reading and thinking..........

[micha1]

During the past week, I have been reading post about religion, fidelity and tradition, when speaking about RW.  Guys posting and wanting to know, all kinds of answers were given, by
well meaning persons, I am sure.
With this post, I shall try very hard to be well meaning.
Many people, get mixed up, culture is not agriculture.
As an example, in the USA, the national game is baseball, in Canada, where I am from, it is hockey,
in Russia, it is chess.       It is worth to think about for a while.
How many western men would go and visit  Tsarkoye Selo or Peredelkino, find out why and take
your love, may be future wife there and I can assure you that you will be in like Flint in her heart,
you will also have a hell of a head start beating the divorce statistics.
Some post talked about religion,  forget about the Graham, Fallwell, etc......there is only one god
in Russia, it is Poushkine.  A poet who was killed in a duel in 1837.
Between 1941 and 1944, SPB was under siege for 900 days.  People had to eat rats to survive
and at night, theaters, convervatories and ballet were full, something again to think about.
There is only one tradition in the East,  it is family, if your girl believe that you do understand what
family tradition is about, you have got it made in the shade.
They do know what a melting pot (socialy) is about.  Staline was a Georgian, Khrouchrchev was
Ukrainian, I could go on and on.    
Some joker came on with the Horror Show, good for him,  he will be screaming, soon, that he got
scam and had.    I wish this guy would talk on this forum about Mozart's funeral, or may be
Rimsky-Korsakov,  Fédor-Chaliapine and Anna-Ahkmatova.
There is so much I want to say,  whishing I could help somehow.  The ideas and thoughts are
jumping on top of one another in my head.
But mainly, if we in the west think that our (supposed to be) standard of living, will open all the
doors for us and that girls will be kneeing in front of us,  have we got something coming.
Thanks.

[Charles]

... in response to reading and thinking.........., posted by micha1 on Dec 15, 2001

Your post was an excellent one, sometimes hard to follow but it's nice to see you think out loud.  I agree that anyone who thinks these women are going to be bowled over by our "higher" standard of living are in for a big surprise.  Family is the key and knowing people "on the street" is a regular part of their life and culture.  My wife spent her whole life living in the center of her city and while we could easily afford a suburban mansion she prefers an old townhouse right in the center of town - that's where she finds culture.

[zebrazeb]

... in response to reading and thinking.........., posted by micha1 on Dec 15, 2001

Tsarkoye Selo or Peredelkino....
I would have to highly respect someone who brings these topics up. It is so sad when people really do not know what they are....

I can only comment on Tsarkoye Selo because my girl is from there....And yes, for those wondering, it is the beautiful city of Pushkin (suburb of St. Petersburg). And in my honest opinion, one of the most beautiful and "real" places of the true russian culture...
I have not only visited Pushkin, but have lived there 2 seperate times...

...and it is not just the women that make it beautiful, it has so much culture is such a small town.

Too many people iss out on what i call the "true" russia. The people there are incredible people, and truely know what culture is. And that after the life they have gone through.

How many times has anyone here just walked around their downtown? Not just to find a good bar or resturaunt, but to actually experience the culture they have in their own backyards...If you have not done this, you better do it beofre you bring someone from another country over, because THIS is what they will want to see....not Walmart, or the resturaunts, or even the opera, but the basic things in our country that so many seem to forget..

Sorry for the long post, but MARRAIGE to a foreign bride has so many things that most people are just not reay to experience...enjoy and know your own city/town and country first, and then when you bring your giel over, she will appreciate it that much better through your eyes...

just my humble thoughts...

Dennis

[Johninm]

... in response to reading and thinking.........., posted by micha1 on Dec 15, 2001

Many of revolution or post revolution top party officials were not ethnic Russians. Lenin was a part jewish as same as Trocki ( killed later in Mexico by KGB ), Stalin and ,Beria were Georgians, Dyerzynski ( founder of Czeka ..what later became NKVD and KBG ) comes from Polish nobel family . I find it quite interesting

[RW]

... in response to reading and thinking.........., posted by micha1 on Dec 15, 2001

"Óìîì Ðîññèþ íå ïîíÿòü...."

Good post. Thank you.

[Zink]

... in response to reading and thinking.........., posted by micha1 on Dec 15, 2001

What are Tsarkoye Selo and Peredelkino? I'm reading a lot about Russian history and culture right now but I don't recognize these. I have read some Pushkin and Tolstoy, translated to English of course. I've done a lot of reading about WW2 and Russia. I've placed flowers for the dead at the statue of A Grieving Mother on the Mamaev Kurgan in Volgograd(Stalingrad).

I think I understand what you're trying to say here. Russia is a totally different world from what we know here. And it is a confusing and difficult world. Many people make no attempt to try and understand what it is to be a Russian. They never learn anything about the art and culture, the "Russian soul" as it is called. And then they wonder why they had problems. To begin to understand Russia you must think with your heart as well as your head. Ðîññèÿ âñåãäà Ðîññèÿ. And even Stalin and his communists couldn't change that.

[micha1]

... in response to Okay you got me..., posted by Zink on Dec 15, 2001

Zink, we did  e-mail this week.  As for Tsarkoye Selo, there is a catch to it, it is the birth place of Pouchkine.
Peredelkino, Pasternak is buried there.
To recite (declaim) a poem by "Le Maître" Pouchkine in front of his monument, to read Pasternak on the train on
the way to Peredelkino.  
It is the same, who has not been  to Paris, how many have gone to  "Le Père Lachaise", to see Van Gogh, Edith
Piaf, etc....
The greatest brain that ever live,  Mozart was buried in a commun grave, no one knows where it is, today.
So, what is new.

[Reagan]

... in response to Okay you got me..., posted by Zink on Dec 15, 2001

It is in a little village called Pushkin I believe. I went there a couple of years ago. It is a good place to take your girl if you are in St.Petersburg.

Cheers

Kevin

[Dan]

... in response to Okay you got me..., posted by Zink on Dec 15, 2001

Can be found in Kyiv. It is considered the finest Ukrainian restaurant in all of Ukraine - and it is terrific (albeit expensive). The translation is "Tsar's Village" - and it may also be the subject of Russian literary or poetic discourse.

Peredelkino, as I understand it, is sort of a mythical place - full of wonder and beauty.

Perhaps some of the former FSU residents can elaborate further.

- Dan

[Dan]

... in response to reading and thinking.........., posted by micha1 on Dec 15, 2001

Don't you just HATE that ?!?!  --smile--

- Dan