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5_Zvehzda
Just Starting
Joined: 30 Mar 2010
Posts: 1
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 Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 5:44 am Post subject: And your first Russian encounter was . . . |
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Who was the first Russian you ever met in your life? Did you meet them in your home country, or while visiting another culture? Or better yet, can you recall and describe your first impression of the person you encountered during your arrival in Ðîññéÿ for the first time? Describe the experience . . . no matter how significant, mundane, insignificant - or even better yet, how extraordinary the encounter might have been.
Some of us grew up and lived in places where it was very rare to meet anyone from abroad, such as immigrants, travelers or anyone of another nationality. Even though I always met huge droves of German students visiting my High School during my studies there every year - usually, that was about it. Of course, the possibility of meeting anyone from Russia (including former SU members) during those times in the Cold War was extremely remote. There were no immigrants from Russia at all in my town, or anyone from the former SU members.
The first Russian I ever met, and socialized with - believe this or not . . . was a former KGB colonial who had defected from the USSR. At the time, (this was November, 1988) he was living in California where he had been raising a family for many years. He came to our state for a live television interview at the PBS station where I was studying Broadcasting at the time.  |
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Zach10791
Moderator
Joined: 19 Mar 2005
Posts: 815
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| Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 6:11 am Post subject: |
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The first Russians I met were at my local Ikea. I was furniture shopping with my family because and all of the sudden in the desk section I heard people conversing in Russian. I looked around the room and spotted a family: a man, a woman, and their teenage daughter; conversing about the furniture! I had asked the woman in English if that indeed Russian she was speaking and she said yes. I said äîáðûé äåíü to here family and they all must of had a heart attack. The woman started asking me "You know Russian?!" "Where did you learn Russian?!" So I told her I' am learning online and about the forum.
That was my first real Russian experence. Since then I have had the pleasure of speaking Russian with a Ukrainian waitress and my Bosnian neighbor. |
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Fire_Goddess
Guest
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| Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 9:10 am Post subject: |
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Zach damn it, I am proud of you!  |
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MrSpice
Lounge Wizard
Joined: 14 Jul 2003
Posts: 3431
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| Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 5:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Zach10791 wrote: | The first Russians I met were at my local Ikea. I was furniture shopping with my family because and all of the sudden in the desk section I heard people conversing in Russian. I looked around the room and spotted a family: a man, a woman, and their teenage daughter; conversing about the furniture! I had asked the woman in English if that indeed Russian she was speaking and she said yes. I said äîáðûé äåíü to here family and they all must of had a heart attack. The woman started asking me "You know Russian?!" "Where did you learn Russian?!" So I told her I' am learning online and about the forum.
That was my first real Russian experence. Since then I have had the pleasure of speaking Russian with a Ukrainian waitress and my Bosnian neighbor. |
If you went into a Home Depot in Brooklyn (in New York City), you'd lots and lots of russians everywhere... There's something about the discount stores that Russians like |
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Zach10791
Moderator
Joined: 19 Mar 2005
Posts: 815
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| Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 5:13 pm Post subject: |
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I know, it seems to be every ethnicity that loves discount stores. Americans, Russians, Poles, you name it. They all love Urbanspraw-Mart too.  |
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krasatulya
VIP
Joined: 29 May 2005
Posts: 590
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| Posted: Tue May 16, 2006 11:56 pm Post subject: |
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My first experience meeting Russians was in 1994 when a group of exchange students from Novosibirsk came to my town to live with host families for a month. My best friend's family hosted a girl name Liza, and as a result, I was able to meet the other students through her.
To this day, I always have a laugh at my friend's expense of how her exchange student threw up on her while they were on a carnival ride her second night in America!
