Lets sort it out. There are a lot of scammers on the net. What is the solution? Actually you may relax and start search somewhere nearer to your house. No need to worry or doubt or being anxious. Is this the decision you take?

Ok, then this article is not exactly of your highest interest. 

Whether you finally decide to become online dating agency member and start search somewhere on the other side of the world.  Lucky you are! Courage and patience be your guides…

You positively do not need any instructions and the heart will bring you to the door of your sweetheart that has been waiting for the whole life…"Picturesque view from out the window of your built-together home, kids, outrageous devotion and love, love, love together…

  This could be true if you are sleeping. Now get up and face the reality. Dating online is just the same lottery as we have here in real life. Don't be confused with the number of shining faces popping out of the screen while browsing profiles. This definitely means NOTHING. There is still no guarantee that you'll be lucky enough to find your exact match. Judging the amount of people applying to dating services and club, I can swear that they believe that their chances rise up to the sky. 

Getting down to earth I'm not that optimistic though I have to admit the chances slightly rise. Ok, whatever we should do if we can't do anything about that, lets go on and date online!  

Who we are, men involved into that desperate dating procedure? Mostly we are romantics and this gives us either chance to be distinctive from the rest men's world. (Romantic men are mostly dinosaurs in real life) Or opens vulnerable sides that are easy to approach. We can remain innocent being scammed several times, take time to recover and step again fighting the fate. 

Romantic origin and (should we have hidden that) the lust towards the long-legged, blue eyed, sincere, family oriented creatures gives a unique scamming opportunities. No need to investigate the essences and consequences.

Aiming to focus positive results of dating search, I'm sharing the following:

 

- Don't expect anything from your partner and don't try to frame her into a certain dream standards. Believe me that the real person you are going to meet at the destination airport is much more interesting than ever of your dreams.

- Be enthusiastic and extraordinary

- Don't mix up true interest of a potential partner with the so-called "material benefits" - flowers, sweets, gifts. Inspire her with your personality, views, ideas. Don't try to impress her and look better making her blind with the gifts. This could cause a great disappointment and lost of hope, nothing to say about expenses. Surely,

flowers are good for special events and occasions nothing to say that meanness is the worst men's quality after the cowardice and stupidity. 

- Doubt her, starting point is that you don't know her and her expectations. She may force herself but life brings everything to initial places. Unless you want to discover true disappointment in her eyes when she meet you personally.

- Be careful with her feeling though don't forget yours. Suspect her, but do that secretly - don't show that you are jealous or suspicious. Give her time to show up. You'll see what she wants and expects.

- Be demanding - this is ok if you're focused positively. 

- Don't judge hastily - remember you've never seen her and you are separated by kilometers. Maybe she is tired, maybe she's upset and doesn't want to share that. Women are special creatures that we never understand. So, give her time - show how patient you can be at times!

- Don't make pressure, or force her or ask where she's been for the whole weekend when you tried to reach her

- just leave this as it is unless it happens regularly. So, she appreciates your self-confidence.

- Make investments into future relationships - evening/morning SMS are fine, shot calls for letting know that you think of her - great!

- Forget that you don't want to talk much - reveal your colloquial talents. This is solely the pure source you can implement while dating online. Tell about your feelings, maybe plants for today's evening, etc - just realize that she can't feel that just looking into your eyes.

- If this is suspicious online, believe me - this is worth being suspicious. Don't be blind. This will lead you to the deep disappointment. Leave the idea of justifying her deeds, words etc - leave that as it is and time will show. Don't be active in revealing the truth otherwise you'll be absorbed with destructive emotions. Just leave it to her actions. 

- Use any net means to find out everything about the potential sweetheart. There are plenty of sources that provide qualified information about scammers etc. At last order address validation with flowers delivery. They will check whether she lives there or not. (But be informed that sometimes they tell that the delivery is done while it's not. And there is no means to find out the truth. Both sides can lie, the delivery company that the address is valid and the lady can keep silent that she didn't get any flowers just to hide her inner intentions to scam you. So, trust reliable companies who value their reputation and would better refund the money after the address validation instead of misinform you.)

