Today I would like to observe very interesting topic ,as the saying goes, to lay all cards on the table.
So, now I am going to talk about places, exactly houses,where do mostly all people from Ukraine and Russia live, living traditions, some unusual and shock things about our present life,all the daily routine here... I guess, every man from this site will be interested in this topic.
Well,where do we live???Like one foreign tourist said, we live in horror cells,this way he called our "most popular" standardized, mass-produced five-storey apartment block (an icon of government housing policy during the Khrushchev era 1953 - 1964; though often despised for poor design and workmanship .it played a key role in the mass movement out of communal and into separate family apartments)
Yes, I live in such house too:)))Sometimes I hear every word from my neighbors, because walls are really thin:) I suppose, it is very unusual and shocked for mostly all foreigners.
Russian are really mysterious people, sometimes you may think we have no logic... We are very polite with our guest at home, but could be very rude with someone unknown on the street, Russian like cleaning houses, and keep their apartment in a perfect order... But mostly all people here leave litter all about the street and clusters also. To my personal mind, it should be controlled by government, such behavior should be fined and this fine should be high.
As I have mentioned, we like to keep our flats in a perfect order, so when you come home you need to change your shoes and wear "tapochki" (slippers)... And it is very unusual and even wild for us if you come home and don't wear slippers, no socks, no barefoot, no shoes... BUT SLIPPERS...
I open you one secret, exactly about me, I have "tapochki" at home, but I used to be barefoot at home.
One more weirdness,a great amount of people here has carpets on the walls in their apartments, yes yes, it is not a slip, exactly on the walls :)
In USSR times it was very fashionable and showed, this family is very rich... Now, to my mind, it's totall vapidity.
Again one more secret, I have no carpets on the walls :)
I guess, everybody knows about our level of living, it is not a secret, that is why you may meet such families here, who live in 2 flats apartments all together...what do I mean? In a small flats two or even three generations may live, ALL TOGETHER, for example, grandma, grandpa, their grown adult children, grandkids and even great-grandkids... Wow, could you imagine? I know such families. That is why you have no personal space, and to spend time alone in apartment is like a holiday for them.
We all have balconies to safe unuseful things, I called it simply trash... For what, you may ask? I have no answer on this question, I find it a bad habit.
And one more weirdness, mostly all families here, and my family also have "dacha" ( you may call it vacation home) But is not the place for rest, it's a place for hard hard job, we plant here vegetables and fruits, and always rebuild, clean, dig,ect.
So mostly all foreigners are amazed by our traditions and actually our way of living,but we are who we are.Every country, like every person has its own pros and cons...
The most important, I suppose, is always stay respectable and try to make your county better and better every day.
With all the best wishes for our different countries.
Tatiana.