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I've heard Moscow is quite a metropolitan city; fashionable, snazzy and full up yuppies. Is that true? That's why I was surprised to read that they can't speak English.
In Germany every child has to learn English from the fourth grade on.
Oh yes, London is supposed to be the most expensive city in all of Europe! Lola can probably tell us more about that.
Mrs. Madness, It took me a long time before I could say I speak German fluently. And even if you do master the language, the different dialects are like another language! Russian must be very difficult. They have another alphabet too, don't they?
I'd love to hear more about living in Moscow. Are the Russians friendly to Americans?




As boomer women well know, America and Russia have had a rocky relationship throughout most of the 20th century, and Russia has spent most of it's historical existence in isolation, so no, English is a fair rarity here. There are not more than a few thousand at most, Americans in Russia. Russia is exceptional in its isolation. I've had people tell me they met more English in Africa and Asia and everywhere else than Russia.

But since we've lived here we've traveled from time to time and I'm pretty sure that when you leave the confines of western Europe and north America you've left most English behind. Even in Europe, Czech for example (where we've been) many people may speak some English but everything in print is in Czech. Newspapers, bus schedules, grocery receipts--all Czech. A very cosmopolitan place, but Czech is their language and that's what they do official printed business in.

For an American to consider living overseas on American dollars, western Europe is just totally out of the question. So for Mustang Gal to retire someplace where she can afford to live on her dollars she would have to go elsewhere. And the more elsewhere you go, the less English you find.

Health care is a problem. Western doctors in western style clinics cost more here then they do in America. This is very common around the world. Expats are presumed to be rich, rich, rich, and they pay through the nose for everything. Many countries have nationalized health care (which is a great thing) but you can't access it if you can't speak the language. Period.

We brought a king size bed with us to Moscow, where we cannot buy bedding for it nor are there washers big enough for the blankets. There are no laundromats in Russia. This has been a 4-year thorn in my side. I can't read the directions on a pack of soup mix. There is no such thing as fresh milk. Even deciphering the flavor of a can of cat food is guess work. I'm improving, but it's all still a struggle....and we're probably moving to China next year. I don't speak Chinese either.

This all would probably have been more fun 20 years ago. My sense of adventure is becoming stunted and I'm tired of all the simple yet seemingly impossible hassles. Yes, it's been a growing and learning experience, but in retrospect, if I had known then what I know now, I would have stayed put in my cute little farmhouse and grown roses and been happy.