Bringing the family

[DKMM]

I just returned from my 5th trip to the FSU in a year.  Wow what a difference a year has made!  The purpose of this little trip was to bring my mother and brother to Russia to meet my fiancee, E.  We spent a few days in her current city, Moscow and then went to St. Petersburg to meet her family.

For some reason, this seemed like the craziest trip yet, but maybe that's because the things I am starting to get used to were discussed at length by my new to all things FSU companions.

I will say that Russia is still a very disfunctional country that is bordering on the 3rd world.  There isn't much difference between it and say Mexico other than the climate and how people look.

My brother arrived 2 days before me to spend some time with my girl.  He's married and thought he was ready for this but even he was shocked by the place.  And this from a guy who woke up on a park bench in amsterdam during his bachelor party (he figures he got lost).

His connecting flight to JFK on Delta was late so they put him on Aeroflot.  That was rather uneventful other than the clapping when the plane lands.  His flat had a broken outside door so they put him in a different one while they fixed it.  E took him on a tour of the place to help him get his bearings.  Then he went out to a club (Opera) with another friend of mine and said it was the most amazing thing he'd ever seen, and he's been to some good clubs.  Getting in was the hard part.  The flathead security guy didn't like him for some reason but my friend was finally able to persuade him.  The $40 drinks weren't a good thing either especially since he bought 15, of which 8 were for himself (so he could be drunk enough to dance like a Russian).  It was very strange to him how people didn't dance in pairs like they tend to do in America.

The other two days were just full of the usual mayhem and strange sights but nothing I recall worth noting.  He spent most of the time sleeping to adjust to the time difference and of course talking with E for hours on end.

Then it was my turn...

[BillyB]

My brother arrived 2 days before me to spend some time with my girl. 

Then it was my turn...

LOL.

Anyway, it's nice that your family would want to visit your fiancee and enjoy a vacation while their at it.

[DKMM]

Truth be told my brother is a little jealous.  He too had the Russian bug once but I took it to a much further level than his Internet adventures.  In any case, i thought it was an excellent idea to let them have some alone time so he can give me his real opinion about her.

So we arrive in Moscow on a delayed flight from Amsterdam.  The usual crowd awaits us in SVO2 with passport control.  I was so tired and I remember using that tiny bathroom there and was still not all in the head.  On the way out a somewhat drunk Russian guy was finished washing his hands and I opened the door for him basically so he could leave and I could get in to wash my hands.  He seemed shocked that I would do that for him.   

The crowds at passport control have gotten worse in the past few months with more cutting occuring each time.  My mom was not impressed with Russia so far if this is how it works.  an hour later we made it through line grabbed our bags and made for the exit.  I couldn't find my driver so I called E, she called the driver and I literally saw him right when his phone rang.  Udachi!

The drive in at 9pm on a Monday was incredibly crowded.  The traffic was just horrible, who is going to the center of town at such a time?  It seems Moscow is just growing too fast for its infrastructure to keep up.  Half of Leningradksy was torn up maybe in an effort to remedy this.  My mom was sleepily enjoying her 1st glimps of Russia and had no problem with the driving antics saying its no different than Beijing.

Finally we got to the apartment, my brother walked out at the same moment and greeted us in.  He was already acting like the Russia expert telling my mom this and that (don't smile at strangers etc.)  Up that old elevator and E came bounding out that double reinforced steel door and into the smelly stairwell to greet me!  She looked and smelled fabulous!  I can't remember the rest of the night because we were pushing 35 hours at that point, but I don't think we did much other than some gift giving.

[DKMM]

The next two days E worked so we just became tourists for the time being.  We hit up the Christ the Savior Cathedral and walked on the bridge out back.  Awesome sights!  From there walked up to Old Arbat, took a peak at Novy Arbat and went all the way to the end.  That used up most of the day actually because they bought bags of souvenirs from the place.  It was such a strange feeling to be sharing my Russian experiences with my loved ones, it almost made the place become more real.

