When I was in Russia on business a few years ago, I was met with nothing but hostility on every front. It’s the most unpleasant place I’ve ever been in just about every way, and that’s including Gary, Indiana.
After reading this, I think I can understand why.
[quote]Steel Nation wrote:
When I was in Russia on business a few years ago, I was met with nothing but hostility on every front. It’s the most unpleasant place I’ve ever been in just about every way, and that’s including Gary, Indiana.
After reading this, I think I can understand why.[/quote]
Yeah, it is pretty well known to most how much better things are here in America than back in Russia, so I think a little bitterness is understandable. That attitude is changing somewhat, though the mail order bride companies and sex tours do not help matters a whole lot. More than a few of the Americans and other Westerners come to Russia and the former Soviet Republics in order to either “buy” women for marriage or to just pay to sleep with them for a week or so. It also doesn’t help that many of the women in the mail order bride and sex tours are doing so against their will.
This is extremely interesting. Thanks for sharing your story, Doc.
Russia has always been a fascinating topic, and I took a great class in modern Russian history while at Pitt.
Some of the books we read describe life as you did, only during the buildup of the industrial era.
Do you teach at CMU? I am applying there for grad school (not physics though).
[quote]666Rich wrote:
This is extremely interesting. Thanks for sharing your story, Doc.
Russia has always been a fascinating topic, and I took a great class in modern Russian history while at Pitt.
Some of the books we read describe life as you did, only during the buildup of the industrial era.
Do you teach at CMU? I am applying there for grad school (not physics though).
[/quote]
No, I actually teach at Pitt! I still have some ties at CMU though, what are you applying for?
I am applying for business (Tepper). I remember Physics 1 and 2 for engineering at Pitt…they were not easy. More power to you.
[quote]666Rich wrote:
I am applying for business (Tepper). I remember Physics 1 and 2 for engineering at Pitt…they were not easy. More power to you.[/quote]
Good luck with that. CMU is a great school. I absolutely HATE our physics for science and engineering sequence. We used to do it as three 4 credit courses (which is standard) with 3 hours of lecture, 1 hour of lab plus recitation. It worked out to 9 credits of lecture and 3 of lab. Now it is two semesters of 4 credit lecture and one 2 credit lab semester. Even the local community colleges basic calculus based physics sequence covers more material than ours now does! Now I have to play catch up with my junior/senior level students.
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]666Rich wrote:
I am applying for business (Tepper). I remember Physics 1 and 2 for engineering at Pitt…they were not easy. More power to you.[/quote]
Good luck with that. CMU is a great school. I absolutely HATE our physics for science and engineering sequence. We used to do it as three 4 credit courses (which is standard) with 3 hours of lecture, 1 hour of lab plus recitation. It worked out to 9 credits of lecture and 3 of lab. Now it is two semesters of 4 credit lecture and one 2 credit lab semester. Even the local community colleges basic calculus based physics sequence covers more material than ours now does! Now I have to play catch up with my junior/senior level students.[/quote]
Wow!! this is really good stuff. I too come from a former communist lineage in that my mother is Czech and my father was Cuban. Fortunately, they were able to escape to Canada in 1968 and declared asylum, but they litterally had the shirts on their backs. The commies took all their stuff and wouldn’t give it up. So I am very lucky, because the plane they escaped from was headed to Cuba. It was on a stop to refuel in which they sneaked in the consulate. It was all very risky especially since my brother was in utero. If the Canadians gave them up rather than lat them stay, they would have likely ‘disappeared’.
Needless to say, I never got to know my family over seas until the '90’s. We were on a list, so visiting wasn’t likely to turn out well. But visiting shortly after the fall, and talking with my cousins, aunts and uncles was a very telling experience. The evidences of communism was still everywhere when I was there. People have no idea how bad those dudes really were. And the Czech republic fared way better than a lot of former communist states…
There’s a reason the Czech’s are all about American missile systems and such. If the Americans want to dump any kind of military might there, the Czechs are more than willing to oblige.
It’s awesome you are sharing your story, and I agree a book may be in order. You have a story to tell and it’s an important history lesson people need to know. To say communism was bad is an understatement of massive proportions.