 

To summarize everything said above, keep your eyes open, don't mix up real interest with the intention of gain benefits from you, be suspicious all the time until you bring her on fiancee visa, be enthusiastic and interesting.

So you'll enjoy your time online and remember this time when you are together with the "view from out of the window, kids, devotion and love, love, love together… 

Yours asap.ru

 

Russian character as any other has been modified and formed by many historical and geographical peculiarities.

Actually, history may tell and explain much. Unfortunately not many of us know it. Centuries of constant wars, internal struggles have forced the character of the Russians and put the essence of their strange patriotism. Severe weather conditions were the reasons for working and living together to protect from natural disasters. 

 

Fairy tails can tell much about each nation. If you look through the tails of the Russians you'll see that the main hero is Ivan-durak - an unremarkable person doing silly things with no sense (at a first glance) His main power is in the lack of practice and pragmatism. This is a certain national hero who is sincere and very simple. He is pitiful, wordless. 

One of the most remarkable qualities of the Russians is their being very sociable. For centuries the Russians peasants lived in a community that functioned as a support for the poor and didn’t let the strongest get higher position than their neighbors. So, as you may see this system worked long before the Socialism was revolutionary established in Russia. Under these conditions the mutual support principle dominated the natural survival instinct. 

 

Many foreigners admired these В«collectivismВ» between the Russians. The American senator at the beginning of the 20th century wrote: "Individualism is ineradicable quality of Anglo-Saxon character. The Russians has a race tendency to work together. The Russians are working perfectly together when the Americans, English or even Germans fail to find common grounds because of constant quarrels and blaming each other” 

The feeling of collectivism let the Russians interfere into other people’s privacy. Foreigners living in Russia can't help being surprised by the same situation. When they get out for a walk with a kid without a cap on in a cold weather they will be blamed by everyone in the street for the irresponsible attitude towards their kid's health. To give some advice in the street is a regular thing for Moscow. 

The remarkable quality of any Russian person is his patriotic feelings. It maybe a hidden, quiet, shy form of patriotism. The Russians are very critical and demanding to themselves. But you should not forget that it's just the other side of honesty and self- esteem. You should not take words like: "No one can live in this country" for simple. The Russians are often blaming life (there are a lot of reasons for that) but they won't bear same critics from any foreigner. 

 

There is a very complicated attitude towards laws and rules in Russia. Some time ago I was walking in a park in a very crowded district of Moscow. I noticed many tables that prohibited walking with pets in the park. But under those signs there were not even tens but thousands of dogs walking. And this was natural because there is no other place there (in the district) to walk. So, those tables were senseless and even impracticable. 

If you are aware of this attitude of Russians towards laws and rules, you won't be surprised with the students smoking near the table "No smoking" This is a very important thing to know. For example, note that it's not customary here to let passersby go on zebra crossing. So, be careful! 

 

People are very informal to each other here in Russia and many people treasure friendship. Be prepared to get a detailed report on your question "how are you?" A formality of foreigners sometimes offends the Russians. Many foreigners can't help being surprised with the sincerity of the Russians when they talk about private life. So, don't get surprised when unknown people in a train will tell you their whole life story. An American traveler in the 19th century wrote: " the Russians on a trip are very talkative. They are as curious as the Scottish - they are so sincere sharing their private and intimate things and that’s even confusing" 

 

In spite of many years of official atheism, religion plays a very important role in lives of many Russians. The dominative is Orthodox Christianity. People are standing in the church, sometimes for many hours. When entering the church, men should take off their hats, women on the contrary should put on a scarf. It's not customary here to go to the church in bridges, shorts or open dress. Some churches do not let women dressed in pants enter the church. But of course now the official church has become more loyal. If you want to ask the Saint about anything, you should buy a candle and put it to the icon. Of course you can't speak loudly in a church, make photos, video and stare at other people. 

 

Read and know more about the Russians, their traditions, and peculiarities of character, history, religion, habits, customs, and national character. Be informed traveling to Russia, know more about the Russian character, laws, peoples behavior, life, modern realias.

