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I just received a memo that my employer desires to transfer me to one of our small outlying foreign offices. I have been given many choices for location, however i'm only intrested in the Estonian or Vladivostok branches at this point. My position will be Senior Breakroom Attendant, and my base salary will be determined according to the local level of pay and cost of living. However, i'm having a hard time deciding between the two...
My assignment will likely last as long as i want, i'm in the age where i might eventually slow down with the partying and desire to start a family with a local woman. How is the quality of life overall in these places, is one of them significantly better than the other? What is the scope on crime and corruption, i'd like for me and my future family to be able to safely live day-to-day without the fear of crime, and without the need to bribe anyone to live life to the fullest at my assigned location. How are the people, which city would have the type of people that would reflect what i consider myself to be; honest, humble, responsible, consistent, hard-working, shockingly good-looking, and devilishly sexy?
I'm a mixed race/heritage person, more specifically 1/4th Ukranian, 1/4th Georgian, 1/4th Mongol, 1/4th Chinese. Which place would likely be more open and accepting of different cultures and races? This is a major concern for me, even given the fact that i would be a highly-skilled and highly-desired expat, and obviously not some illegal streetsweeper.
Which brings me to the next concern, how is the quality of education in these cities? I'd like to further my studies in the field of economics. Which place would have the best potential to provide me a credible and useful education in this field? Money isn't an issue, but i'd desire to do this at public institutions.
So which one would suit me best, Estonia or Vladivostok? Only information i could find was this:
Quote:
Originally Posted by russiaonline
Estonia is AWFUL, compared to other EU countries, including its small neighbours. It doesn't even come close to Russia.
HDI is a joke.
Is this true, what is the real scope on things between the two?
Estonia, no contest! Enjoy!
btw, have you factored in the "grey salary" to your income? Do breakroom attendants earn tips?
I hear you can make a lot of money importing goods from Finland and selling them on weekends in the local public market.
Never been to Vladivostok, but I've been to Tallinn and Tartu in Estonia. Estonia is pretty good, quality of life seems to be better than in the other Baltic states, Latvia and Lithuania. But it's definitely not Finland.
I especially love Tallinn, beautiful city. A bit shabby, though, in the outer areas, but I guess you have that everywhere in former Soviet states. St. Petersburg's outskirts seemed to be a lot more extreme.
Than again, Estonia is within the Schengen zone. Easy traveling.
I would go for Estonia, if I would have the opportunity to move to Tallinn or Tartu. Don't really know the rest of the country.
How is the quality of life overall in these places, is one of them significantly better than the other?
Estonia, PPP - 0.55
The average wage is 700 euros, which at PPP is $385.
Here I'll stop the comparison, because 7 times difference with Vladivostok is a bit too much.
Quote:
I'm a mixed race/heritage person, more specifically 1/4th Ukranian, 1/4th Georgian, 1/4th Mongol, 1/4th Chinese. Which place would likely be more open and accepting of different cultures and races?
Lets see - Vladivostok, historically full of Asians, or insanely nazi Estonia... Hmm, I don't even know...
This is Estonian hero (official) - SS veteran:
In Vladivostok the only hero is love...
Quote:
Which brings me to the next concern, how is the quality of education in these cities? I'd like to further my studies in the field of economics.
Vladivostok has a brand new huge university, located on the island:
It has a dedicated "kissing place" inside a 50 ha park:
What is the scope on crime and corruption, i'd like for me and my future family to be able to safely live day-to-day without the fear of crime, and without the need to bribe anyone to live life to the fullest at my assigned location.
I can't comment on Estonian corruption, but in Russia the rule of thumb lately is - don't offer bribes, if you are not ready to spend some time in jail.
For crime I'd like to show you what happened in one Estonian school a few weeks ago:
13-14 yo girls turtured a 12 yo girl for 10 minutes, when she didn't bring them cigarettes.
A school director tried to hush-hush this for a week, until the girls decided to post this video on Youtube. Russian internet exploded. People have found the girls on a social network, vk.com, and reported them to police.
A school director confessed, that one parent has said that girls did everything right.
Local police has said: "This is not a special case... I wouldn't say that this happens rarely".
In a huge Russia two exact cases happened too - in Ussuriisk and Yakutsk. The girls were arrested fast, and are tried for very serious criminal offenses, including rape (one girl was forced to pull down her pants - just like it happened in Estonia).
P.S. I'm puzzled that you expected Finland's ugly sister to compare favourably with urban Russia, even Far Eastern. Do you hate Russia so totally, that you can't see anything positive in it?
Estonia, without a doubt. Very clean and modern country, Tallin can get boring after a few days but still, you could always go to Riga or take the ferry to Helsinki- Helsinki is a great city in the Summer.
Estonia, without a doubt. Very clean and modern country, Tallin can get boring after a few days but still, you could always go to Riga or take the ferry to Helsinki- Helsinki is a great city in the Summer.
I think that within the next decade Estonia will be completely transformed into a modern 1st world country comparable to the rest of Scandanavia. (If not already.)
Vladivostok would be nice, and it seems a boring city in my opinion, yet it is close to Japan, Korea and China. Vladivostok economy will continue to boom in the future. Evidence is as follows:
The region’s (Vladivostok) new governor, Vladimir Miklushevsky, says a key will be to attract investment from China - and to cut red tape. He is lining up investors for 19 development projects totaling $95 billion over the next decade.
“We are going to reduce the administrative barriers for business projects,” he said.
Yet Estonia would be lovely. The advantages would be it is close to your country Finland. Estonia living standards would eventually catch up with the living standards of Finland.
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