I'm eager for your opinions

[thedub]

I am 45.  Yes, I spat in the face of conventional wisdom.  But after all the time we had spent together I knew she was the one for me.

Josh,

You guys ARE photogenic. And mspanky is right, you just look like a couple w/ 5 or 10 years age difference. Glad Anna's on and posting.

[mspanky]

 Forgot to add your girl is smoking hot! But you guys look great together. Nothing out of the norm here or out of league.

[Joshfire]

Joshfire/Anna,
You two make a great looking couple!

Thanks Ken, I do appreciate that!  I keep telling her that, but I don't think she believes me.  I ruin the image.  LOL.

You and you're wife are 21 years apart? I would have never guessed. You my friend have not said it, but I will. You look muc younger than your true age .

See the botox is working.  As is the Propecia and hair dye.

Forgot to add your girl is smoking hot! But you guys look great together. Nothing out of the norm here or out of league.

Thanks again!

Glad Anna's on and posting.

Me too.

[vwrw]

From justanotherguy: The truly beautiful women are courted by wealthy russian men?

vwrw: I do not think so. IMHO, in 90%, the wealthy FSU men are chased, wooed and courted by the beautiful women, not on the contrary.

From justanotherguy:
Isn’t that kind of like saying the desirable women don't marry abroad and to aim for the less-than-desirables?

vwrw: Majority of FSU men have one defect; they are poor, NOT silly. And when they see desirable women in your comprehension of this term they do their best to win the women’s hearts. IMHO, in 90%, the desirable women do marry FSU men. After one year of reading this forum I came to the following conclusion-most of FSU women a foreigner will meet in his pursuit will be empty, brutal, impolite, rude, offensive, vulgar, boorish, and heartless BUT physically appealing women who will judge the foreigner by the dress and shoes he wears and by the place where he lives. Foreigners describe the women briefly as blunt/direct.  The qualities listed above are NOT common among FSU women; the qualities are ONLY common among women LEFT after FSU men took MOST of the desirable women from the “dating area”.

I pity all the men who were chose due to their dress, shoes, and cities where they live.

From justanotherguy:
Just go have fun in the FSU and see who I can meet along the way that may or maynot even be interested in moving?

vwrw: Frankly, it is strange to hear such a question from a worthy of admiration guy as you described yourself. ANY woman who is REALLY happy beside a man (not only says that she is) will follow the man wherever he goes, even if he lives in a sh!t village she would happy to live there WHILE he make her happy.

HOWEVER, if someone feel that he is good for nothing; that there has nothing inside him what could attract a woman…DO NOT take risk, look for women only on a dating for marriage site, move to a better location for living and dress yourself better before you go to meet a blunt/direct FSU women. 

[Lily]

vwrw: Majority of FSU men have one defect; they are poor, NOT silly. 

I feel I really have to comment on this, otherwise it may lead us to a conclusion that the vallet is the man's most attractive feature..

Not the poverty as such is a defect, but the sad impact it can make on the personality. Both genders may be affected. Poverty is dangerous because it is able to destruct the personality. In particular, powerty mostly comes along with humiliation, deprivation, crash of plans and hopes. Poverty makes people unsecure, undecisive, desperate, sometimes even envious to other. This, and not the shortage of finances, is dangerous.

In the FSU this tendency is more visible than in the West. Therefore it is a challenge to many people here do not let the poverty decay themselves.

[William3rd]

Actually the conclusion is that certain women are more interested in the CONTENTS of a man's wallet, not the wallet itself. While the wallet may be attractive, the collection of artwork-those fine paintings of Benjamin Franklin, US Grant, and Thomas Jefferson, are deeply admired by those women of culture. . . .

[vwrw]

Yes Lily, you are right. You exactly expressed what I implied. Thank you.

[Blues Fairy]

I disagree that poverty is the #1 problem of Russian guys. 
More like, their upbringing.  A few generations of men brought up by authoritative single moms, or women wearing the pants in the family.  Pervasive childishness and selfishness and irresponsibility.  But I find that's not exclusive of Russia, unfortunately. 

[Rvrwind]

LMAO

But I find that's not exclusive of Russia, unfortunately.

The only difference between men & boys is the size & the cost of their toys!!!