 

 

 

The extremely complicated attitude towards money and wealth remains in

Russia nowadays. The Russian culture and literature has always

manifested that "money is not that makes you happy" The general idea

that one can't buy happiness is deeply rooted in the Russian

mentality.

This complicated attitude towards money is still preserved in Russia.

The wealth is a reason for hostility and jealousy but doesn't bring

respect and social position. This brings much pain to so-called

New-Russians who aim achieving respect from their associates. Though

the rumors about the Russian bribery are wide-spread I'd recommend

consult the Russian person before giving the bribe.

Though most of problems are resolved with bribery if your "present" is

not in right place and time the person could become furious and

insulted. You'll be surprised with the fact that for most people in

Russian the principle "we are poor but proud" - well-known in Russia -

is much more important than the money itself.

 

 Online international dating challenge

 

Dating abroad is as difficult as real-life dating. I do not see any

Difference. Both options have it's problems and positive sides.

You definitely get some more chances to meet the partner while

dating online though in real life you are bounded geographically,

sometimes socially or even limited by inner reasons like lack of time,

shyness, no wish to make efforts. 

Life-dating has it's extremely important positive features. Like you don't expect you just take what is

suggested. You don't have to imagine or create a certain image of

the person you are dating. You see him/her with your own eyes and this

is just your choice whether to notice everything or see your partner

through the pink glasses.

The online dating on the contrary bring mostly

unpleasant surprises. Especially if we deal with the settled opinion that dating online is a magic that can

make happy practically anyone if he/she has a zeal. 

Truly the most difficult points are

- to let the person be who he truly is without your violated perception. 

Don't you remember your first meeting with your date and the usual

first disappointment into each others eyes. Yes, yes and once again

yes, even if after that you are able to find common grounds and like

each other and then even fall in love. The first meeting is a

challenge and not many of us can stand this. So, lets praise those who

have enough wit to behave the right way and let the partner show who

she/he really is without fake expectations

- forget about what you already know about each other. This is hard, I

swear. Like you date online and you are sure that you know the person

but really you don't. You know nothing about the person you've been

dating online for some long time and this is a starting point. Those

who can leave behind the online experience and start exploring the

person again are the winners and the luckiest from us.

 

 

The more discrepancy could be noticed inside the social structure of

the Russian society. On the one hand one can see the strict hierarchy

inside the social structure, respect towards the older people, social

motivated position. On the other hand nothing is so easy as it seems

at first sight. So, for example, the relationships between the

boss and the employee are supposed to leave the whole responsibility

for important decisions to the boss but still doesn't exclude the

communication on equal terms.

As a whole the business relationships between the superior and the

employee tend to maintain informal and more hearty nature in

comparison to other Western countries.

Besides there is the proud of the "small person" that has been

strongly manifested by the Russian literature. The smallest unit can

stop the complicated machine that was approved by many big bosses only

because of the disrespect and no attention to the "small unit - small

person" even if you have all money of the world. In this case the

personal request instead of the demand can do magic. Most times people

admire respect and attention instead of money and career. No wonder

that a person speak of the boss if he likes him that he is "so good,

respectful". It's customary to bring small gifts, souvenirs for the

receptionist at the hotel, secretary assistant in the office, nurse in

the hospital etc - but do not regard this as a bribe or your boon.

There is a saying in Russia "I don't value your present I treasure

your love" This is not when the financial side matters but the

attention and human relationships. Present small gifts with the

feeling like smb makes great favor accepting them. This way the

success is guaranteed. The gratitude of the small person can be big

and very important to you.

 

Online flower concerns.

 

Let me put it straight for you not to be absorbed by the number

of useless words :-) There has been many articles and

recommendations for choosing the right shop. This text covers

the points that nobody's emphasized.  