Sooo, what do you think of Putin? You think that election was rigged?
[quote]pat wrote:
Wow!! this is really good stuff. I too come from a former communist lineage in that my mother is Czech and my father was Cuban. Fortunately, they were able to escape to Canada in 1968 and declared asylum, but they litterally had the shirts on their backs. The commies took all their stuff and wouldn’t give it up. So I am very lucky, because the plane they escaped from was headed to Cuba. It was on a stop to refuel in which they sneaked in the consulate. It was all very risky especially since my brother was in utero. If the Canadians gave them up rather than lat them stay, they would have likely ‘disappeared’.
Needless to say, I never got to know my family over seas until the '90’s. We were on a list, so visiting wasn’t likely to turn out well. But visiting shortly after the fall, and talking with my cousins, aunts and uncles was a very telling experience. The evidences of communism was still everywhere when I was there. People have no idea how bad those dudes really were. And the Czech republic fared way better than a lot of former communist states…
There’s a reason the Czech’s are all about American missile systems and such. If the Americans want to dump any kind of military might there, the Czechs are more than willing to oblige.
It’s awesome you are sharing your story, and I agree a book may be in order. You have a story to tell and it’s an important history lesson people need to know. To say communism was bad is an understatement of massive proportions.
Sooo, what do you think of Putin? You think that election was rigged? [/quote]
Thanks, I am glad your parents managed to get out of there. That is not a life I would wish on anybody. I do not discount that Putin rigged the election. There is no way he doesn’t have connections with the Russian Mob, a lot of former KGB have ended up there and in other criminal endeavors, and they are notorious for rigging elections and buying politicians. It should also be noted that many Russian voters grew up in the Soviet Union where we were brainwashed into believing anything the government says so a lot of people believe the Russian James Bond image he portrays and ignore or dismiss his faults. As for the man himself, he is a habitual liar and his policies after the fall of the Soviet Union destroyed the economies of the former Soviet Republics and didn’t help Russia all that much either. I just don’t see Russia improving too much under him again.
I am seriously considering this book idea. I am not sure that an autobiography of life in the Soviet Union will outsell Roguevampire’s literary masterpiece, but I can try.
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]pat wrote:
Maybe you could co author and weave your tales together part fiction part non. You could be the Mitchner of Eastern Europe.
[quote]Testy1 wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]pat wrote:
[quote]
Maybe you could co author and weave your tales together part fiction part non. You could be the Mitchner of Eastern Europe.
[quote]Testy1 wrote:
Maybe you could co author and weave your tales together part fiction part non. You could be the Mitchner of Eastern Europe.[/quote]
HA! I think if I were ever in the same room as him, his pure genius would just blow me clear away.
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]pat wrote:
Wow!! this is really good stuff. I too come from a former communist lineage in that my mother is Czech and my father was Cuban. Fortunately, they were able to escape to Canada in 1968 and declared asylum, but they litterally had the shirts on their backs. The commies took all their stuff and wouldn’t give it up. So I am very lucky, because the plane they escaped from was headed to Cuba. It was on a stop to refuel in which they sneaked in the consulate. It was all very risky especially since my brother was in utero. If the Canadians gave them up rather than lat them stay, they would have likely ‘disappeared’.
Needless to say, I never got to know my family over seas until the '90’s. We were on a list, so visiting wasn’t likely to turn out well. But visiting shortly after the fall, and talking with my cousins, aunts and uncles was a very telling experience. The evidences of communism was still everywhere when I was there. People have no idea how bad those dudes really were. And the Czech republic fared way better than a lot of former communist states…
There’s a reason the Czech’s are all about American missile systems and such. If the Americans want to dump any kind of military might there, the Czechs are more than willing to oblige.
It’s awesome you are sharing your story, and I agree a book may be in order. You have a story to tell and it’s an important history lesson people need to know. To say communism was bad is an understatement of massive proportions.