We wanted to make it to Park Pobedy but I used my guidebook which gave me the wrong line and wrong stop.  Duh the Park Pobedy stop sounds right but anyways we walked up there from a long ways away.  At this point they were getting used to how things work here.  My brother liked to point out things like notice how police are checking dark skinned peoples' documents, look how people line on up the right, someone will run into you (or you them) and they just keep going like nothing happened etc.

We finally got to the Park, and it was time to head back.  I had a tea time with J that was in a short window.  We got back to the flat and my mom and brother just weren't keeping up with me.  We were late so I showed them how we flag a gypsy cab.  My mom was not exactly agreeable to this idea but I just walked to the side of the road and stuck out my hand.  Immediately a car pulled over and I got him to take us where we needed to be for 100 rub.  Duly impressed they piled in the back of the lada and we were off to J's work.  She met us out front with a bright smile and warm hug.  I brought her some things that she paid me for (just trying to help the trade deficit!). 

It was strange to be meeting J, but she's been a good friend through this whole thing and I'm long past wanting more from her since the Cancun trip didn't work out.  We had tea is some bizarre underground cafe.  She gave me a bunch of gifts, claiming some were from her family.  I felt kind of strange about this, but anyway we went with it.  I think my mom was surprised with the personal things J asked me about because it was really obvious that we talk about everything and often.   Half an hour later and I had to bid her goodbye.  My brother was a good brother and took my gifts back to the flat while me and mom went to pick up E at work.

We went out to Georgian food, it was amazing!  But as soon as that 1st beer hit my gas tank hit empty.  Fortunately they all agreed... I got the bill and now I'm paying for 4 people in Russia as the man da?  Actually my mom grabbed it like she always does when with her boys and I sensed E's dismay too late.  Its not like she said anything at the time but I can sense a RW sniffing a man's "greediness".  Where she comes from she pays for her poor parents and certainly she would expect her man to do the same.  I told her later that it would offend my mom to try that in America (especially since mom is loaded) but I don't really know if that helped much.  Oh well too late now!

[KenC]

DKMM,
Just a comment from the peanut gallery: I would think E's concerns might be you being a bit of a Momma's boy and less about your "greediness."  At least that was my thought as I read your post.
Ken

[vwrw]

Hi  DKMM! I was happy to read that everything is Okay between you and your E!!
I do NOT think E's concerns might be DKMM being a Momma's boy. I think the E may know that as a man treats his mother, similarly he will treat her 5 years later if the E gets a sincere respect of DKMM. He honors his mother; it is a good sign! 

[Serebro]

DKMM, why did your mother pay?!

[DKMM]

Its ok, i am a bit of a momma's boy and E better get used to it!  No ok there was more to it than that.  I paid for other meals when i was there, but also my mom picked up some.  I just forgot that I should be the one buying when E is around.  We pretty much share our money and always have, this is how wealthy families work.  I manage many of their investments and make them a lot of money and they kick some back to me in this way.  Its something we never even think about, certainly american girls didn't care who paid as long as it wasn't them! 

I explained to E that we always paid for each other but when we get married I will more carefully mind my financial ties with my family.  I know my brother has gone through the same issues with his wife as well.

My family is helping pay for this whole adventure anyways, just like they would pay for an elaborate wedding were I marrying a girl stateside (I'm not getting such an elaborate wedding now).  I'm still putting in my fair share, indeed all of my savings are depleted and I live check to check now.  I have home equity but its pointless to tap that at this point.

There I hope that helps explain it.  It seems weird talking about this but its all good.  E really likes my mom and sometimes it almost seems she might be spending more time with her than with me!  I hope my mom doesn't become too involved in my relationship, but that's another post for another time.

The next day was more of the same.  Mom asked in the morning if she will get sick because she forgot and used the tap water to brush her teeth.  No that should be fine I told her, in Moscow the water isn't so bad to brush your teeth unlike St. Petersburg.

We did the Kremlin this day and sad to find out Red Square was closed at this time for a parade all week.  The Kremlin was fun though, and Ivan's Cathedral was now without scaffolding.  Another church had a choir inside which was really neat.  We went from there around through the GUM and China Town.  Everything is redone and immaculate.  My brother turned to me and said "and people back home think these people are poor huh?"  I guess its true, Moscow is quietly approaching Western European standards as long as you don't venture out too far from the core.

