I've neglected this blog for a while because I've been waiting for this whole registration episode to end so I can write about it with a proper conclusion. Наконец-то (finally), after a week and a half or so, everything's settled and I can actually get to work on my research.

So, backing up for those of you aren't aware of what's been going on, when you go to Russia you're supposed to register yourself in the city or region where you live. I knew that much, but as far as I was aware, the only practical reason you needed to do that was because police might demand it of you if they suspected that you were an illegal immigrant, either to Russia or to their particular city. So when I moved in, I asked my landlord if he knew how or where I was supposed to register (since my visa service, without a regional office in Tomsk, recommended getting help from him). He didn't know, and said that he thought it was only important for people in Moscow or St. Petersburg or for people who look Central Asian or Caucasian (as in, from the Caucasus). That fit with what I thought, so I left it at that.

When I went to the archive to work, everything went fine at first, but when I left on the second day they informed me that I needed to register and that I wasn't supposed to do anything at the archive until I had done so. They told me where the migration office was, and I went there. Unfortunately, it was closed (this was a Thursday at 6 pm or so) and didn't have any more visiting hours until Monday. So I waited until then.

On Monday the woman I spoke to rather gruffly informed me that I was late in registering, that there would be a fine, and that I couldn't register myself without my принимающая сторона present (basically, a Russian citizen who's taking responsibility for my presence). I thought based on my conversation there that the archive could serve that function, since that's why I came and that's where I'd be working. I went back to the archive and asked them to fill out part of the form that the migration office worker had given me. The director and a worker filled it out with the worker's personal information, and I went back to the migration office, where they informed me that the принимающая сторона had to actually be present. I went back to the archive, but by that time, the worker whose information I'd used had left and wouldn't be back until the next day.

The next day, I arrived at the archive in the morning but the worker I needed wasn't there. Instead, when I asked a different worker about it, he talked to the director and then told me that the archive couldn't help me with this; I needed to talk to the person who rented me my apartment. Frustrated, I called him, but he didn't have any time until the next day (Wednesday).

So on Wednesday, I met him and we went to register me, but the office apparently doesn't accept visitors on Wednesdays, so we had to wait until today (Thursday) at 2 pm.

It's kind of circular logic, but I guess I'm glad I had to have a Russian with me for the process because it would have taken much longer and been more frustrating for everyone involved if I'd been alone. The migration people told me that I had to go to the regional migration office to pay my fine (as opposed to the provincial office we were in), so we went there. They, in turn, sent me to a sort of police station, where they took my fingerprints and sent me back to the regional office. There, I filled out a long series of forms while my landlord took my money to a nearby bank to pay my fine for late registration (I'm not sure why you can't just pay the fine at the office, though I'm not complaining, since in the end I only had to pay the minimum -- about 60 dollars). Finally, they gave me a form certifying that I'd paid my fine, and we returned to the provincial office.

There, we filled out another form and brought it to a worker. She made some very minor corrections and told me to fill out another copy (they're very serious about the details of their forms in Russia). Finally, we did that, and she gave me my registration papers. My landlord left, and I went to the archive to tell the director that I was registered (though I didn't really have time to do any work today, since it was already 4:30 or so).

Are you still alive and reading after all that? If you skimmed or skipped ahead to this point, I don't blame you; I wish I could have done the same. In the end, though, I guess I learned a lot about the Russian bureaucracy, about registering myself in Russia, and really, about functioning in the world as an independent adult. It's easy enough to be adult in the sense of being 21 and living away from your family, but university life is a far cry from really living independently and having to solve all your own problems by yourself. So it's been an interesting experience for me personally, and I guess even if my research amounts to nothing, I'll have learned something by coming here.

In other news, after Arden scolded me for eating fried eggs all the time, I went to the grocery store (called Food City) and tried to broaden my diet. I finally caved and bought the cheapest pot and set of knives I could find (since all I had before was a skillet-thing), and I bought all kinds of other exciting food (like potatoes! and chicken!) that I'm going to try to figure out how to cook, so wish me luck on that front.

Anyway, I guess I can actually get going on my research, finally. Now I don't have to worry about any organizational issues...until I go to Moscow in a month. But I'm not going to think about that for now.