THANK YOU FOR THE COMPLIMENT, FRIEND
I WISH YOU GOOD LUCK IN ALL OF YOUR FUTURE ENDEAVOURS. LET US HAVE LUNCH SOME TIME


it might be, but in many places smiling is an expression of genuine good will and happiness rather than the default state.
"The stranger that smiles at you is either crazy, a drunkard or a foreigner"

This post was edited by Gastly on Oct 11 2014 05:59pm

It's called being polite. I remember how uneasy I was when I entered a Russian deli...they don't smile. It's very unnerving.

This post was edited by thundercock on Oct 11 2014 05:59pm

But it's not just that... It's how the politicians speak... how the news readers speak... everyone sounds like a preacher. All the crying at celebrity deaths and the nationalism. It doesn't sit easy with me... seems forced somehow.



Well if there's one place in the West that unnerves me more than the US I'd have to say Russia. They're scary for another reason... cos they're genuinely fucking scary.

This post was edited by Scaly on Oct 11 2014 06:22pm

So are we talking about American media or American citizens?

I mean I kinda get what you guys are saying, but America is extremely diverse, it's probably the least homogeneous country in the world. In big cities like NYC people generally aren't smiley or even friendly.

Russia is a pretty nice place. befriend someone and you'll have the best time of your life with them and their families

I agree. I did say earlier that it was a generalisation. Mostly from media for definite... but I suppose I'm mainly describing white, middle class, religious suburbanites.

yeah, is it too much emotional investment in everything that they say?


Russia is a pretty nice place. befriend someone and you'll have the best time of your life with them and their families
i like Karelia, then it's Petersburg and then it's Kazan (and the respective regions). i don't really like Moscow at all

next year i''ll go for a trip from St. Pete's to Vladivostok while visiting each and every "state" along the way.


it's about the general atmosphere - even though it's easy to get lost in the crowds of an American major city, it's still very much different from other Russian or French etc. cities and the general atmospheres of their respective countries.
Bourdeaux is my fav. city in Europe, all of those pretty girls

the U.S. is still one of my favourite countries to visit even tho i'd probs not like to live in most of the states.

This post was edited by Gastly on Oct 11 2014 06:51pm

Russians don't smile if they don't know you because Mysterious strangers in their country are often bad news.

Americans don't care because speech wont get you locked up in a gulag. So they don't care about what anyone says.

This post was edited by card_sultan on Oct 12 2014 06:09am

unless you yell "bomb", or "I have Ebola" on a crowded plane. What an idiot.