RUSSIA TRIP REPORT
Into the 3rd week of my trip to Russia and it's basically more of the same. The weather is hot. About 30c yesteday and we had a nice storm to clear the air. I've had the pleasure of a barbecue organized by Anastasya our agent here at one of her drivers dacha's. For those that don't know what a dacha is it is basically a summer house that most Russian's have. They are passed down from generation to generation, some are built by their owners. They are small dwellings that only have electric and access to water. They are not designed for permanant living. You couldn't stay in a Dacha in the winter months. Mainly because it's too cold and you can't travel to them. The roads are awful in areas outside of city limits. Outside of Volzhsky the roads to the dacha's are dirt tracks and used by tanks for a nearby military base! Needless to say the ride here was not the most comfortable I've had! The dacha we were at had a fair size garden where a lot of fruit and veg was being grown. The food we had was superb and all in all we had a good time. The girls from the office where present and a Canadian client was with his girlfriend. It was great to be able to chat with someone whose native tongue was English.
I've managed to get out and about by negotiating public transport. They use Ford transit vans here and they can seat about 10 people. It costs 5 rubles (20 cents) to go anywhere in the city. They are very frequent and very useful.
I had the pleasure of meeting my fiancee's parents yesterday. Obviously I was a little concerned how they would react to meeting me. I am taking their daughter away from them where it is likely they will only see Elena once or twice a year. Elena and her mother are very close and you can't help thinking you are the bad guy for parting mother and daughter. However they were very friendly with me and went out of their way to make me feel comfortable and welcome. Elena's mother put on a wonderful spread of food and drink. A lot of the apartment blocks in Russia look to be in a terrible state from the outside. And sure they could do with a lick of paint! But inside most people go to great lengths to make their homes comfortable. Elena's parents home was much bigger than I imagined it would be at they had all the modern appliances and furniture you would see in a western home. Her father is a big soccer fan and he'd just finished watching some English game so we had plenty to chat about!
Elena's grandmother is insisting on meeting me as well. She is an elderly lady who is not in good health. Her grandmother feels that she will not see Elena again when she moves to England with me. For the skeptical men out there meeting family and friends of Elena's really brings it home to me how big a decision these women are making. I hear a lot of times from men these women are just looking for a ticket out. I wonder how many of us could say goodbye to our Grandmother's and mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters knowing we would not see them for months on end? Elena is leaving everyone behind. Her best friends, some she's known since childhood and she says goodbye to her work colleagues today and I know she will be upset when she gets home tonight. I honestly believe the majority of women who make this huge committment are doing it for the right reasons and not just for a ticket and green card to somewhere better.
Another myth is that all Russian women want to 'get out'. I pointed out to Elena yesterday that poor standard of appearance of a lot of the Russian men in their mid 20's to late 30's and she agreed. You see all these beautiful women who make such an effort to look good and they are surrounded by men in jogging suits wearing slippers! I kid you not! Elena said 2 off her friends are desperate to find good men to marry. They don't care if he has a job, car or apartment. They just want to be treated well and loved. Most of the men seem to treat women badly and Elena's friends testify to this. Elena says Russian men have become spoiled by having so many women to choose from. She has tried to convince her friends to go on the Internet but both of them said they couldn't leave family and relocate. So no the majority of women are not looking for a way out. We only have 500 women from Volzhsky online from a city of 400,000.....
