What makes the FSU so interesting?

[mendeleyev]

LT,

Other than a brief mention, only in passing, about Russia's experience in soap operas, what questions about soap operas should I have asked Mr. Putin?

Are there any facts in this feature that I got wrong about soaps being cancelled in Egypt, the majority of Arab soaps coming from Turkey, the Turkish government's recent embracing of the Muslim Brotherhood, the number of countries airing Arab soaps, etc?

Enlighten me.

Mendeleyev

[mendeleyev]

We've featured the YouTube channel "Real Russia" several times previously and for those of you who follow the show, Sergei (Baklyhov) of "Real Russia" had his gall bladder surgery but perhaps you already knew this.

I think most members will find this interesting to see the inside of a Russian hospital and to see procedures performed.

In my view socialized medicine is rarely a good deal for patients whether in cost or care. I hope that Russia can complete its transition to a market based health care system by 2025 but the economy is slowing so we'll keep our fingers crossed.

As you can see in the video, patients are allowed to pay extra for things like a more private room with a call button to summon nurses which I can tell you is not the practice of every hospital. However there are many hospitals, especially outside the larger cities, that don't have call buttons at all.

Sergei paid $10 day additional for a room with only 3 beds versus a hallway or ward full of beds. His care included two meals with oatmeal and bread for breakfast and soup and bread for dinner. Hot tea is always available. In many cases Russian families provide meals for family members and in other cases some meals are included. In hospitals that include meals you walk to the столовая, the dining room. You'll notice that visitors to other patients almost ALWAYS bring food gifts--there is a reason for that.

In some cases family members assist with basic care as there are only a handful of nurses per floor in some hospitals. Generally you make your own bed and new sheets generally are handed out weekly.

In fairness, I've seen nicer facilities but at the time I've seen much worse in Russia. This was probably average for a hospital outside of Moscow or St. Petersburg. My friend Rob in Saint Petersburg in his blog writes that when it comes to medical care, "Moscow is usually a step ahead of St Petersburg, the other cities less advanced, and the vast rural section of Russia can seem fifty years behind the times."

[steveboy]

Im presently in Transnistria for six weeks, heaven help me if I need any hospital treatment

[PaulK]

Im presently in Transnistria for six weeks, heaven help me if I need any hospital treatment

You mean you are in Moldova Romania? 

[steveboy]

I am somewhere that does not exist The "Black hole of Europe" as it is labeled by the US and many other countries. A great place to visit, I couldn't be ***** to make any registration, I have a good tactic to avoid this but last week a cop caught me at the border control. A $5 fine

[mendeleyev]

Fascinating place, Steve. It is like stepping back into the CCCP about 1970 or at least was on our last visit several years ago. One of the poorest spots in Europe outside of Albania.

[ML]

Around the world soap operas are the same. The story lines apparently are inspired by families from Alabama with some rich farmer or businessman having sex with his granddaughter who gets pregnant with twin boys who then grow up to divide the family asunder as each wants to control the family business. Naturally, all the while the boys are carrying on affairs with their cousins girlfriends.

There is an annual (huge) neighborhood picnic hereabouts. 

At the last picnic, a man revealed to me of his pending divorce.

He said that wife and he greatly enjoyed these picnics, and wondered if the two could still attend separately in the future.

I said:  Don't worry . . . even after a divorce . . . you will still be brother and sister.

[steveboy]

Yes, I like it here. I went to a club last time I was here in Tiraspol, a huge plate of food, whisky colas for two on tap all night and a taxi home $15.00
Beer in a bar $0.50c
A weeks shopping $25.00 
Bus into town $0.30c
Gas bill for a month $1.00

It makes a change from the expensive shopping trips in St petersburg, or a night out at just a normal club for a min $150

The republic is supposedly broke, but I have seen worse conditions in deep south US.

I think Mother Russia has just bunged them a few billion roubles as the great Patriarch from Moscow arrives in 3 weeks time, the first time in local history here and they have re surfaced all the roads, never seen before not a single pot hole anywhere until you set foot over the border to Moldova

[lordtiberius]

If Putins' mitts are on this Syria attack, he is done. 

