Don’t Come to Russia and Coffee Thoughts…

This morning I was doing some coffee thinking. I was thinking about several years ago (5 to be exact) when I wrote an e-mail to an American living in Russia. He had several good articles about how wonderful Russia was and how great it was in Russia. He had been in Russia for about 5 years at that time and I was excited to see someone with a good attitude about Russia. So I wrote him an e-mail…

The response I got back was one of confusion for me at the time. Now 5 years later I no longer am confused by what his response to my e-mail was…

I remember that my e-mail consisted of how happy I was to be able to come and live in Russia. I was interested in meeting him in Russia and was looking forward to knowing that there was an American in Russia that enjoyed Russia. I of course never considered that he would not be thrilled about another American coming to Russia to live and try to get to know what Russia is about. The response was one of, “Don’t come to Russia and push your American attitude and don’t mess it up for us (Americans) that are happy here…” 🙁

I remember that it was a long letter in reply to me and I could tell that he did not want me to come to Russia. He in fact, to put it in a nutshell, he wished that all Americans would stay away from Russia. For Russia is a wonderful and fantastic world that I (we) would only mess up royally in normal American fashion… 🙂

I remember seeing him twice on the metro over the years. (He had a picture of himself on his blog.) I left him alone and observed him from across the metro car. I knew on the second time that I saw him, that he realized I was an America. He escaped silently and quickly down the metro car and out the door at the next stop. He still writes about Russia and he still teaches English in Moscow. I can tell he will never go home to America again…

Now Sveta was sitting next to me in my American home when we received that letter and I remember she said, “He is stupid, do not listen to him, Russia is great place.” Of course Sveta and I were already an issue so the situation was final at that point anyway. I was just a few days from leaving America at that point. As you could tell Sveta was with me in America and I knew that staying in America was not going to happen. Sveta was disenchanted with America. Her first words were about how much of a police state America is and so many rules and regulations that interfered with life and fun…

I was actually confused by her feelings toward America at first. But I learned what she meant after a few months in Russia. I also started to understand about this gentleman’s response to me about the e-mail that I wrote…

I had an article a month ago that confirmed my thinking’s. It was an article and video from another American that triggered everything  and made it congeal in my mind…

Interview of an American Living in Russia… (Paul Eng)

The clincher in the whole interview was the end when he said, “Don’t come here (to Russia)!”  because well, “You will muck it up…” :)

That hit home with me and I realized that most Americans that I meet in Russia feel the same way. Paul Eng said what we all think in an interview with Russia Today. He tried to make it like a joke. But he was dead serious…

So I have found myself fighting that same feelings inside myself. I really think that it is a stage that we go through and I will grow out of it in time. But I find myself worried about Russia as I watch her become more like America everyday. That is why I cheer when Walmart decides to pull out and am saddened when I see how much control McDonald’s has on the management world in Russia. I have said this same thing multiples of times in Articles that I write. I do not want to see Russia become a controlled environment with police state tendencies…

Don’t get me wrong. I want you to come to Russia. I believe in my heart that your life here would be forward-looking over what you know in America. But then I feel that way if you went to most any part of the world. I know Americans who live in China, Panama, India, Korea, Ukraine and so on and so on. They all will tell you that the world is not what you are made to believe from America…

I could rattle on for hours, so we will end it with…

Russia is still the “wild west” and as far as I am concerned it needs to stay that way. That is what I love about Russia…

Windows to Russia!

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