[quote]Tex Ag wrote:
I met an engineer from Russia in San Francisco, he was my taxi driver. He said he made more money than in Russia.
Does Texas count as another country? It’s what they say on the tourism ads.[/quote]
The average monthly income these days in Russia is about 22,000 rubles (600 US dollars). That is way better than when I was growing up, but there is still a long way to go. Places like Ukraine and Armenia are worse. And given what little bit I know about you Texans, I would consider you your own country.[/quote]
We were a country once. I am proud that some of my ancestors were citizens of the Republic of Texas.
Matt, can you tell us more about effects of Glasnost and Perestroika, and the Afghan war, you know, on normal people? You were too young to be recruited, right?
[quote]Christine wrote:
Just want to say thanks for the interesting insight.
Also, Rand is really not difficult.
[/quote]
You’re welcome. All the talk about her work has piqued my interest so I am going to the bookstore tomorrow to get one of her books. I haven’t decided which one though. [/quote]
If guess Atlas Shrugged is the book most start with. Great beginning, okay middle, hated the end. She spends pages pontificating what the book was about. All I remember was thinking, “I just read the damn book, you really didn’t need to spell it out.”[/quote]
I read it after.college when my mom finished the book. She is an avid reader. I asked what she did in the chapters of reiteration, her advice, “skip them”.
[quote]athomefitness wrote:
Very interesting thread, Dr. Matt. Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences with us. I’m curious of the Soviets’ opinion of Mikhail Gorbachev during the end of the Cold War, and how the Russians and former bloc nations feel about him today.[/quote]
Edevus was pretty much right about public opinion on Gorbachev. Glasnost and perestroika (those words look so funny written in English instead of Cyrillic) brought about some amazing reforms to the Soviet government and economy. He tried really hard to undo the corruption that was fostered during the early years of the Soviet Union, but it was too little, too late. Nothing short of a total collapse and restructuring of our political system was going to undo the damage done under Stalin and others like him. Even to this day, the corruption is still very widespread in the Russian government, but it is getting better little by little. That may change once Putin is back in charge in May. It was a noble effort, but it was just not enough.
The major thing working against him, though, were his economic policies. They were disastrous. The Soviet GDP went up drastically under his reforms, but agricultural production fell dramatically, especially during the late 80’s, which made food even more scarce. 1988-1990 were the worst years as far as food was concerned. We were put on rations that dictated what we could buy and how much. The problem was that the stores were often out of what we had tickets for and we couldn’t buy anything else. This led to black markets popping up where we could sell our useless tickets and buy tickets for what was available. The prices were ridiculous. Bread in 1988 was .28 rubles per loaf, but a ticket for bread on the black market would sell for 5 rubles. Starvation was widespread and many got sick and died. We would sometimes go for days without eating.
All in all, I really think he meant well but there was just too much damage to our political and economic systems for anything but a total collapse and restructuring to save, which is what is still happening today.
EDIT: I just noticed I put Yeltsin instead of Putin as becoming President of the Russian Federation again! I can’t believe I did that.
Sounds like our public school systems are ensuring that we end up just like the Soviet Union!
“In Soviet Union, road fork you!”
Matt- Where I grew up in there is a large farming population of folks from Ukraine, Poland, and other former Soviet states. Your stories are similar to many I’ve heard from folks back home.
Please, keep sharing![/quote]
I wish more schools would cover this stuff even just a little bit more. If nothing else, it may give some people a little perspective on bad things can get if you let it. I feel really bad for the folks living in Ukraine right after the fall of the Soviet Union. We heard stories of what things were like and it was just horrible, even compared to how bad things were at home. I hope things are going well in Toronto for you. [/quote]
If it is okay with you, I am going to put your story in a document for my students to read. No name or site information.[/quote]
Go ahead. I am all for educating people on what life was like in the Soviet Union.
[quote]guhkes wrote:
And we were lucky. Soviets were so busy chasing Germans to the Berlin before Allies would get there, so they made a quick peace. Probably thinking of occupying us later as they did with Czheks. Those were hard pressed times, but nothing compared to those countries left behind the Iron Curtain. Even today people say that “nothing good comes from the East besides the Sun. And even that is needed tolook thru the sights”.
Back to Soviets. We have many of them as tourists these days. Women are mostly stunning and this has had 2 types of reactions from our women (this goes for Estonian women also). Those who envy and call them all whores and those who are trying to match them in style. I like the latter effect a lot more.
Matt. What was the dating like in Communist era? Was it the same as today?[/quote]
It was not all that different from dating in most other places at the time. Teenagers met, started fooling around and eventually got married and had kids (or got knocked up and then married). Actual dates were different. Restaurants were only for the very rich, but we had theaters that were not expensive since they were a great way to spread propaganda and such to brainwash the general population. Going for walks and just spending free time together were the norm. I didn’t ever actually date during the Soviet Union. I was several years younger than all my classmates, so I never really had a chance with any of the girls in my class.
[quote]MaliMedved wrote:
Matt, can you tell us more about effects of Glasnost and Perestroika, and the Afghan war, you know, on normal people? You were too young to be recruited, right?[/quote]
The major effect the war in Afghanistan had on us regular people was related to food. I know I post about food a lot, that is because eating was the single biggest problem for all of us. We didn’t think about things like freedom of speech, gun control, legal drinking ages and stuff like that. We worried about whether or not we were going to eat that day, and too often the answer for those of us not at the top (which was about 99.9% of the population) was no. The US and other nations placed trade embargoes on the Soviet Union and almost completely stopped selling us food, and the Soviet Union for most of the last half of the 20th century was focused industrial development, which means that agricultural production fell to the point that without foreign food being imported it became VERY difficult for us to eat. A lot of times we had to make a single loaf of bread (sometimes two) last a whole week for my family of 5.
