Monica! Monica!

When we visited Russia, we stayed with friends who had previously visited their friends in Belgium. Now, they didn't learn any Belgium during the visit except for one word, "Monica!" It's not a name, it's not a place. It's what their friends said when someone drove crazily. When someone was driving extrememly fast they would just shout out, "Monica! Monica!" They had no idea what it meant, but they found that after they had returned home they also began to say it when they drove. So when they my grandmother and I were passengers with them, we would hear this word many times in one trip.

In Russia, there are many car accidents because the driving rules are not as strict as America, let's say. Also, young drivers in Russia do not like to obey the existing rules very closely. Some people may just stop in the middle of the street, or sometimes may speed down the street in a rush of energy. Many drive drunk, not knowing the consequences. In any matter, drivers in Russia are pure crazies. Here's a video to show you one place where driving can get particularly wild.



Not only are there speedy drivers, but there are also lots of traffic jams in Russia, especially in the biggest cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg. When we were there we stayed in the town of Pushkin, which is very close to St. Petersburg, and for the past several years there have been many projects to try and eliminate the traffic jams by building freeways and such. Just several months ago they finished the highway that made a circle around Petersburg, connecting all of the cities around it. Lately, they have been working on a highway connecting just Pushkin to St. Petersburg. Although there has been lots and lots of construction, it is in my opinion that it has done hardly nothing for all of the traffic jams. Now, there are just a lot of people on the highways. Even though there aren't as many people driving on the smaller streets, the highway is still quicker despite the traffic jams. And as a result of all of the traffic jams, people drive even more insanely to try and get around them. Monica, monica!

To those who are planning to go to Russia, I would just like to say that you should probably expect some psychotic drivers and some traffic jams. Driving in Russia is so much mroe intense than it is in America, and it's basically a free-for-all, in which nearly all rules are allowed. Vladimir, the man we stayed with, however, says it is a great deal easier to drive here than in America with all of the arbitrary rules in America. He says that in Russia, driving is very safe as long as everyone is sane. However, everyone is not sane when the drive in Russia.