Russian Culture

Lesson 2: After Communism, Before Democracy

Western Russia and Russian Living Standards

Western Russia

Russia will forever be her own country, neither too Western, nor too Eastern. Since the coup of 1991, the West has slowly crept into Russian culture. It is not true Westernization though, as it is Russia’s interpretation of what is Western. I know it does not seem like much of a difference at first, but everything Western in Russia is not the same as you would find here. There is plenty of Coke and Pepsi in Russia and even the villages you could find shops that sell Western brand names. But Russian Coke does not taste the same as American Coke, it tastes like Diet Pepsi. Russian rock music sounds very different from American rock music, I can’t explain that too well; it has something to do with the style of singing. Of course, as in everything Russian, there are exceptions. Children run around with Disney characters on their tee shirts, except that Snow White is black or her name is spelled wrong. In many ways Russia seems like the flip side of the US. It is a world where people don’t live by the clock, where public transportation is sometimes reliable, and a world where you cannot predict what is going to happen the next hour. One of the biggest misconceptions people come back from Russia with is that this it was their hosts or tour guides or translators who were unreliable. That may be, but it is the whole country and society that is unreliable and unpredictable.

Russia moves along at her own pace taking bits and pieces from everywhere trying to fit those pieces into her life. Cell phones are taking the country by storm. In fact the one Western trend that has always been close to the Russian heart is that of love of technology. The only technology that hasn’t caught on yet is the DVD. You can find movies and player, but not many people own or buy them. You can find American cars (though not many) and American TV shows and movies all over Western Russia. Russia has a lot of public transportation and to have a car is still a great expense for most Russians, yet most dream of one day owning a car. My husband’s family owns one car. It is an old, Russian station wagon, which they use to go to the Dacha or camping. This was the car my husband and his brother learned to drive, and I will always remember how cool they felt cruising around the city in that old station wagon. When my husband immigrated to the US I had a red Mazda 626. He fell in love with that car, and after only three weeks he wouldn’t let me drive it anymore because he wanted to drive so badly. His brother was more than a little jealous. Unfortunately, my husband hit some black ice one winter and destroyed the little Mazda. It was like he lost his best friend. He would stand at the back door and just brood over the wrecked car.

During the 1990’s it was still pretty hard for tourists to go to Russia. To travel in Russia you need a visa, and to get that visa you needed a letter of invitation from someone in the country who is willing to be responsible for you during your stay. This system has not changed since Soviet times, at least too remarkably. But now many tourist agencies, universities, or businesses are more than happy to issue invitations for the tourist, student, or work visas. In order to stay with friends or relatives in Russia you need a homestay visa and a letter of invitation from your friends or relatives. The quickest I’ve been able to pick and go to Russia is in a month and a half

Russian Standards of Life

The average monthly salary in Russia is $400 in Moscow, $300 in St. Petersburg, and about $60 in smaller cities. There are small towns built around the oil industries where people can make about $1000 a month. The Russian apartment or home plus utilities can cost about ¼ of the monthly salary. Food for the month is at least half the monthly salary. Most Russians will own a dacha (summer cottage) or at least a patch of land, where they can farm to suppliment the costs of food. Dachas are a whole different topic, that I cannot cover here. Dachas are status symbols (depending on where and how big it is), a way to preserve tradition, a source of food, and a place to relax and get away from city life. During the holidays most extra money is spent on food and alcohol and entertaining is expected.

Russians have neither the money or space for large wardrobes, exercise machines, kitchen appliances, or home entertainment appliances (TVs, VCRs, or stereos). If you earn good enough grades and test well on the entrance exams, you can enter the universities for free. A Russian can enter the university with less than good grades, but then he or she will have to pay to attend the university. It is unusual that a person over thirty will enter the university, unless they already have a degree or just got out of the army. There is very little, if at all, continuing education or job training in Russia. On the other hand there isn’t as much certification or specialization required for people to get jobs in a new field.

This is the part I personally love about Russia and most of Europe, at an entry level position it is expected that the new worker will have about two weeks of vacation, and they could take that all at once. As the years go on, you get more and more vacation time. My parents-in-law get a month of vacation time a year. Everyone takes vacation time in the summer and the Black Sea coast is one of the more popular destinations for summer vacations. Now this isn’t vacation and sick/personal days, that is vacation days in addition to sick or personal days.

Most Russians do not have houses, they either rent or own apartments that are at least thirty years old. Russian prices for homes or apartments are based on the same qualities, prices are based on here. A kitchen is always a given and there is always a bathroom. However, the bathroom is most commonly divided into two rooms. There is usually a very small room for the toilet and then a larger room for the bath. It’s not unheard of to have a one-room bathroom, but for some reason it’s more expensive to have a one-room bathroom. For the living room, there is only one main room with a fold out couch, which doubles as the master bedroom at night. If it is a family apartment, there are two rooms. This includes, the living room (which doubles as the master bedroom) and one bedroom for the kids. Sometimes the kids’ room also doubles as another type of room, like a library or a computer room. Communal living is technically a thing of the past, but it still has not been forgotten in modern Russian culture. Lack of privacy and the methods to create private spaces still show a collective memory from a time when Russians did not have private space. For instance, doors in the house are rarely used, if they are even there at all. Even the bathroom does not have a locking door all of the time. When Russians stay in hotels, which is rarely, they do not expect to have private bathrooms, baths or toilets. As you can tell by now, Russian people have a different standard to personal privacy than we do. It is still common for newlyweds to live with one family or the other, or for the parents to divide up a house or apartment so that two families could live there. My husband and his brother just happened to be lucky. They both got their own residences after they married. Another form of house allocation comes when the parents are ready to retire. Some parents will chose to live out their retirement in the family summer cottage (dacha) and give or sell their apartment to their children or other relatives.

