moscow was how pushy people are. The second thing was the crazy driving, and the third thing was the smell.
One of my classmates described that unique Moscow scent as "the eighties." As in, Reagan-era, economic boom, Dynasty, my Mom's terrible perm, 1980s. I think this arises from two factors: cigarette smoke and chemical cleaners.
In Moscow, almost everyone smokes. And they smoke almost everywhere. You can smoke inside buildings - though this is usually relegated to building lobbies and hallways. You cannot smoke inside your dorm room, a classroom, or an actual theater house. You can smoke in restaurants, but, thankfully, not in the MXAT cafeteria. The prevalence of smoking is, for me, shocking. I grew up in a part of California where people sometimes sue their neighbors over smoking. I rarely saw people smoke in real life - and when they did, they were "rebellious" high school kids, or miscreants. When I moved to the East Coast, I saw more people smoking, but they were definitely still a minority. Now, suddenly, I'm seeing smoking at levels only previously seen in a pre-Pierce Brosnan-era James Bond film. It's inescapable. And, of course, along with a marked lack of smoking, I grew up with an intense fear of second-hand smoke, so now I walk the streets of Moscow terrified of developing emphysema.
As far as the second reason Moscow smells like the eighties, I don't actually have proof that the chemical cleaners here are from that decade of glitz and greed, but based on other aspects of this city - the decor, the infrastructure, men's hairstyles (hey, mullet!) - they probably are.
Oh, and if you were wondering why (or even noticed that) I've been playing the Talking Heads so much, it's because I've decided that if Moscow's going to smell like the eighties, it might as well sound like it, too.
When I was in Israel (84-85) It smelled like the 60s.
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