Learning Russian and moving to the Russian Federation

[West71]

Originally Posted by jza1993

Hey there. I am an Anglo-African(not from South Africa), I immigrated to the United States from Africa because I was under the misapprehension that the United States was one of the few countries in the West that still held onto more traditional values and wasn't completely atheistic. It seems that the era of the United States being a more traditional place and one of the last holdouts of European religion and culture is over. I am 21 and in real life and on these forums I am berated for having religious beliefs and more traditional values. I realize Russia is not a perfect nation and that unlike American I will not have as much freedom, but it seems that they are more conservative in their values and since they suffered under socialism during the last century I am sure that they are opposed to more atheistic values. I can sacrifice freedom because I haven't lived in a free country most of my life, but I will never have a future in America because it seems that the "one nation under God" that I had heard about as a child doesn't exist anymore. I have done some research on Russia and it seems that they have a lovely history and culture and beautiful traditions. I have encountered several Russian-Americans and they seem like kind people. They also have a strong leader (albeit controversial) and a sense of national unity that I would love to be a part of. From recent news there economy seems to be suffering but hopefully that will pass. I do not speak Russian but I am fluent in several other languages so perhaps I could teach languages there whilst I learn Russian? I would love to live in a historical mid-sized city although the cold would take some getting used too.

How does one move to Russia? Can you ever become a Russian citizen? I am from sub-Saharan Africa but my heritage is from Wales and the North of England and this I am fair-skinned and blonde and wouldn't stand out too much I hope! Does anyone have any experiences to share? I'm 21 years old and a male.

I will not try to convince you that you are wrong.
You have a grazhdastvo? USA?
Swap: I have Russian citizenship + my apartment,
and you tell me a US citizen + your house. OK?

[erasure]

Originally Posted by Ariete

That's my point. The pretty boy and the 40's hair came back into fashion here, while in Russia it didn't. If I would meet him on the street in St. Pete I would talk Finnish:

Why Finnish? He could be anything, Russian including.
I do understand however what you are talking about, and I suspect that it has everything and anything to do with "+" and "-" that I was talking about earlier somewhere here;
Excessive Admiration of all things "Nordic".
I think that in Russia men for the most part are charged with + ( and even if it's an original -, it's well-balanced with a plus again.) That's why for the most part you'll find more indifference to fashions and hairstyles, where in Europe "-" apparently prevails, so you'll find more well-tailored suits and "pretty boy" haircuts.
( Although even in Russia you can see here and there that the" -" still kicks in as well. I mean I can even spot it among this young bozos - see that pony-tail on a guy? So you see only part of the picture when you are talking about "combed forward hair".)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-vjutwJyY4

Another thing - "полубокс" never made a comeback to Russia, apparently because Russian males didn't feel safe to wear it, without the combination with military uniform or technical schools uniforms for this matter.
Russian is a culture that instinctively is afraid of homosexuality, even the slightest hint of it ( real or perceived) and for a good reason.
The reason that it is so much more detrimental for the Russians comparably to the Westerners, I think, is that because one of the staples of the Russian culture is the genuine closeness that people experience - both males and females. That spiritual/emotional closeness exhibits itself in close physical contacts - be that bear hugs or kisses (more known to older generation) which is unfamiliar to the Westerners. You'd have hard time to go on with it, if you have homosexuality prominently embedded in the society. That might explain why Russians are so adamant about homosexuality even on subconscience level, and always have been.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by West71

I will not try to convince you that you are wrong.
You have a grazhdastvo? USA?
Swap: I have Russian citizenship + my apartment,
and you tell me a US citizen + your house. OK?

haha! This is fabulous! Wouldn't it be great if it were that easy?

OP, how are you able to pay for an apartment in NY if you don't have a job, or only work construction? Are you staying with friends?

[erasure]

Originally Posted by jza1993

I realized that this country had minorities but I thought they were mostly separate outside of the 4 big cities. I come from Africa, I know how brutal they can be.

Russian Orthodoxy is a pretty standard Trinitarian denomination. They have the Eucharist yes? That is fine for me

So you are for real?
I should probably give you a test to write something in your language ( like someone here is suggesting it for me,) but what do I know about Africaans?
I was talking to someone from your country few years ago and when he mentioned about the stones being thrown on the highways from above in front of the moving cars ( just one of the details I remember) it pretty much painted to me the general picture.
So speaking about Russia...
I don't know much about the Eucharist, but couple of things I have to mention in terms of religion.
Number one - I understand where you are coming from, talking about religion in America - people here did create their own version of Christianity that feels more convenient for them indeed ( not that I care, I don't go to church,) and that a lot of Russians turned to church starting from the nineties looking for refuge in God, because I think that they've had nowhere else to turn because of insecurity and unpredictability of their lives. With other words, I don't think that "turning to god" is necessarily a positive sign; in fact it might be a troubling sign for the society, when people turn to god out of misery. The last time Russians turned to God was during the WWII as far as I remember.
Now about your skills - I think you'd find an employment in Moscow, even keeping in mind your knowledge of rare languages ( or teaching English somewhere for this matter,) although most likely the kind of life you are searching for can't be found in Moscow - Moscow is a cut-throat kind of city. You'd have to move somewhere deep into Russia to find the kind of spirituality you are looking forward to. But the life there is far more difficult in economic sense of it.
Overall I have to say life in Russia is not for the faint of heart. It's difficult, it's unpredictable and it's very, very corrupt. This is the main problem. So the only way you'd survive there, is "knowing people," and being "plugged in" into the "network," whatever network that might be. That's generally speaking how people survive there for the most part. You have to have friends; making it on your own, just "following the rules and laws" as it's done in the West is not going to cut it in Russia.