I don't go shopping.
I don't go to the Bolshoi Theater and I don't buy caviar.
I don't travel within Russia and the former republics of the Soviet Union-- except on business.
I don't rent a dacha and I don't go to sanatoriums.
I don't play golf and I don't play tennis in the winter.
I don't buy clothes, household goods, hardware, software, cars, compact discs, consumer electronics and dental care in Russia.
I wasn't always such a non-consumer of Moscow goods and services. I used to feel an obligation to try out every new store, club and restaurant. But that is ancient history.
For the Western consumer, Moscow has become a nightmarish place, where there is no value for your money.
A certain nightclub wants me to pay a $40 cover charge for the privilege of paying $4 for a beer. A certain new baby supplies store in town was charging over $200 for a playpen that I could buy for $70 in the United States.
We Moscowvillians don't have to take this -- at least not without a fight. I don't even read The Moscow Times' shopping page OR its restaurant reviews anymore.
Why should I? For my new lifestyle, it is superfluous information.
Here is a picture of my new anti-consumer lifestyle:
I eat my meals at home or at the American Embassy -- which is U.S. soil. I rent movies and watch television at home rather than going dancing.
I no longer indulge my love of caviar and, okay I admit it, even in the days when I used to frequent the Bolshoi Theater, I rarely found my seat after intermission.
When I travel, I go abroad where I can get a hamburger for under $4 -- and I don't have to pay extra for the smile. A dacha? The last thing I need is ANOTHER landlord who believes a leasing agreement has as much enforceability as a child's promise to cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die.
I put my golf clubs into storage. I think this has probably helped my blood pressure. These days, I am so busy I barely make it onto the tennis courts even in the summer.
The playpen I will buy when I am abroad.
Though everything is now available in Moscow, I probably carry more goods into the country now than I ever did. Inevitably, I am returning to Moscow with two cardboard boxes, 62 pounds each, filled with cases of baby formula, computer accessories, music, film and those little hooks for hanging pictures.
Oddly, paying a $120 excess baggage charge is often STILL a value over buying the same goods in overpriced Russia.
I get my teeth cleaned at my dentist in the United States.
This is my own private rebellion. Fortunately, it costs me little.
Because dinners out and night clubs are not what brought me to Moscow in the first place -- and it is not what keeps me here.
Besides, Moscow is still a place where you can get two daily newspapers for free.
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Remind me later.