 

1 One reason shops.  

 

Believe me, in the growing flowers market, a florist should be

at least inventive to meet the customer requirements. What do

we face here on the area of x-USSR? We state that we reach

difficult areas and that's true. We’ve been reaching them for

at least 5 years + Don't you think that this'd become a regular

thing here. You’ll be completely right if you think this way. We

can reach difficult and urban areas of Russia, FSU - this is the

peculiarities of the market but we can do much more. With the

relatively stable economic situation and the so-called growth

we can and do suggest more service and better quality. Actually

we keep struggling for the variety and beauty :-)  

 

So, if a shop states the only thing "we deliver to ALL places

in Russia, FSU" as the only or main reason for ordering - think

"they are outdated"  

 

2 One choice shops.  

 

Following the previous abstract I can recommend to "be

inventive" Ask more and be choosy. The Russian floral school is

developing day by day. Professionals are ready to suggest

arrangements that are not just simple roses in the artificial

packing but more exclusive floral works. There is a solution

for choosy customers even for difficult destinations.  

 

So, if you see limited arrangements suggestion with few mixed

bouquets - think "they'll finally deliver a bouquet that will

look differently, contains different flowers (so-called mixed

bouquet of seasoned flowers - what is this?) and of any colour

that is left in stock of the local florist) – they are

inconcrete because they work on terms suggested by others.  

 

3 One bouquet shops.  

 

Most of florists never make any site updates suggesting new

arrangements for the delivery. So, you have little chances to

send something new if you are a regular customer.  

 

Time to think "if I finally order with them and they give me a

discount (as most of florists really set discounts) what would

I do with the discount if I don't have anything new to order?”

– they are stagnant  

 

4 One alternative  

 

Don't be scared to order different than roses arrangement.

Believe me a nice flowers mix with lilies or gerberas, other

flowers with natural arrangement, floral accessories etc will

be much desired as for the creativity that could easily compete

with the beautiful freshness of non-arranged roses. Also, think

that most shops suggest "dozen red roses" of the medium length

that is usually not stated in the description. The red colour

that also can be called "puple, vinous etc" So, always keep in

mind that there is always an alternative to roses ordering that

requires contacting the management, checking "the length, the

colour and the roses supplier - for example Dutch or Ecuador"

There is no wonder that most shops deliver Ecuador roses at

price of Dutch.  

 

5 Same day delivery propaganda.  

 

Let me explain this, only few USA and international networks

deal directly with local florists in the destination cities. To

be honest only few large shops develop their networks

establishing direct contract partnerships on places. So, just

think that there are at least 2 but usually 3-4 mediators

between you and the addressee. This surely should cause delays

and sometimes confusion. That's why most pf shops can't say

clearly whether the order has been delivered as the information

could be lost while transferring from mediator to mediator. This

could be excused for the reputable flower shops that keep

fighting for the price reduce and developing the direct

partnership network. But most shops are simply lazy to do that,

they keep on advertising "catching" unaware customers and state

that they are local florists network while they are not. I keep

finding our flower arrangements at different sites at prices

twice more than we suggest.  

 

If you want names, contact me directly. So, they keep stealing

pictures of flowers from the site and suggest same goods at

higher prices. So, ordering at most of site think that "I deal

with mediators and I'm ready to pay double price for the

pleasure to shop here"  

 

6 Scammers, scammer, fraud, guarantees?  

 

And this well-known story with scammers and address

verification…  

 

We've suggested this service solely because we had nothing to

do about that. Our customers sometimes get trapped with the

scammers that are numerous online. As most of them are

honorable men they trust ladies and try to brighten their days

with flowers. The scammers provide fake  

addresses and we just have to deal with this fact. Now think

that one-day shops say that the delivery is carried out at the

address provide by scammers and a customer has no means to

check the information. As there is double lie, first the

scammer, then the shop. 

 

You can ask what to do? Actually nothing, this is the case of

reputation of the shop. We've had some problems in past with

some customers who were sure that the address was valid. They

tried to reassure us that they'd ordered at the address before

and the delivery was a success. So, the only means for proving

the previous “successful delivery” fraud is our reputation and

the number of constant customers. Just imagine that

commercially there is no benefit for the shop to refund money

for the order placed at the fake address, this is a headache

most of times. Moreover the address verification takes the

administrators away from the debug process. So, first we spend

time, money, efforts, take the responsibility for informing a

customer of the fake data and this is solely for maintaining

the reputation. Of course it's much easier to "complete" the

order at the fake address and forget about it. At least check

whether the site lists the scammers addresses for the

customers’ convenience.  