They went back to Stary Arbat for more shopping!  It was all taking too long so I went alone to meet E at her work.  Ahh what a fine moment when I see her after work.  We went to dinner that night in the same cafe that we met at when I came back from Tver in May. 

The next day we were planning to do something, but my brother took off by himself to see the war museum at Park Pobedy so me and the ladies strolled down to breakfast before we caught a ride to the airport.

And then things really got crazy...

[Serebro]

DKMM, may I ask how old you are?

[DKMM]

I'm 29. 

OK so anyways, we are about 2.5 hours from our flight and checking out of our flat.  I can't find my brother anywhere and my mom is dragging slowly as usual.  On top of that E is just now deciding that we will need 2 cars.  Its a joy when you have to worry about other people in a group!  So much easier to do things on your own...

We drag our cases downstairs where I find my brother and we drop the keys off in the broken mailbox.  On the busy street E starts flagging down cars.  We have like 8 suitcases and apparently cars were smart enough to figure out we will need 2 of them.  In an instant we have two small cars, two confused drivers, some guy in between honking because he's stuck between us and we pile in as fast as we can.  The race is on!  E's with my mom and they quickly leave us behind.  Each driver in Moscow has their own unique method of getting to SVO.  Mine thought to avoid any road wider than one car could fit down, while E's apparently made a beeline for Leningradsky only to get bogged down in traffic.

Getting to the airport in Moscow is always an interesting experience, I don't care how many times you do it.  Where I'm from its always a boring one so its kind of fun in a way as long as you aren't running late for a plane!

An hour into it we finally make it to the main road and E calls.  She is already past the MKAD and says the traffic is still horrible!  We are miles behind and have only an hour for the flight, which I communicate to the driver.  He got this paniced look on his face, lit a cigarette and bounded through the traffic.  I saw a semi truck munched with a new Beamer as everyone wormed around.  My driver figured he could beat the crowd by cutting through parking lots.  Every chance he could get, he would cut up the driveway and race down the parking lot to the exit.  Sometimes he would just make his own exit where ever the car could physically get through.

Well it was still really bad, accident #2 was up ahead and people were getting nowhere quick.  This guy then decides to take a short cut.  Or so he thought.  We drove through some apartment blocks, under the buildings (like in a tunnel) at about 100km while kids and babushkas literally jumped out of the way.  Every dead end only made him more determined and we headed further away from the main road.  The driveways gave way to abandoned lots where we just drove over dirt and finally mud.  *scrape*! went the car as it bottomed out repeatedly.  I mean this Skoda was pushing its limits.  Out of nowhere, 3 dogs came and attacked our car, not shaken by the initial impact of our muddy bumper nor the mud puddles drenching them.  In fact, they were driven mad by our intrusion, and I swear we drove over one.  Eventually we had to turn back, and we drove around some area that was full of kiosks and young men who seemingly have nothing better to do but stand in front of them and smoke.  He finally muttered something and pulled over to ask a babushka something.  She seemed irritated and we took off in a general half circle right back to where we left the main road about 10 minutes before.

Now the driver was rather embarassed and my brother was just enjoying taking video's of this crazy country.  Me, I was paniced because it was about 50 minutes till our flight took off and we were still far away.  E then called to tell me that she passed the final wreck and it was smooth sailing to the airport.  I had no way of telling our driver this in Russian so I just lied and told her we were further than we were... our driver saw a car pass on the shoulder so he joined in making a new lane.  Once this backed up, we saw someone driving down the dirt next to the road.  This looked fine so we did that too!  Finally we came along a park and he eased the Skoda on to a walking path!  This was classic, complete with grannies waving their umbrellas at us, cops looking but for some reason not waving their batons at us, and of course the other cars behind us that agreed with this idea!

We passed the wreck this way, and - I swear I'm not making this up - a truck was driving down the side of the road that clearly had been damaged with a severe alignment problem but they did not care!  the cab was a full two feet to the left of the back axle but he had the wheels turned and it more or less still drove in  a straight line while pointing out at an angle.  No photo though

We got to the airport with 30 mins to go, and made our way through the backwards security (you go through security twice before you can even checkin).