Sooo, what do you think of Putin? You think that election was rigged? [/quote]
Thanks, I am glad your parents managed to get out of there. That is not a life I would wish on anybody. I do not discount that Putin rigged the election. There is no way he doesn’t have connections with the Russian Mob, a lot of former KGB have ended up there and in other criminal endeavors, and they are notorious for rigging elections and buying politicians. It should also be noted that many Russian voters grew up in the Soviet Union where we were brainwashed into believing anything the government says so a lot of people believe the Russian James Bond image he portrays and ignore or dismiss his faults. As for the man himself, he is a habitual liar and his policies after the fall of the Soviet Union destroyed the economies of the former Soviet Republics and didn’t help Russia all that much either. I just don’t see Russia improving too much under him again.
I am seriously considering this book idea. I am not sure that an autobiography of life in the Soviet Union will outsell Roguevampire’s literary masterpiece, but I can try.
[/quote]
Let’s be realistic here: RV’s magnum opus is going to topple the Bible from the all-time bestseller list and create chaos. You are up against a self-described “future author” who is so confident in his material that any prospective publishers will be too gripped by his prose to spot the myriad errors in spelling and leave it to an army of proof readers to clean up the mess…but even God needs proof readers.
He (RV, not God) is so self-assured that I think “future author” means his future self has travelled back to warn his present self that his book WILL be published and brace him for the shock of impending success and overnight fame & fortune (as if he needed to be told that!). So RV will also perfect time travel at some point. Scared? You should be.
Just a friendly heads-up. Don’t mean to kill your dreams or anything…
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Testy1 wrote:
Maybe you could co author and weave your tales together part fiction part non. You could be the Mitchner of Eastern Europe.[/quote]
HA! I think if I were ever in the same room as him, his pure genius would just blow me clear away.
[/quote]
Nah, that would be his breath.
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]polo77j wrote:
Before leaving USSR to attend grad school, what was your exposure to Western culture growing up? When you arrived in the US, what was your initial impression?[/quote]
My exposure was limited mostly to Soviet propaganda, i.e. capitalism is evil and Americans are all greedy savages and such. After the fall of the Soviet Union and we had increasingly greater access to Western ideas, my opinions changed. It was actually my parent’s idea for me to go to grad school here, since CMU has one of the best physics programs in the world.
And it was a complete culture shock. I did not speak much English and had a student majoring in Russian Literature go almost everywhere with me. The concept of restaurants was completely foreign to me. They had them in the Soviet Union, but only a very few could afford to eat there. I almost cried the first time I went to a supermarket and saw all the food there and how cheap it was. I also fell in love with beef. Stuff like television and the prevalence of the entertainment industry was amazing.
[/quote]
This is amazing. We take so much for granted, and you just seeing a supermarket with cheap/cheaper food moved you. This is awesome.
[quote]Edevus wrote:
So what is the fairy tale being told to Russian children STILL at this point? Estonia was very poor after splitting from the glorious Mother Russia, so they needed help. The Soviet Union went there to liberate them from the nazis and stayed to help the country, and now those evil Estonians want to kick Russians out!
[/quote]
I dont get this either.
I lived roughly a 100 kilometers from the Iron Curtain and I went to those countries.
I have seen them and these fucktards are telling me it was all roses and nobody yayadayadayada…
[quote]FrozenNinja wrote:
This is amazing. We take so much for granted, and you just seeing a supermarket with cheap/cheaper food moved you. This is awesome.[/quote]
Yeah, just thinking about that day still gets to me. Hell, I can’t even go to a restaurant without thinking about how little food we had growing up. My girlfriend says I get this far off and deeply sad look when we first go into a restaurant.
[quote]orion wrote:
[quote]Edevus wrote:
So what is the fairy tale being told to Russian children STILL at this point? Estonia was very poor after splitting from the glorious Mother Russia, so they needed help. The Soviet Union went there to liberate them from the nazis and stayed to help the country, and now those evil Estonians want to kick Russians out!
[/quote]
I dont get this either.
I lived roughly a 100 kilometers from the Iron Curtain and I went to those countries.