[justanotherguy]

From justanotherguy:
Just go have fun in the FSU and see who I can meet along the way that may or maynot even be interested in moving?

vwrw: Frankly, it is strange to hear such a question from a worthy of admiration guy as you described yourself. ANY woman who is REALLY happy beside a man (not only says that she is) will follow the man wherever he goes, even if he lives in a sh!t village she would happy to live there WHILE he make her happy.

HOWEVER, if someone feel that he is good for nothing; that there has nothing inside him what could attract a woman…DO NOT take risk, look for women only on a dating for marriage site, move to a better location for living and dress yourself better before you go to meet a blunt/direct FSU women. 

I agree completely, my questions was only meant to clarify what he meant about "get off the beaten path".  So what would your suggestion me to do, if you were in my shoes?

[Turboguy]

LMAOThe only difference between men & boys is the size & the cost of their toys!!!

True sometimes, and in a few sad cases they are about 5' something and speak with a Russian accent.

Blues Fairy, tell me something.  If upbringing is the biggest cause, why does it seem more prevalent in RM than in RW?  I am not disagreeing with you.  I think you are correct and I think VWRW is correct and made a very interesting post.

I do agree that poverty can affect someone, but only if they let it.  Actually, here we run into another variation where those who are poor actually can live pretty comfortably with help from the state and instead of the desperation the people affected develop a sense of entitlement and a loss of ambition.  

[Turboguy]

My interpretation of "get off the beaten path" is to go places where there are not masses of guys looking for women or to do your search in ways that are different. 

That could include:

Avoiding the Major cities.  A women who is a 10 and lives in Moscow or Kiev can be out with a different rich AM every night and have him buying her expensive dinners and lavish gifts.   Go to places like Omsk, Barnaul, Perm, Krivoy Rog where you won't see hoards of AM chasing every skirt.

Try other ways, such as Newspaper ad's that Thor had his luck with, moving there for a while and teaching English, use some sites that are mostly RW looking for RM,  volunteer with a church group for missionary work or charity work and spend some extended time with the people, look for an company who needs someone with your expertise for a job in Russia.   There are more but I think you will get the idea.  Some of those may not fit you and some may but that is my interpretation of the phrase.

[justanotherguy]

True sometimes, and in a few sad cases they are about 5' something and speak with a Russian accent.

Blues Fairy, tell me something.  If upbringing is the biggest cause, why does it seem more prevalent in RM than in RW?  I am not disagreeing with you.  I think you are correct and I think VWRW is correct and made a very interesting post.

I do agree that poverty can affect someone, but only if they let it.  Actually, here we run into another variation where those who are poor actually can live pretty comfortably with help from the state and instead of the desperation the people affected develop a sense of entitlement and a loss of ambition. 

I'm 5 foot something

I would agree with that.  I grew up pretty poor and swore I would make something great of myself or die trying.  There are massive amounts of "perpetually poor" here in the US, who are poor simply because receiving state aid unfairly (in my opinion) strips them of their ambition and distorts their morality and ethic.   The reality is the only poor people here are those who in some sense choose to be poor, or choose to do nothing about it.

[justanotherguy]

My interpretation of "get off the beaten path" is to go places where there are not masses of guys looking for women or to do your search in ways that are different. 

That could include:

Avoiding the Major cities.  A women who is a 10 and lives in Moscow or Kiev can be out with a different rich AM every night and have him buying her expensive dinners and lavish gifts.   Go to places like Omsk, Barnaul, Perm, Krivoy Rog where you won't see hoards of AM chasing every skirt.

Try other ways, such as Newspaper ad's that Thor had his luck with, moving there for a while and teaching English, use some sites that are mostly RW looking for RM,  volunteer with a church group for missionary work or charity work and spend some extended time with the people, look for an company who needs someone with your expertise for a job in Russia.   There are more but I think you will get the idea.  Some of those may not fit you and some may but that is my interpretation of the phrase.

I was considering visiting some cities that are the same general size of my own (~450k).  Would that be sufficiently far from the major hubs to escape most the the western herd?  He did send his interpretation but preferred to PM it   I actually am a member of a RM-RW dating site now

[Turboguy]

A few years ago I think if you avoided Moscow, St Petersburg and Kiev you would escape the masses.  Now I find the masses also avoiding those cities and going to places like Dneper and Kharkov.

One thing to consider is that the masses are going more to Ukraine because of the easier visa requirements.   In a survey among the members here a while back over 50% had found their wife in Russia and 70% of the guys or so were going to Ukraine in their search. 