The flight was delayed so we managed to make it on no problem.  E was scared to death of flying but seemed reassured when I told her Aeroflot has a better flying record than most European airlines (total crap but it worked).

On to St. Petersburg.

[Serebro]

The crowds at passport control have gotten worse in the past few months with more cutting occuring each time.  My mom was not impressed with Russia so far if this is how it works. 
The drive in at 9pm on a Monday was incredibly crowded.  The traffic was just horrible, who is going to the center of town at such a time?  It seems Moscow is just growing too fast for its infrastructure to keep up.  Half of Leningradksy was torn up maybe in an effort to remedy this.  My mom was sleepily enjoying her 1st glimps of Russia

I am not surprised with the rest of the story but these quoted part made me curious.
When I was going home from JFK NY all  american friends told me that I should have gone to the airport at least 4 hours before the flight as there would be lot of traffic jams.
In fact they do have them in big american cities, too.

The second thing is about the first minutes in Russia.
I don't know if any of you tried to come to the US as non-citizen, but I did and maybe it works very fast and nice for americans but it definitely wasn't as fast and nice for me. I am a russian and I wasn't really surprised but later I realized that that process was quite different from what you can see in other America.
We waited for quite a long time standing in a line after the plane landed before they even started the process of checking passports/visas.
And the immigration officer who checked my passport didn't look like he was happy to see me at all, no smile, he looked nervous and gave me the passport back with the expression on his face"get it and p@ss off". I say I am a Russian and I just didn't pay attention to those details at that time, but I can't say that it was very much different than in Russia, maybe in Russia the process was about 5-10 minutes longer.

[BillyB]

Dkmm,

How much were you paying taxi's per car to get around Moscow to see the sights? I'm sure your fiancee did the negotiating.

[DKMM]

Serebro, the difference between entering customs on my return home and going through it in Russia could not be any more different.  In America people are not cutting in front of each other and forming mobs instead of lines.  Who cares what the officer says?  Its getting to the officer that counts, and in Moscow that can take over an hour if you aren't aggressive enough to keep people from cutting in front of you.  Why don't they put up ropes like we have in the US?  If some short fat self important mafia looking guy tried to cut me in line at JFK he'd get his a$$ back in line or worse.  To be fair, other countries I've visited have their share of similar problems so I'm not saying Russia is the worst for tourists, I'm mostly giving fresh opinion based on my family members' points of view.  I don't really care about the problems because I just care about seeing my girl.

As for the traffic, well it actually isn't like that at 1pm in the afternoon and here people actually stay in their lanes.  Nobody's driving through central park except in the movies.  Its not normal to pass three accidents on the way to the airport either.  I've seen more car accidents in Russia in my 4 trips there than in probably 10 years of my life here.  To suggest that the countries are anything alike is a very ridiculous statement.  We don't have police corruption, lawlessness and unpotable tap water.  Speed limits, reliable electricity and hot water are hallmarks of a 1st world country I'm sorry to say.  Its not normal to see young teens drinking and smoking in public downtown.  Every single Russian I've met that has lived here (100+) agrees with me 100%.

Billy,
I paid 100 rub for my quick adventure on the ring road.  To the airport we got one car for 500 and one for 600.  I'll try to post prices for the rest of my post.

On to the next installment.

At Pulkovo we grabbed our bags and headed outside.  The taxi mafia wanted 2000 rub to drive us to town.  That made my girl rather angry so she just waved them off.  We waited for a bus that would take us downtown (that I saw earlier) for 20 rub.  Well she talked to the driver of another bus and he told us that it too goes downtown.  Liar!  It only took us about 1/3 of the way, but at 14 rub it was a good start. 

I couldn't believe the changes going on.  New buildings going up and a new overpass is nearly complete.  They are trying to make a sort of MKAD around SPB now.