 

A funny fact: Some customers decide to send flowers only

because they need address verification. But this is ok, as soon

as we can be of any help. Trust is a valuable thing.  

 

So, while ordering at unknown place think: “I do not require

any guarantees cause it’s useless, I realize the possibility to

be scammed”  

 

7 Targeting and healthy environment!  

 

In the conclusion. It's difficult to reveal the trustworthiness

and the quality of services at a glance. Though don't ignore the

impression that a shop is transferring though the Internet: how

it welcomes you, how they accompany you on the whole way of

ordering. This is important as you should feel the main and

foremost idea. As you might guess this idea is not just making

money but make people separated by small and large distances

satisfied or even happy. This could always be noticed. If the

shop is ambitious, "healthy", meaning good for themselves and

people they work for, oriented on general idea of customer

satisfaction then…This is your guarantee that people collected

under the particular brand will treat your order as personal

thing. This promises the delivery of flowers along with your

feelings, emotions or intentions invested.

 

I was asked by the customer "hi, your site has a lot of info on russian women, but what about russian men? how are they with women? i'm a foreign woman who's with a russian man, and the info on these dating sites about them being into drinking,

etc., scares me. can you give me some insight into how

russian men are with foreign or any women, and how

they treat them?"

    I found it interesting to pay attention to and I

found it fair as there is little information on that topic.

I have been thinking for a week trying to figure out what to start with and how can I reveal the subject without damaging the reputation of all Russian men (as this is not completely fair that a woman speaks on that topic) like we are talking underhand. Being biased anyway and scared to be driven way by the common opinion, I asked my husband to tell me "who is

Russian men" :-) heh, I knew that I would get zero answer. So, finding myself in the same starting place, I referred to the mother-history.

Believe me, being an all-women-are-always-right point defender, I'm not really attavhed to the idea to be unbiased, just want to draw a many-sided picture of the human being - Russian man.

Lets remember what is usually said…

1 "they all drink, smoke, they are ignorant, tough, careless,

selfish, childish, inaccurate..." Much more to be added, believe me.

Yes, yes, yes, there are a lot of men who drink much in Russia. Some of them drink because they are alcoholics, some because they lost themselves and as a consequence lost their self-confidence, some drink much in comparison to a typical European man just because they were not taught how to drink and enjoy drinks (that may not effect their social status or whatever) This is just because of the lack of the "enjoy-small drinking" culture. Many find relaxation in drinking...what can we do? - suggest some alternative ways of relaxation...but we are not talking about "how to rebuild" :-) right? this is "how it is"

Ok, lets agree that "our man" doesn't drink that much, doesn't find drinking as the only relaxation in life and he is self-confident and we shall move further...Heh, yes I forgot to mention that even if he doesn't drink much and don't drink on regular basis, be prepared that if he meets his school/work/neighbor/etc who is dear to him, they will get

drunk anyway, talking of past days, common friends and simply because they lived in the same building, or went to the same school or simply because they are Russian and you just don't understand what they truly feel ...

2 "they think only about work and money"...right, yes, but what do you think they should think of here in Russia? :-) Look… first they were busy with the revolution in 1917, then they were busy with the civil war, then with the II world war, then with the restoring the country from the ruins after the world war, then they were learning to do nothing as was

set by the government (building socialism when everybody should be equal to each other, when all engineers whatever their honours are got same wages, when everything is predicted and set for many years - the stability of the poor existence can do a cabbage out of even a talented person nothing to tell about an average one. when the main goal in life is to get a car at the age of 40 :-) well, what can be added), then perestroika comes and Gorbachev says - common guys lets do "something" (but he forgot to say what exactly should be done)