I have seen them and these fucktards are telling me it was all roses and nobody yayadayadayada…[/quote]
It is not really their fault for thinking that. The Soviet propaganda machine did a very good job of brainwashing the general population. All we heard on the radio and at rallies was how destitute and corrupt and evil the capitalist world was and how much better we had it in the Soviet Union.
[quote]roybot wrote:
Let’s be realistic here: RV’s magnum opus is going to topple the Bible from the all-time bestseller list and create chaos. You are up against a self-described “future author” who is so confident in his material that any prospective publishers will be too gripped by his prose to spot the myriad errors in spelling and leave it to an army of proof readers to clean up the mess…but even God needs proof readers.
He (RV, not God) is so self-assured that I think “future author” means his future self has travelled back to warn his present self that his book WILL be published and brace him for the shock of impending success and overnight fame & fortune (as if he needed to be told that!). So RV will also perfect time travel at some point. Scared? You should be.
Just a friendly heads-up. Don’t mean to kill your dreams or anything…
[/quote]
I never REALLY thought that I could best the literary genius and all around awesomeness that is RV, but a guy can dream can’t he?
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]orion wrote:
[quote]Edevus wrote:
So what is the fairy tale being told to Russian children STILL at this point? Estonia was very poor after splitting from the glorious Mother Russia, so they needed help. The Soviet Union went there to liberate them from the nazis and stayed to help the country, and now those evil Estonians want to kick Russians out!
[/quote]
I dont get this either.
I lived roughly a 100 kilometers from the Iron Curtain and I went to those countries.
I have seen them and these fucktards are telling me it was all roses and nobody yayadayadayada…[/quote]
It is not really their fault for thinking that. The Soviet propaganda machine did a very good job of brainwashing the general population. All we heard on the radio and at rallies was how destitute and corrupt and evil the capitalist world was and how much better we had it in the Soviet Union.
[/quote]
That did not happen so much in other countries.
They got German and Austrian television, they knew.
It is mostly kids that are not possibly old enough to have seen any of it.
Those tv signals might have been transmitted with more power than necessary, but then, lots of valleys in Austria, we need strong signals.
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
As per request, I am starting this thread about growing up in Soviet Russia and post-Soviet Russia. The majority of my childhood was in Soviet Russia since I moved to America in the mid 90’s for grad school and decided to stay. Anyone else who would like to share their experiences with moving to America, or growing up in another country I would love to hear your tales. Also, any questions anybody may have, feel free to ask. This is a large topic, so I will do so in several posts starting with growing up in the Soviet Union, going to university (I started university before the fall of the Soviet Union and finished after.), and life in Russia post-Soviet Union.
I come from a family of 5: Mom, Dad, older brother, me, younger sister. My parents are both highly educated, or “Intelligentsia” Dad is an engineer and Mom is a mathematician and chess grandmaster. This does not hold the same significance that it does in America. Intelligence and education were not highly valued in the Soviet Union, the emphasis was on the workers. In America, my parents would have been in the top tier of income and social status. In the CCCP, the combined monthly income for our family was about 350 rubles a month (the average was between 400-450 and the highest earners got about 600-650). We lived in a 2 bedroom apartment that was no more than 50 square meters (appx. 540 sq ft) if that. My parents had their own bedroom and bed and me, my brother and sister slept in the other room. Before my sister was born, my brother and I shared the bed. After my sister was born, she slept in the bed and my brother and I slept on the floor.
Now, housing in the Soviet Union didn’t work the same as it does in America. Even if my parents had the money to buy a bigger place, the waiting list for an apartment (unless you were a high ranking party member or friend of one, you could forget about a house) was usually decades. Since we were intelligentsia, it would have been decades. Most people lived with their parents until their 30’s or 40’s just because of the waiting list for apartments. In many cases, it actually was faster to wait for a parent to die and inherit their apartment. It was also not uncommon for parents to “trade down,” which is where, say, a couple has a 3 bedroom apartment. They could trade that for two one bedroom apartments and gift one to their child. This usually happened when children of “wealthy” parents got married.
My next post will deal with food.
[/quote]
I am from Croatia.The first 14 years of my life,Croatia was part of communistic Yugoslavia.
This stuff sounds familiar.I am an anticommunist ever since!