yeah me too. although it seems like the king of place I should have visited before I had kids when single!

more stories panda

Beaglebuddy said...
A nation of alcoholics, hack mechanics and hot slutty women!

Geez if America could reach such high standards they would be half way to being successful

Beaglebuddy said..

A nation of alcoholics, hack mechanics and hot slutty women!

Actually Russia is turning into the nation of the free, with free enterprise allowing entrepreurs to make some money while the USA has turned into a nation where you have to fill out many papers to start up a business and then pay high taxes.

^ This. It's corrupt to the core.

It's also what I like to call an "emerging society". In a similar vein to China materialism is new to them, and important. Everything has its place in a hierarchy, including you. People are judged on how much money and/or power they have and not much else. I'm generalising and there are exceptions of course but generally that's it.

I reckon you can still see these traits even in immigrants to Australia. Know someone born in China/Hong Kong? Are their kids in top schools? Are they in the right suburb? Are they driving the right car? ****, I had a colleague snigger at me while I was playing the Words app on my phone because "it came out last year." He also made a similar comment about a movie I enjoyed; "Didn't that come out years ago?"

Russians are the same, generally. Especially "New Russians".

Victor! You have exactly same tie as me!
Oleg! It is so!
How much did you pay for tie Victor?
I did buy for $200.
Oh no, you could buy for $300.

(Don't get it?)

Compare this to a culture that had its enlightenment centuries, even millenia ago. Greeks, Italians, Spanish ...they are "lazy" people. How will they achieve economic growth if they wake up in the morning, enjoy a coffee and slowly read the paper? They are enjoying life too much. What a silly culture (not).

If you're "lazy" like me, and the stereotypical Australian I suppose, go to Russia for an interesting holiday, especially of you're young and single and don't mind being having your drink spiked once in a while, but don't live there. The corruption and bureaucracy will end up driving you insane.

Beaglebuddy said..

I know a bit about America, I had a American girlfriend and I have a kitesurfer friend who is American, what you say is largely correct however the main problem in America is there is no justice. Bribery, corruption, organized crime are rampant, the government often tramples over its own and other countries people's individual rights in a haphazard fashion. Basically there is no justice as Obama rules with an iron fist, the government can take your land or business and imprison you with no explanation.

Fixed that for you

There were some other differences I was ruminating on the other night.

Cash

Practically everybody in Russia owns there own home. Everybody. The concept of a mortgage is very new, and still not very popular. The entire idea of credit is unappealing. If you pay for something on credit card, be it a restaurant bill, purchase of clothing or whatever, you will be looked at as a bit of a loser because you had to borrow money. Really.

It's all cash, cash, cash. Sister-in-law used to be responsible for ...eh some legal work surrounding due diligence for foreign companies buying and selling Russian based companies and/or large scale property. Something like that, I don't pretend to understand law. The payments were made in cash. Just like in the movies. A few thug bodyguards, standard black heavily modified German cars with black out windows, and a suitcase or more full of cash. Perfectly normal.

That everyone owns their own home, there is no mortgage hanging over anyone's head, makes for a different attitude towards money and life in general. Russians are far, far more likely to spend everything they have because they still have the house. It doesn't really matter as much.

Metro stations

Also Moscow's metro stations are incredible. Anyone here catch the train? Compare our stations to theirs. I hear Kazan's are the bomb now too.







There are ...I don't know. Lots of metro stations like these. 30 or 40?

Small collection of them here:
www.flickriver.com/photos/32224170@N03/sets/72157618770196273/

If you go to Moscow you have to do at least half a day traveling around seeing them all. They are as spectacular as they look in the photos, perhaps more so. It's always cool if you go to a restaurant in a part of town you haven't been to before and you come to a beautiful metro you haven't seen before. Each one is completely unique.

Nice article about them with some more photos here:
calvertjournal.com/comment/show/52/owen-hatherley-architecture-design-moscow-metro

Found Kazan's too: k-metro.ruz.net/english/stations.html

Makes all of ours seem Soviet in comparison. Weird eh?

as a Ukrainian son of a bitch i find your ideas on russia pretty funny panda.

seeing as its seabreeze.... olenevka wind extreme look it up :P



aaaaaand i just figured out what to put as my avatar hahaha remind me to cringe swear then delete this tomorrow when i sober up

Which bits kosciuszko? I can talk good or bad about Russia. The former is easier. But like a lotus there are flowers that only grow in **** and there really are some interesting things come out of there.

And I don't understand what "olenevka wind extreme" means. Maybe I need more culture.

Mackerel said..

They really are quite amazing. So how come everyone owns their own home? I mean how does a kid finishing uni get his own home without a mortgage?

I could be wrong, but I think someone was telling me that when communism fell, people automatically owned the home they were in.
Nothing clever, nothing like hard work, they just started owning them when the government didn't.

I bet you thing are cheaper because of it. I think a lot of things here are linked to the cost of home ownership here, and as a result, labour is expensive, services are expensive.

Makes you wonder why such a large country as ours, the size of the united states, with less than a tenth of the population, has such expensive housing...

evlPanda said..

FormulaNova said..

Mackerel said..

They really are quite amazing. So how come everyone owns their own home? I mean how does a kid finishing uni get his own home without a mortgage?

I could be wrong, but I think someone was telling me that when communism fell, people automatically owned the home they were in.
Nothing clever, nothing like hard work, they just started owning them when the government didn't.

That's right.

Well, yes, but before labelling them as lucky, please keep in mind that the average Soviet family lived in a 35m2 apartment, in a grim, grey multi-story building. With the smell of boiled cabbage and old rag mats in the hallway. And a portrait of Lenin on the one wall. And the elevator didn't work most the of the time due to frequent power outages. And the book "1984" was even banned at the time!