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I don’t even know where to begin. The only thing I remembered about Russia as a child was the Red Square and my Dada Sasha’s apartment. Everything else this time was a whole new experience. I visited so many different people’s homes and experienced how people live different lives. All the apartments look the same on the outside. You could never distinguish a rich apartment from a poor apartment until you step foot into the actual apartment. It’s really sad how people live. After visiting one place I kept thinking that it couldn’t get any worse, and then I visited another place and another and it kept getting worse and worse. We visited a small village in Russia where my relatives live. It was horrible, the streets were horrible, and the housing was unbearable. You probably think that I feel this way because I’ve become accustomed to the American life, but even the people that live there say it’s horrible, but there’s nothing they can do. There are barely any jobs available, and when you do have a job you can’t even support yourself let alone your family. The best and worst part was seeing my cousins kids. The only happiness I saw in that country was in those kids, its like the entire world was changing before their eyes but they don’t even notice it, their too busy being kids to realize that the life their living isn’t normal. Those kids are so smart; one of the girls even plays the piano so beautifully. If I saw those kids growing up here I would think, “Oh what a bright future they have ahead of them” but when I saw them in Russia and living in the conditions they live in I didn’t even want to imagine what kind of future they will have. It was so hard for me to see that my own blood lives like this.
And no matter where we spent the night or who we visited that day we were always greeted with open arms. The meals there were absolutely amazing, I can’t even remember the last time I tasted real products straight from a farm with no chemical advancements. And always, and I mean always we had tea after every meal. We had a big breakfast with tea of course, and then a huge dinner with tea afterwards. ( we never had lunch since the breakfast just about covered lunch) and then before we went to bed we had , yes, once again TEA. It must be some Russian cultural thing that my relatives adapted to over the years while living there and they got me adapted to it to, cause now I’m freakin addicted to tea.
The roads there were, well they were basically the country roads that we have here that nobody ever travels on except your everyday farmer. But our country/farmer roads were their highways. Once in a blue moon we were lucky enough to travel real American style roads but that was very seldom and rare. It was weird though, every time my cousin (who was the driver of the car) would get tail up on a car in front of him the car would move to the side to let my cousin get by. The funniest thing though was when we were driving there was oncoming traffic coming in our direction and when they passed us by they turned on their hazard lights, I kept wondering why all these cars were turning on their hazard lights and my cousin told me its cause their warning all the other drivers heading in the opposite direction that there is police there. It was too funny, and it was the only time I actually saw Russians helping fellow Russians. The police there are another funny story. They don’t ride the streets like they do here. They pick one corner on a street and just sit there and if they see a speeding car heading in their direction then they point out a little black and white stripped stick to let the car know to pull over. My cousin was asked to pull over once. He got out of the car, asked the cop if 50 rubles was enough and the cop said yes, and then he went on his merry little way. The corruption there is insane. After living in a country filled with laws and real consequences if you break those laws I don’t think I could survive in Russia. Anyways….the roads were not bad in Moscow, but the traffic there was insane. It took us an hour to get to our destination, but if we walked it would’ve taken us 30 minutes. I kept falling asleep in the car cause I was so bored of the stupid traffic. Big cities like Moscow shouldn’t have that many cars, they should just have taxis like NYC. That’s what I liked about NY, not many people in the city owns a car. You either see taxis or cars that have come from NY state or some other state. But just about every family in Moscow owns a car if not 2 cars.
The prices there were off the roof. No average citizen could afford anything they cell in their stores. Majority of clothing they buy is in the bazaars. I don’t remember what it was called but we went to this mall that was built underground. It looks like American style malls but the prices were no where near the kind of prices we have in our malls. I shop in our malls, but I couldn’t for the life of me be able to afford the clothing they sell in their malls. And its not like the products are different, there the same as we have here. I went into a shoe store and I saw a brand called “Alla Pugacheova.” I can’t believe she has her own shoe line, and the quality and taste wasn’t that great, but it was still expensive. But its not like nobody could afford those clothes, cause there were some wacko people there that were actually buying those clothes. These people are what they call "novie ruski"(new russians). They can afford just about anything. I even talked to one guy that sells parts for cars and he said he had a customer came in and say to him, "I had 170,000 dollars and I baught a Hummer for 100,000 and I have 70,000 left over, I dont know what to do with it, can you help me spend it?" Can you believe that, I honestly dont know how these people sleep at night, do they live in some kind of shell and they cant see the rest of their suffering nation?? Its so sad.
Everything and anything has a price in Russia. If you want to go to the bathroom, you have to pay. If you want to take a picture with a man dressed up in a gorilla outfit in the park, you guessed it, you have to pay. It was ridiculous. The people are really rude…I don’t think the idea “customer service’s was ever provided in their training. Everybody looks so depressed like somebody has beaten them and continues to beat them.