I found my love in Barnaul, a 4 hour flight east of Moscow.  I would suggest cities like Barnaul, Novosibirsk, Omsk, and other Siberian cities.   There are some reasons to pick a city with a good agency.  That may put some places like Tver in the running but many of the cities have a good agency.  Barnaul has an excellent one called Russian Pearls.  The other cities should also have good ones.   

[Blues Fairy]

Blues Fairy, tell me something.  If upbringing is the biggest cause, why does it seem more prevalent in RM than in RW?

Because in a great number of Russian families, boys are adored, catered to, excused from most chores, cared for more than girls and otherwise preferred.  Typically when a conflict between a little boy and girl occurs, mom tells the girl to give way and accept the responsibility.  Young men are being mothered until their late 20-ies and they never have a chance to really grow up.  When crisis or poverty strikes, the woman goes out and finds a second job.  The man stretches on the sofa and muses over the cruel fates of Russian intellectuals. 

I agree that poverty can indeed corrupt a person even worse than money and power.  But that's more likely to happen to someone who is weak and irresponsible to begin with. 

[justanotherguy]

Because in a great number of Russian families, boys are adored, catered to, excused from most chores, cared for more than girls and otherwise preferred.  Typically when a conflict between a little boy and girl occurs, mom tells the girl to give way and accept the responsibility.  Young men are being mothered until their late 20-ies and they never have a chance to really grow up.  When crisis or poverty strikes, the woman goes out and finds a second job.  The man stretches on the sofa and muses over the cruel fates of Russian intellectuals. 

I agree that poverty can indeed corrupt a person even worse than money and power.  But that's more likely to happen to someone who is weak and irresponsible to begin with. 

Interesting... I see a reverse phenomenon here where girls are raised to believe they are all beautiful princesses and that they are entitled to happiness at the expense of men.  Simply listening to pop music will flood the ears with lyics about "if you ain't got no money take your broke ass home", "can you pay my bills, can you pay my telephone bills, can you pay my automo'bills, then maybe we can chill, I don't think you do, so you and me are through", etc etc.  Women here complain about not getting paid more, and yet they still want men to fit the bill for everything.  I'm all for pure equality, but most AW don't like the true implications of that.

[justanotherguy]

Quick question... I gather that dress is more important there than here.  I typically dress casually like most AM and my pictures reflect that... perhaps I should throw on a suit and snap a pic? When I go to FSU should I be dressing in suits whenever I go out?

[William3rd]

IN all my trips to FSU while I was dating, it wasn't a matter of always wearing suits, although at more formal functions a suit was expected- e.g. Ballet, opera. I found that business casual- ties not required-was the usual minimum except when going to the countryside or beach.

[justanotherguy]

IN all my trips to FSU while I was dating, it wasn't a matter of always wearing suits, although at more formal functions a suit was expected- e.g. Ballet, opera. I found that business casual- ties not required-was the usual minimum except when going to the countryside or beach.

I suppose I was thinking more, suit without a tie maybe?  Sometimes when I go out, I wear a suit, with a shirt that is appropriate not to be tucked in, and without a tie. like this http://images.eonline.com/eol_images/Entire_Site/20070611/trendspy.open.shirt.061107.gif

[KenC]

JAG,
By George, I think you got it!
KenC

[William3rd]

That is even a cut above the dress of most of the americans that I saw over there. Very nice. . . . .

[Lily]

Quick question... I gather that dress is more important there than here.  I typically dress casually like most AM and my pictures reflect that... perhaps I should throw on a suit and snap a pic? When I go to FSU should I be dressing in suits whenever I go out?

casual outfit would perfectly do for most informal occasions, but make sure it is first quality and new.
Suit would be required, as William told, for big events like opera/ballet visit, etc.

And listen to the woman who you think is important for you, her style advice would be very valuable for you. Women are likely to be skilled and willing image consultants

[Turboguy]

The look William is talking about would be a good way to go.  Even dress pants and a nice shirt and black shoes would be fine.  Yes, for the opera or such a suit would be appropriate.

[justanotherguy]

casual outfit would perfectly do for most informal occasions, but make sure it is first quality and new.
Suit would be required, as William told, for big events like opera/ballet visit, etc.

And listen to the woman who you think is important for you, her style advice would be very valuable for you. Women are likely to be skilled and willing image consultants

maybe you would be so kind as to offer suggestions?  Once I home I can take some new pics and provide them (at work at the moment, and I am posting via cmdline web browser)