[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Christine wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Christine wrote:
Congrats Doc!
Good luck. [/quote]
Thanks. She definitely knows something is up. She has been commenting about how weird I have been acting these past few days. [/quote]
Maybe she reads this forum? She is a fitness athlete…[/quote]
Maybe, but I don’t think so. She is not really into computers and internet forums and stuff like that. [/quote]
Well, assuming she says yes, you should get her to post here!
[quote]njrusmc wrote:
Probably a stupid question, but I’m going to ask it.
I saw a video at work today about this Russian billionaire with a 400’ yacht costing $350 million. It had 3 pools and a little garage for all his smaller boats. It made me think … I hear that in modern Russia, you are either filthy rich or dirt poor with almost nothing in between. I would imagine the people running Yukos are living large and 99.999% of the oil rig workers don’t get shit for compensation. Truth?
EDIT: I just looked up the article. Submarine dock, 9 exits, 2 helicopter pads, gardens, movie theater, restuarant, etc. I wonder what the typical Russian thinks about this shit, especially if their grocery stores are still bare.[/quote]
There is a HUGE gap between the rich and poor in Russia right now, it actually makes the gap here in America look like nothing. The average monthly salary right now is roughly 22,000 rubles which I think is about 650 or so US dollars. There is virtually no middle class at all, but that is changing slowly but surely. Wages have been going up and there are government plans that are supposed to help develop the middle class and raise wages and standards of living.
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]imhungry wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Christine wrote:
Congrats Doc!
Good luck. [/quote]
Thanks. She definitely knows something is up. She has been commenting about how weird I have been acting these past few days. [/quote]
The future Mrs Dr.Matt is from India, correct?
Are you doing the traditional Indian wedding?[/quote]
Yes, she is from India. Belagaavi to be exact, but she converted to Christianity a while back so we will probably be doing the whole church wedding thing assuming she says yes.[/quote]
Oh, right. I remembered when I saw Christine’s post.
She’ll say yes.
[quote]Christine wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Christine wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Christine wrote:
Congrats Doc!
Good luck. [/quote]
Thanks. She definitely knows something is up. She has been commenting about how weird I have been acting these past few days. [/quote]
Maybe she reads this forum? She is a fitness athlete…[/quote]
Maybe, but I don’t think so. She is not really into computers and internet forums and stuff like that. [/quote]
Well, assuming she says yes, you should get her to post here! [/quote]
I’ll try. She may be up for it.
[quote]imhungry wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]imhungry wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Christine wrote:
Congrats Doc!
Good luck. [/quote]
Thanks. She definitely knows something is up. She has been commenting about how weird I have been acting these past few days. [/quote]
The future Mrs Dr.Matt is from India, correct?
Are you doing the traditional Indian wedding?[/quote]
Yes, she is from India. Belagaavi to be exact, but she converted to Christianity a while back so we will probably be doing the whole church wedding thing assuming she says yes.[/quote]
Oh, right. I remembered when I saw Christine’s post.
She’ll say yes.[/quote]
That’s what her parents told me when I talked to them. Apparently she has been talking about it to her mother quite a bit in the last few months. I am still very nervous.
I can’t imagine the difficulties of changing an entire economic system for such a large group of people. It must be difficult to rid the system of corruption. It obviously wont happen overnight.
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]imhungry wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]imhungry wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Christine wrote:
Congrats Doc!
Good luck. [/quote]
Thanks. She definitely knows something is up. She has been commenting about how weird I have been acting these past few days. [/quote]
The future Mrs Dr.Matt is from India, correct?
Are you doing the traditional Indian wedding?[/quote]
Yes, she is from India. Belagaavi to be exact, but she converted to Christianity a while back so we will probably be doing the whole church wedding thing assuming she says yes.[/quote]
Oh, right. I remembered when I saw Christine’s post.
She’ll say yes.[/quote]
That’s what her parents told me when I talked to them. Apparently she has been talking about it to her mother quite a bit in the last few months. I am still very nervous.[/quote]
Aw, that’s cute. You asked her parents and are nervous.