You wouldn’t believe how happy I was to see a real American face when I stepped off the plane. The funny thing was that every American personnel that greeted me through the customs was an immigrant, and they all had a smile on their face, they all made jokes, everything just seemed perfect, they all had experienced the American Dream that so many people long for and that we are so fortunate to have. I had always wondered what would have become of my life if we had stayed in Baku, or if we stayed in Armenia, but now I don’t want to know, I don’t care to know, because I’m happy where I am now.
There’s a lot more to write, but I don’t have the time nor energy to do so now.
And no matter where we spent the night or who we visited that day we were always greeted with open arms. The meals there were absolutely amazing, I can’t even remember the last time I tasted real products straight from a farm with no chemical advancements. And always, and I mean always we had tea after every meal. We had a big breakfast with tea of course, and then a huge dinner with tea afterwards. ( we never had lunch since the breakfast just about covered lunch) and then before we went to bed we had , yes, once again TEA. It must be some Russian cultural thing that my relatives adapted to over the years while living there and they got me adapted to it to, cause now I’m freakin addicted to tea.
The roads there were, well they were basically the country roads that we have here that nobody ever travels on except your everyday farmer. But our country/farmer roads were their highways. Once in a blue moon we were lucky enough to travel real American style roads but that was very seldom and rare. It was weird though, every time my cousin (who was the driver of the car) would get tail up on a car in front of him the car would move to the side to let my cousin get by. The funniest thing though was when we were driving there was oncoming traffic coming in our direction and when they passed us by they turned on their hazard lights, I kept wondering why all these cars were turning on their hazard lights and my cousin told me its cause their warning all the other drivers heading in the opposite direction that there is police there. It was too funny, and it was the only time I actually saw Russians helping fellow Russians. The police there are another funny story. They don’t ride the streets like they do here. They pick one corner on a street and just sit there and if they see a speeding car heading in their direction then they point out a little black and white stripped stick to let the car know to pull over. My cousin was asked to pull over once. He got out of the car, asked the cop if 50 rubles was enough and the cop said yes, and then he went on his merry little way. The corruption there is insane. After living in a country filled with laws and real consequences if you break those laws I don’t think I could survive in Russia. Anyways….the roads were not bad in Moscow, but the traffic there was insane. It took us an hour to get to our destination, but if we walked it would’ve taken us 30 minutes. I kept falling asleep in the car cause I was so bored of the stupid traffic. Big cities like Moscow shouldn’t have that many cars, they should just have taxis like NYC. That’s what I liked about NY, not many people in the city owns a car. You either see taxis or cars that have come from NY state or some other state. But just about every family in Moscow owns a car if not 2 cars.
The prices there were off the roof. No average citizen could afford anything they cell in their stores. Majority of clothing they buy is in the bazaars. I don’t remember what it was called but we went to this mall that was built underground. It looks like American style malls but the prices were no where near the kind of prices we have in our malls. I shop in our malls, but I couldn’t for the life of me be able to afford the clothing they sell in their malls. And its not like the products are different, there the same as we have here. I went into a shoe store and I saw a brand called “Alla Pugacheova.” I can’t believe she has her own shoe line, and the quality and taste wasn’t that great, but it was still expensive. But its not like nobody could afford those clothes, cause there were some wacko people there that were actually buying those clothes. These people are what they call "novie ruski"(new russians). They can afford just about anything. I even talked to one guy that sells parts for cars and he said he had a customer came in and say to him, "I had 170,000 dollars and I baught a Hummer for 100,000 and I have 70,000 left over, I dont know what to do with it, can you help me spend it?" Can you believe that, I honestly dont know how these people sleep at night, do they live in some kind of shell and they cant see the rest of their suffering nation?? Its so sad.
Everything and anything has a price in Russia. If you want to go to the bathroom, you have to pay. If you want to take a picture with a man dressed up in a gorilla outfit in the park, you guessed it, you have to pay. It was ridiculous. The people are really rude…I don’t think the idea “customer service’s was ever provided in their training. Everybody looks so depressed like somebody has beaten them and continues to beat them.
You wouldn’t believe how happy I was to see a real American face when I stepped off the plane. The funny thing was that every American personnel that greeted me through the customs was an immigrant, and they all had a smile on their face, they all made jokes, everything just seemed perfect, they all had experienced the American Dream that so many people long for and that we are so fortunate to have. I had always wondered what would have become of my life if we had stayed in Baku, or if we stayed in Armenia, but now I don’t want to know, I don’t care to know, because I’m happy where I am now.
There’s a lot more to write, but I don’t have the time nor energy to do so now.
I don't why, but this part reminded me of the movie called "Brigada." How they used to trick their enemies. Don't know if you've seen it, but yea.
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