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That last one looks like an old dacha district that people are buying up and turning into nice homes. But the expensive-looking one's owner still can't be bothered to trim outside his fence.
Why are we looking at WA, now?
Yeah, no, I wouldn't say it's "Slavic" either. Maybe we can call it Mongol? Haha--blame it on the traditional scapegoats! Except I've seen really nice dacha yards in the Mongol part of Russia. (Yes, dachas/yards belonging to Mongols/Buryats.) I don't recall if it looked unkempt outside the dacha walls.
Hardware/construction stores--impressive! Russia's really coming along! My guests from Russia (mostly guys) would always think they'd died and gone to heaven when I took them to hardware stores in the 90's. I couldn't drag 'em out of there. Back in the day, you were lucky if you could find something useful in a corner of the public market, or through some kind of personal connections.
That last one looks like an old dacha district that people are buying up and turning into nice homes. But the expensive-looking one's owner still can't be bothered to trim outside his fence.
Why are we looking at WA, now?
Yeah, no, I wouldn't say it's "Slavic" either. Maybe we can call it Mongol? Haha--blame it on the traditional scapegoats! Except I've seen really nice dacha yards in the Mongol part of Russia. (Yes, dachas/yards belonging to Mongols/Buryats.) I don't recall if it looked unkempt outside the dacha walls.
Maybe you have a point, the Turkic/mongol nations look similar to Russia.
^
Mongolia and Turkey look different, the rest look precisely as they looked during Soviet times - all of them - be that "Russia proper" or "Kyrgyzstan")))
Typical photo. I grew up in a similar district (maybe even worse).
I think there are several reasons.
1. Long winters. 6 months the land is covered with snow.
2. Permanent repair. Most Russians do the repairs yourself, and it lasts for many years. Building materials (construction sand, boards, bricks, concrete pipes, etc.) also lie for many years. By the way, children are very fond of this.
3. Mentality. People will not spend big money on arranging expensive lawns. It is enough to scrape the leaves in the spring and mow the grass in the summer.
Last edited by Maksim_Frolov; 04-11-2017 at 01:12 AM..
Typical photo. I grew up in a similar district (maybe even worse).
I think there are several reasons.
1. Long winters. 6 months the land is covered with snow.
2. Permanent repair. Most Russians do the repairs yourself, and it lasts for many years. Building materials (construction sand, boards, bricks, concrete pipes, etc.) also lie for many years. By the way, children are very fond of this.
3. Mentality. People will not spend big money on arranging expensive lawns. It is enough to scrape the leaves in the spring and mow the grass in the summer.
I don't think that was the OP's point, though. It took me awhile to understand exactly what the OP was getting at. He's saying that people only tend to the interior yard (if that). They ignore the little section between the fence or wall, and the road. There's no awareness of maintaining a nice neighborhood appearance. So, just outside the wall, there are always weeds growing. Sure, the property owner may feel that the area outside the wall is not his responsibility, but the point is that elsewhere in E Europe, not to mention the West, people tend the little spot of land bordering the street, too.
Here's the example he gave of Sochi. Though here, it seems pretty clear that the strip along the road is probably the city's responsibility, but then still--the OP would ask: why doesn't the city take care of it? https://www.google.com/maps/@43.3990...7i13312!8i6656
But OP, here you give a photo of Novosibirsk, but this seems fine. There isn't any overgrown part by the street in this one. https://www.google.com/maps/@55.0755...7i13312!8i6656
In fact, it's comparable to the examples you posted of Chile and S Africa, except that in this and other Russian ones, there's no little curb by the street. That's because the photos from the middle-class neighborhoods in 3rd world countries you posted are planned communities, meaning that the city built the streets, provided sidewalks and curbs, and utilities. In many of the Russian examples, the communities grew spontaneously, without any city investment. Most are, or were at one time, on the outskirts, and were either dacha districts, or perhaps quasi-legal slums, as erasure pointed out. Some of the dacha neighborhoods don't have indoor plumbing. Heck, I've been in apartment buildings in the center of town in Ulan Ude (Buryatia) that didn't have indoor plumbing!
So those dacha districts and slum districts are not the same as the middle-class neighborhoods you illustrated in Chile, Argentina, and S Africa, you see?
Last edited by Ruth4Truth; 04-11-2017 at 11:58 AM..
2. Permanent repair. Most Russians do the repairs yourself, and it lasts for many years. Building materials (construction sand, boards, bricks, concrete pipes, etc.) also lie for many years. By the way, children are very fond of this.
So in the West kids play with iPad 93885523 super deluxes and The Punisher Hellfire Revenge Maker drones, while in the east they play with old car tyres and two-by-fours? XAXAXA
But to be honest, if I would live in Russia where the only colour is grey, I would work at Sovietskaya Komsomolskaya Blyatskaya Shveatshopskaya Coal Plant digging coal and my life expectancy would be 42 years, I wouldn't spend my time gardening either. I would drink methanol and use krokodil so I can escape this cruel world. And I would have to eat sauerkraut and coated herring every day. Yuck. Amd my little Irinka would soon turn from that gorgeous round-assed skinny girl to a scarf-wearing teethless babuskha. I don't wanna be alive to witness that!
So in the West kids play with iPad 93885523 super deluxes and The Punisher Hellfire Revenge Maker drones, while in the east they play with old car tyres and two-by-fours? XAXAXA
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ariete;
But to be honest, if I would live in Russia where the only colour is grey, I would work at Sovietskaya Komsomolskaya Blyatskaya Shveatshopskaya Coal Plant digging coal and my life expectancy would be 42 years, I wouldn't spend my time gardening either. I would drink methanol and use krokodil so I can escape this cruel world. And I would have to eat sauerkraut and coated herring every day. Yuck.
