I have looked though my old university papers lately and chanced upon this article. I remember how it amused my group mates :) Unfortunately, I don’t know the author.
Many Russians seem to need less personal space that many Americans. While in downtown Manhattan Americans may crowd together, usually they only touch each other out of necessity. In Russia, women walk together, arm in arm, and men may sit with their arms over each other’s shoulders. Two people will each carry one handle of a bag. Sometimes it may seem like a Russian person is almost climbing into your lap in the eagerness to converse with you. This is just a cultural difference. Pushing in lines and shoving in front of people is not seen as insulting or rude, and need to be taken as such. Just shove right back, or hold your place in your line, and you will fit right in.
In most Russian houses you will be expected to remove your shoes at the door. The family members will have their slippers (TA-pach-kee) lined up there ready to slip into.
A Russian bathroom usually contains only a bathtub and sink. The actual toilet is in a small separate room (the too-LYET). Many Americans have been ushered to the room with the bathtub when they asked to use the bathroom, and then wondered what to do!
At some Russian stores, although not the newer groceries and department stores, you may be asked to select you purchase, and then be given a slip to take to a cashier. You will pay at the cashier, who gives you a receipt that you take back to the original sales person, who then turns over your merchandise. An antiquated system that seems to be based on distrust of the customer, this method gives you more chances to practice your pushing and shoving.
Russians love to give little gifts. If you admire something of theirs, they may take it off then and there and insist you take it as a present. Bringing a stash of small gifts to give people who honour you this way is a good idea. If you bring flowers to your host, though, do not bring an even number – it’s bad luck.
Food and drink
Russian food is varied and tasty, especially in a Russian home. Some cafeterias can display sandwich with cheese curling at the edges and gray slices of meat, but on the whole Russian restaurants are good. A typical Russian meal includes soup before the main dish, often a salad or two (beets are a favourite), pickles, and a main dish of breaded cutlets or meat of some sort. Pancakes (BLEE-nee) are a treat served with jam and sour cream. There are now blini fast food counters in Moscow where you can get any kind of filling, sweet or savoury, wrapped in a blini. These places serve borscht (beet soup) and cabbage soup as well. Borscht is usually topped with a dollop of sour cream, as are many other things in Russian cuisine.
Another favourite is a fresh cheese curd (tva-ROG) that can be a little sour to western taste buds. Kasha can also be an acquired taste for westerners, with some loving it and some never wanting to see it again after a stay in Russia. True kasha is made from steamed buckwheat groats, but often any kind of hot cereal made with milk will be called kasha.
A word must be said about Russian pasta, in the form of pel’menie (pel-MEN-ee). Although this is a traditional Siberian dish, it has made its way into Western Russian as well. Pel’menie are like Italian tortellini, only Russian. The fresh pasta rounds are filled with a mixture of ground meat and spices, or with the family’s favourite stuffing, and wrapped around a finger to make a ring. Siberian families used to make buckets of pel’menie at a time and have fast food all winter.
Most bread can be found at bakeries. Russian white bread is crusty and fresh, and the dense brown rye bread is heavy and chewy. It is nutritious enough to live on, and was some of the only food Gulag prisoners were fed.
Tea, rather than coffee, is the main hot drink, and is often drunk with homemade preserves or jelly. The electric kettle is now a mainstay in Russian kitchens, but you may still see a samovar in use. The tea in the pot is very concentrated, and you pour some in your cup, adding hot water from the spigot on the samovar till your tea is the strength you like.
Vodka is often on a Russian table, and is another thing that is hard to refuse, especially since it is traditionally used for toasting – ubiquitous at a Russian dinner. The only way that seems to work is if you say that your doctors forbid it. Should you be happy to partake of the vodka, just remember that your hosts most likely have hard much more practice than you at this, and will heartily enjoy drinking you (literally) under the table.
Bottled water can be found all over Russia, and it is best to drink it rather than tap water. In many places the water is just fine, but gastric upset can strike merely because the water is strange to you, even if it contains no parasites or bacteria. St. Petersburg water is notoriously bad, with Giardia sometimes growing in it, and should always be avoided. Russian bottled water is often carbonated; if you want non-carbonated water ask for water without gas (byez GAHZ-naya).
Shopping
There is a lot to buy in Western Russian. In Moscow, the Izmailovsky weekend market is the best place to shop for curious, Russian handicrafts like wool scarves and amber necklaces, and old Soviet postcards, pins and memorabilia. If you visit in winter, you may be hit with the desire to buy a long fur coat, or shuba – not particularly correct in the U.S., but gorgeous on Russian women. In St. Petersburg, Dom Knigi, House of Books, is a wonderful place to buy inexpensive posters and small items like key rings and postcards, not to mention books.
All over western Russia there are outdoor markets where you can shop for anything from underwear and socks to carpets, boots and pots and pans. There are fascinating places to browse.
There are also western-style supermarkets and department stores where you can put your purchase in a cart or carrier and pay for them at a cashier near the door. Russian cookies (pe-CHE-niya) are excellent – try them all!
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No comments :) It is better to let everybody make their our decision if it is right or wrong :)
