Wojtek:
>Chris:
> > Western Europe is also boring as Hell, but never mind.
> > You should go to Belarus. Now they've got order!
> >
>
>
>Chris - so what is not boring? Being pestered to buy stuff everywhere I
>went in Instanbul? (they did some wonderful architecture too, but of the
>same boring variety as that in Western Europe, or for that matter, the
>Hermitage). Or being told by my hosts (natives, not US-ers) not to go
>under any circumstances anywhere but to designated business areas in
>Nairobi (and take only taxis from the hotel)? Or taking the blue line
>metro in Leningrad to the airport only to discover that the train, for
>some unexplained reason, is following the yellow line with the end
>result you missing the plane (trams in the Venice of the North do
>similar tricks). Or a train porter attempting to rape your female
>coworker in New Delhi rail station?
>
>Wojtek
I was thinking of, in Moscow, being able to hang out in the park drinking beer at 10 am with no one looking at you the wrong way (maybe I'm thinking more of the US there). Or being able to get into long conversations with total strangers you meet on the street. Or not having people make caste distinctions based on income or age.
Western Europe is rock boring. Germany is the nec plus ultra of boring. (My mom is German and half my family lives near Tuebingen, so I would like to think I have so Germano-cred.) That country is so damn well-ordered you could practically go through your day asleep. Western Europe is also Complacency Central.
(Caveat -- I've only been to France three times and Germany a couple of dozen, so maybe I should shut up. :) )
I would never live in the West given my druthers. Russia may be anarchic -- believe me, I know, I've had money extorted from me by the cops and am currently going through a bureaucratic nightmare with my visa -- but I have problems imagining living anywhere in the West. Maybe Ukraine, maybe the Baltics, not Western Europe or the US (with the possible exceptiong of Italy). No way, no how. Uh-uh. Boredom city.
BTW this is a common complaint with both Russians and foreigners who lived in Russia for some time when they try to relocate to the West. Just can't do it, too goddamn boring.
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