Russians really aren’t as different as you would expect, after you get past a first impression stage with a Russian, you’ll find they are incredibly similar to Americans or western Europeans. There were very few things I found to be surprising, and they’re all quite minor.
First, if you text a Russian, even if you are friends, you should include a greeting. I will go months between texts with my friends and just jump back in and say “OMG did you see that so-and-so is pregnant?!” with no introduction. Even if you text someone regularly about the same type of thing, you are expected to start a text with something like “Hi X, how are you? Do you want to get a coffee with me today?” It’s a bit unnatural to me. Normally, I’d just pipe right in with “Coffee today?”
A side note to texting Russians, expect to see a bunch of single sided parentheses after texts. ))) You may be smarter than me and realize that this is supposed to be a smiley face, but maybe not. The reverse also works and ((( represents sadness.
Second, if you work in Russia, expect to change clothes and shoes constantly. I didn’t like this at first because I hate carrying stuff around with me, but it’s actually pretty nice, especially if you have to wear a uniform at work. You can wear something nice or super warm for your commute and for a possible outing after work, and keep your work clothes completely separate.
Third relates to holidays, specifically birthdays. Russians have a special skill for speeches. While the typical Russian is quite closed off, they tend to gush very sincerely for your birthday or any celebration get together. If you have a coworker, I would recommend spending a few minutes and thinking of some kind of speech about things you like about them and things you hope for their future.
Fourth is more of an observation, and not necessarily anything that will affect your life in any tangible way, unless I suppose you are a man, and you choose to date a Russian woman. When you walk on the street in Moscow expect to see at least one man with a huge bouquet of flowers. Flower shops are wildly successful because there are constant occasions to give flowers in Russia, and lots of rules and superstitions surrounding them. The type of flower is of course important, but surprisingly, so is the number- you must not give an even number of flowers no matter how many flowers you end up with because that is reserved for funerals.
And lastly, superstitions are rampant, but don’t regularly affect expats; mostly in the simple things that don’t happen normally anyway. For example, if a girl sits on the edge of a table, she will never get married, if you sit on the cold ground, you’ll be infertile, if you whistle indoors you’ll be poor, and everyone’s favorite, if you shake hands or accept a package through an open doorway its bad luck. Make sure you either step out into the hall, or you invite them inside.
Compaaaaaaaaaaaaaaare, compare, compare. Comparison is the thief of joy. – Teddy Roosevelt
People always say that once you live abroad, you leave a piece of your heart wherever you go, and that will always be true, but trying to compare the places you’ve been and dwelling on the past can’t lead to anything good.
I lived in Italy, got the travel rush and immediately started planning for China. Paperwork took so long that I was miserable waiting at home. I made it to China and ended up not really liking it as much as I thought I would, and started planning for Russia while we were still there. I went home for a week between, and I think it wasn’t quite enough because as open minded as I tried to be about a 2 year commitment in Russia, I really missed home.
Moscow had one of it’s coldest Septembers ever, right when I arrived and I am a desert rat who had just spent half a year in the tropics! It was a tough transition, and it certainly didn’t help that I hit the ground running and went into my first day of work about 4 hours after landing.
I felt stuck, I felt homesick, I felt cold. I was watching my friends posting Instagram stories of the never-ending summer activities I knew and loved in AZ while facing my first Russian winter, and anyone who had to deal with me got an earful of how unhappy I was.
I liked living abroad (I still do), but I think I rushed too fast into another round and then I really leaned into it and made myself feel more trapped and miserable than I really had reason to be.
Between bad management, poor work environment, abusive coworkers, and Covid, it took me about a year to really give Moscow a chance and settle in, and it’s one of the biggest regrets of my life.
Moscow has so much to offer- comfort, convenience, cost, and culture, but I didn’t let myself recognize it fast enough, and now that I finally made it back home, I’m realizing all that I had there and didn’t appreciate enough.
Mindfulness could have solved all of this. If I had addressed my issues head on, I would have escaped a whole cycle of sadness.
Working less, going out more, finding friends and hobbies, and calling my family more also helped me turn it around, but I wasted a lot of time getting there.
Try not to compare, but instead throw yourself into all the best the place that you’re in has to offer!
Living in the US right now is honestly not great – cost of living has skyrocketed, and pay hasn’t improved at all, food culture is not spectacular, transportation is terrible (as always). But my family is here, and there is beautiful nature, I have far better professional development opportunities, and I can speak the language!