I even recall them putting on a performance at our school's auditorium, where they sang songs in Russian, while others played the accordion and the balalaika. I think this experience left a very lasting impression on me, as I have wanted to visit Russia ever since. |
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charles
Lounge Lizard
Joined: 11 Mar 2006
Posts: 180
Location: USA
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| Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 10:32 am Post subject: |
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| An interesting thread... after thinking hard about it, I think the first Russian I met was a pianist who I hired as an accompanist at a high-school music contest. I don't know for sure if she was Russian, but her name was Tatiana. I remember she was a terrific pianist, and I was a little scared of her. She had a somewhat rough or blunt manner about her, and was clearly not impressed with my musical abilities. After a rehearsal, as I was packing up, she saw that someone had left a piano score from the movie "Dr. Zhivago". She picked it up, started playing 'Lara's Theme' and asked me if I knew it. I had heard it before, but didn't recognize it. At that moment i felt culturally very illiterate. |
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MrSpice
Lounge Wizard
Joined: 14 Jul 2003
Posts: 3431
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| Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 4:56 pm Post subject: |
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| charles wrote: | | An interesting thread... after thinking hard about it, I think the first Russian I met was a pianist who I hired as an accompanist at a high-school music contest. I don't know for sure if she was Russian, but her name was Tatiana. I remember she was a terrific pianist, and I was a little scared of her. She had a somewhat rough or blunt manner about her, and was clearly not impressed with my musical abilities. After a rehearsal, as I was packing up, she saw that someone had left a piano score from the movie "Dr. Zhivago". She picked it up, started playing 'Lara's Theme' and asked me if I knew it. I had heard it before, but didn't recognize it. At that moment i felt culturally very illiterate. |
Was there any romance between you two? |
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charles
Lounge Lizard
Joined: 11 Mar 2006
Posts: 180
Location: USA
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| Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 7:11 am Post subject: |
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| MrSpice wrote: | | Was there any romance between you two? |
Yes, we fell madly in love with eachother and now we have 8 children.  |
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thekremlin2000
Frequent Guest
Joined: 27 Jan 2006
Posts: 15
Location: S E Asia
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| Posted: Fri Aug 25, 2006 1:38 pm Post subject: |
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My first Russian language teacher.
I was absolutely in awe of her because she was 'Soviet'. And when she told us she was from Siberia, I did an 'Oooooo' inside.
My Russian was barely a couple of sentences at that time, but had it been more, I probably still would have been unable to speak. I mean, who was this wondrous creature from a strange world beyond the mysterious Iron Curtain sitting before me...? |
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mediashark
Moderator
Joined: 04 Nov 2004
Posts: 1599
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| Posted: Fri Aug 25, 2006 4:05 pm Post subject: |
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Honestly I don't really remember what would qualifiy as an 'encounter'... not too many Russians back home to bump into...
First time when I met my husband is as far as it goes. |
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Sparks
Frequent Guest
Joined: 05 Sep 2006
Posts: 22
Location: Sao Paulo - Brazil
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| Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2006 4:34 am Post subject: |
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Besides my father and his parents, who are Russian immigrants in Brazil themselves, the first Russian I met that actually lived her entire life in Russia is my cousin. Well, technically, she is Belarusian, but she lived almost all her life on Russian soil. In fact, my father’s side of the family is kind of scattered in several cities in Russia and Belarus.
Anyway, so it was one of my cousins, back in 1998 when she visited us in Brazil.
I remember she seemed to fit the stereotype we have in the West quite perfectly. A quiet, serious, in-depth person, who kept to herself and yet looked very secure and proud.
I remember asking her what she thought of Brazil and the West in general in comparison to Russia, to what she replied “some things better, some things worst”. Yeah, she wasn't too impressed. I asked her what she thought of the fall of communism; she answered, “people wanted freedom, but now they don’t know what to do with it”. |
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Salamangkero
Just Starting
Joined: 26 Nov 2006
Posts: 2
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| Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 11:57 am Post subject: Lucky indeed... |
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| I was fortunate to have met my Russian sweetheart in the US 10 months ago. She just arrived in the country about a year prior and landed a job where I work. 2 months later we fell in love (never saw it coming). She is an honest, caring person, very intelligent (college degree), beautiful inside and out and drop-dead GEORGEOUS. She teaches me Russian and things about her country, which I find very fascinating. This Russian woman is the most amazing person I've ever met and I've traveled and lived in Asia and Europe for the last 20 years. They say Russian women are the most beautiful in the world. Some may agree, some may not. All countries that I've visited have them but cultures define the people and she is rich in this. I've never been to her country, but if the women there are half of what my baby is, then I can personally see why they are the most beautiful. Don't get me wrong, all countries have beautiful women but I saw everything I admired in my Russian sweetheart (X10 and in a very sexy package!) Can't imagine anything better... Marriage? No doubt! |
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starryeyed346
Frequent Guest
Joined: 23 Dec 2006
Posts: 25
Location: Michigan
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| Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 9:51 am Post subject: |
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my very first russian encounter was in september 2006!!
i was at a popular "young people" night club with one of my female friends, and there he was: egor- a handsome looking young man in front of me.
you see, my friend (kellyn) was dancing with egors friend, and i was near HER dancing with some guy that came up to me. This stranger was a horrible dancer, and i saw egor in front of me, and he sort of "saved" me from this creep. lol. We went to a quieter place in the club and the moment he opened his mouth, i was like wwwwwwhoah you are not from around here. accent galore! *melt*. it was love. spontaneous love! |
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MelissaCato
Lounge Lizard
Joined: 27 Dec 2006
Posts: 177
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| Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 10:20 am Post subject: hummmm |
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I've never met a Russian in real life, so I'll be sure to keep you posted on my progress... and plan on it being a great encounter.  |
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