Somewhere along Mosckovskaya we had to flag down 2 more cars.  This time I went with my mother so E could have my brother with her (only 1 car stopped in a while and the area was rather shady looking).  For only 300 rub we got all the way to our hotel on the Fontanka.  This man was the sweetest gentle old man, who drove very orderly in comparison.  My mom took in the sights which I no longer found strange such as people going around the city by horseback.  Again, someone had to improvise their way around traffic, this time by driving down the railway tracks but I was sure glad it wasn't us!

Meanwhile E and my brother were whizzing along in someguy's souped up WRX with the Techno beat blasting away.  He was apparently trying to show off for the foreigner.

The hotel was the same one we stayed at in May (its small, only 4 rooms).  We headed out in search of Sushi and in a strange small world twist we went for the place I had my first date a year ago with N, probably buried in a TR called a tale of two cities.  In any case it was a very nice start to SPB.  What a romantic city it is, I'm so lucky to have a girl from there so I can return. 

[Serebro]

Serebro, the difference between entering customs on my return home and going through it in Russia could not be any more different.  In America people are not cutting in front of each other and forming mobs instead of lines.  Who cares what the officer says?  Its getting to the officer that counts, and in Moscow that can take over an hour if you aren't aggressive enough to keep people from cutting in front of you.  Why don't they put up ropes like we have in the US?  If some short fat self important mafia looking guy tried to cut me in line at JFK he'd get his a$$ back in line or worse.  To be fair, other countries I've visited have their share of similar problems

"Why don't they have this like we have it in America?"
"Why don't we have that like we have it in America?"

DKMM, your posted your story so I guess you care about the reaction and the replies.
My impression is that you are a very immature person, I can say this from your words and the way you act when you are with your gf.
As for you and your family unappropriate comments about other people's countres, style of life(not only about Russia, I was told a story about american tourists who were giving comments about Swedish houses-like they looked very cheap and so on), I can say that most of representatives of your nationality can be easily distinguished from a crowds of strangers by their look full of superiority and their paying attention to small materialistic details instead of big things. I also remember one TV programm that I saw long time ago-it was about one important hockey match that had taken part maybe 20 years ago. Ex-players of the american team were being interviewed and told about their impressions that they had when they came to Moscow for the first time in their life. I still remember one player who could tell nothing except that he didn't find a king size bed in his room and his face looked like he had been so hurt that he even couldn't play in his usual way.
I have read 2 threads of you so far and I could see you complaining about everything-about Moscow mosquitos biting  you only, Moscow traffic, bad houses, Moscow airports, cars, service, paying bills, etc.
I still remember the conversation that I heard in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow long time ago when I was a student. 2 people speaking English(she was definitely a Russian)were sharing their comments concerning american tourists group behavior, that man told to the girl in English that "those people"(americans)always complain about comfort and service, why not to stay in their own perfect country and to enjoy all these things?!
I know not all people are like you, most people use stereotypes when they think about other nations, many americans like to imagine russians as mafia people who drink vodka all the time and are always drunk. Don't you think that russians have their stereotypes about ameicans, too?!So don't try to make these stereotype worse.

PS:I still can't understand why you invited your family to visit your gf in Russia.As your mom is the Man in the family I guess she didn't allow you to bring your RW to the USA before she saw her.

[Kuna]

"Why don't they have this like we have it in America?"
"Why don't we have that like we have it in America?"

DKMM, your posted your story so I guess you care about the reaction and the replies.
My impression is that you are a very immature person, I can say this from your words and the way you act when you are with your gf.
As for you and your family unappropriate comments about other people's countres, style of life(not only about Russia, I was told a story about american tourists who were giving comments about Swedish houses-like they looked very cheap and so on), I can say that most of representatives of your nationality can be easily distinguished from a crowds of strangers by their look full of superiority and their paying attention to small materialistic details instead of big things. I also remember one TV programm that I saw long time ago-it was about one important hockey match that had taken part maybe 20 years ago. Ex-players of the american team were being interviewed and told about their impressions that they had when they came to Moscow for the first time in their life. I still remember one player who could tell nothing except that he didn't find a king size bed in his room and his face looked like he had been so hurt that he even couldn't play in his usual way.
I have read 2 threads of you so far and I could see you complaining about everything-about Moscow mosquitos biting  you only, Moscow traffic, bad houses, Moscow airports, cars, service, paying bills, etc.
I still remember the conversation that I heard in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow long time ago when I was a student. 2 people speaking English(she was definitely a Russian)were sharing their comments concerning american tourists group behavior, that man told to the girl in English that "those people"(americans)always complain about comfort and service, why not to stay in their own perfect country and to enjoy all these things?!
I know not all people are like you, most people use stereotypes when they think about other nations, many americans like to imagine russians as mafia people who drink vodka all the time and are always drunk. Don't you think that russians have their stereotypes about ameicans, too?!So don't try to make these stereotype worse.

