In both Beijing and Washington DC, I lived very close to the Russian embassy. In Beijing, I literally live .2 miles from it, meaning that I am more fortunate than the rest of my fellow expats, in that when I need to quickly run to a little shop for snacks, instead of having to choose between a selection of chicken feet, dried meat jerky, fried fruit and green tea, I have a selection of caviar, dried salmon, cmyetyana and caramel/fruit tea, foods that I have come to adore since my study abroad in Russia. Most importantly, the basic expat essentials: coffee, milk, unsweetened bread ( yes, sweetened bread is the norm in China) and cheese, are the most reasonably priced in the two tiny Russian shops, as compared to the rest of the expat shops. It seems that the only foreigners that are not regularily upcharged in China are Russians. When I was traveling through Manzhouli and Hailaier, the prices I received when they believe that I was a Russian were substantially lower in comparison when they believed I was an American.
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Isn't the Russian embassy pretty? At night, when it is lit up, it reminds me of a library. So pretty!
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