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]imhungry wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]imhungry wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Christine wrote:
Congrats Doc!
Good luck. [/quote]
Thanks. She definitely knows something is up. She has been commenting about how weird I have been acting these past few days. [/quote]
The future Mrs Dr.Matt is from India, correct?
Are you doing the traditional Indian wedding?[/quote]
Yes, she is from India. Belagaavi to be exact, but she converted to Christianity a while back so we will probably be doing the whole church wedding thing assuming she says yes.[/quote]
Oh, right. I remembered when I saw Christine’s post.
She’ll say yes.[/quote]
That’s what her parents told me when I talked to them. Apparently she has been talking about it to her mother quite a bit in the last few months. I am still very nervous.[/quote]
I’m assuming you asked for her parent’s ‘permission’?
Are her parents traditional?
[quote]Christine wrote:
I can’t imagine the difficulties of changing an entire economic system for such a large group of people. It must be difficult to rid the system of corruption. It obviously wont happen overnight. [/quote]
Definitely not. After the Fall until recently Russia went into a depression worse then the one here in the 30’s and we still have only begun to recover. It has been over 20 years now and we are still not there. During Putin’s first two terms, our economy was growing and he did help increase wages quite a bit. The Russian Mob also became even more powerful and I think he had something to do with it, but if he does as much for the economy as he did in his first two terms I will be happy. Things are much better now than during the Soviet Union, but there is still a long way to go.
[quote]Christine wrote:
Aw, that’s cute. You asked her parents and are nervous.
;-)[/quote]
Thanks. And yes, IH, I did ask her parents permission. They are not super traditional compared to other Indians, but I did it out of respect and they seemed to appreciate it.
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Christine wrote:
I can’t imagine the difficulties of changing an entire economic system for such a large group of people. It must be difficult to rid the system of corruption. It obviously wont happen overnight. [/quote]
Definitely not. After the Fall until recently Russia went into a depression worse then the one here in the 30’s and we still have only begun to recover. It has been over 20 years now and we are still not there. During Putin’s first two terms, our economy was growing and he did help increase wages quite a bit. The Russian Mob also became even more powerful and I think he had something to do with it, but if he does as much for the economy as he did in his first two terms I will be happy. Things are much better now than during the Soviet Union, but there is still a long way to go.[/quote]
While I was traveling in Guatemala, there was an election going on (2003). One of the candidates was Rios Montt. Rios Montt was the president during a terrible ethnic cleansing during the 1980’s.
Anyway, I was doing a home inversion program at the time, and the mother remembered the ‘good times’ under Rios Montt. Apparently there was no crime and it was safe to go anywhere in Guatemala City in the 1980’s. She, as most of the citizens, was completely unaware of the atrocities committed by this regime during that time. Once she realized what happened, she was as appalled at anyone else, but it was a very tense time to be in Guatemala. I stayed for the elections, but most of the travelers cleared out during those couple of weeks.
While Guatemala is a much smaller country, this thread has reminded me of my travels there. Rios Montt is now an old man, but he is finally facing charges of ethnic cleansing within his country.
[quote]Christine wrote:
While I was traveling in Guatemala, there was an election going on (2003). One of the candidates was Rios Montt. Rios Montt was the president during a terrible ethnic cleansing during the 1980’s.
Anyway, I was doing a home inversion program at the time, and the mother remembered the ‘good times’ under Rios Montt. Apparently there was no crime and it was safe to go anywhere in Guatemala City in the 1980’s. She, as most of the citizens, was completely unaware of the atrocities committed by this regime during that time. Once she realized what happened, she was as appalled at anyone else, but it was a very tense time to be in Guatemala. I stayed for the elections, but most of the travelers cleared out during those couple of weeks.
While Guatemala is a much smaller country, this thread has reminded me of my travels there. Rios Montt is now an old man, but he is finally facing charges of ethnic cleansing within his country. [/quote]
That sounds about par for the course for totalitarian regimes. Looking back, it boggles my mind the things we did not know and the things we believed. As one poster pointed out earlier, most of us didn’t even know about the war with Finland, and nearly a million Soviet soldiers died there. Too much power will corrupt just about anyone I think, and then they will do anything they want. I am glad you made it out of there okay.
