BKC Moscow Accommodation Strikes Again

One of our anonymous contributors writes on BKC Moscow flats. One of many teachers on the "BKC Moscow Hit List"

After arriving in Moscow, I was taken to my apartment by a member of the BKC Moscow staff.  It was located at the end of the metro line, and in an area I was later told by veteran teachers was one of the worst parts of the city.  The staff member kindly walked me around the area.  She informed me that she lived nearby.  She then told me to be very careful because there is not a lot of foot traffic around and that it is not safe.  She told me to NEVER walk by myself when it is dark outside. I told her that I would have to do that as my teaching schedule had me working into the evening hours, and she reiterated that I should be very, very careful.

Even as we were walking in broad daylight, we were followed by several men and she told me not to speak to them and to BE CAREFUL.  The nights I did walk home by myself, I felt very unsettled. There were no sidewalk lights and I could barely see two feet in front of me.  In the wooded areas surrounding the sidewalks, I could hear drunk men shouting and bottles clanking.  I felt extremely vulnerable and unsafe.  I knew that I could not live like this for a long period of time.

The apartment itself was (apparently) a typical Soviet-style flat that left much to be desired.  It was also filthy.  The staff member even washed her hands after touching something and made a remark about the lack of cleanliness.  Only two lights functioned when I moved in and I was left living in darkness for several days until the repairman could come. 

My first week was spent feeling scared, disgusted and isolated.

I called the BKC accommodation manager and begged to be moved to a new apartment. She gave me one option, which I gladly took.  I was moved to a more central location and much nicer, cleaner apartment. 

BUT, I was sent to live with an older woman that BKC had never been able to successfully place a flatmate with.  This woman had lived in that apartment for years, harassing anyone placed with her until that person asked to be moved.  She successfully did this for over three years and was successful time and time again without BKC Moscow accommodation managers stepping in.


Immediately upon meeting me, I was given a lecture.  I was told we would not be friends.  I was shown what I could use and not use in the apartment.  I was given many rules which she expected to be followed. I did not want to move back to the first apartment, so I decided to try to live in peace with her and keep to myself. 

This did not work.

- She banged on my bedroom door almost nightly to yell at me about anything she could think of.

- She monitored my actions in the apartment and posted a cleaning schedule that she wanted me to sign and date.

- She removed my food items from the refrigerator because she did not want to share it with me and told me to "be creative" as to how to keep my food cold.

- She told me if I had a problem with that, to contact accommodation. I did. 


Finally, we were both requested to meet with the accommodation managers to try to work out our problems.  I showed up, but my flatmate did not.  We received an email the next day saying that we needed to make a compromise or else we would both be moved.  We decided to give it another chance.  Our compromise lasted about three weeks before I was locked out of the apartment at night.  She had imposed a curfew on me, and I broke it. 

The next day, I contacted BKC accommodation again and said that it was not working out and that something had to change.

My punishment for not getting along with this woman was to be moved to another apartment which required a 90-minute commute to work, which goes against BKC Moscow's "guarantee" that no commute would be longer than 1 hour.  After months of struggling with accommodation issues, I decided to terminate my contract.