Stop it, Ariete!
So in Finland, even construction workers or factory workers and coal miners (does Finland have coal miners?) buy expensive video games for their kids? Drones, kids play with drones?!? Coal miners in the US don't buy their kids much in the way of toys. These days, many coal miners are unemployed, anyway.
BTW, one family I stayed with in Sweden (in the days before video games) didn't have any toys for the kids. The kids were pretty much grown, anyway, but there were no bikes, not even any skis , no sports or recreational equipment at all. Nor any books! When the kids, as teens, wanted to build an amateur astronomy observatory, they applied for a government grant, and got it. They couldn't afford to buy any of the materials themselves. But this was a single parent household; there was only one income. OK, it appears that some money was spent on guitars and a bit of stereo equipment, but that's all.
P.S. At least in Russia, if the kids are playing around abandoned construction materials, they're outside, being active, and using their imaginations, rather than sitting indoors all day absorbed in some video game. They're also outside riding bikes, and probably playing soccer, too.
Last edited by Ruth4Truth; 04-11-2017 at 12:17 PM..
So in Finland, even construction workers or factory workers and coal miners (does Finland have coal miners?) buy expensive video games for their kids? Drones, kids play with drones?!? Coal miners in the US don't buy their kids much in the way of toys. These days, many coal miners are unemployed, anyway.
Sure. The unions are strong, and skilled mining industry and especially paper industry workers who have worked over 5 years have quite good salaries. Unskilled certainly not, like handymen at construction sites.
No, kids don't play with drones (teens may well), but kids usually get their first smartphone when they start school at 7.
No, we don't have coal deposits and most coal energy plants are to be closed ASAP.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth
BTW, one family I stayed with in Sweden (in the days before video games) didn't have any toys for the kids. The kids were pretty much grown, anyway, but there were no bikes, not even any skis , no sports or recreational equipment at all. Nor any books! When the kids, as teens, wanted to build an amateur astronomy observatory, they applied for a government grant, and got it. They couldn't afford to buy any of the materials themselves. But this was a single parent household; there was only one income. OK, it appears that some money was spent on guitars and a bit of stereo equipment, but that's all.
Well, mostly parents flood their kids with toys. Instruments are extremely common. I just heard that almost 50% of all Finns have sometimes in their lives at least for a while played an instrument.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth
P.S. At least in Russia, if the kids are playing around abandoned construction materials, they're outside, being active, and using their imaginations, rather than sitting indoors all day absorbed in some video game. They're also outside riding bikes, and probably playing soccer, too.
That's good, just shoveling your kids with toys for them to entertain themselves is not desirable, but there are probably few cultures who promote and encourage independency in kids at such a level and young age than the Nordics. But yeah, I definitely think kids should just go out and explore.
Video games are definitely the largest reason why kids don't move enough these days, but the video games aren't to blame - it's the parents. Parents who teach their young kids to see the joy of playing and moving around usually become interested in sports.
Biking is of course almost integral to our culture, so that cannot really be avoided. I have never met an adult who cannot bike. In student dorms adults like exchange students commonly have to learn it, which seems very funny to me.
So in the West kids play with iPad 93885523 super deluxes and The Punisher Hellfire Revenge Maker drones, while in the east they play with old car tyres and two-by-fours? XAXAXA
And does that make them good people? Or are they the tool of their parents for bragging?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ariete
But to be honest, if I would live in Russia where the only colour is grey, I would work at Sovietskaya Komsomolskaya Blyatskaya Shveatshopskaya Coal Plant digging coal and my life expectancy would be 42 years, I wouldn't spend my time gardening either. I would drink methanol and use krokodil so I can escape this cruel world. And I would have to eat sauerkraut and coated herring every day. Yuck. Amd my little Irinka would soon turn from that gorgeous round-assed skinny girl to a scarf-wearing teethless babuskha. I don't wanna be alive to witness that!
Вам здесь не дебри джунглей, / You are not here jungle jungle,
Вытри гарь скорее с губ. / Wipe the smoke more from the lips.
Здесь ядовитый воздух, / Here the poisonous air,
Каждый здесь живой труп. / Everyone here is a living corpse.
У всех здесь в лёгких мусор, / Everyone here has litter in their lungs,
Наше дело здесь труба! / Our business here is a trumpet to hell!
Здесь воздух углекислый / Here the air is carbonic
Забивается в зубах. / Clogged in the teeth.
chorus:
Сектор Газа! / The gas sector!
Шинный, ТЭЦ,ВоГРЭС, СК! / Tire, power plants, factory fumes,
Сектор Газа! / The gas sector!
Здесь не дожить до сорока! / We will not live to be forty here!
Сектор Газа! / The gas sector!
Скорей одень противогаз! / Quickly wear a gas mask!
Сектор Газа! / The gas sector!
Спасайтесь по лесам - Атас! / Save yourselves on forests - Come on!
Роса на травах здесь покрыта / Here dew on grass is covered
Пеплом угольным, / With ashes of coal,
Нет утренних туманов, / Here are no morning fogs,
Здесь только смрадный дым. / Here only stinking smoke.
Здесь очень трудно жить, / It is very difficult to live here,
Здесь трудно сделать вдох, / It's hard to breathe in here,
И не поёт здесь соловей, / And nightingale does not sing here,
Он, задохнувшись, сдох! / Nightingale suffocated and died!..
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, no sports or recreational equipment at all. Nor any books! When the kids, as teens, wanted to build an amateur astronomy observatory, they applied for a government grant, and got it. They couldn't afford to buy any of the materials themselves. But this was a single parent household; there was only one income. OK, it appears that some money was spent on guitars and a bit of stereo equipment, but that's all.