So, the men did their best to do whatever they thought was best :-) after the years of stagnation, they were overflowed with the ideas of what to do (so, again being busy with the idea "to get everything they want preferably in the shortest time - here we come to the constant fight with one another for this idea, killing each other and forcing one another to hand over their share.) So, you see there was neither time nor opportunity for men to think about vital things like (families, women, other immortal values) Getting back to our days, here's when they finally stop for a little and think that there is no need to fight the war or build a country, or work

for the all people's social benefit (see socialism above), or try to survive in the new coming jungles of wild capitalism, there's come a chance to live for themselves and maybe for the small part of the social circle that is called "own family" Yes, many has come to the idea to build a family but also many hasn't as they didn't want to keep a family at a low or average income. So, women again should give them time to feed their

self-confidence and let them earn money. Believe me,

Im not quite sure that after earning some more money they will be more family oriented, this is just a presumption that it maybe so one day

:-) 

Lets think that "our man" is like this, that he just needs some

more time to get some more money to feel financially secure. 

He is not an indifferent to all human values guy and at the bottom of his mind he realizes that the family is important and…. shall we move further...

3 "They are bad-manned, ignorant, inaccurate" :-) Lets say that most of times it differs from person to person as everywhere. But yes, Russian men are not that socially adapted as most Europeans. But this could be cured out if they are able to learn and listen to what you try to tell them. More over being childish all their lives, they get used to listen to what you tell them (like put this thing here, hang this thing there) So, that they are easy to rule (mean in-house :-) and most of times they just switch off their brains waiting for the command "dear you forgot to wash the plate" - Oh, yes darling, will do

that in a minute" No command - no action :-) So, lets say that "our man" is not ignorant, he loves us, and listen to what you say and you can deal with his being badly adapted to social

life. Lets think that you agree when he says that a real man should smell like a bear, should shave once a week and his deeds are as strong and cool as his appearance while he still uses perfume, wears clean and nice clothes, polished shoes, eat with a folk and a knife, speaks clear language etc. Let him think that you understand his need to remain a sever Russian "muzhik" while you want him to turn into a European-looking nice guy :-) Let him know that you realize the favor

:-)

4  "they are childish, lazy and helpless" in things that are less important than the "global cataclysms" and the "world politics news" :-) This is true :-) maybe when an American woman hears "I need to get home to feed my husband" she would think that a husband is at least a disabled person. :-) Nothing at all, this maybe heard in many Russian families, when a woman runs home from work just because her husband won't take out of the fridge an already prepared dish, put in into the oven to warm up and eat. No, most of time, a woman does it and serves the table even when she works same hours as a men :-) And if she is busy a man may die from hunger but won't move a finger to prepare food for himself. If there is a kid with him at home then they may eat sweets together all day just because they didn't find anything to eat as they didn't open the fridge  :-) he, he This is what we (women)'ve done with the Russian men taking care of them from the very birth. When he is a boy his mom does herself to create most comfortable conditions for him. So, the lovely kid won't be bothers with such meaningless things like cooking, laundry, cleaning etc while he is busy with the greater life achievements. Believe me, Im not talking about bringing up a genius, not at all, geniuses here in Russia are as rare things as everywhere else. This is just a normal

family with a loving mom. So, at the age of smth, this kid get

married and is usually lent into his fiancee's hands who will take care of him till the end of life (or divorce) whatever his great achievements are or are not …btw, there is an anecdote in Russia …"a wife asks her husband why is he laying on the sofa all days long doing nothing…he replies "what if a war tomorrow and I am tired" …. So, lets agree that "our man" is not that childish (by the way, most men say that they "feel like boys" with pride - this really scares me, what is that good in being a boy in their 40ies? ;-) being an easy-going person, young at heart etc - is great and I understand this, but the idea of communicating with a man in his 40ies feeling like a boy - really scares me) - sorry, was driven away from the main topic - so, "our man" is not childish, a bit lazy (as they all are), and of course not helpless and shall we move further...

5 "they are down to earth, not romantic, most of times indifferent" - yes, like the rest of the men's world :-) so what? if you are romantic he is able to share what is the romance to you.

