1. Russians are blunt, but friendly
My host family and my professors don't mince words; if something's on their mind, they just say it. I learned very fast not to be an overly polite American. If I don't like something, or something is bothering me, or I simply can't understand a word of what someone just said, I need to speak up and tell them. That being said, the people here are very friendly. Actually, they're a lot more friendly than a lot of the Americans I met back home. A person on the street will stop and chat and gladly help you if you are lost or have a question. My host mom is literally one of the sweetest, most easygoing people I've ever met and she strikes up conversation with random people. Compare this to the east coast attitude I grew up with where if you don't know someone and they start talking to you with zero pretext, you are super suspicious and think they must want something. Thus, people are super brusque and try to extract themselves as fast as possible to continue walking with purpose to wherever it was they were going.
2. Food is kind of a big deal here
Russians love their food. According to my conversation professor, the average Russian spends half their monthly salary on food. And to celebrate payday, they go out to eat at a nice restaurant. Yulia Georgievna is retired, and she spends a good chunk of the day looking at recipes and making food. Her house here is always stocked with tea and small sweets and cereal and sandwich fixings and just food. Food food. The stuff you'd find on your dinner plate takes up 90% of the fridge space (which is why my juice and snack food hangs out in my room on the windowsill).
Also to Russians, meat is pretty pricey. To an American, the prices are comparable for everything except poultry, which is cheap here. But red meat?? Fish?? Ooooh that's costs quite a bit here.
Also also - snacks aren't nearly as big here as in the States (or so it seems). In a normal grocery store back home, whole aisles are dedicated to chips, crackers, cookies, pretzels, and other small noms. Here, snacks are more as accompaniments to tea. Thus, there is a whole lot less of the crackers and goldfish that I love from home (though these things do exist here).
The juice here, as I've probably mentioned in earlier posts, is fantastic. And cheap. I'm still going through at least a liter a week in juice alone, from multifruit cocktail to orange juice to peach-apple juice. I don't even wanna know how much tea I drink now - that's a whole 'nother thing.
Also also - snacks aren't nearly as big here as in the States (or so it seems). In a normal grocery store back home, whole aisles are dedicated to chips, crackers, cookies, pretzels, and other small noms. Here, snacks are more as accompaniments to tea. Thus, there is a whole lot less of the crackers and goldfish that I love from home (though these things do exist here).
The juice here, as I've probably mentioned in earlier posts, is fantastic. And cheap. I'm still going through at least a liter a week in juice alone, from multifruit cocktail to orange juice to peach-apple juice. I don't even wanna know how much tea I drink now - that's a whole 'nother thing.
3. Apartments, blenders, and washing machines make excellent wedding presents
Russians who live in the city live in apartments. 100%. That being said, apartments here function like condos - you buy and sell them as if they were a house. They don't come with appliances. They don't come with dishwashers. They don't come with washing machines. I've seen ads in the metro saying "Son getting married? You should by him and his wife an apartment." Somehow I don't think my own parents (or my future in-laws) will be that generous when I get married. Also in America, things like washing machines and dishwashers come standard in the living accommodations (also also dryers are a thing that actually exist, unlike in Russia). So for Russians, getting an apartment and furnishing it so the couple can live and start a family is kind of a big deal.
Cars are also a nice gift here. I'd like one of those please. Preferably this one - it's quite Caitie-sized.
4. Russian language is hard, and the people here know it
Mihail, my conversation professor here, said in class "Russian is hard for you. It is hard for us too." According to Mihail, Russians have Russian language classes up until they graduate from high school. They learn how to read, to write, to speak. They learn the myriad of spelling rules and the sometimes random pronunciation switches and the different intonations. All the things I learn in school, they spent 11 years learning. This astounded me, as in America our own language classes don't last long. We learn spelling and how to speak, but grammar drops out of classes surprisingly early - by the end of elementary school it becomes sporadic and more literature based, by 8th grade it is replaced completely by lit classes.
This might explain why my grammar is so spectacularly bad at times. I don't know it well enough in English, and trying to translate it into multiple cases with separate endings and prepositions in Russian (and even before, when I took French) is incredibly hard. I think I do a decent enough job with it, but I still wonder sometimes how bad it actually sounds. And my current language policy is to just keep speaking and hope that eventually something correct will flow from my brain and words will come out of my mouth and make actual sense.
