Russians

So I know that I am supposed to be learning about Japan and stuff, speaking Japanese and strictly hanging out with Japanese people, but there are actually Russians everywhere. The two I know best are my neighbor 2 doors down who I think I have mentioned before, he is a pretty cool guy, and the other is a Russian girl from the far eastern side of Russia, and is only about 3 inches shorter than me. There are many more, but I don't really interact with them because they aren't in any of my classes etc.

Over the course of the program so far, I have learned quite a few things about Russia. Some of their traditions, parts of their education system, and a couple of things that I found rather disturbing.

Let's start with some of their traditions. The simplest one that I have learned is that Russians love drinking tea at around 8-9:00 at night. I'm not sure what kind of tea they prefer, I have drank tea with Alex several times, and each time he has a rather large assortment of flavors and such. It's a pretty nice tradition I would say, a bit like decaf after dinner.

It was actually Alex's birthday a couple days ago (Friday) and so he had a Russian party, which was pretty fun. There, I learned a couple more traditions and such concerning drinking (obviously super duper important in Russian culture) and the new years celebration, which is actually the largest Holiday in Russia. Russia has so many religions and ethnic groups, that there really isn't a dominant holiday compared to Christmas in America. So they all celebrate new years, in the most patriotic fashion possible, listening to a speech made by their president.

Alex said that everyone gathers with their families and sits down around the table to eat and drink together on new years eve. Then, at 11:50 they all stand up and grab a glass of their preferred drink, and wait for the president to come on tv. Alex showed us a clip of this actually, and it was rather interesting. He said that at 11:55, all television shows, everything on Russian tv stops, and the president comes on to do his stuff.

They show a couple pictures of Moscow, while playing epic presidential worthy music, and then the president appears to do his stuff. This clip doesn't have the music (soorrry) but it was Putin's last address:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYtAoqtf-XU

Once the President has said his words, the camera switches to a clock that is in Moscow (sort of like the Big Ben), and everyone waits for it to 'go bong' 12 times, and on the 12th time everyone drinks to Russia!! The Russians at the party on Friday night were also celebrating new years (or so Alex said) so they all drank actually, as we watched the clip that Alex had prepared.

And so, on to Russians and drinking! Back in the states, before I came to Japan (dur) I lucky enough to meet a professor at OSU from the Slavic and eastern Europeans department. His major back in college was Russian language and culture studies etc, and he was actually all set to become a spy during the cold war. One month before his departure however, the cold war ended, the USSR fell, and he never got the chance to be a spy. Anyway, ever since then, he has worked for various Russian and American companies, working his way up the ladder until in the company he was in, he was in charge of all Russian and eastern European operations for the company. The most interesting thing he told us though, was that at every single Russian business meeting he had ever been to, there had been vodka. Lots of it.

So Alex was teaching us about drinking vodka. He said that all Russians grab their drink in one hand, and some food in the other. He stated that "if you do not eat after you drink, you will get drunk!" So whenever we did a toast or anything, we had to eat something right after. Makes sense.

There was plenty of food around, as most of the Russians in attendance had actually prepared some dish to be served at the party, so I got to sample some authentic Russian foods. Potato salad. Yum. They had lots of it, it was green though, and a bit more chunky that I would have preferred, but still pretty good. They had something that I would call the grandfather of Potiza (probably just butchered that word...) which was small bundles of bread with tasty stuff on the inside. There were other kinds of bread and such, and then some small chocolate that were tasty, but they have nothing on Malley's.

Alex's major is education technologies, and he plans to become a politician in Russia to improve their education system. This is actually the reason he came to Japan, to try and research their education system (which I hate btw) and see what he might be able to implement back in Russia. Alex himself got his education at Moscow State University (Russia's Top university) where he got a full ride based on his entrance exam results. He is a pretty smart dude. Actually whenever he refers to any of his relatives, they all seem to have rather high positions. Both of his parents are doctors, he mentioned that his uncle was a surgeon, his grandfather was in charge of a region of production during the USSR, and his great grandfather was in charge of all production in Azerbaijan in the 30's.

Tangent: Some kid keeps yelling at the top of his lungs every once in awhile here, and I have no idea why. It's really annoying.

So Alex has big plans both for himself, and for Russia's education system. However, one policy I would like him to change is that of Moscow's weather controlling aircraft fleet. Here's the article that Popular Science ran on the system that they use:

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2009-10/moscow-mayor-pays-russian-air-force-wage-war-winter

Alex said that it is more cost effective to stop the snow outside of Moscow than to clean it up in Moscow after it falls. Logically that makes sense, cleaning up snow in large cities is a complete pain, however I am not sure making the snow (or rain in the summer) fall prematurely is the best answer. Not only is it creating problems for the people that are now getting extra snowed on (snow days are awesome btw) but I think that whenever humans interfere with natural cycles within the weather or other aspects of nature, the outcome will most certainly be...bad.

At the bottom of that popsci article, it has a link to another article describing how Bill Gates want's to stop hurricanes by messing with the ocean...Also a bad idea.

Sorry for now entry over the last 13 days, these last 2 weeks have been my midterm weeks, and I have been extra busy. I hope I can make it up to you by providing this funny commercial, do enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZMZdQzoQgo

You have to watch it all the way to the end...