Becoming a Diplomat

July 25 - 29, 2016

Thanks to Nathalie, I was able to find the Canadian Embassy with minimal backtracking on Monday morning. Not knowing what time folks started, I decided it was better to be a bit early than late. I arrived at the employee entrance a bit before 8:30 and presented myself and my Diplomatic Passport to the guard and was issued a temporary pass. The other newbie, Mike, and I were then taken on a busman’s tour of the main building of the Embassy (The Chancery) for a round of introductions by Philip (one of Mike’s colleagues) as the Trade folks apparently come in a bit later.

I dropped my stuff in my office and we headed to the Domik, the seat of administration for the Embassy. One of the documents in my Welcome Package was a “Round Sheet” which identified the various folks that should be consulted during the process of becoming an accredited diplomat. 

First step was to provide copies of our passports to the woman responsible for our air and sea shipments. The shipments couldn’t be authorized until we had our Diplomatic ID (aka the Dip Card) so that was the next step. We dropped off our Diplomatic Passports and were given certified copies of our Passports and Visas to carry with us in the interim. 

In addition to being necessary to send the shipments, the Dip Card is required to set up Internet, cable, etc. and allows me to receive a partial refund of the VAT (Russia’s version of the GST) on most purchases. We were told we needed photos for the Dip Card and a bunch of others for Visas as a first step. We met with a bunch more folks, gathering signatures along the way and then back to our offices to regroup. The whole process was very reminiscent of a scavenger hunt as the quest to get the various items signed off proceeded.

Back in my office, I had two nice surprises: beautiful flowers from my colleague Marina and a lunch invitation from Corinne (the colleague that had come to meet me at the airport).
 

My Office (complete with door and window)

Before heading to lunch, Corinne accompanied Mike and I to the local photo shop to have our pictures taken for the Dip Card. Apparently, it is common practice to Photoshop visa photos and the photographer here was no exception. Without being asked, he did some colour correction to remove our unsightly blemishes so we ended up with our best selves. When I chatted with a colleague from immigration later in the week, she said that the process can be very intensive resulting in a seventy year old looking closer to thirty! Lol, at least my photo wasn’t altered to that extent. 

The "improved" me - smirking instead of smiling!

We dropped Mike back at the Embassy and headed off to meet one of the other trade folks, Dan at the local Georgian restaurant Elardzhi. We were shown to a lovely outside table with two sofas for seating and a cloth ceiling so it felt a bit like dining in a tent. Sadly, I felt like it would be too gauche to take pictures so I don’t have any of the surroundings or the food to share yet. Never fear, this quaint eatery is very close to the Embassy and a favourite of the trade folks so I am sure that I will have many opportunities to eat here and will sneak some pictures next time. I have inserted urls for the various dished in case you want to try them at home.

Now for the food! Georgia is renowned for their cheese bread, Khachapuri, so we opted to share an order of that while we perused the menu. The star ingredient in khachapuri, which incidently, tastes like a really good dinner roll but looks like pizza is sulguni; a firm creamy salted cheese which is hidden inside the dough and melts in your mouth (http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/georgian-cheese-bread-242284). We all selected the same main course – Lamb Lulya (http://russianbbq.blogspot.ru/2011/07/lula-kebab.html); two ground lamb kebobs that were served on a thin sheet of unleavened bread with fresh tomatoes and cukes and tomato-prune dipping sauce. As an additional appetizer we also had Georgian Eggplant Rolls with Walnuts (http://food.ndtv.com/recipe-georgian-eggplant-with-walnuts-301936). All of this was washed down with Pomegranate and Basil Iced Tea; which may have been the star of the meal for me (http://www.de-ma-cuisine.com/pomegranate-and-purple-basil-iced-tea/). The fact that I went searching for recipes so that you and I can try and replicate this experience at home speaks for itself. The food was fantastic and was enhanced by the beautiful day,
lovely surroundings and just being in Moscow chatting my new colleagues.

After lunch, the scavenger hunt continued with discussions about finance, mail service, transportation and IT. Pretty soon it was time to head home and I tried a different route without incident. Back home, I managed to blow all the breakers in the master bedroom and fry at least one of the transformers charging my iPad as the air conditioner and table lamps were also up and running! I’ll have to be a bit more careful with how much I have going on in any one room in the future …

The week continued without any real challenges other than persistent jet lag that had me crashing much earlier than usual and waking up in the middle of the night.