And, yes my brother and I were both just barely too young to be conscripted, but my uncle on my father’s side and two of my cousins on my mother’s side fought, but they all came home okay.
You are on this site so I assume you are working out. Based on what you have said about food availability it does not sound like there was any sort of gym culture. What gave you the lifting bug?
[quote]Tex Ag wrote:
You are on this site so I assume you are working out. Based on what you have said about food availability it does not sound like there was any sort of gym culture. What gave you the lifting bug?[/quote]
No, unless you were selected to be an athlete there was not much need or opportunity to “work out.” Besides, with the kind of work most people did and how little we had to eat it would have been impossible.
My girlfriend got me started lifting. She actually does amateur fitness competitions. Anyone who goes to figure competitions in the Western PA area has actually probably seen us there. When we started dating 3 years ago, I weighed about 120 pounds. Now I weigh 225 at 15-17% BF. I am thinking about starting a training log over in the Over 35 section with pics and all that.
A bit off topic, but I am actually proposing to her tomorrow at dinner.
[quote]Tex Ag wrote:
You are on this site so I assume you are working out. Based on what you have said about food availability it does not sound like there was any sort of gym culture. What gave you the lifting bug?[/quote]
No, unless you were selected to be an athlete there was not much need or opportunity to “work out.” Besides, with the kind of work most people did and how little we had to eat it would have been impossible.
My girlfriend got me started lifting. She actually does amateur fitness competitions. Anyone who goes to figure competitions in the Western PA area has actually probably seen us there. When we started dating 3 years ago, I weighed about 120 pounds. Now I weigh 225 at 15-17% BF. I am thinking about starting a training log over in the Over 35 section with pics and all that.
A bit off topic, but I am actually proposing to her tomorrow at dinner.[/quote]
I think she knows something big is going to happen, but I don’t think she quite knows that I am going to propose. I am taking her to this really nice restaurant called Isabela on Grandview that has a wonderful view of the city. I am pretty sure she will say yes (her parents are 100% sure), but I am still pretty nervous.
A bit off topic, but I am actually proposing to her tomorrow at dinner.[/quote]
Good luck!
You know of course that if you ever have kids you will have fits of rage how spoiled rotten they are?
They will complain because all their friends will have one kind of sneakers and why cant they and its all soooooo unfaaaaaiiiiir… and you will curse in Russian.
A bit off topic, but I am actually proposing to her tomorrow at dinner.[/quote]
Good luck!
You know of course that if you ever have kids you will have fits of rage how spoiled rotten they are?
They will complain because all their friends will have one kind of sneakers and why cant they and its all soooooo unfaaaaaiiiiir… and you will curse in Russian. [/quote]
Thanks. I may get annoyed at my kids for that kind if stuff, but I will always love spoiling them and giving them the things I never had as a child.
I think she knows something big is going to happen, but I don’t think she quite knows that I am going to propose. I am taking her to this really nice restaurant called Isabela on Grandview that has a wonderful view of the city. I am pretty sure she will say yes (her parents are 100% sure), but I am still pretty nervous.
[/quote]
A bit off topic, but I am actually proposing to her tomorrow at dinner.[/quote]
Good luck!
You know of course that if you ever have kids you will have fits of rage how spoiled rotten they are?
They will complain because all their friends will have one kind of sneakers and why cant they and its all soooooo unfaaaaaiiiiir… and you will curse in Russian. [/quote]
Thanks. I may get annoyed at my kids for that kind if stuff, but I will always love spoiling them and giving them the things I never had as a child.
[/quote]
Well, I dont know, my mother grew up as an orphan in post war Austria and she cleaned out pig stys barefoot from the age of 4 years up.
To this day I have a very hard time whining that I have it hard, no matter what happens.
So this whole spoiling kids thing, I dont know.
Today even college kids have the eyes and minds of children.
I think she knows something big is going to happen, but I don’t think she quite knows that I am going to propose. I am taking her to this really nice restaurant called Isabela on Grandview that has a wonderful view of the city. I am pretty sure she will say yes (her parents are 100% sure), but I am still pretty nervous.
[/quote]
A bit off topic, but I am actually proposing to her tomorrow at dinner.[/quote]
Good luck!
You know of course that if you ever have kids you will have fits of rage how spoiled rotten they are?
They will complain because all their friends will have one kind of sneakers and why cant they and its all soooooo unfaaaaaiiiiir… and you will curse in Russian. [/quote]
Thanks. I may get annoyed at my kids for that kind if stuff, but I will always love spoiling them and giving them the things I never had as a child.
[/quote]
Well, I dont know, my mother grew up as an orphan in post war Austria and she cleaned out pig stys barefoot from the age of 4 years up.
To this day I have a very hard time whining that I have it hard, no matter what happens.
So this whole spoiling kids thing, I dont know.
Today even college kids have the eyes and minds of children.
[/quote]
I agree, about the spoiling thing and the college kids thing. Every time I hear my students complain about the standard crap that kids whine about these days I tell them stories about growing up in the Soviet Union and it shuts them up real fast. My kids may not whine like that knowing how I grew up, but I will still be spoiling them, and so will their grandparents, and my bother and sister.