PS:I still can't understand why you invited your family to visit your gf in Russia.As your mom is the Man in the family I guess she didn't allow you to bring your RW to the USA before she saw her.

Serebro,

I think you're being a little harsh and maybe a little sensitive over DKMM's impressions of his time in Moscow - but don't fear...  I'm not criticising you for it.

I know there will be a few Americans that will take offence at what you've said but all men should remember that your opinions are probably not far off many other RW's opinions when anyone says anything critical on their home cities or countries.

I learned a very important lesson early on. 

My Girl had said something a few times about a situation (can't remember now... maybe people drinking in the streets) and one day I pointed out people doing exactly the same thing she'd commented on. 

Hmmm... there's a difference apparently.  She can say negative things but I can't.  Fine by me... It was so hot on my second trip that I would have love to have a drink while walking through the streets...   

Kuna

[ScottinCrimea]

The general rule is that for an American it's okay to speak negatively about Russia to other Americans or to those of another country but never to a citizen of Russia.  It's also okay to speak negatively about one's own country to anyone.  Remember that the majority of the audience here is American and sometimes we forget when we describe some negative experiences or observations that we might be offending those Russians who participate here.

Serebro, I know DKMM is not describing anything that you don't already know, but just consider it a lesson in how foreigners view your country and speak to each other about it and also look at the many positive comments that are offered about Russia and try not to take offense.

[Serebro]

The general rule is that for an American it's okay to speak negatively about Russia to other Americans or to those of another country

Where's the rule written?!Are there any other rules like that?!

Serebro, I know DKMM is not describing anything that you don't already know, but just consider it a lesson in how foreigners view your country and speak to each other about it and also look at the many positive comments that are offered about Russia and try not to take offense.

I just wondered if mosquitos, traffic jams and bad airport service was a russian thing only to write about them in details?!
In fact I wasn't hurt at all, it was all about DKMM and his future family life.
It's hard to find a Russian girl who would honestly like moaning, complaining and calling an American mommie to pay in a restaurant or to ask her for the approval.Just a note for the future.

[KenC]

Where's the rule written?!Are there any other rules like that?!
I just wondered if mosquitos, traffic jams and bad airport service was a russian thing only to write about them in details?!
In fact I wasn't hurt at all, it was all about DKMM and his future family life.
It's hard to find a Russian girl who would honestly like moaning, complaining and calling an American mommie to pay in a restaurant or to ask her for the approval.Just a note for the future.

Serebro,
Um, this is a forum about Russia and DKMM is reporting about conditions in Moscow.  Many members here are interested and that is the function of this forum.  If it were a forum about travel to New York City, then reports about NY would be appropriate.  DKMM and his family's observations are an important eliment of the information exchanged here.  Ease back a bit.
KenC

[Misha]

"Why don't they have this like we have it in America?"
"Why don't we have that like we have it in America?"

I know not all people are like you, most people use stereotypes when they think about other nations, many americans like to imagine russians as mafia people who drink vodka all the time and are always drunk. Don't you think that russians have their stereotypes about ameicans, too?!So don't try to make these stereotype worse.