I have now been home for 2 months and I am fully settling back in to Arizona life. I miss Russia a lot, but I’m going to do my best not to let missing somewhere else ruin another possibly fantastic experience.
As an American, I have sort of been brainwashed to think Russia is a little bit evil, scary, and not safe. But I recently hit my one year mark living in Moscow and I was realizing how incredibly safe I feel here.
Consider any megacity; the more people there are, the more crime there is destined to be, right? But Moscow is a lot safer than other comparable cities.
I know I wouldn’t feel comfortable walking alone at night in New York City, and I would make extra sure to hold onto my stuff and lock my doors in almost any of the other megacities, like LA, Delhi, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, or even Paris. Interestingly, I did feel incredibly safe in the Chinese megacities I’ve been to though.
I feel like I have said it 1,000 times, but Moscow is a very comfortable place to live. Transportation is safe, well-connected, and cheap, crime is low, I’m not overly worried about pickpockets, the average neighborhood/building isn’t dangerous, and at least from my own perspective, harassment from men is even lower here. Guys just leave you alone.
In a culture where women are generally dressed in their most expensive clothes, shoes, and jewels, with expensive haircuts, manicures, lip fillers and fake eyelashes, men will still (for the most part) surprisingly leave them be. They do tend to leer, but that is a general Russian trait, not just men being creepy.
One minor problem when it comes to men here though, is drinking culture. There is always at least one completely drunk guy on the metro- just absolutely smashed, and you obviously can’t trust a guy like that not to do something erratic, but even so, I’d trust a drunk Russian man to still maintain a semblance of social acceptability over a drunk American man any day.
I ride the metro alone every day for almost 2 hours, and I walk home in the dark on small unlit backstreets every night too. (Not that I come home super late, it’s just dark for 14 hours a day most of the year.) I’ve never had any problems. I even feel comfortable taking a quick snooze on the train during rush hour, provided I manage to snag a seat! I get paid in cash, and sometimes I let a few months worth of paychecks collect in my sock drawer before I take them to an ATM, and I am still not stressed about someone taking my bag, or watching me make my deposit at the bank. I would never feel safe doing any of that in any other megacity.
The cold and the dark are hard to handle, but being harassed, mugged, or assaulted is not on my list of worries in Moscow at all.
Grocery stores in Moscow (and from what I’ve read, it seems like stores throughout the rest of Russia too) will have something one day, and then never have it again. They frequently run out of common things and won’t get more in for weeks on end. You also need to make sure to check expiration dates super closely, because the product turnover rate is so low (especially in hypermarkets like Ashan.) I’ve never had to check an expiration date in-store in the US before, even in the biggest stores! The whole situation drives me absolutely up the wall, so I have done a little bit of research to try to figure out what is going on.
There are 5 main reasons that supply chain is so bad in Russia
In the United States, you can get any fruit, any time of the year. The downside is that this is not only expensive, but pretty bad for the environment. Constant shipping and movement costs and wastes add up if you want access to things grown around the world. Russia isn’t great about protecting the environment, but at least they do tend to stick to fruits and vegetables that are actually in season!
I set out to find out ~WHY supply chain here was such trash, but then I realized that just knowing the reasons why doesn’t actually solve anything for me.
The only “solutions” I can give are to get to know more than one grocery store and be willing to hunt down the stuff you want when one store is out, and if you see something you want, buy it right then, because you’ll never see it again.
It sucks, but it seems like that’s just the way things will be in Russia until someone figures out how to move products around more efficiently!
We flew in super cheaply on Ryan Air and we landed in Paris Orly. It was pretty frustrating trying to figure out how to get into the city, and then we ended up having to sit on a crowded bus for nearly an hour. We got dropped off and still had to take the metro to get to our hostel too. Off to an absolutely exhausting start. We bought some metro tickets and were looking at a map when a lady stopped us to try and help, surprisingly nice for what I expected from Parisians. She also explained that we didn’t need any tickets that day because the air pollution was high! So we saved them for the next day (which also turned out to be a high pollution day).
We made it to the hostel, which we loved. I have rave reviews of St. Christopher’s Inn Hostels. We rocked up and they upgraded our room to a private one for free! Can’t get much more magical than that!
