Russia

[Black Snake]

I just got back from a 10 day vacation from Russia. While it is a nice place to visit, I can't comprehend how my parents and their friends lived there.

Throughout the course of my vacation, a bunch of sh*tty things happened:

My visa, issued by the Russian Federal Government was a 2 month visa started in June 3rd ended August 5th. My ticket back was scheduled for the 7th (you can blame my parents for that), so we had to bend over and spend $1,400 for a ticket back on the 5th when the visa is still valid.

The apartment I stayed at is about as big as this computer screen, and the highway is as wide as my hallway. Traffic is unbearable in Moscow. I don't know how people drive there. Moreover, my mother's friend Alec (in his 60s) got hit by a car while he was exiting his car. He is in the hospital now as I type this.

My relative's wallet got stolen in a mall while we were eating. About 7,500 Rubles (300 dollars) was in the wallet. Luckily no credit cards or ID cards were in the wallet, but it's still a really huge pain in the ass when you try to eat some damn food and find out that your wallet gets stolen.

For our return to Arizona, we had to fly from Moscow to Vienna, then from Vienna to Atlanta, Georgia, and then home to Phoenix. Now, from Moscow to Vienna we flew with Aeroflot Russian Airlines. When we arrived at the airport, We found out that the flight to Vienna was DELAYED 4 HOURS. We couldn't wait the four hours, because we would have missed our connecting flight to Atlanta. So basically, we ran back and forth around the airport dealing with Aeroflot trying to get something figured out, at least to get out of Russia on that day, since the visa ended on that day. After all these lazy ass Aeroflot workers told us there's nothing they could do, Delta Airlines gets us a ticket to New York, and then from New York to Phoenix. We got to New York that day, but all the flights to Phoenix on that day had already departed. We had to sleep in JFK International because the next available flight was 7:00 AM next morning. So because of Aeroflot, I wasted 1,400 on tickets to Vienna.


If I would have known that Russian Customer Service was that bad, and that all that stupid sh*t happened, I would never have went there in the first place.

Furthermore, I have no idea why I'm telling all of this to you guys, but hey, it's somewhat interesting.

[A.G.]

We need to get together and swap stories dude. I also got about 2 hours of footage from my trip. I went to St. Petersburg (right next to Moscow). Crazy sh*t, I know. The driving is just something that you never appreciate until you leave Phoenix. It’s SO simple here. My aunt was driving us to her store and suddenly I find myself on the sidewalk! We were driving ON THE sidewalk! Yet nobody cared. Nobody in the car or on the sidewalk. I was shocked. I told her that had she done this in Phoenix she would be surrounded by 5 cop cars and tased many times.

Now I still fully remember living in Russia. I was 11 when we moved, so it was very familiar. But now that I’m fully grown I just don’t fit comfortably into the living quarters there... at 6’2 and 220 lbs it’s a challenge... lol.

[Black Snake]

Hah! I went to St. Petersburg also, except for two days only. I also noticed that St. Petersburg traffic is alot easier then in Moscow. We were walking to the metro station and saw a car rear end another car. No police called, no traffic jam, they just kept driving. What the f...ck?

[A.G.]

I filmed a traffic accident. The cops looked so f...cking goofy! I was laughing really hard!

As for traffic, don't know how Moscow is, but I've seen some insnane clogs. I've been in maney when I used to drive to school. St. Petersburg is a 300 year old city... it was never designed for that much traffic. Very crazy.

I'm glad I went though. I haven't see my relatives in 10 years.

[Black Snake]

Moscow has the craziest traffic I've ever seen. We got stranded on the highway for 4 hours because of a really bad crash. Also, after we finished our Kremlin tours our rides car battery went out. We had to push the car into traffic so we could get some momentum from the hills. I was astonished that someone would even think of pushing a broken car into heavy traffic.

Yeah, I haven't seen my aunt in 7 years since they came to America.

[FoxDie]

OK I know you both got relatives in Russia so Im not trying to flame or provoke you guys or anything.. just feel like I have to open my mind about this

Having lived my whole life in a city just next to the russian border, I think russians f...cking suck.
Over the years they've been an increasing population here and its not a good thing at all. All they do is try to steal sh*t, cause sh*t to people, they even drive here like you guys described!! its like they have no manners at all, even all the young ruskies try to steal your sh*t and try to get into fights etc

seriously tho no offence but hey thats just how i feel after living amongst them.

[Black Snake]

None taken. FoxDie, the sad thing is that I (and AG probably does too) completley agree with you. Post-Soviet Russians are composed of mainly rude, horrible driving thieves. After living in Moscow for 2 weeks, I've seen how it is. However, after all, I don't regret one bit being Russian. It's in my blood.


But not all Russians are bad. Those who aren't bad already moved to America or Canada, getting a programming career or working for a corporate office company, or something else. But anyway FoxDie, nothing to worry about.

[A.G.]

It’s not a lack of manners dude. The Soviet Russia that I grew up on was full of order. Everything was by the book, strict and clean. People were far more respectful back then. The problem is that Russia today doesn’t understand yet how to use freedom. The 90’s were one of the worst decades for the country as the order of the USSR fell appart but there was no guidance on how to use the freedom. So people just did what they wanted. Right now it’s getting better, but it is still a long road for that country. People aren’t used to having choice.

The country I grew up did not have anything fancy, not like US. There was no malls, no supermarkets, no Toy’s R Us, or a McDonnalds. Now they have all of it and then some. But the country doesn’t have the mentality to use it right. These are people that never knew what freedom is like. Now they have it and do the best they can to mimic US. But it’s kinda like giving a kid a load gun. He knows what it does but doesn’t have the sense to use it right, or rather NOT use it. Same thing with Russia right now.

[Black Snake]

Something to add: When I was driving around in Moscow, going to various places, I noticed that, even though most signs and advertisements were in Russian, a majority of them were translated into english too. Then I thought how much America has influenced Russia to become a "democratic" federal government, hell even the rest of the world to do the same. But that happened right after Soviet Russia, which is a completely different perspective of everything. So yeah, AG does have a point. In the 90's after the Berlin Wall collapsed, when Russia was trying to get off it's back in terms of economic failure and government control, America tried to dump all of it's sh*t into Russia at the same time. Good for Russia?