From Russia With Love

[mendeleyev]

I was about to post this in another area and realized that it is a trip report, and thus belongs here.  Jack Millston is a young American writer who has chronicled his first trip to Russia with his wife and their infant son.

It is an engaging report and you will enjoy it:

http://bigpicture.ru/snowfall/jack_en/

Greetings from Russia — where soup constitutes an entire meal, where the mullet is still an acceptable modern haircut, and where no one laughs at or lectures you on the relative uselessness of a University degree in Literature.       
   It's hard for me to put into words how weird and exceptional this place seems to be. Five weeks is an incredibly short amount of time to distill twelve hundred years of history into a single letter, but I wanted to drop you a line to tell you the things I saw, heard, and smelled; the people I met (and at whom I did not smile, I will explain it later); and the delicious (and poisonous) things I ate.

[calmissile]

Mendy, this was a great read.  Although I have never been to Russia, I find everything he describes to be identical in Ukraine.  I also share all of his impressions.  They were identical to mine when in Ukraine.

[Lily]

What a hilarious read!     Thank you Mendy for the link.

The author's writing style is genius. Lots of funny quotes that deserve to be put on a magnet and kept on your fridge 

""Tajiks,the Mexicans of Russia, do not spit on the ground. They have to clean it up"

"A nation of takers of unreasonable risk"

"Please stop smiling at people; this isn't America where everyone is fake to one another"

"Do not smile and give them your best "don't fuck with me" stare "

"If there were a Heaven, the dacha would come damn close. But maybe in Heaven there would be something more than soup for lunch"

"Any opportunity to elicit Russian laughter would be like some rain-dance paying off in the Sahara Desert"

"Vodka-filled chocolate, I shit you not. And you know what? That shit was delicious"

"Russians treat each other piss-poorly in public. There is little fear of being shot by your fellow!"

"No one gets upset at the countless insufferable little indignities that make up your average day shopping"

"How these people ever got together and killed a Tsar and his entire family without being able to say "Good morning" to strangers?"

"Fine-ass women everywhere" 

"There are incredibly beautiful women in Russia, but a lot of them seem to be very high on their own farts."

[Lily]

I have a question. What does it mean ''to stare you down''? To look down on you, or?

[Slumba]

I have a question. What does it mean ''to stare you down''? To look down on you, or?

It is an aggressive look.  Like if someone stares at you unkindly, waiting for you to be the first to look away.

[calmissile]

I have a question. What does it mean ''to stare you down''? To look down on you, or?

Has nothing to do with looking down on you.  As I recall, it means to stare at someone for a lengthy period, or when two people stare at each other until one or the other breaks eye contact.

[Larry1]

It is an aggressive look.  Like if someone stares at you unkindly, waiting for you to be the first to look away.

So that he asserts his dominance over you

[Lily]

Does the author mean to say that Russian women try to assert their dominance over him?   

[ML]

Lily, the 'stare down' can have somewhat different meaning depending on if it concerns man to man . . . or man to woman, woman to man.

Man to man . . . it is more of a dominance idea.
You better look away first or look submissive or I will beat the sheeeeet out of you.

Man to woman or woman to man . . . you are beneath my class, you are just a piece of sheeeeet, so don't even think about talking with me, etc.

[ML]

Has nothing to do with looking down on you. 

Doug, I partially disagree with you.

When the two persons are of different gender; this is what it means.

See my comment below (or above, depending on which order you see this sheeeet).

[Brasscasing]

Brilliant, Mendy. One of the few 'stranger in a strange land' articles I've enjoyed from start to finish.

I have a question. What does it mean ''to stare you down''? To look down on you, or?

..."One thing I love about Russian women — they stare you down. You could be married, spinning your wedding ring with your thumb, pushing a stroller, and walking down the street and a woman will still stare you down as she walks past in her half see-through sundress."...

I think the writer may have employed a slight misnomer using the term "stare you down" as it relates to (what I believe) he's trying to convey, Lily.