So, lets agree that "our man" is down to earth but enjoys romantics as the rest of normal population... :-) and of course he is not a dry old stick and your tears makes him suffer (if you cry about once a month - don't do that too often as he will get used)

6 "they are irresponsible" - not more than the rest of the men in the world :-)

7 "they are rude" - yes, (see above about the bad social update and adaptation :-) but they are learning how to get rid of the years of the rude social behavior when people were ready to kill each other in the queue for the goods at every shop.

Lets agree that "our man" is rude only in-between their boys company and curses in your presence only if he strikes his finger with the hammer or smth...

8 "they don't like kids" - nonsense - they love their kids if they are not degraded or malicious. They are severe, and somewhat careless fathers - yes, but kids love them and they love kids in return. :-)

9 "they are hard hearted" - right, when they see a dog with the broken leg they would hardly take it home. But if this dog is theirs - things change. So, the question is whether this thing or a person or whatever belongs to them (as the possessive feeling is very strong) if the response is - yes - then they will move the rocks to get this thing back, or save it etc. 

So, lets say that "our man" is hard-hearted though his hard-heartedness could be easily diluted by your softness. Just ask him " dear, lets take this poor lonely dog home" please, please, please...and this dog will live with you and he (himself) will drive it to the doctor to cure its leg :-)

10 "they hate mothers-in-law" - yes, so what? are there many wives who love their mothers-in-law? :-) lets skip it :-)

 

11 they are deceitful - not more than the rest of the men's world

Heh, too long opus ….Just to take a brief summary"….

"Our man" doesn't drink much, is self-confident, busy with earning money for him to build a family (or to support the family) and feel self-confident, appreciating human family values, a true Russian strong sever "muzhik" able to draft the rivers, to live in Siberia without the food and the clothes, able to mend the car without a tool kit and depot units and much more while you force him to look nicely, accurately, polish shoes, do a regular hair cut etc, a bit childish, a bit lazy, a bit helpless as concerning to "where I have put my sweater last night" etc, down to earth most of times, a bit rude staying on his own with the repairs, loving you and loving kids, hard-hearted most of time but ready to melt under your requests, with the strong possessive feeling, (forgot to say - with good sense of humour), sexy (I didn't write about that - because they all are the same - sex rules the men's world)

      This is what has stood out from the all brain storming :

 What I have to add is that I -  in no way -  would have preferred to be described by a Russian man in the topic "who are Russian woman" :-)

I'd prefer to be distinctive. So, there is a huge chance that your man is distinctive or want to be distinctive perfecting himself, developing himself and will be represented as not a typical Russian man but yours only.

BTW if you have an idea of how you can describe the US men, send me your thoughts, I'd be pleased to publish them at my sites.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

One could hardly exaggerate the meaning of "shapka-ushanka" in the life of any Russian man. The popularity of this head accessory had

been fantastic since the World war II up to the dawn of the Soviet Union in the beginning of 90ies.

With the opening of the Russian borders the uninhibited flow of the new modern clothes, accessories and hats of all styles and trades has seriously dropped down the privileged position of

shapka-ushanka. That's why you can hardy meet a person in a large city wearing it now with the exception for maybe military men or orthodox.

About the military …Since 1940 ushanka has become a part of the uniform of Russian army and militsia (police) Picking out the fact that the half of Russian male population are either military or "menty" (cops) and practically all of the male population serve in the army at the age of 18 (we have an obligatory conscription) the benefits and advantages of shapka - ushanka were tested and highly estimated.

So, shall we consider the hat that has become an concurrent part of the stereotype image of the Russian man (e.g. in Hollywood, on caricatures, etc) and that is called simply "shapka" in English.

 

Shapka - ushanka - a winter fur hat, cloth or combined (initially - A male hat) a wide-known and widespread hat in Russia. It takes its name after  its "ears" - (ushi - in Russian) that could be lowered or turned down but usually up and tied on the crown. On request :-) when it's necessary "the

ears" could be untied and turned down with the nape flap (the back of the head part) to save real ears from frost and wind, partially cheeks, chin of the person wearing "ushanka".

