Even though I have been in Russia 5 years now. I still reach for the light switch on the wrong side of the door. Every time…
That is my thought this morning as I sip my cup of coffee…
It seems that I will most likely never get use to a different placement of the light switch to turn the lights on when you enter a room. You see in Russia the switch to turn on the bathroom light is on the outside wall of the bathroom by the door. In America most times it is inside the bathroom by the door as you walk in…
Also in Russia it is common to see string operated pull switches to turn the lights on all through the flat. They are mounted up near the ceiling outside the rooms…
There is a million little things like that (light switches) in Russia. That make life interesting and different. I find that habits of mine are almost unbreakable when it comes to issues that have been part of your life from birth on up…
Another example is stop lights in Russia. In Russia the stop lights on the streets are somewhat opposite of America. In Russia you sit at a red light and the light turns yellow then green. In Russia you have a green light and before it turns red it starts flashing green. Then changes to red. No yellow warning at all. The yellow warning is for the person sitting with a red light…
At first this makes no sense but after being here for a while. It makes sense. Everyone and I mean everyone runs red lights and the fact that you are warned by a yellow before you get a green is correct. You can get a green light and watch 10 cars run the red that they just got. So the yellow light to me means, “Warning – stupid idiot drivers are around! Proceed with caution…” 🙂
It boils down to:
In America a yellow light means put the “pedal to the metal” to beat the light…
In Russia the flashing green means put the “pedal to the metal” to beat the light…
Have a nice day…
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