| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
ThaneKerner
Joined: 13 Sep 2009
Posts: 139
|
 Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 7:16 am Post subject: |
 |
|
| expatella_girl wrote: |
| Jordean wrote: |
Just hoping someone would paint Russia in rosy tones. |
Russia is not a rosy place. But it can be loved.
The country itself is beautiful, outside of the cities Russia has almost no fences. For an American it's a landscape that's hard to believe, it just goes on and on without division or fencing or ownership. A vast openness that boggles the mind. To the best of my knowledge there is only one freeway in all of Russia, and that's the MKAD which circles Moscow. Russia is immensely beautiful.
The Russian people have their own charm. They possess a brilliant sense of black humor and cynicism. They are highly literate. They are party animals with tremendous sense of live-for-today revelry, everybody's invited to join in. (in contrast the Chinese are quite reserved)
Maybe it's just me, but I loved Russian winters. The sparkly snow which covers the country in a frozen white blanket and removes all consciousness of an outside world. The fur shopka, the churchbells in the winter air, the symphony and ballet season, warm cafes with plenty of vodka and friends.
Culture galore. Museums, music, theatres, galleries; architecture ranging from wooden villages to a plethora of palaces to soviet concrete modernism, and thousands of domed and gilt orthodox churches.
Russia is a fascinating place. Not easy by any means, but wildly interesting. |
Talk about rosy. This sounds like it might end up on the brochure of some TEFL program that's pushing Russia as this month's 'heaven on earth'. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
expatella_girl
Joined: 31 Oct 2004
Posts: 248
Location: somewhere out there
|
| Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 8:18 am Post subject: |
|
|
But it's all true. One loves Russia in bits here and there where one can, or the alternative is stark raving madness.
The other side of the coin we all know too well. The begging babushki in winter, the starving Metro dogs, the prostitution and human trafficking, the corrupt miitsia, the frozen third world living conditions.
To survive in Russia, one must find the great and the beautiful or melt into a puddle of relentless tragic remorse. The beauty must be categorized and savored where ever possible in order to preserve the soul from spontaneous combustion. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ThaneKerner
Joined: 13 Sep 2009
Posts: 139
|
| Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 9:16 am Post subject: |
|
|
| expatella_girl wrote: |
The other side of the coin we all know too well. The begging babushki in winter, the starving Metro dogs, the prostitution and human trafficking, the corrupt miitsia, the frozen third world living conditions.
|
I know this well from the USA. Sounds a lot like the third-world ghettos that are allowed to fester there. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
expatella_girl
Joined: 31 Oct 2004
Posts: 248
Location: somewhere out there
|
| Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 9:29 am Post subject: |
|
|
| ThaneKerner wrote: |
| expatella_girl wrote: |
The other side of the coin we all know too well. The begging babushki in winter, the starving Metro dogs, the prostitution and human trafficking, the corrupt miitsia, the frozen third world living conditions.
|
I know this well from the USA. Sounds a lot like the third-world ghettos that are allowed to fester there. |
Then you've never been to Russia. The poverty in the US is nothing like six months of ice and snow intermittent with potatoes, and and then six more months of ice and snow. There is nothing even close in the US. Nothing. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ThaneKerner
Joined: 13 Sep 2009
Posts: 139
|
| Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 9:31 am Post subject: |
|
|
| That sounds like a place I wouldn't want to go to normally. But I'm curious. Now I definitely want to go there. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Jordean
Joined: 12 Dec 2006
Posts: 238
|
| Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 4:12 am Post subject: |
|
|
Sounds bleak.
Gotta see it!! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
fladude
Joined: 02 Feb 2009
Posts: 432
|
| Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 7:31 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Alaska can mean a lot of different things. There is Sitka Alaska. Then there is North Slope Alaska/ Fairbanks. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Jordean
Joined: 12 Dec 2006
Posts: 238
|
| Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 2:43 am Post subject: |
|
|
| fladude wrote: |
| Alaska can mean a lot of different things. There is Sitka Alaska. Then there is North Slope Alaska/ Fairbanks. |
Fairbanks, but actually Winnipeg is far colder and windier in the winter. Though not as dark.
Sitka is just chilly and wet. Ugh.
So Russia would be fine...! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Iceman33
Joined: 08 Nov 2009
Posts: 91
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 2:05 am Post subject: |
|
|
A very interesting thread.
Russia has also fascinated me. I really like the language (when I am in love with a language, I am in love with a language). I enjoy Russian Orthodox art and architecture as well. That said, everything else, apart from some foods and those possible "magical" moments, sounds horriby bleak.
I am way too scared to go and teach English in a big city in Russia. I do believe that teaching in a smaller city could be a somewhat different experience (perhaps feeling a bit safer while receiving a little hospitality from warm-hearted Russians who seem to care about your well-being in such a harsh and dark and enigmatic society...am I getting carried away already? LOL).
Never do I doubt that someone could have some magical moments in Russia. But is your long-term stay all made worthwhile by watching Mamma cook some winter favorites to later accompany her in deep snow to light a candle at the quaint church in the countryside? Or by having some wild nights in a Moscovite nightclub? Or, most convincingly, experiencing a true sense of friendship at someone's banya (country cabin) every few weeks or months? It's not a resounding no from me, but neither is it a resounding yes, either.
You should only go to be places where your heart feels to call you, but always remember to let logic and reason strongly influence your decision (think hard about yourself living in a given country, considering all that you gathered from research). Could it really be you? Or does it seem like your simply fantasizing? Only you can decipher that (or can you without actually having been there?). LOL 
Although I have yet to make decision on where I will go, Japan is more my speed (even perhaps Thailand on a short-term gig). |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Mikalina
Joined: 03 May 2011
Posts: 140
Location: Home (said in a Joe90 voice)
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 10:41 am Post subject: |
|
|
Both Russia and China are so large that we are all going to have very different experiences of both.
I went from a small town in the North West of China where I was a freak to Moscow where I was ignored.
So - I love Russia and hate China.
For the OP, if communication is important, then Russia is the best place. S/He can speak the language and Russians will appreciate this and respond. In my experience, in China, knowledge of the Chinese language is power, and the Chinese are not willing to give this power to 'barbarians'.....
Go to Russia - experience the freedom (relative)!!!!! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
macedonianmike
Joined: 28 Jun 2007
Posts: 64
|
| Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2011 4:00 pm Post subject: |
|
|
This whole thread is kind of ridiculous as a lot are with people using forums as an out for their frustrations. First of all I think bharrell had some personal problems with his 'slutty ex wife' that may have tainted his view of the country as a whole.
The point about the Siberian experience being different than the Msk experience is a good one.
I disagree about the homeless in the US vs Russia. Maybe in Moscow this is true. But in Novosibirsk you see maybe 5 homeless people in the center. In a US city (Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, Nashville, Atlanta) you see dozens, maybe more.
How about some info about teaching in China Vs Russia: schools, visa, etc...? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
