Ten Thoughts About Russians In General And Moscow In Particular

It has been a full two days since I landed in Moscow, Russia. The one thought that I do have is that Russia is exactly how I expected it to be.

Here are some initial thoughts after less than half a week in Moscow, Russia:

  1. The traffic is horrendous. It makes LA and NYC traffic look like the autobahn. By all means use the metro.
  2. The service at various establishments (at least in my experience) is better than expected.
  3. People don’t make eye contact or smile much on metro, shopping areas, etc.
  4. Everyone smokes everywhere.
  5. Free wifi is virtually accessible everywhere in the city.
  6. No Apple Moscow but everyone owns multiple iPads.
  7. Young and old alike are glued to their cell phone screens.
  8. Russians do love to use English  words converted into Russian on a majority of advertisements (e.g. “гипермаркет” (hypermarket) кофэ брейк (coffee break) ланч (lunch) кофэ хаус (coffee house) таун хаус (town house) колледж (college) менеджмент (management).
  9. One facility shared by multiple churches is not uncommon.
  10. Social projects and  sporting events are a big hit with the youth.

Click here and here for a photo essay.


Comments

6 responses to “Ten Thoughts About Russians In General And Moscow In Particular”

  1. Не он Avatar
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    Come on Bogdan, I could have told you all of those things without having to go to Russia 🙂

    1. LOL — well it is always good to see for yourself! 🙂

  2. Богдан – спасибо за то, что поделился наблюдениями. А ты пробовал кому-нибудь в метро сказать о Боге?
    Удивлена насчет iPad.

    1. Sure Mariya you are welcome! We found from life experience that the metro is not the best place to engage in a conversation — everyone is in a mad rush to get to their final destination — it is akin to trying to share the gospel with someone as you are driving full speed on the freeway —

    2. I was pretty surprised about the iPad as well — but literally — everyone has one — they use them here for coasters —

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