People

Russians are an interesting people. Even now as I say that word – Russians, it means something politically different than it meant 20 years ago, before the fall of the U.S.S.R. Back then the word referred to anyone within the boundaries of the Soviet Union. Today, technically it refers to people inside the boundaries of the Russian Federation – Russia (not the 13 independent countries that broke away during the fall of the Soviet Union).
Ironically, however, the predominant language even in these outlying states is still Russian, a huge portion of the population is still Russian, and a lot of the better parts of the infrastructure, much to the begrudgement of the “locals”, was set up by Russia. In fact, there is still much anger towards the Russian rule that was, as clearly seen by the political actions of the Ukraine and Estonia, but I’m not going to blog about that right now. I want this blog to be about the people – in general.

If we take our definition of Russians to include all of the people that once inhabited the Soviet Union, and then limit the parameters to people from the Ukraine and today’s Russia, or even Moscow and Odessa – to narrow it down to our experiences, then we have a definition we can work with and I can talk about 

Despite 2nd world conditions for most common people (and above 1st world conditions for the rich), they are happy ones. Not only are they happy, but they are resourceful, cunning, and very beautiful. Happy, however is the key word here since it would be hard for most Americans, except for the immigrants I think, to understand why these people are happy. People here seek different things from life. They relish the simple stuff, and overlook the negatives exceptionally well. They focus on different things than most Americans focus on. Don’t worry, I hate generalizing and am not trying to do that here; obviously I recognize that all my friends and the readers of this blog are exceptions (unless you admit that you are unhappy and are the exception to my exclusion).
Things that they seek here I would deem generally superficial, especially considering the socio-economic-political situation that I observe, but then again I’m generally a bitter individual (at least compared to these people) who often sees people as little more than carbon footprints . Here they relish fashion (often above all other expenditures it would seem), nightlife, friends above all else, and love. How ... human of them.
Fashion – Just about everyone here looks good. People rarely wear simple clothing. The youth are constantly wearing unique clothing that is tight, shows off their young bodies, and is totally European brand name as much as possible. They all have pretty good fashion sense, and even though a lot of them might be from sub-par economic stati (=statuses), you wouldn’t know it by looking at them. Even the older ladies and gentlemen ascribe to some kind of fashion, which to our American eyes (George’s and mine) look funny. But hey, who are we to judge, I’m sure our style looks funny to them..
Public Life – There are huge public areas in these towns and cities. Big parks, huge boulevards paved in cobblestone, grand plazas with statues devoted to war heroes, and super wide streets are littered with people converging for general hangouts. People here take walks often, sit around on benches, often making out, and just generally congregate for reasons most of us Americans would probably not understand – mainly because I believe we need purpose to go to a place. Here they do it for the sake of doing it.
Alcohol and Cigarettes – everybody smokes and everybody drinks. I mean everybody. It is quite disgusting to us non-smokers. In restaurants it is hard to taste or smell food. Even in public places, it is very hard to get a whiff of fresh air. I think it is nasty, and I am honestly surprised that more people don’t have lung cancer here.
Air – and speaking of trying to get some fresh air, it is dang near impossible here. I am more of the sensitive type when it comes to environmental pollution – I sense it pretty fast, and my lungs and throat hurt here in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Odessa. I can imagine that air laws are pretty lax here, I am almost positive that car exhaust laws don’t exist, and if they do are rarely enforced. I often got nauseous when sitting in a car here, and also had a tendency to fall asleep on trips more than 15 minutes, due to the lack of oxygen I’m guessing. But as I say, I’m pretty sensitive to such stuff, as well as spoiled with the clean San Francisco air that I’m used to breathing.
Cars – there are an insane amount of cars in all of these cities here. Despite the fact that they have metros, electric trains, buses, trolleys, and other ways of getting around, cars are all the rage and so are traffic jams. In Moscow traffic jams can last hours and hours. It can take you 3-4 hours to get someplace that would take you 30 minutes by metro. I was shocked that people still drive everywhere despite that fact. I personally love the metro because it is efficient, quick, and full of interesting people to people watch. I found out that in Moscow there are about 4 million cars, and that number is probably only the registered ones. Granted it is in a city of 14 million, but still, a lot of cars..
Women – OMG!!! I have never seen so many beautiful women in my life! IN fact that is an understatement. These women are drop dead gorgeous. Mainly I have to say they are in Odessa, in the Ukraine. Just about every young woman possesses the figure that is the American super model ideal, or something close to it. My eyes and neck are sore from all the distractions. Granted that a whole lot of them grow up to be very reminiscent of the weight epidemics that we have in the Midwest in the states here, mostly due to the large intakes of meat and dairy I am wagering, but in their youth they are insanely gorgeous. They are also friendly here, which is something that cannot really be felt from good looking American women often. ..Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that we are cold-hearted and fat, I’m just saying that here cultural norms are a bit more loose and not all about the “personal space bubble” that a lot of Americans are used to. Beauty is also so commonplace that it is not lusted after like it is in the states. Everybody generally looks good. Partly from fashion, and partly from the fact that they move around a lot more – walking, dancing, and other stuff keeps them a little bit more in shape than I see Americans being.
Men – well, men are men here. They are generally decently macho, stick to a narrow assembly of haircuts, and all aspire to be men. There are definitely outcasts here like punks, emos, Goths, and other “informals” as they’re called, but they are discriminated against more. People here are a long way from understanding gay rights, and people still play pretty traditional roles in society here, at least as far as “male” and “female” is concerned.

Whew…I’m sure you’re overwhelmed as I am right now. I know I have a lot of reflections about this strange country, and there are a few more to come. Stay tuned for something about wealth, and updates about what we have actually been up to here 