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Christine wrote:
While I was traveling in Guatemala, there was an election going on (2003). One of the candidates was Rios Montt. Rios Montt was the president during a terrible ethnic cleansing during the 1980’s.
Anyway, I was doing a home inversion program at the time, and the mother remembered the ‘good times’ under Rios Montt. Apparently there was no crime and it was safe to go anywhere in Guatemala City in the 1980’s. She, as most of the citizens, was completely unaware of the atrocities committed by this regime during that time. Once she realized what happened, she was as appalled at anyone else, but it was a very tense time to be in Guatemala. I stayed for the elections, but most of the travelers cleared out during those couple of weeks.
While Guatemala is a much smaller country, this thread has reminded me of my travels there. Rios Montt is now an old man, but he is finally facing charges of ethnic cleansing within his country. [/quote]
That sounds about par for the course for totalitarian regimes. Looking back, it boggles my mind the things we did not know and the things we believed. As one poster pointed out earlier, most of us didn’t even know about the war with Finland, and nearly a million Soviet soldiers died there. Too much power will corrupt just about anyone I think, and then they will do anything they want. I am glad you made it out of there okay.
[/quote]
Guatemala is a beautiful place with wonderful people and I would go back there in a heartbeat.
In fact, most places I visited had wonderful people. I was also in Venezuela during an election. I’d say that was one of the more ‘dangerous’ places I visited, but really, most people just want what is best for them and their families. Maybe I got lucky, but I traveled across some borders that were not to be traveled across, and came out alright. I was probably more in fear of my life on some bus trips just because those drivers be crazy!
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Christine wrote:
Aw, that’s cute. You asked her parents and are nervous.
;-)[/quote]
Thanks. And yes, IH, I did ask her parents permission. They are not super traditional compared to other Indians, but I did it out of respect and they seemed to appreciate it.
[/quote]
While I was living on the east coast, I had an Indian roommate. I think his parents wanted to be traditional, but knew they were fighting a losing battle. Anyway, he ended up marrying a traditional Jewish girl and they had non-traditional Indian/Jewish children.
They had two weddings. One traditional Indian and the other traditional Jewish. I have no idea how they got around any religious rules, but are very happy.
[quote]Christine wrote:
Guatemala is a beautiful place with wonderful people and I would go back there in a heartbeat.
In fact, most places I visited had wonderful people. I was also in Venezuela during an election. I’d say that was one of the more ‘dangerous’ places I visited, but really, most people just want what is best for them and their families. Maybe I got lucky, but I traveled across some borders that were not to be traveled across, and came out alright. I was probably more in fear of my life on some bus trips just because those drivers be crazy![/quote]
Sounds like you have led an interesting life as well! I have not had a chance to go anywhere in South America yet, but I would like too. I have been to a few places in Europe and Canada, though, and have met some great people everywhere I have gone as well. I like to think that most people are generally good people.
[quote]Christine wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Christine wrote:
Aw, that’s cute. You asked her parents and are nervous.
;-)[/quote]
Thanks. And yes, IH, I did ask her parents permission. They are not super traditional compared to other Indians, but I did it out of respect and they seemed to appreciate it.
[/quote]
While I was living on the east coast, I had an Indian roommate. I think his parents wanted to be traditional, but knew they were fighting a losing battle. Anyway, he ended up marrying a traditional Jewish girl and they had non-traditional Indian/Jewish children.
They had two weddings. One traditional Indian and the other traditional Jewish. I have no idea how they got around any religious rules, but are very happy.[/quote]
That is pretty cool. We may wind up doing something similar to keep her family happy. I am not religious in any way, so whatever she wants is fine with me.
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Christine wrote:
Guatemala is a beautiful place with wonderful people and I would go back there in a heartbeat.
