Russians

[Icy Gull]

Am I just unfortunate to have only come across rude surly ignorant ones? I am struggling to think of a single Russian that I have met who could be called "simpatico"

Massive generalisation I know and accept, maybe I'm just a racist


I don't much like their hats either

 

[chops]

Racist? No. Xenophobe? Perhaps.

 

[daveinprague]

Found Russians a lot less difficult than a lot of people, yeah they look moody but look like that when happy as well. We have a weekly Ukrainian night at bar. Their version of chavs mostly. My girl is uzbek (former soviet rep) and had no previous experience of them. She genuinely dislikes them now. I've tried to explain the chav aspect but she is convinced all ukrainians are peasants now.

 

[bhaexpress]

Russians are better than South Africans or even worse, white Zimbabweans.

 

[Icy Gull]

Russians are better than South Africans or even worse, white Zimbabweans.

Really? I've met quite a few very likeable white Zimbaweans and South Africans,

 

[Jonno]

My gf is a Russian-speaking Ukrainian so I've had quite a lot of experience with them. The thing you need to understand with Russians is that, unlike us Brits, they are far ruder and more unfriendly to strangers than we are, but once you are on friendly terms they are just as friendly as anyone else, often more so. For Russians, a friend is not just a casual acquaintance, like we would call someone we just know and have been friendly with a friend, for them friendship etc. needs to go much deeper for some reason.
They also never smile or laugh without good reason, they think it's a sign of stupidity.
As for Saffers, just moved to Cape Town and they've been alright so far....

 

[nwgull]

The Russians I've come across in holiday resorts have been mainly unpleasant, however I'd be surprised if these people were representative of your average Russian.

 

[Scotty Mac]

i met some very friendly russians when in moscow - even if my friend did get mugged twice

 

[Don Tmatter]

Dont go to Egypt then.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

I've only met a handful of Russians. My school had some sort of recruitment drive in Moscow, seemingly. The six or seven that made it over were not quite so pleasant. An unfair test as they were very rich Russians and a few had a background with the black market/mafia. Actually, I am probably being a bit too nice.

One of them was a complete asssshooooooooole. He was five foot nothing and swanned about like a Tsar. Rumours were he had a gun on site and Alex and his posse were exceedingly racist. They did enough to get expelled three times over, but they had powerful families.

Sasha, the nicest of them, was assassinated along with his sister and mother as his step-father owed money to the mafia.

The only other Russian I have met was on my travels in Cuba and he was a legend in his own right.

 

[NMH]

Are we talking about all Ruskies, or mainly the unfit ones and men?

 

[fork me]

Am I just unfortunate to have only come across rude surly ignorant ones? I am struggling to think of a single Russian that I have met who could be called "simpatico"

Massive generalisation I know and accept, maybe I'm just a racist


I don't much like their hats either

I think you've just been unlucky.

I didn't know many (any?) Russians till I moved here, now I know (and teach) loads.

The big thing I've noticed about Russians is that they seem to be the only Europeans outides the UK and Ireland that really get British sarcasm.

I'd never have guessed that the one thing we share with the Russians is the same sense of humour!

 

[fork me]

My gf is a Russian-speaking Ukrainian so I've had quite a lot of experience with them. The thing you need to understand with Russians is that, unlike us Brits, they are far ruder and more unfriendly to strangers than we are, but once you are on friendly terms they are just as friendly as anyone else, often more so. For Russians, a friend is not just a casual acquaintance, like we would call someone we just know and have been friendly with a friend, for them friendship etc. needs to go much deeper for some reason.
They also never smile or laugh without good reason, they think it's a sign of stupidity.
As for Saffers, just moved to Cape Town and they've been alright so far....

Some Russian's have weird values as well. I've met some Russian girls here who say they'd rather be a prostitute than a waitress because it's less demeaning (Their words, not mine)! They see waitressing as being a servant, but don;t see prostitution the same way. Indeed, over here most of the waitresses are Eastern European (Czech, Polish and Romanian mainly) and most of the whores are Russian.

 

[daveinprague]

The women can be staggeringly beautiful and alarmingly direct. I think my girl is beautiful so have managed to stay faithful. They are happy if men are just gentle and polite. They seem to expect it from English men by default.

 

[Scotty Mac]

one of the strip bars we went to in moscow was easily the highest standard of females in such an establishment i have ever had the pleasure of seeing in my life

definite a good place for rat, as most of eastern europe seems to be. except moldova

 

[bhaexpress]

Really? I've met quite a few very likeable white Zimbaweans and South Africans,

Wish I had, I find them both rude and arrogant and highly critical of this country despite the fact they are no longer welcome in their own.

 

[Icy Gull]

My gf is a Russian-speaking Ukrainian so I've had quite a lot of experience with them. The thing you need to understand with Russians is that, unlike us Brits, they are far ruder and more unfriendly to strangers than we are, but once you are on friendly terms they are just as friendly as anyone else, often more so. For Russians, a friend is not just a casual acquaintance, like we would call someone we just know and have been friendly with a friend, for them friendship etc. needs to go much deeper for some reason.
They also never smile or laugh without good reason, they think it's a sign of stupidity.
As for Saffers, just moved to Cape Town and they've been alright so far....

That is interesting. The vast majority of the Russians I've had the misfortune to rub shoulders with was on holiday. Just getting them to acknowledge you exist and say Good Morning etc is hard work. Your explanation now makes sense. I won't bother next time, I'll just smile and laugh inanely as I pass them

 

[Return of the Rev]

Took in foriegn students like alot of others in brighton,needed the cash and thought it would be good for the kids(other cultures and all) lots of good things from this time but very negative experiences with far eastern chinese/korean areas seemed that they thought we were the enemy might just have been a cultural thing, adult iranian student the best took him out round brighton and showed him the full range of our pubs! started in the star at the station so he could sample lots of differrent real ales ended up in charles street,only sampled a quick lager there. Russian? one adult female she was out on the raz all the time seemed ok