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blaked
Lounge Lizard
Joined: 29 Dec 2004
Posts: 180
Location: Moscow
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 Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2005 7:56 pm Post subject: Potatoes |
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I was in the hallway having a cigarette with a colleague. I said that I hated the 10 day vacation - that it was much better to have 3 day weekends throughout the year. He agreed, but for a peculiar reason - he was upset for those that would not be able to plant their potatoes during the May holidays because they will get one less day. He claimed that without this ability, they will not have enough to eat.
My question was: if you are so poor that as an employed person you still must plant your own potatoes, is there any hope at all? When I was unemployed in the states, I could always afford potatoes - even when the gubment checks ran out. Why not quit a job if it doesn't pay enough so that you can buy peanuts, let alone potatoes? |
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overseas_expat
VIP
Joined: 11 Jan 2005
Posts: 741
Location: Moscow
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| Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2005 8:45 pm Post subject: |
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'Dig' this. In the financial meltdown of 1992 Muscovites kept themselves fed and alive by growing potatoes at their dachas. That was a mere 13 years ago. In 1998 there was another financial crisis which wiped out hundreds of thousands, or millions of bank accounts. *Poof* and all their money was gone. Russians have lived with undependable food supplies for a great deal of the 20th century. Why should they expect that their future will hold: (1) A stable currency and: (2) an available supply of food? This expectation would defy experience. He is a wise man your friend, who will grow his own potatoes.
As an interesting aside, I recently read somewhere, can't remember the publication, that Russia was the world's largest potato producer. Not because of advanced farming methods or corporate agribusinesses, but because most Russians have a plot where they can produce food for themselves. Out of proven necessity. We Americans can't even imagine the kind of experiences most of the people we see on the street have been through. |
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Filimon
Lounge Lizard
Joined: 20 Dec 2004
Posts: 97
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| Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2005 8:49 pm Post subject: |
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| Jesus, guys! You make it sound as if the situation is sooo desperate in Russia. Many people still plant their fruit and two veg on their dachas, but not because they don't have enough to eat. It is as much of a hobby as a saving issue. My family sold their dacha a few years back and never had a problem. And before you ask: no, they are not from Moscow or St Pete |
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AliceFromMoscow
WayToRussified
Joined: 10 Jul 2004
Posts: 411
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| Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2005 9:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Filimon is right, i know a lot of people who plant vegetables just because its a habit or a hobby |
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cyndy22
Lounge Wizard
Joined: 15 Oct 2004
Posts: 1076
Location: massachusetts
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| Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2005 9:20 pm Post subject: |
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| I agree that gardening both vegetables, flowers and fruit is more popular in Russia and former republics. I have met many Russian immigrants and they can't believe that here in US people are so into a green grass yard when they could have a garden in the same area. Home grown food tastes much better too. And potatoes are an important staple in the Russian diet. |
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Dr-Fauste
Site Admin
Joined: 23 Nov 2004
Posts: 654
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| Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2005 10:20 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | I was in the hallway having a cigarette with a colleague. I said that I hated the 10 day vacation - that it was much better to have 3 day weekends throughout the year. He agreed, but for a peculiar reason - he was upset for those that would not be able to plant their potatoes during the May holidays because they will get one less day. He claimed that without this ability, they will not have enough to eat. |
First , he has money for cigarettes. Second, it is only one person.
Critical Logic failure. Since A is element of B and A is of Element of C, does not mean all of B is element of C. |
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blaked
Lounge Lizard
Joined: 29 Dec 2004
Posts: 180
Location: Moscow
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| Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2005 10:40 pm Post subject: |
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| I never said that *he* was in that situation - he works for an American computer company and makes 1500 bucks a month or more plus benefits. He even said that people in Moscow didn't have to worry about such things. He was mostly talking about people in poorer cities. The only situations I've heard of that were so desperate was where workers weren't paid for several months. Why not quit if you don't get paid?! |
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Dr-Fauste
Site Admin
Joined: 23 Nov 2004
Posts: 654
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| Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2005 11:34 pm Post subject: |
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Sorry about that
I stand corrected |
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deskware7
Frequent Guest
Joined: 07 Jun 2004
Posts: 67
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| Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2005 4:31 am Post subject: |
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| blaked wrote: | | Why not quit if you don't get paid?! |
I have read In US newspapers, that Russian workers who aren't getting paid, continue to work. They hope that wages will eventually start being paid again and maybe back wages owed will be paid too. The unemployment rate is such that if someone wants to quit, there are plenty of other people ready to work for free who also hope for a resuming of paid wages. If a worker quits, he/ she probably won't get any owed back wages. At least that's what the US newspapers say, referring to Russian coal miners or some other Russian industry. |
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