Russian kitchens are very small, cluttered spaces that families practically live in. Not even the middle class have the luxury of having a separate dining area. If there is a party, then a large wooden folding table is used or borrowed and set up in the living room/bedroom. Snacks and breakfast are usually taken in the kitchen nook, if there’s room to sit at the table. Russians do not usually eat dinner at the table together, so it is taken when and where there is time and space. It is usually bad taste to serve company in the kitchen, unless they are close friends or best girl friends, guests are served in the living room. I have not seen an electric stove in Russia, much less a modern gas stove. All stoves are gas and seem to be old and well used. You will have to monitor your child’s cooking until they get used to our stoves, as our electric stoves burn much hotter and quicker than Russian stoves. The Russian dishwasher is the mother or the children; this is true for the food processor and mixer as well. Microwaves are unheard of. Refrigerators are a standard and aren’t really different from ours.

Chemical cleaners are new and expensive still, in most parts of Russia. Detergents and dish soaps are about the only standard chemical cleaners I have seem commonly used. I remember having to go cleaner shopping when spring cleaning time came around. I spent a small fortune on special cleaners for the stove and carpet and proper sponges and disinfectants. Some Russians do have clothes washers, but not dryers. The machines are quite different and very small in comparison to ours. Personally, every time I used the washer at my mother-in-law’s apartment, I did so with a wing and a prayer. We had a clothing washer machine at our house, but it was quite comical. It was easier to wash our clothes by hand, than it was to use this washer. Floors are usually only swept and then rinsed with water. Refrigerators are usually crammed to compacity, and so hard to clean. Bathrooms usually aren’t even decorated and are very utilitarian. Many Russians still used handmade bar soap, made from fat, to do most of their cleaning. They usually do have vacuum cleaners and they use them vigorously.

Not many people have their own separate bedroom, unless you are an only child or unless you have a sibling who is significantly older than yourself. Bedrooms are almost always multi-purpose rooms. Only the main bedroom, which doubles as the living room will have a TV in it though. My husband and his brother had a TV in their room, but this TV was bought right after the Russian revolution in 1991. On “black Tuesday” the ruble dropped in value by 300%, which made it a once in a life time opportunity to buy every kind of electronic device you wanted. Unless you have a fold out couch you’re only going to have a twin bed, or in the case of more than one child, bunk beds. There simply isn’t room in the typical Russian apartment for anything larger. I still have not perfected my skill of making a Russian bed. Most people use duvet covers for their comforter. These duvet covers are just plain white sheets, and not very decorative. So, they use these special “decorative” furniture covers to cover the bed when not in use. These covers are usually brown and tan and are stiff and hard pieces of material with fringe on the bottom. These covers come in different sizes to cover chairs and coaches, but aren’t really slip covers as we have. On the bed there may be another (wool) blanket or two in the wintertime. They do not have fitted sheets for the mattress, instead Russians use just plain sheets (which makes it hard to tell the difference between the duvet covers, the bed sheets, and the mattress sheets.) And nothing matches, ever. I think they have a rule about that!! The pillows are large down feathered pillows, and the pillow cases open from the middle of the back of the case instead of at the side.

Russians love putting carpets on their walls. At first, I thought it was for extra insulation, but they put them on inside walls as well. Not matter how stylish or traditional Russians believe this custom is, they always pick a rug that does not match the rest of the room. They either look like the furniture covers, which are brown and tan floral patterns or the rugs are red and black. There are other styles of rugs, but these are the most common and memorable. Not many people hang pictures on wall, as they do want to put holes in the walls. Most walls are wallpapered, sometimes with two or three different papers.

There aren’t usually many (if any) closets in Russian homes. Instead they use wardrobes, hutches, entertainment centers, bookcases, and highboys for storage. These are very big pieces of furniture and are usually pieced together along one wall of each living room/bedroom. Russian women have the finest things they can afford. From China and glassware sets to fur coats and jewelry; usually all this stuff is lovingly crammed into or on the storage furniture. Everything is cluttered and neat at the same time. Russians are generally, extremely well read people and have stacks of books littered though their homes. Small Icons are kept usually behind the glass doors of bookcases or hutches. Only this past year have my parents-in-law decided to update the décor of their apartment. The hallway is really quite nice; it matches. The new living room furniture however still does not match the rest of the living room. This next year, though, they have big plans for their sons’ previous bedroom. After thirty years, they finally will have a separate bedroom all to themselves. They are currently experiencing the empty nest syndrome, but I have no doubt they will recover soon!

I have to admit that I feel Russian people will find it easier to adapt to American homes than vice versa. While they feel a little strange about all the luxuries we do have, who doesn’t find gadgets amusing and entertaining at first?

If you are interested check out my trekshare page listed in the links section to see pictures of our house in Russia.

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