[mendeleyev]

We've not discussed the idea of "personal space" something for which there are no good Russian words to describe the concept of privacy as Westerners understand it. Perhaps that is because the concept is absent in Eastern cultures.

As a Fulbright student on a teaching exchange told me in 2012, "if you are standing in line, and there is a hair’s width of space between you and the person in front of you, then you are not considered to be in line."




It is not uncommon when in the heat of summer that some men will strip down to their shorts when train temps are stifling, can't blame them, but how would your sense of privacy react? Could you do the same?




From trains to communal apartments, Russians are used to a crowd. What about you?

[mendeleyev]

If Putins' mitts are on this Syria attack, he is done. 

Wrong topic, LT. This series has nothing to do with normal politics.

It is a silly comment but I'll respond on the appropriate topic.

[lordtiberius]

Silly topic?  what's funny about dead kids Mendeleyev? tell me

[ML]

From trains to communal apartments, Russians are used to a crowd. What about you?

I am pretty squeamish about it.

I even have to get into the swimming pool, before I pee in it.

[mendeleyev]

Silly topic?  what's funny about dead kids Mendeleyev? tell me

Nobody said that it was a silly topic, LT.

However given the subject matter of this thread, it is out of place. I've answered your comment on the appropriate thread.

[mendeleyev]

[lordtiberius]

no sir, not out of place.  Your reporting on arts and culture is filtered by RT.s lens.  RT is a Putin puppet.  Your reporting apriori Syria is top notch but the tone of your defense of Bashar is very worrying.  I hate my President more than you do but I am an American first

[mendeleyev]

The Russian Navy hovercraft is currently the largest in the world and takes a while to come to a stop. So what happens when you have a Navy exercise on an afternoon when the local populace has decided to spent the afternoon on the beach...which just happens to be part of a Navy training area. Oops. Thankfully nobody was hurt.

Kaliningrad is not connected to Russia geographically so in that sense is similar to how Hawaii or Alaska are separated from the mainland USA. It belonged to a country named Prussia (German) that no longer exists and after WWII was ceded to Russia by the Western Powers at the Potsdam Conference. It is Russia's only ice free link to the Baltic Sea.

[mendeleyev]

As to the above story, we should add that the beach is not a public area but obviously it wasn’t closed off very well to the public either. Again, it is fortunate that nobody was hurt.

[mendeleyev]

Adele sang Скайфолл,"Skyfall" the theme to the James Bond movie.

Now a small ensemble/choir of Russian Army guys has, as they say in the industry,"covered" her ballad. Well, sort of.

Three judges to the right react frequently to the excitement of this thrilling performance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=hg7E081BW6k#t=79

[mendeleyev]

Our friends Sergei and Sergei of Real Russia have invited us to visit a nightclub/blues bar in Ufa. Formerly known as the Yellow Submarine, the bar is near the Rodina Theatre and is now named after Jimi Hendrix. For those of you who may travel to Ufa (Уфа), Sergei will pronounce the city name several times so this is a learning opportunity as well.

From a genuine Texas license plate to decorate the men's toilet to a band that plays Credence Clearwater Revival songs in a bar named for Jimi Hendrix, you know its Russia!

[mendeleyev]

Sorry, this one belonged in the Language thread so I moved it there.

[Faux Pas]

Cool clip there Mendy

[mendeleyev]

Thank you, FP. 

[mendeleyev]

Traveling outside the normal large cities of the FSU is always an interesting experience and here is a video trip filmed by a young man on the Trans Siberian, starting in China and traveling into Russia. He hitchhikes thru a number of abandoned towns and sleeps wherever there is shelter. Turns out he is a budding concert pianist in video #2 and if you've never seen Kamchatka, you must watch video #3.

[mendeleyev]

One can hardly resist being smitten by this little girl--at 2 years and 1 month she is so smart and cute. Out for a walk, her Mum films while her Papa (Dad) asks her to identify each parked car. He asks "what kind of machine (car) is this? This smart little doll answers and most of them she nails! Some she says with a Russian accent so you'll have pay attention.

Each time she answers correctly he praises her by saying молодец, "ma-la-dyets" which means "well done/good work."