I read the first part of the first one.
I think Taz, etc was a bit hard on JD. For sure it can be a culture shock when over there, it was on me at first, it took some time to get used to it. Possibly things may be a little less so now, I mean aside from the war. When I last visited Ukraine in 2019 and just before I think things were becoming a bit more westernised, English shop signs more common, greater use of English, more organisation towards tourists/foreigners visiting. When I was in Kyiv in 2016 & 2017 things were not quite so I think, it was probably at the end of the kind of radically different culture era. People here that were in Kyiv during the virus said that it was different from days gone by, more affluent, less younger women going around with older wealthy foreign men. That I saw in 2019.
Anyway, I think JD did screw it up with Nastya where he needn't have done. I think he had some paranoia creeping in and I know how that feels. It can be easy to blame the man in such a situation but to be honest that's a little unfair. JD didn't know this Nastya chick from Adam so he didn't know her like Taz knew her. For some reason the manner in which she left in the night made him 'freak'. He obviously saw things through his eyes and that can be different from someone else seeing it through their eyes or hearing about it second hand. I can only imagine that perhaps he felt his safety was at risk in a strange house and possibly wondering why they are doing all of this? Letting him stay in the house, his friend being away, then suddenly her bolting out of the door. It can amount to a strange feeling situation in a country you're not familiar with foreign the first time, who knows.
Communication issues can certainly make the matter worse. Cultural differences and understanding is one thing but messages not coming out as intended can cause a lot of trouble and end a good relationship. If things are constantly prodding paranoia then it can become a difficult situation. If a guy has had a bad past experience or has read a lot about scams in the FSU then it doesn't help. Trust take time to build up, it makes me laugh when people say you should trust them and you've known them all of five minutes. Trust for me is built up over a proven track record with that person, I don't expect them to be a saint but if they aren't someone you can trust then it isn't going to work. That JD thought Nastya was possibly scamming him show the trust wasn't there but then they had spent all of five minutes with each other. The FSU culture where as a man it can be, 'you pay, you pay, you pay' as the man is a provider can either mean the man is providing or he is being scammed. The two are different but similar bedfellows.
It kind of grinds my gears that there are girls in the FSU that scam men, they do a tremendous amount of damage. They walk away with whatever but they leave a guy psychologically distrustful of other FSW. Sure he knows that not all FSW are like that and he is told that, but which ones???
JD here I think was lucky to have a friend in Taz to try to help him along, not all guys have that and it can be difficult. Things I think decrease over time with a girl who can be trusted. The more instances that you can see that you can trust her the less distrustful you can become. After all if a person in a relationship can't be trusted then there is usually no relationship as the respect for the person being taken advantage of decreases and so the relationship is doomed if there is no respect there. In JD's case they weren't together long enough to build up trust as unfortunately events moved against them to early too soon that sparked JD to freak out. Nastya suddenly bringing up that she was pregnant probably made him freak as well as random sudden happenings of a bit out there kind likely got his paranoia a good old nudging.
