[CCIP]

Originally Posted by DanCanovas

Hi Folks,

I would be interested in hearing from people including those with experience with regard to comparisons between the Russian Federation as it is today and the Soviet Union. Im particularly interested in, the experiences of ordinary people, money, food, personal things, transportation.

Give me a few days!

I was back in Russia the previous summer; and then the fact that I had the experience of growing up in late 80s-early 90s Russia... so naturally I'll have plenty to say on the subject, assuming you're interested.


Here is an excerpt from my journal. I can post more later if you're interested.

The next photos came the next day, after I arrived to my grandparents apartment.

Soviet Russian living conditions

Actually, that was my first and only culture shock when I arrived there. The apartments are amazingly tiny. The pictures can't really convey it. I had the reverse shock when I returned to Canada some two months later. It just hits you.

Which is all the stranger since, while growing up in Russia, I spent nearly every weekend in that exact apartment.

Certainly it isn’t true of all living conditions, but as Russia lacks a true middle class – all but a small elite live in cramped quarters to say the least. The buildings are also in horrible condition, though it doesn’t seem like their mere 35-year age is all that much. But they are honestly incredibly stupidly-constructed pre-fab concrete block card houses. Sometimes there's odd noises coming from the building; the rumble from traffic seems unreasonable and the 9-storey block sometimes shakes. By the time I left two months later, two doors located in the same area stopped closing at all (I suspect because the building slightly deformed while I was there). Disturbing to say the least, but that’s normal real estate for most Russians.

Oh, I’m only beginning to scare you up. Before I go any further, allow me to disclaim that – as my pictures show – I love that city and don’t think Russia is hell at all, but there are many facts of life there that have to be adjusted to.

Some pictures from a typical Soviet Russian kitchen:









View out the window:



It might look OK, but actually, that area is rather... ghetto. It hadn’t been so obvious to me when I was younger. On this trip I sincerely disliked it, thought it was unsafe and always snuck off to another part of town (where I mostly grew up and went to school) to see my friends.

A big part of it was that there was a disturbing number of groups of young shady-looking men talking loudly and consuming alcoholic beverages (people drink on the streets. All the time. It's amazing, but you can't walk 10 meters without seeing someone with a beer bottle.)

My main fear walking on the streets in that part of town, though, was stepping on a [medical] needle. These were also encountered with disturbing frequency – not used for medical purposes, if you know what I mean.

Later in that area, I was also treated to the pleasure of standing for 5 minutes waiting for someone to open the door for me - while a few meters away, two somewhat intoxicated men were arguing loudly and threatening each other with bricks.

And if that’s not enough – about 10 years ago, the same apartment block was partially evacuated after some explosive stored by terrorists in the basement blew up, ruining a two-floor section, about 50 feet wide. It was repaired and the building still stands. Only one person was injured in that incident – an old lady who was sleeping in a first-floor apartment and was reportedly blown out of it with her bed.

I wrote a story about that in an English class in Canada – saying “man, I wish I was there when it blew so I could see that old lady flying through the air!” My teacher was bepuzzled and dismissed it as some nonsensical fantasy, perhaps for fear that one of her students might think of something so obviously wrong, I think. At the time I didn’t think of it as anything incredibly wild.

That’s shady areas for you.