The first night in Paris we ate a meal at the hostel’s restaurant and then went to Notre Dame. It was so beautiful, I couldn’t believe it. There was a choir inside and the ceiling seemed to swell with the music. We really took our time walking around, and I’m so happy we did because I might have missed one of the most amazing relics in any church – the crown of thorns. Its all the way at the back of the cathedral and it’s barely lit, you really need to look for it. I was amazed. Even if it isn’t the “real” crown of thorns, the power of that much belief and history makes it a really special relic.
The Crown of Thorns is at the back of the cathedral behind a red curtain.
While I was standing there, staring, with my jaw on the floor, someone called Lucas’s name. “What?” We both looked around. “There’s no way someone is calling for you, is there?” And this guy came up and shook his hand, “Lucas, it’s so crazy to run into you here, man!” Lucas introduced me and the guy said his name was Lars and introduced his girlfriend too. They knew each other from their time at university in Prague. The craziest part, besides the fact that they even noticed Lucas, was that they weren’t meant to be in Paris that day, and they hadn’t planned to come to Notre Dame at all, since they had both seen it before! It just felt like all the stars were aligned.
We parted ways and headed towards my favorite part of Paris- the catacombs. We had such a hard time finding it, we went to where the map said it was, but there wasn’t anything marked there. Just a small kind of shack looking building. I almost thought it was a house, and I was way too nervous to just go inside. I made Lucas open the door and there was a lady at a desk. We looked at each other and before we said anything, she said “26 Euro.” Lucas was so taken aback, he asked in English, “is this the catacombs?”
“Oui.”
We payed and she pointed to the stairs, so down we went. The air was getting musty, and the walls were turning green the deeper we went down. At the bottom of the stairs was a long tunnel and we followed it until we saw an incredibly old man sitting alone in a folding chair.
We walked through an archway and Lucas translated it for me- Stop, this is the empire of the dead. It felt like we shouldn’t have been allowed in, especially not alone. We walked slowly, talking about life and death. Sometimes we were silent. It was the only experience I’ve ever had like it, and when we reemerged to the Paris streets, bustling with Christmas shoppers it felt like a completely different world. For the rest of our experience in Paris I couldn’t stop thinking about all the dead beneath our feet.
The next day we woke up early to spend as much time as possible in the Louvre. We both had lists of artifacts that we were dying to see- a full day of art. It was incredible, I loved seeing the book of the dead, the Egyptian artifacts, and the statues, Lucas loved seeing Hamurabi’s code and Liberty Leading the People.
After the Louvre, we were starving, and we were lucky to find a McDonalds underneath the museum, where we indulged in some French sprite, which is better than any other sprite you can get. After our very late lunch, we walked along the Seine, and headed towards the Eiffel tower, which was on strike. I thought, at least we got to see it, and we walked through the Christmas markets drinking hot Vin Chaud and eating Nutella filled beignets.
We tried to visit the Pantheon the same night but it closes early. Luckily because it was closed I had the chance to peek into an interesting looking church that I probably wouldn’t have seen if we had gone straight into the Pantheon. The church was Saint-Étienne-du-Mont, beautiful white stone, spiral staircases, and the body of St. Geneviève – the patron saint of Paris. It was such a special find.
The next day was our final day in Paris. We walked past Notre Dame in the light, walked along the Seine, saw the Moulin Rouge, the Arc de Triomphe, walked Champs Elysees, and when we went to see the Eiffel Tower again, we saw that the strike ended early! I was elated. We went up the elevator and stopped on the first floor, where I was absolutely shook to see a fully fledged ICE RINK. We walked on the glass floor drinking Vin Chaud and taking pictures before going up to the next level, where there were shops and restaurants, and the third level, where you can walk around Gustave Eiffel’s apartments. There are wax figures and signs inside.
We still had some time in the day, so we walked back towards Notre Dame where we went inside the Paris Archaeological Crypt where we learned about the rocks and quarries of Paris. Right across the street was a wonderful little cafe where we got some escargot and French onion soup!
The final thing we did in Paris was visit the Pantheon. Lucas had stopped at a book stall on the walk and bought a couple of books. One of them happened to be Voltaire, and when we saw his grave, it was another one of those fateful moments. It was really special to pay our respects to so many important figures.
Paris is just as magical as everyone says it is. With a few slight adjustments for French culture. 😉
Notes and Warnings about Paris
When you fly into Paris, you’ll either be at Charles De Gaulle or Orly airport. They’re both surprisingly far from the city itself. Orly is closer, but it’s harder to get to the city. Your options are a bus or a taxi, both pricey and about 45 minutes. Charles De Gaulle has cheaper options and is connected by rails, but it’s a little bit further away. Just set aside a fair bit of time to get into the city.