In fact, most places I visited had wonderful people. I was also in Venezuela during an election. I’d say that was one of the more ‘dangerous’ places I visited, but really, most people just want what is best for them and their families. Maybe I got lucky, but I traveled across some borders that were not to be traveled across, and came out alright. I was probably more in fear of my life on some bus trips just because those drivers be crazy![/quote]
Sounds like you have led an interesting life as well! I have not had a chance to go anywhere in South America yet, but I would like too. I have been to a few places in Europe and Canada, though, and have met some great people everywhere I have gone as well. I like to think that most people are generally good people.
[/quote]
I’ve been lucky enough to have had the opportunity to travel a bit. I didn’t travel fast, but I enjoyed spending time and getting to know the people where I happened to be.
What I know is that most people just want really simple things in life. To be able to feed, clothe and shelter their families. Everything else is a bonus. But, overall, in the ‘third world countries’ I have visited, most people are sincerely grateful for what they have. It can be rather sobering for someone like me coming from the US.
[quote]Christine wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Christine wrote:
Guatemala is a beautiful place with wonderful people and I would go back there in a heartbeat.
In fact, most places I visited had wonderful people. I was also in Venezuela during an election. I’d say that was one of the more ‘dangerous’ places I visited, but really, most people just want what is best for them and their families. Maybe I got lucky, but I traveled across some borders that were not to be traveled across, and came out alright. I was probably more in fear of my life on some bus trips just because those drivers be crazy![/quote]
Sounds like you have led an interesting life as well! I have not had a chance to go anywhere in South America yet, but I would like too. I have been to a few places in Europe and Canada, though, and have met some great people everywhere I have gone as well. I like to think that most people are generally good people.
[/quote]
I’ve been lucky enough to have had the opportunity to travel a bit. I didn’t travel fast, but I enjoyed spending time and getting to know the people where I happened to be.
What I know is that most people just want really simple things in life. To be able to feed, clothe and shelter their families. Everything else is a bonus. But, overall, in the ‘third world countries’ I have visited, most people are sincerely grateful for what they have. It can be rather sobering for someone like me coming from the US.[/quote]
It’s great that you enjoyed and learned from your travels.
Holy shit, I just realized this thread is 8 pages. I did not expect that. I’ve turned into the Forest Gump of T Nation. Would anyone like a chocolate?
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Christine wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Christine wrote:
Guatemala is a beautiful place with wonderful people and I would go back there in a heartbeat.
In fact, most places I visited had wonderful people. I was also in Venezuela during an election. I’d say that was one of the more ‘dangerous’ places I visited, but really, most people just want what is best for them and their families. Maybe I got lucky, but I traveled across some borders that were not to be traveled across, and came out alright. I was probably more in fear of my life on some bus trips just because those drivers be crazy![/quote]
Sounds like you have led an interesting life as well! I have not had a chance to go anywhere in South America yet, but I would like too. I have been to a few places in Europe and Canada, though, and have met some great people everywhere I have gone as well. I like to think that most people are generally good people.
[/quote]
I’ve been lucky enough to have had the opportunity to travel a bit. I didn’t travel fast, but I enjoyed spending time and getting to know the people where I happened to be.
What I know is that most people just want really simple things in life. To be able to feed, clothe and shelter their families. Everything else is a bonus. But, overall, in the ‘third world countries’ I have visited, most people are sincerely grateful for what they have. It can be rather sobering for someone like me coming from the US.[/quote]
It’s great that you enjoyed and learned from your travels.
Holy shit, I just realized this thread is 8 pages. I did not expect that. I’ve turned into the Forest Gump of T Nation. Would anyone like a chocolate?[/quote]
Well, this thread should get back to your experiences in Soviet Russia, but thank’s for indulging me. And good luck tomorrow, although I don’t think you need it.
[quote]Christine wrote:
Well, this thread should get back to your experiences in Soviet Russia, but thank’s for indulging me. And good luck tomorrow, although I don’t think you need it.[/quote]
Thanks. I didn’t just create this thread to talk about myself (I am not that much of an egomaniac), I encourage everyone to share their experiences travelling the world, especially the less developed and privileged parts.