In my opinion, Russians are just as bad here in Canada. Here, I know many Russians, and they are always complaining as to how things are so different and also like to whine endlessly about "Why don't they have this like we have it in Russia." Also, if you read what Russian women write in Russian discussion boards (http://from-russia.flybb.ru/ for example), you will find stereotypes galore and a fair share of whining how Russia was so much better in so many ways. Americans don't have a monopoly on national chauvinism :-)

[vwrw]

this is a forum about Russia and DKMM is reporting about conditions in Moscow.  Many members here are interested and that is the function of this forum.  If it were a forum about travel to New York City, then reports about NY would be appropriate.  DKMM and his family's observations are an important eliment of the information exchanged here.  Ease back a bit.
KenC

KenC, I am absolutely agreed with your viewpoint

[William3rd]

I didnt think Russian or Ukrainian customs were bad at all compared to JFK or LAX-especially LAX. And the worst luggage area I have seen anywhere in the world is at JFK.  As far as accidents go, rest assurred-it is seldom indeed when I dont see at least 4 traffic accidents here in Los Angeles in a single day and major traffic back ups at least twice a day.


Anyway- dont take it too personal, Serebro. This is only a board and there are all sorts of different people here.

[Serebro]

Anyway- dont take it too personal, Serebro. This is only a board and there are all sorts of different people here.

I never take unthought things personal, William.It's ok. But thank you for the nice words..
It' interesting that the purpose of the thread is exclusively to share bad opinion about the country but no bad comments are appreciated, only like "I have had the same things, too" and "Great thread, DKMM, пеши исчо"
That's what we call in Russia absence of freedom of the word.
I got it.

[ScottinCrimea]

Serebro, So somehow you missed these positive comments?

"Then he went out to a club (Opera) with another friend of mine and said it was the most amazing thing he'd ever seen, and he's been to some good clubs"

"The Kremlin was fun though, and Ivan's Cathedral was now without scaffolding.  Another church had a choir inside which was really neat.  We went from there around through the GUM and China Town.  Everything is redone and immaculate.  My brother turned to me and said "and people back home think these people are poor huh?"  I guess its true, Moscow is quietly approaching Western European standards as long as you don't venture out too far from the core."

"Getting to the airport in Moscow is always an interesting experience, I don't care how many times you do it.  Where I'm from its always a boring one so its kind of fun in a way as long as you aren't running late for a plane!"

"What a romantic city it is, I'm so lucky to have a girl from there so I can return."

[Serebro]

Serebro, So somehow you missed these positive comments?

No, I haven't missed the positive comments.
 My post was based on 2 threads of one author and I simply wanted to prevent him from making mistakes in the future as he doesn't seem to be a very informed guy. Maybe I should have done that in my PM to him,I agree.

But all I have learnt from people's reaction is that RW opinion isn't highly appreciated, so I can see no point in posting here anymore.
Good luck to all of you.
 
Mislya oposlya(PS):

In my opinion, Russians are just as bad here in Canada. Here, I know many Russians, and they are always complaining as to how things are so different and also like to whine endlessly about "Why don't they have this like we have it in Russia."

Well, Gabaub, I Always ask Americans how they distinguish russians/ukrainians/other FSU nationalities at first sight without even knowing the language.
According to Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_Canadian
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Canadian#Number_of_Russian_Canadians

the number of Russians in Canada 337,960
the number of Ukrainians in Canada 1,071,060

but it looks like all foreigners meet only Russians there.Gabaub, how did you distinguish them?!

 

[KenC]

No, I haven't missed the positive comments.
 My post was based on 2 threads of one author and I simply wanted to prevent him from making mistakes in the future as he doesn't seem to be a very informed guy. Maybe I should have done that in my PM to him,I agree.

But all I have learnt from people's reaction is that RW opinion isn't highly appreciated, so I can see no point in posting here anymore. .
Good luck to all of you

What's wrong with you?  Maybe you should leave if you are so damn sensitive to someone's criticism of your Motherland.  DKMM is reporting back to members of this forum his and his family's reactions/opinions of their trip to Russia.  Your opinion is not relavant to their report on their opinion of their time in Russia.  Instead of having a hissy fit, maybe you could learn something about how others perceive your country.  The perception may be fair or unfair, but it is the perception of DKMM and his family.  There is no "right" or "wrong". it is what it is.
KenC