Strikes! The French LOVE to strike. Strike for more days off, better pay, working conditions, anything. When we were there the Eiffel tower workers were supposed to strike for a week, and we were only there 3 days. Luckily the strike ended early, and we got to go up, but we almost didn’t get the chance! Just don’t get your heart set on anything too specific if you only have a few days.
The Paris metro is like any other European metro, except that when air pollution is up, tickets are free! I think it is a great system, and even on those free days, it isn’t too packed (I was there in winter though, so grain of salt). The even better part about getting around Paris is that you can reasonably walk between everything you want to see.
Must See in “Paree“
I feel like most of the “must sees” in Paris are obvious, but I will list them anyway!
Notre Dame – An AMAZING church. Before visiting, I wasn’t aware that the crown of thorns was inside, I couldn’t believe it, and just stood in awe. You could miss it if you aren’t looking for it. Notre Dame is also extra special when there is a choir singing inside. I didn’t get the chance, but I hear it is absolutely worth it to pay the extra ticket price to go up to the rooftop. I wish I could have seen the bells and the gargoyles, especially before the fire, and I really regret not doing it.
Eiffel Tower – You have to go up the Eiffel Tower, even if it is cloudy. I think it is worth it. I was surprised that there were shops and museums on different levels of the tower. That might be common knowledge, but I was actually super surprised. And my favorite part of going in winter is that there was a full fledged ice rink on the second level!
The Louvre – Absolutely the best museum in the world. My advice is to do your research before going and make a list of all the things you want to see so you don’t miss them. It’s impossible to see everything.
The Catacombs – There is nothing else like it in the world. A once in a lifetime experience, and worth every minute you’ll stand in line to get in if you go during peak season. If you want a special solo experience, go in the dead of winter late at night. If you want to know just how spectacular I think the catacombs are, feel free to read my “article” about it.
Arc Du Triomphe – Its beautiful!
Walk the Champs Elysees – so much to see and buy!
Walk along the Seine – Take in that romantic Paris vibe.
(Slightly)Off the Beaten Path
The Catacombs – I’m putting this on this list too because even though it is a MUST SEE, I feel like half of the people who go to Paris don’t know it’s there.
The Pantheon – If you like cemeteries, this one is incredible. Notable names interred here are: Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Louis Braille, and Marie Curie.
Saint-Étienne-du-Mont – This is one thing that doesn’t even show up on the tourist attraction map, but is something truly special. (It’s very close to the Pantheon.) One of my favorite cathedrals I have ever been in. It is home to the reliquary of St. Geneviève – the patron saint of Paris!
Moulin Rouge – I didn’t go inside because it’s 180 Euro and has a dress code, but if you love the movie, it’s cool to at least see the outside!
Overrated
I personally don’t think it is worth it to pay the 12 euro to go to the top of the Arc de Triomphe, but I didn’t do it myself, so I can’t tell you for certain if it is worthwhile.
There is a museum underneath Notre Dame that will teach you all about the stone quarried to build it. It’s very informative, and it was interesting to me, but if you’re super strapped for time, you wouldn’t miss much if you skipped it.
The love lock bridge – it’s romantic, but the guilt from putting a lock on and destroying the bridge kind of ruins the vibe.
What and Where to Eat
This might sound crazy, but you have to try French Mcdonalds. (There is one in the shopping center underneath the Louvre in case you stayed too long, are starving and can’t wait for a real restaurant.) You especially need to drink a French sprite. It is so much better, and I can’t quite put my finger on what is so different about it.
Try escargot while you’re there!
Macarons, obviously.
Definitely get some Quiche Lorraine.
Eat all the cheese and all the bread.
Just like Spain, you have to get fresh squeezed orange juice. The machines they use make it so much better.
I have a set list of phrases you should learn in every language, but there are a few extra explanations and phrases to learn that are specific to Russian. Also please forgive my ridiculous phonetic spellings.
Yes & No
I’m sure you already know these ones- Да & нет (Dah & Nyet)
Hello
Before coming to Russia I thought hello was priviet. That’s more like hi, and you only say it to your friends or little kids. It’s important in Russia to greet everyone, if you’re in an elevator with someone, before you check out at a store, when walking into a business- you need to say it a lot, which is hard because it’s one of the most difficult words to pronounce.