However, despite my glaring grammatical problems and a general lack of vocab, very often here people tell me that my Russian is very good. Lauren and I were trying to figure this out. If Russians know their language is hard, even for them, than they might put more emphasis on pronunciation and intonation than we do as native English speakers. Where in America you don't hear too often someone saying that a foreigner speaks good English, the Russians seem to appreciate the effort we make to speak their language and speak it properly. In no way do Lauren and I know a lot of vocab - in fact, half the time we have no idea how to say something and have to keep stalling and fishing for the words we want - but the strangers we talk to and the friends we make here seem to think we speak excellently as foreigners learning Russian. Not gonna lie, the compliment is a tremendous confidence booster. And it helps that, because we really do try hard to speak correctly, the people we talk to help us as best they can to find the words we need and are very forgiving of grammar mistakes.
5. I feel horrendously underdressed everywhere I go
I am a woman. As such, it is a daily struggle trying to figure out what to wear. Back home, it's easy - I'm a poor college student, thus if I'm going to class I'll be perfectly fine in jeans and a t-shirt. If I have work, it'll be nice jeans and a nice shirt, or some sort of dress or skirt combo with nice shoes. Here, everyone is so dressed up ALL OF THE TIME. The women don't leave the house without full makeup and every hair perfectly in place, and almost all of them are wearing either heels or fancy boots (or high heeled boots). Even the police women here have impeccable makeup and at least a small heel on their boots. The men are, for the most part, in nice jeans or pants with some sort of sweater-shirt combo. Everyone looks so nice.
And then there's me. With my jeans and t-shirt combo, my big red DC sweatshirt thrown over it and either sneakers or my heavy snow boots encasing my feet. So not Russian.
6. Russians are surprisingly superstitious
Yes, everyone has the superstition of the black cat crossing your path or the spilling of salt and such. But here, Russian superstitions and some bits of common advice are smooshed together. Here are a few:
Russians who live in the city live in apartments. 100%. That being said, apartments here function like condos - you buy and sell them as if they were a house. They don't come with appliances. They don't come with dishwashers. They don't come with washing machines. I've seen ads in the metro saying "Son getting married? You should by him and his wife an apartment." Somehow I don't think my own parents (or my future in-laws) will be that generous when I get married. Also in America, things like washing machines and dishwashers come standard in the living accommodations (also also dryers are a thing that actually exist, unlike in Russia). So for Russians, getting an apartment and furnishing it so the couple can live and start a family is kind of a big deal.
Cars are also a nice gift here. I'd like one of those please. Preferably this one - it's quite Caitie-sized.
4. Russian language is hard, and the people here know it
Mihail, my conversation professor here, said in class "Russian is hard for you. It is hard for us too." According to Mihail, Russians have Russian language classes up until they graduate from high school. They learn how to read, to write, to speak. They learn the myriad of spelling rules and the sometimes random pronunciation switches and the different intonations. All the things I learn in school, they spent 11 years learning. This astounded me, as in America our own language classes don't last long. We learn spelling and how to speak, but grammar drops out of classes surprisingly early - by the end of elementary school it becomes sporadic and more literature based, by 8th grade it is replaced completely by lit classes.
This might explain why my grammar is so spectacularly bad at times. I don't know it well enough in English, and trying to translate it into multiple cases with separate endings and prepositions in Russian (and even before, when I took French) is incredibly hard. I think I do a decent enough job with it, but I still wonder sometimes how bad it actually sounds. And my current language policy is to just keep speaking and hope that eventually something correct will flow from my brain and words will come out of my mouth and make actual sense.
However, despite my glaring grammatical problems and a general lack of vocab, very often here people tell me that my Russian is very good. Lauren and I were trying to figure this out. If Russians know their language is hard, even for them, than they might put more emphasis on pronunciation and intonation than we do as native English speakers. Where in America you don't hear too often someone saying that a foreigner speaks good English, the Russians seem to appreciate the effort we make to speak their language and speak it properly. In no way do Lauren and I know a lot of vocab - in fact, half the time we have no idea how to say something and have to keep stalling and fishing for the words we want - but the strangers we talk to and the friends we make here seem to think we speak excellently as foreigners learning Russian. Not gonna lie, the compliment is a tremendous confidence booster. And it helps that, because we really do try hard to speak correctly, the people we talk to help us as best they can to find the words we need and are very forgiving of grammar mistakes.