On Tuesday, I walked with some colleagues to the Old Arbat, Moscow’s most famous street, to grab a sandwich. The one kilometer long Arbat in the historical centre of Moscow is a cobblestoned pedestrian street that is an eclectic mix of sidewalk cafés and souvenir stands with the odd portrait painter and soapbox poet thrown in for good measure. If you are looking for MacDonald’s or Burger King, you can find them here (though apparently they sell beer at many of the fast food chains here!). There are, of course, also local restaurants and I am sure to have a chance to try the favourites of my colleagues as it is a pretty short walk to get there from the Embassy.

The Old Arbat

Dunkin Donuts - Moscow Style

Can't get away from Starbucks either!

When you really have to go!

That afternoon, my initiation to Embassy life continued with a security briefing and by the end of the day, my computer was up and running. New transformers waited outside my SQ door and the breaker in the bedroom had been reset so I was fully powered again!

Wednesday, I decided I would go back to the Arbat and get some lunch. As luck would have it my recollection of the route was fuzzy, to say the least , so after a half hour of wandering, I made it back to the small grocery store down the street from the Embassy and picked up a sandwich and some yogurt. I am (somewhat!?) sure that my sense of direction will improve at least slightly when I am less jet-lagged but everyone knows that I am spatially-challenged at the best of times!

After I returned to my office, Queyn arrived with my Blackberry. It’s seriously like getting a little present every day. There had been an email about the mail from Ottawa having been sorted but I wasn’t expecting anything this soon so I didn’t go to check it out. Corinne popped by with my new Blue Cross Travel Insurance info and an updated assessment of my house in Ottawa that I am hoping to have on the market in September. Not too exciting but it was mail!

You may note that I am not talking about exotic dinners that’s because I am eating simply and at home. All good because even though I am getting lots of steps in and my FitBit is very happy with me, I am hoping to restart my weight loss journey soon and don’t want to find too many of the pounds that I lost this Spring in the meantime! Having lunches out every day is likely enough of a challenge there.

Thursday morning, I received word that my Dip Card was in! Wow, that was fast especially given that August is peak holiday time in Russia with many folks heading out of the city for vacations at their dachas. The card features my photo-shopped likeness and is the key to many services as I already explained. Another day … another present! I better not get too used to this …

Some colleagues were headed to the “new” Arbat for lunch and asked if I wanted to join them. The “old” Arbat (from Tuesday) has been around since at least the 15th century which makes it one of the oldest surviving streets in Moscow. The new Arbat that runs parallel to the original Arbat is a modern six-lane avenue that was constructed between 1962 and 1968. Up until 2009, novy Arbat was home to a multitude of Casinos that have since give way to shops, clubs and restaurants. They were headed to a favourite burger joint for some good ole Russian fast food so who could say no!

For me, the old Arbat is much more interesting … After an okay lunch, it was back to the office for another afternoon of familiarizing myself with my new duties and then home for a quiet night.

Friday, everyone’s favourite day of the week was finally here! What would be my present today? Surprise, surprise my Diplomatic passport with the multi-entry/exit Visa was in which means I am a now fully accredited Diplomat! I continue to be impressed by the speed and efficiency of both the Embassy staff and the Russian bureaucracy. I also received a call about delivery of my water cooler Saturday morning ensuring that there will be another “present” tomorrow!

Today, Corinne and I are meeting the agriculture attaches from the US Embassy for lunch at an Italian restaurant not too far from my SQ. Pinzeria by Bontempi is Corinne’s favourite place to get pizza in Moscow and I now know why. They make absolutely fantastic pinzas. What the hell is a pinza you may ask?

See the excerpt below from their web-site:

Pinza (from latin “Pinsere” – roll out, grind) was born long before the first pizza. It is an ancient meal very popular in Roman Empire. Roman peasants used special pastry made of ground grain (aka flour!), salt and aromatic herbs and spices and baked it on hot coals. The result
was a kind of crunchy tortilla, which was called Pinza (modern name PINSA ROMANA).

Pinza also has the special technique of cooking – Pinza’s dough is maintained for 32-72 hours to provide the necessary aging and results in a surprisingly tasty dough which is less filling and apparently much less caloric than with traditional pizza.

All that to say, the pinza had a delicate crunchy crust with a light basting of tomato sauce, generous servings of prosciutto and mushrooms and a dusting of cheese. We washed the pizza down with lemonade; I opted for the strawberry-basil; which was fantastic. Ken Green, I know where you are going to want to have dinner on your first night in Moscow!

Another afternoon reading information on the web-site and checking out options for a possible trip to Vladivostok in September and it was the weekend. On my way home, I made my daily stop at the grocery store. Having no car means you need to shop lightly which means frequent incursions.