Здравствуйте is how it’s written in Cyrillic. The google translate phonetic spelling is Zdravstvuyte, and my own personal spelling is Ztravstvootyay.
I’m sorry/ Excuse me
There are two, and I’m still not 100% what the difference is between them. The first is Извините. Google phonetics is Izvinite and mine is Izvenitye. I definitely hear this more than the other one, but the other one seems more intense, like you really did something wrong. It is простите. Google writes prostite and I write prostitye. But it’s okay to just use the first.
I can’t speak Russian
My favorite phrase- я не говорю по русски.
Google writes: ya ne govoryu po russki.
I write: ya nyeh govoroo po rooski.
I usually start this phrase with an apology.
Please & Thank you (and you’re welcome)
Please and you’re welcome are the same in Russian- пожалуйста. Google phonetics: pozhaluysta, my phonetics: puhzhaloostuh.
Thank you is Спасибо pronounced spasiba.
I would like this
In most languages, the most polite way to ask for something is say I would like this, but it’s not something normal to say in Russian. Luckily the normal thing to say is way easier to pronounce and remember! People just say the equivalent of may I this? можно это? Pronounced mozhnuh eta.
It’s also what you would say if you were asking permission to enter a building, or pet a dog, or take something. Just say можно.
This is good.
This is good, that’s enough, I’m good, everything is fine, alright. хорошо, pronounced kherasho. Super helpful and common word.
Russian Specific Extras:
I’m finished/that’s all
One of my favorite words in Russian it also sort of means Ta da! Все, pronounced vsyo or fsyo.
How much?
Сколько? Pronounced skolka.
Where?
Где? Pronounced G’dey. And a lot of the things you might ask for directions to are cognates- like toilet or restaurant or museum or metro.
English
It may be helpful for you to learn the word for English too. You can ask for an English menu, or an English map, or ask if someone knows English instead of just staring at them.
The word for English is английский, pronounced onglisky.
I’ve actually visited Toledo twice now, once in December of 2016 and once in March of 2018, It’s a great little town and if I didn’t recommend visiting, I wouldn’t be writing about it!
Lucas had already been before so he was my guide. We hopped on the bus from Madrid to Toledo with our student transport cards (I can’t rave enough about those cards by the way). It’s about an hour ride and super pleasant, through the Spanish countryside, but as a narcoleptic I have to admit that I slept through most of it.
The bus drops off at the edge/bottom of the city, and you have to go up a crazy long escalator to get into the city. At the time it was the longest escalator I had ever seen, it felt like we were on it for a good 5 minutes, but I’m quite certain I’ve been on longer escalators now in China and Russia.
We wandered through shops and streets while Lucas pointed out all of the examples of Arab, Jewish, and Christian architectural influences.
We went to La Mezquita del Cristo de la Luz, the Mosque of the Light of Christ. Does that name sound a little weird to you? It is a tiny little Muslim Mosque built in 999 that was converted to a Christian Cathedral much later. The architecture, both inside and out is so distinct.
The best part of Toledo though is the cathedral. You would never expect anything like it from such a small city, but it’s the most beautiful cathedral I’ve ever seen, even many years, and cathedrals later.
Most of my pictures were taken on my phone, so I had to steal one to really show it.
You can spend HOURS in the Toledo Cathedral with an audio guide, so be careful if there’s more you want to do!
To complete our triad, we also visited the Synagogue of Santa María La Blanca, which is widely considered one of the oldest synagogues in Europe. The really significant part about it though is that it was built while the city was under Christian control, by Islamic Architects, intended for Jewish use.
By this point we were starving, and we tried to find a little restaurant that Lucas had eaten at before, but after wandering around hunting for it, we finally gave in to hunger and stopped at the first affordable one we saw – Corral De Don Diego. It turned out to be one of my favorite restaurants throughout Europe!
I don’t think the restaurant itself had anything really spectacular to offer, but it was magical to me. I had a salad with tuna and pomegranate arils, called an ensalada mixta that I immediately became obsessed with, but somehow I never had one quite as good again.
The best part though was that there was a guy playing accordion there (which I love). I took a little snapchat video to remember it.
The first time I went to Toledo in 2016 I took this lil video of an accordion player during lunch. pic.twitter.com/RQg7v5eeWK
When we went back with my brother in 2018, we sat at a cafe so Lucas could use the wifi to finish a project, and I heard another accordion that seemed a little too familiar, and I managed to catch the EXACT same bit of the song on video. It was straight up from the twilight zone.