5. I feel horrendously underdressed everywhere I go
I am a woman. As such, it is a daily struggle trying to figure out what to wear. Back home, it's easy - I'm a poor college student, thus if I'm going to class I'll be perfectly fine in jeans and a t-shirt. If I have work, it'll be nice jeans and a nice shirt, or some sort of dress or skirt combo with nice shoes. Here, everyone is so dressed up ALL OF THE TIME. The women don't leave the house without full makeup and every hair perfectly in place, and almost all of them are wearing either heels or fancy boots (or high heeled boots). Even the police women here have impeccable makeup and at least a small heel on their boots. The men are, for the most part, in nice jeans or pants with some sort of sweater-shirt combo. Everyone looks so nice.
And then there's me. With my jeans and t-shirt combo, my big red DC sweatshirt thrown over it and either sneakers or my heavy snow boots encasing my feet. So not Russian.
6. Russians are surprisingly superstitious
Yes, everyone has the superstition of the black cat crossing your path or the spilling of salt and such. But here, Russian superstitions and some bits of common advice are smooshed together. Here are a few:
- Do not whistle in the house, or all your money will walk out the door (my mom will appreciate this, and no I will not stop)
- If you shake hands over a threshold, one of you will die, and fairly soon
- Do not put empty alcohol bottles on the table, for it is a symbol that your house will have nothing (no food, no drink, no company). Put them on the floor when you've drained them
- Don't share your knife or handkerchief (yes, those are still used here). If your friend needs one, have them "pay" a few kopecks for it first
- Give flowers in only odd numbered bouquets (1, 3, 5, etc.). If you give an even numbered bunch (2, 4, 6, etc.) it is for the cemetery only - if the recipient is living, they will throw your bouquet away (waste of good flowers, don't do it)
- Don't play Russian roulette. Like, ever
7. The exchange rate is pretty fabulous
Right now, I get 36 roubles to the dollar. For the things I look at prices for - juice, bread, peanut butter, souvenirs - I'm not breaking the bank every time I want/need something. I can subsist on about 150 roubles a day, which is $4.17. Not bad, huh?? On days when I adventure, my tickets to museums and cathedrals cost about that much, plus whatever I get for snacks or meals when I'm out. So maybe it comes to 500 roubles instead of 150. That's still only about $14. That's less than it costs me to go to the movies back home, and here that covers an entire day. The only downside to the monies here is that metro fares are pretty comparable to back home, and I have to metro EVERYWHERE. So I'm still spending an incredible amount in transportation. However, still cheap.
8. My conversation professor wants to know what a skunk smells like
No joke. There are no skunks here in the city, so he says that, just once in his life, he wants to smell that pungent aroma that is skunk. If only so that he can freak out and never wanna smell it again.
9. Sometimes elk find their way into the city center
Apparently they cross the Neva River while it's frozen in the winter. As they cross, the ice can break under their weight. And the closest port is by the Winter Palace at the Hermitage. So sometimes the elk just wander around the center of St. Petersburg until someone calls the Russian animal control. They show up, tranq the elk, and move it/them back to the forests outside the city.
Also in Russian, there is only one word for both elk and moose - low-sss (лось). So in class when I was trying to talk about one versus the other, I had to make the antlers on my head with my hands to show which was which.
8. My conversation professor wants to know what a skunk smells like
No joke. There are no skunks here in the city, so he says that, just once in his life, he wants to smell that pungent aroma that is skunk. If only so that he can freak out and never wanna smell it again.
9. Sometimes elk find their way into the city center
Apparently they cross the Neva River while it's frozen in the winter. As they cross, the ice can break under their weight. And the closest port is by the Winter Palace at the Hermitage. So sometimes the elk just wander around the center of St. Petersburg until someone calls the Russian animal control. They show up, tranq the elk, and move it/them back to the forests outside the city.
Also in Russian, there is only one word for both elk and moose - low-sss (лось). So in class when I was trying to talk about one versus the other, I had to make the antlers on my head with my hands to show which was which.
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