russianwomenpersonals

How’s your personal distance — watch this space By Tara Maginnis Westerners visiting St Petersburg usually experience culture shock when they first come to Russia and are jostled on the bus, crammed onto the metro, and leaned into when overlooking store counters. They watch ordinary russian personal space of conversation on the street and in shops that seem, by Western standards, to be angry shouting matches. What traits do Russian people have?

The feedback you provide will help us show you more relevant content in the future. Most Russians cook instead of going to a cafe or ordering food remotely. And we are quite proud of it. If you try to find a cafe where you can have a proper lunch for some reasonable price and to avoid fast food it could be a real problem. People eat at home so this service is just not popular. Visiting grandmother is a synonym to eat a lot of soups, pies etc.

It doesn’t matter if it’s not your grandmother. They all think that you are too skinny and want to feed you. Though we don’t have the problem of obesity. If you are a woman, men will open and hold doors for you. And give place to you in transport.

It doesn’t happen always but it’s really often. We treat to old people the same way. Well, we smile to friends who we are happy to see. We smile if something good happens. We don’t do it without a reason. Even if somebody holds a door for you, he can do it without any words or emotions on his face. We are not really surprised if a shop assistant doesn’t smile while selling us something.

We’d like him to say “thank you”, and it happens often but still not always. We don’t mean to offend somebody. It doesn’t mean we treat you badly. We know that people are different and we don’t see any problem in paying attention to it. Racism is part of my culture. We also have Christmas but it’s celebrated only by religious people.

We have a lot of holidays. For example, this year we have 247 workdays and 119 holidays. Also, a typical vacation in Russia is 4 weeks a year. Most people take a vacation and don’t overwork. On the other hand, our shops and cafes work during holidays. Most clothes stores work till 10 p. We have traditional phrases to say before having a meal, after taking a shower, before exams and so on.

We laugh at ourselves and still we feel offended if these jokes come from the outside. We like guests and we visit each other a lot. Guests can come spontaneously at any hours and stay until late night. If it’s a celebration, we set the table. If not, it can be just tea with cake. It’s nice if your guests bring something but it’s not obligatory.