Daily life for the majority
of Russian women is very much the same.
One gets up at 7-8 a.m. depending on working
hours of her company. Factories and plants
usually work from 6-8 a.m., and offices
and shops from 9-10 p.m. After a simple
breakfast (normally just a sandwich with
tea or coffee), she goes to catch a bus/tram/trolleybus/underground
train. Most Russians live in flats in outskirts
("sleeping zones"), work in the
center of the city, and have to spend from
30 to 90 minutes to reach their working
place. Public transport is always overcrowded
during the "peak" time, and she
does not have any chance to have a seat.
People in the transport are like fishes
in a can, some of them are touching her,
but it's quite normal - there is nothing
one can do. People in transport are always
unfriendly and irritated, though if you
are pregnant, with a small baby in hands
or very old, they will offer you a seat.
Normally the working day is 8 hours with
one 30-60 minutes lunch break. If one works
for a state enterprise, she may have a few
tea pauses - there is a poor discipline
on those plants, one can easily leave her
job to settle some personal problems. Working
for a private company means a better salary
than working for the state, but also staying
after hours often or from time to time.
Leaving her work at 5-7 p.m., she has to
make her way all the way back home using
the same overcrowded public transport. Having
a car is still considered to be a kind of
luxury, and even if the family has a car,
it's always the husband who drives it. The
price of the cheapest new brand car is about
USD 5,100, with the average women's monthly
salary 3000 rubles (about USD 100). One
can afford to buy a second hand car but
it's very expensive to keep it on the road.
You will also have to use a paid secure
night parking or have a garage, both options
will make an average woman run out of money.
Using public transport makes one twice as
tired. During the cold season (November-March)
it will also make you cold because you can't
move there, and it's the same temperature
inside as outside. So if it's -20°C
outside, it's probably -18 in the bus. I
used to have my own car, and used to go
to work by bus, and I can say for sure -
public transport exhausts you.
After arriving at her stop on her way back
home, the woman usually goes to the nearest
shop to buy some food - bread, milk and
meat. Russians don't go shopping once a
week, they buy products when they are finished.
One must buy or provide his own plastic
bags in a shop, they seldom give the bags
away for free. Carrying bags home also doesn't
make the woman relaxed - even if it's only
a few kilos and few hundreds meters (usually
homes are within 0-2 miles from shopping
areas), you still feel it.
The woman arrives home completely exhausted.
If she has a child, she must fetch him from
the kindergarten on her way back. If she
has a family, she must make food for it.
Cooking in Russia is more complicated and
takes much longer, not only because of different
recipes, but also because of the lack of
half-ready products. There are half-ready
products on the market but they are mostly
imported and therefore expensive.
After the supper, the family can watch TV
for a couple of hours, then they go to bed.
Some people regularly visit gyms, probably
about the same proportion of population
as in the west (which means most people
don't). Weekly movies or dining out are
rare, discos or night clubs are more popular
but still unaffordable for many people.
Entertainment is expensive, and usually
they it is limited by visiting friends or
relatives on the weekends.
Generally, the daily life of a Russian woman
can be described as *home - work - home*
or *home - work - shops - home*. You can
say that it's normal for the life in any
western country as well, but there is one
big difference: even small things in Russia
require much more efforts. Small things
that will take you a couple of minutes,
in Russia can take you half an hour or even
the whole day.
For example, I know about a case where a
foreign company refused to pay 1-day salary
to a Russian employee that she spent in
some government committee in order to obtain
the necessary information requested by the
foreign boss. "You could just make
a phone call; there was no need to go there
in person to get the information",
said the foreign boss. For a Russian, it
is crystal clear that a phone call will
not get you the complete information on
the government procedure, nor the government
officials would supply such information
via fax or mail it to you for free. Such
practice is normal for western world but
is a complete alien for Russian officials.
A stop on you way home to buy milk would
take you two minutes; in Russia it can take
a woman 10 times longer, since she has to
specially walk to the shop and there stand
in a queue (most shops in Russia, especially
in regional cities, still sell over the
counter and bill items manually).
This *time rule* is applicable to everything:
getting things done in Russia takes longer
and requires more effort. The word "convenience"
was not in favor when the current system
of Russian life was designed. The problem
is not the availability of goods (food and
goods are in abundance) but poor logistics.
Another thing about Russian daily life -
they do not really enjoy it. They get awakened
not to enjoy a new day but to cope with
today's problems. There is little comfort
and contentment. Russians are used to minor
everyday difficulties, and they don't even
bother them anymore. Russian daily life
is tough, and it's probably the reason why
they smile so seldom. Rarely you will see
a smiling face in a bus or on the streets
- the fact that usually makes foreigners
wonder.
A Russian, living in Russia, might argue
some of the points I discussed here, but
a Russian, living abroad, will agree with
me. There are differences that a person
living in Russia cannot realize, and they
involve not only better cars and homes ("New
Russians" have it all!) but the very
basic values of existence.
I believe the main difference in Russian
and western way of life comes from those
base beliefs: western life is built on the
cult of "enjoy", Russian life
is built on the base of "God endured,
so we have to endure too".
Westerners live to enjoy; Russians live
to endure.
Russians are survivors.
This cultural paradigm can be demonstrated
by the difference in religious rituals in
western and Russian Christian churches:
there are no benches and amphitheatres in
Russian Orthodox churches. The whole 1-2
hour service people are supposed to spend
standing shoulder-to-shoulder in a badly
lit, stuffy, one-level room, where one struggles
to see the priest. Many people stand on
their knees during the service. Russian
Christian church service promotes humility
through enduring; while a western Christian
church service promotes integrity and enhancement.
The very word "enjoy" has some
indecent flavor in Russian: it is something
that is not very appropriate, but done nevertheless.
A Russian would usually say "I love/like
[doing something]" rather than "I
enjoy" [doing something]. Therefore
they love (like) some things but doing them
does not result in the feeling of contentment
- this is actually what I mean by saying
"They don't enjoy it".
Which of course doesn't mean Russians don't
know how to have fun! They do know how to
have fun, and many Russians abroad miss
exactly Russian limitless fun (as comparing
to reasonable, appropriate western fun).
Also, the English phrase "to have fun"
is hardly translatable to Russian, since
Russians do not make their purpose "to
have fun" or "enjoy". Fun
is just something that happens without plans,
when people are happy and cheerful. In general,
Russian people are much more spontaneous
and playful that westerners.
