Russian moments
One of my 2018 (and every year) resoultions was to visit one country I’ve never been to before. I thought we should go to some country next to Serbia that we didn’t visit already . But, in April of 2018 Darko got an offer from one team in Russia. I wanted to visit Russia at some point, but it wasn’t on my “most wanted countries to visit” list. Actually, I didn’t have any special opinion about that country. What I know about Russian people is only what I saw (experienced) in airports and hotels. I don’t want to generalize, but my impressions were (and didn’t change much after our time in Russia) that Russian people are rude, unpolite, and too proud. There is nothing wrong with being proud, as long as you respect other people. But, if you think that you are worth more just because you were born in a certain country, there is something wrong with you.
We lived in a city called Yaroslavl, which is about 4 hours (250 km/160 mi) drive from Moscow. This city is small considering russian standards. :) But, its population is around 600.000 people. This is the oldest existing city on the Volga river (which is the longest river in Europe). City center has around 140 individual architectural monuments and has been included on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
One church called Church of Elijah the Prophet could be one of the prettiest churche’s interior I have ever seen. The interior painting was made by the team of 15 artists during the three summer months of 1680.
There are, however, tens of other beautiful churches in this city’s region. Russian people, like people from other christian orthodox countries, are very religious.
The city center itself is really beautiful, and walks by Volga river are refreshing and relaxing.
The weather was nice when we frist came in late August. But real russian winter started few months later. We didn’t experience snow, but it was really cold.
We celebrated Nina’s 4th birthday in Yaroslavl. Each of her birthdays, we celebrated in different country: Tunisia, France, Serbia and Russia. She attended gymnastics classes and they very interesting for her. All of the girls had to wear black shirts and tights, and each had a ball and a rope. It was very enjoyable to watch her learn something new. Nina did great! Parents weren’t allowed to watch the practice otherwise kids wouldn’t focus on coaching). Nina didn’t understand Russian language, but she liked going to practices and she stopped crying after the frist practice). Sometimes I think we are putting her through so much, with these changes and travels. But, we believe all of these special experiences will help her become a versatile person. So far she has been to over 15 countries and she saw and lived in many different cities.
However, bulidings and infrastructures do not make a city/country, but its people. And, people in Russia were not very pleasant to us. I don’t think we run into more than three people in three months that spoke English. And, it’s not that people do not speak English, but every time we would ask if they spoke English they would be offended and almost yell NET (no) at us. If one was in the line, people would cut in front of him/her without saying excuse me or sorry. It’s the little things that show person’s character.
I don’t want to focus on negative things, but I was unpleasanty surprised by people. We met some really nice ones as we always do. But, allover image of russian people is not good.
The food is really good, and there are varieties of restaurants so everyone can find something for her/his taste. Russians love coffee and tea, so there are many different kinds of both. My favorite coffee shop Starbucks was near our place, and I loved it! There is no coffee like Caramel Machiato. :)
We visited Moscow, but it was super short visit and the great one! Moscow is beautiful! We visited during Christmas time so everything was decorated and glistening. It was cold, but the city’s energy warmed us. I’m wondering if the city is pretty during the summer as it is during the winter/Christmas time. I would love to go back and spend few days just there.
All in all, Russia was ok. I would like to go back to Moscow, but I don’t think I could live in Russia for the longer period of time. Russia and I - we didn’t click. :)
Below you can see some of the photos during our stay in Russia.
Until next Thursday!
Jelena
We lived in a city called Yaroslavl, which is about 4 hours (250 km/160 mi) drive from Moscow. This city is small considering russian standards. :) But, its population is around 600.000 people. This is the oldest existing city on the Volga river (which is the longest river in Europe). City center has around 140 individual architectural monuments and has been included on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
One church called Church of Elijah the Prophet could be one of the prettiest churche’s interior I have ever seen. The interior painting was made by the team of 15 artists during the three summer months of 1680.
The city center itself is really beautiful, and walks by Volga river are refreshing and relaxing.
The weather was nice when we frist came in late August. But real russian winter started few months later. We didn’t experience snow, but it was really cold.
We celebrated Nina’s 4th birthday in Yaroslavl. Each of her birthdays, we celebrated in different country: Tunisia, France, Serbia and Russia. She attended gymnastics classes and they very interesting for her. All of the girls had to wear black shirts and tights, and each had a ball and a rope. It was very enjoyable to watch her learn something new. Nina did great! Parents weren’t allowed to watch the practice otherwise kids wouldn’t focus on coaching). Nina didn’t understand Russian language, but she liked going to practices and she stopped crying after the frist practice). Sometimes I think we are putting her through so much, with these changes and travels. But, we believe all of these special experiences will help her become a versatile person. So far she has been to over 15 countries and she saw and lived in many different cities.
However, bulidings and infrastructures do not make a city/country, but its people. And, people in Russia were not very pleasant to us. I don’t think we run into more than three people in three months that spoke English. And, it’s not that people do not speak English, but every time we would ask if they spoke English they would be offended and almost yell NET (no) at us. If one was in the line, people would cut in front of him/her without saying excuse me or sorry. It’s the little things that show person’s character.
I don’t want to focus on negative things, but I was unpleasanty surprised by people. We met some really nice ones as we always do. But, allover image of russian people is not good.
The food is really good, and there are varieties of restaurants so everyone can find something for her/his taste. Russians love coffee and tea, so there are many different kinds of both. My favorite coffee shop Starbucks was near our place, and I loved it! There is no coffee like Caramel Machiato. :)
We visited Moscow, but it was super short visit and the great one! Moscow is beautiful! We visited during Christmas time so everything was decorated and glistening. It was cold, but the city’s energy warmed us. I’m wondering if the city is pretty during the summer as it is during the winter/Christmas time. I would love to go back and spend few days just there.
All in all, Russia was ok. I would like to go back to Moscow, but I don’t think I could live in Russia for the longer period of time. Russia and I - we didn’t click. :)
Below you can see some of the photos during our stay in Russia.
Jelena
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