If we dig down the "ushanka" descending history we shall see that it comes from the Baltic (I would add) Finnish hats, that already had ears and the tapes added for tying up in XIX century.

The fashion for the round crowned hats first appeared among the St Petersburg working class then was spread across Russia.

 

The fur factories of USSR started manufacturing "shapka - ushanka" The basic production - for the bulk of population as we call mass market -

was established on the rabit skin. Every mother "packing" her kid to the kindergarten and tying the tapes of "ushanka" under the kid's chin was rested assured and confident that her kid wouldn't get frozen. I should mention that during the Soviet power the ordinary Russian people were not spoilt with personal cars and private transportation. : It took long time to get to work from one part of the city to another and "shapka-ushanka" was of real use and help during severe frosts that are not a rare thing in Russia. So, one could hardly overestimate the role of shapka-ushanka in his/her

life :-)

 

If it was not too cold outside the "ears" of the hat was turned up and tied on the crown. If a person works outside on the fresh air (during

winter) then there was a special variant to tie the "ears" - backwards on the nape (the back of the head) that worked better (as on the one hand  the person kept ears save and on the other hand didn't suffer from the heat) BUT in case of severe frosts nobody was shy to turn the ears down and tie

up under the chin to avoid chilblain from Ded Moroz (Santa Claus)

I should admit that there were also hats made of different furs in the special fur ateliers. Shapka-ushanka made of squirrel, bear, dog,

nutria, polar fox, marten of  course mink! Oh, my God, mink hat! It was beyond one's wildest dreams. The dream of Soviet citizen during

the period of the late stagnation and the beginning of Perestroika! The person was proud to wear it and when he/she took it off he/she put

it in front of oneself on the table. So, everybody could see it. It was the sign of prosperity. If one didn't possess such a mink hat in province the waiter at the restaurant tried to pass you by :-) The owner of the mink hat never lowered "ears"  of the hat even in the sever frosts but pulled his hat over his eyes more deeply.

Russian military. Quick look at Russian army.

 

  The author of this story used to be close to the army, in other words saw everything with his own eyes and felt with his hands if I can say so :-) What a foreigner usually calls Russian military and what we proudly call Russian Army…? The written below is just a personal view or an opinion and doesn’t pretend to be taken as a gospel.

What does the Russian military look like? Shortly and simply, it consists of naval forces, land forces, air-force and space  forces. You may guess the “prescription” of each from the name, maybe with the only exception for the space forces. You should apply to Mr Lucas (Hollywood) in case of the space war. Naval forces consist of ships and submarines. Air-forces consist of bomber force and fighters (there is also the transport aircraft) Land forces are: infantry, artillery, telecommunication, sappers and others. Frontier troops and internal forces are under the MVD and FSB jurisdiction and fulfill specific tasks that won’t be covered or spoken about in this article.

 

The modern Russian army was formed in 20ies of the previous century, after the Revolution in 1917 and the ruling party – the communists – spent a lot of efforts to form the idea content of the soviet army. The general liability for military service was declared. All young men at the age of 18 and had no health problems  was obliged to serve in the army. Speaking the elevated language of ideologists “holy and honorable duty” , at least posters with such content decorated all of the military units.

 

A young man was called up for the certain period of time and the most unfortunate one serve in the naval forces. The naval service lasted almost twice longer than in any other forces of the Russian army. Nonetheless the military service remains one of the most peculiar event in the life of all men. Romantic people say: “those who didn’t serve – will do, those who didn – will never forget” and the pessimists say: “who served in the army never laugh in circus”

 

The author is trying to avoid accurately all negative sides and sharp angles and won’t draw any conclusions. Take it simple as just a mere narration. Using the rubber stamp, the Russian military is the reflection of the society with all the follow ups.  For those who are interested I’d recommend to read the book written by Anna Politkovskaya - “Putin’s Russia” and find what he is searching in the first part of the book. This book was already translated into most languages.