When I went back in 2018, I caught the SAME accordion player playing the SAME song. pic.twitter.com/zOWD1koqJ6
We had a really late lunch (as usual, it seems like we always end up eating at weird times) and had just an hour before sunset, and decided on a whim to zipline across the river. I think it was only 10 Euro, and I figured why not?
We wandered through town in the dark, sat at the edge of the river looking at the lights and then walked back to the bus station to head back into Madrid!
I absolutely recommend a day trip to Toledo if you’re coming from Madrid. It’s so close and it has so much to offer. If you are a student, please look into getting a student transport card in Madrid, it also works for regional bus trips! But if you don’t have a student pass, the bus is only 5 Euro each way and a very pleasant drive. Bus picks up at Plaza Eliptica and takes about an hour. You can also take a train for 15 Euro each way and it only takes a half hour.
Usually when I do these city guide posts I include some things I consider “overrated,” but its such a small city that if you’re only spending one day it’s easy to fill it up without having time to go anywhere that’s not really worth the time. Nothing is really overrated.
Must Sees in Toledo:
Take a walk! Toledo is built on a hill, and there are beautiful views everywhere you look. The streets are tiny and winding and its very fun to get lost without really being lost. If you have an eye for it, pay attention to the differences between Christian, Islamic, and Jewish influences in the architecture. There are also lots of cute and interesting shops sprinkled through the city.
The Cathedral- It costs a few Euro to get in and a few more for an audio guide, but its well worth the money and time spent to really enjoy every inch of the most incredible cathedral in the world.
La Mezquita del Cristo de la Luz, the Mosque of the Light of Christ- It is a tiny little Christian church inside of a converted mosque built in the year 999. Really unique and well worth a visit just to appreciate the mix of cultures in the city.
The Synagogue of Santa María La Blanca – it is considered to be one of the oldest synagogues in Europe. (It is currently only being used as a museum though, even though the Jewish community has asked for it to be returned to them.) The really significant part about this synagogue is that it was built while the city was under Christian control, by Islamic Architects, intended for Jewish use; all three in one!
El Greco Museum – I have to admit I actually didn’t go myself, but Lucas went when he stayed in Toledo for 2 weeks and he absolutely recommends it. It’s built in a recreation of his house and has the largest collection of his paintings. In Lucas’s own words “that man knew how to use blues like no one else can.”
Off the Beaten Path
(I have to admit again, I didn’t get a chance to see these for myself, and I’m only going off of recommendations, but these mark all of my boxes, of interesting, unique, and quick visits.)
Roman Circus – In a park right outside the city walls, there are the ruins of a Roman circus, and over 75% of it is preserved!
Caves of Hercules – Its really just an ingenious Roman era water tank, but the history and legends surrounding it make it special. My favorite is that Hercules built a palace here to practice necromancy!
I also enjoyed the zipline over the beautiful river at sunset, but it’s not really a must see since it’s a pretty small zipline and that’s something you can do anywhere in the world, and it’s not really off the beaten path, since there are advertisements for it plastered all over the city.
С Днем рожденья! There are a few things you should know if it’s your birthday in Russia.
If you work in an office or a school, it’s expected that you will bring a cake to share on your birthday. In the US, either someone will bring a cake for you, or you’ll just go without. But Russians will expect you to bring it, and Russians LOVE cake, so get a big one. There are so many amazing Russian cakes to try, like Медовик, so take the excuse for extra cake at any opportunity!
Most likely your coworkers will also pool together to get you a gift, and you’ll need to contribute for everyone else’s birthday gifts too. That was unusual for me too, but it’s a pretty nice tradition.
The weirdest part of birthdays for me though, is the presentation of the gift and the wishes along with it. Everyone goes around one at a time and tells you what they like about you and what they hope for you in the coming year, like a little minute long speech. “You are such a nice and thoughtful person, I love working with you and you are such a talented teacher. For your birthday, I wish for you to be happy and brave. I wish for all of your dreams to come true and for you to achieve all of your goals this year.” It’s soooo awkward when you have to accept all these nice things, but it’s even worse to have to come up with what to say for other people’s birthdays. I feel like they always go way overboard with the sincere and deep feelings and it’s very off-putting for me.
The birthday wishes thing isn’t limited to just coworkers either. If you celebrate your birthday with Russian friends they will do it at dinner or over drinks too! There is no escape.
Expect lots of gifts and cake, and even more attention for your birthday in Russia!
Finding Eden 