What I believe he's trying to convey is that even though he's married and a father (wearing his wedding band and taking care of his baby) - a family man - some (Russian) women still showed (let's say, romantic) interest in him in that they liked what they saw.

In other words openly showing interest in him and not being shy about it in the same way a man might look at a woman walking by him if he found the woman attractive.

"Staring down" usually denotes a psychological challenge between two (or more) individuals (usually but not always male) trying to assert the dominant position  over one another in a situation. An extreme example would be Boxers or MMA athletes looking edit: staring at each other during the official's pre fight instructions.

Brass

[alex330]

Very enjoyable read. It induced a few laughs between my wife and myself. Thanks for sharing Mende.

[mendeleyev]

I cannot take credit--it was Pete over at Moscow FM who sent me the link. I liked it, obviously. It isn't so easy to track him down as the publisher doesn't seem to care about listing writer contact info, however just today he and I made contact. I wasn't certain what to expect, given our differences in age, for example. However, I found him to be as delightful in our short communication, just as real as he is in writing.

He plans to return to Russia for another visit and promised write about it again. I am looking forward to it.

[cc3]

'Ashan', the "Sam's Club of Russia", is actually a French company, 'Auchan':

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auchan

[mendeleyev]

True, and they have been in trouble lately for supposedly selling banned foodstuffs, although I suspect it has more to do with retaliation for the decision by France not to sell the Mistrial warships to Russia. One has to wonder if the CEO of Total, the French Oil giant, were still alive would that outcome have been different?

Perhaps I'm wrong, but I don't think that he meant a literal connection to SAMS Clubs, rather an impression of something familiar to his environment back home.

[msmobyone]

I was about to post this in another area and realized that it is a trip report, and thus belongs here.  Jack Millston is a young American writer who has chronicled his first trip to Russia with his wife and their infant son.

It is an engaging report and you will enjoy it:

http://bigpicture.ru/snowfall/jack_en/

Great article, Mendy

I am currently growing my mullet - SC likes my hair longer  - much to the entertainment of my acquaintances - most of whom don't retain enough hair to try ..

I think the coding of the site is great - as one scrolls down the photo corresponding appears / disappears. 


 

[mhr7]

Blacks speaking Russian, somehow it does take some getting used to.

[cc3]

Perhaps I'm wrong, but I don't think that he meant a literal connection to SAMS Clubs, rather an impression of something familiar to his environment back home.

That's why I put the phrase in quotation marks, implying the author's allusion to Ashan simply being similar to Sam's Clubs. Regardless, his amusing, somewhat insightful piece certainly makes me appreciate my newly adopted hometown of Lviv much, much more.

[mendeleyev]

Sorry, my bad. Cc3, your city is so beautiful! I am not one, but imagine it to be like heaven for architect's.I also admire much of the rural areas leading to and from Lviv. More Westerners should visit there to get a sense of the art and culture--but maybe not, if one considers the costs of becoming popular to great swarms of people.

[cc3]

In my year and a half in Lviv, the swarms of tourists have seemed well-behaved and civil, but I hope the numbers don't increase much.

[jazztropy]

I enjoyed the link

[Miquel Westano]

Thanks Mendy.  That was a great read.

[2tallbill]

I have a question. What does it mean ''to stare you down''? To look down on you, or?

Ordinarily I would say "to stare you down" would be an attempt at intimidation.

However, the way the author wrote it (and my anecdotal experiences), I would say
that it means something entirely different, like what Brass said. I've experienced the
same exact thing in both Russia and Ukraine. A women will look at you with an alluring
look as if she's contemplating licking chocolate syrup off of you, EVEN if you are right
there with your wife or girlfriend.

It's like they want to get you keeeeled or something. The first thing that happens
is the wife/girlfriend whips her head around to see if I was doing anything to elicit
such a look, to which I instantly produce my most innocent angel impression, then
the wife/girlfriend whips their head back to stare ice daggers/lasers at the woman
passing by while possessively clutching my arm. So I kiss the top of her head to
reassure her that the passerby drew no interest from me, no matter how hot she
was.