StuffRussiansLike - Update: July 4, 2011

Okay, here's another, much overdue StuffRussiansLike Post!


66. Grannies - I find this one to be absolutely hilarious.  No matter who you talk to in Russia, if they're speaking English and their grandmother comes into the conversation, it's never 'my grandmother' or 'my grandma' it's always 'my grannie'. Doesn't matter how distinguished the person is, they use the word Granny.  It's funny and I like it!

67. Shirts Too Tight: I've noticed that many European men, but particularly Russian men, are like the Grinch. Only it's not their hearts that are two sizes too small, it's their t-shirts.  In shape? Tight t-shirt. Really Skinny? Tight t-shirt. Severely overweight? Tight t-shirt. Doesn't matter, the t-shirt sizes in Russia seem to be two sizes too small. It's...weird.

68.  Ice Cubes: This one isn't really so much of a 'StuffRussiansLike', but more of a 'StuffRussiansHate'.  I don't know why they don't like ice cubes. Maybe it's superstition, maybe it's just dislike, but either way it's mind boggling. When it gets hot in Russia, you'd think some ice to cool off your (non-refrigerated) drink would be delicious, but nope. It isn't. It's scary and terrifying apparently...

StuffRussiansLike - Update: April, 25 2011

Been a really long time since I've update the StuffRussiansLike blog, but I finally have the time (and motivation) to do so! Take a look!

63. Soup: Russians are, in my opinion, masters of soup.  It doesn't matter if you don't like Russian food because you WILL like Russian soup.  Whether it's борщ или щи (borsch or shchie) or any other type of soup, the Russians are pretty good at it. Throw in a spoonful of сметана и укроп and you have a bowl of perfection!

64.  Diplomas/Certificates: Russians love, love, LOVE to hand out certificates for EVERYTHING! Haha I'm not sure how much weight they actually carry, but they give them out like they're going out of style. My dorm has certificates that literally say (in Russian): "Best Dormitory Kitchen - 2nd Floor". This means the 2nd floor kitchen of my dorm received a certificate for being the best. This, to me, is baffling, but hilarious! *Each one is not official too, without that ever-important stamp.*

This one is an actual diploma for university and not just a random one. I'll get a pic of a random one.

65.  Repetitive Calling: This is based on the idea that Russians never, ever turn their mobile phones on silent and that virtually nowhere is an inappropriate place to answer your phone. What this means to them is that it's strange when someone doesn't answer their phone, a fluke. So they call back. And they call back. And they call back. I might be in class and the same person will call me 6 times before finally giving up, but as an American I won't answer my phone in class.  It's crazy.

So, Dear Readers, please keep your thoughts & ideas coming!

StuffRussiansLike - 03/04 Update

Alright so I've got a whole bunch of these things lined up and waiting to go, but for the sake of giving myself something to do, I'm going to be holding off on posting them all at once.  Anyways, here's a few more that I thought the other day whilst walking about the city.

60.  Shaking Hands: Russians are big fans of shaking hands anywhere at any time. If you see someone you slightly know on the street and your hands are full of priceless artifacts from the Ming Dynasty, you juggle them and stop to shake hands real quick.  I'm not a fan of this habit for two reasons: a) people's hands are dirty and generally I prefer not to touch them. For those of you who know or have seen Seinfeld, you'll know that Jerry doesn't like the 'greeting kiss' and is borderline on the handshaking. I agree.  And b) I don't always want to stop and say hi to someone. It's no offense to you, I'd just like to get where I'm going.

61.  World War II (AKA the Great Patriotic War - 'Великая Отечественная Война): Russians love, love. love this. You'll see banners around celebrating the anniversary of the end of WWII pretty much every year. They are extremely proud of how they did during WWII (and let's be honest, without them,  the outcome would have been quite different) and they love to say THEY (not the Americans or British) won WWII, which is something I continually argue with them, saying it was very much a group effort, but of the three of us WE didn't have a secret pact with Hitler...  Anyways, they love WWII.

62. The Morning Beer: I see this a lot less here in Elista (though I've seen it once or twice), but in the big cities you see it a lot.  8 am rolls around, you hop on the metro and there's a man or woman dressed quite nicely, heading to work, downing a beer (I'm not counting the people who've stayed out all and are just continuing to drink).  Maybe this has something to do with the fact that until just a few days ago, beer wasn't considered alcohol here in Russia so perhaps that makes it more socially acceptable.  Regardless of that though, it would surely be frowned upon in the West. Oh well, it's still pretty interesting.

Keep your submissions coming Dear Readers and check back for updates!

StuffRussiansLike - 03/01 Update

I'm going to start just rolling out updates to the StuffRussiansLike post by adding only the new ones and then posting them all on the StuffRussiansLike page listed up above or you can just click here.

Anyways, here are a few more added to the list!


56.  Blini (блины): It's boggling to the mind how I forgot to add blini to this list, but considering this week is Масленица (AKA 'Butter Week') where the Russians eat a ton of 'pancakes'.  I prefer to call them crepes in English because, to me, that's a better representation, but to each his own.  Anyways, aside from this special week, these things are a Russian staple (though not as much here in Kalmykia).  They're also super delicioso.  They can be eaten as a meal itself with meat, cheese, onions, etc; they can be eaten with sour cream & caviar or they can be a dessert with chocolate, maybe some bananas or strawberries. Your choice and you'll rarely encounter a bad selection.

57. Caviar (Икра): Again I amaze myself by leaving out some of the most well-known items. Weird.  Anyways, Russia is THE caviar place.  There are a ton of different kinds ranging from really crappy fake stuff, to the amazing, super expensive black stuff.  For those of you who don't know, true caviar comes from Sturgeon, 4 main types: Beluga (caviar from this fish is considered the best, but you can't legally buy this in the US and several other places in order to help protect the species), Sterlet, Ossetra and Sevruga.  Caviar is pretty decent, though the thought of fish eggs sounds less appealing....

These next two come from Mr. Pat Passarelli if Ufa, Russia.  You should check out Pat's blog here or it's over <--- to your left there.


58.  Public acceptance (or at least passive allowance) of blowing snot-rockets and/or spitting..whenever, wherever: Yeah, I've seen this one and it's not an overly enjoyable thing to watch.  I mean we've all blown a snot rocket or two, ALL of us have at some point or another, but it's rarely ever a clean take-off (if you know what I mean) and as such is simply disgusting.  Also, spitting. This one is slightly less disgusting as a habit, but still pretty gross.  The area just outside the entrance to my university is littered with three things: bird poop, cigarette butts and wet spots from everyone spitting. Yuck.

It's more disgusting and more dangerous here

59.  Superstition #1 (there are MANY) - 'That drinking really cold water will give you a stroke': How they continue to believe in this one, it beats me, especially after the blistering summer they had here  in Russia last year. To be honest, though, I've not come across this one in Elista, but then again it gets up to +40 or more pretty regularly during the summer so they know what it's like to be hot.  I don't know where this belief comes from (I'd like to know) but it's there and it's not going anywhere.  They also never use ice cubes, but we'll discuss that at another time.

So, Dear Readers, I welcome your submissions! Keep them coming!