The old Soviet Union, CCCP

Hi,

I was sitting drinking coffee this morning. I was thinking about what it could have been like when the CCCP was still around. I have been on trips to The Ukraine and Moldova. I got to see the remains of the old empire. I have been to several villages in Russia. I have seen what is left of the old ways.

The old ways are dying, I watched the same thing happen in America. Thirty years ago America was like Russia now. The similarities are scary. I watched towns shrivel up and die in America. Now I am watching the same Towns in Russia die.

I can see that when the CCCP went down the life in villages collapsed. The money was gone, the food was gone. The people moved. A few diehards stay. They have no life, They are using equipment from very old days. The water supplies are the same, with the wells now starting to collapse in on themselves. The electric supply is as old as the time the Soviet Union put it in. Now it is on the point of not working. I am talking about Villages not cities, like Moscow. All over the country side are half finished factories. They just became desolate after the CCCP fall.

I saw this same thing is happening in Ukraine and Moldova. The big cites have all new and modern life. The Villages are collapsing. Yet these villages still feed those over grown city's. I watched fields being planted by hundreds of workers. I saw huge fields being plowed by hand. tilled by hand.

In America the family farm is almost gone, Replaced by a huge Coop farm. In Russia the Coop farm is going to be replaced by ?????

Russia needs to watch their land.

comments please

Kyle

Teaching English

Hi,

I am getting ready to start teaching English to Russians. Not sure how that will work, They can not teach me Russian! But I am pretty good at English. :)

I am going to do private lessons, and keep it one on one untill I get a feel for communicating with the Russians better.

I have a goal, to convert everyone to English. Then I will understand more of whats going on!

:)

It is fun though when a young child who knows some English catches me and talks to me. They are so proud to be able to actually speak English to an American.

People in Russia find Americans to be curiosities. They have no ill will toward you and will do anything to help.

In a small village, One lady was so proud, she had an American who wanted to drink her goats milk. Being raised a farm boy, I was not going to pass up on a chance for real milk! I was glad to make her day. (It was really good)

Comments welcomed!

Kyle

Russia is Hot!!

Hi,

I moved to Russia and the weather changed. So everyone in Russia can blame me. I came from the Midwest of the United States. I expected it to be much cooler this far north.

Not to be! I brought the Midwest weather with me. The winter was mild, The spring, non existent. The summer is HOT and it is not summer yet!

I assumed that Russia was cold. (you know what assume means).

What it really means, Is that people who have never had to have fans, or air conditioning, are finding themselves suffering. Most people I have heard about have never even owned a fan.

I feel for them, I have two fans blowing on me now. The temperature on my balcony is 36 degrees Celsius. (96.8 degrees F.) Now in Russia, that's hot!

So Moscow, now you know who is to blame for the heat (ME). The Midwest of the United States is cooler than we are here.

Go figure that!

Link to the heat.

http://www.kommersant.com/p769428/r_530/Moscow,_heat_wave/

PS:

Its sad when it is so hot little doggies have to steal drinks. :) Pic. 1

Kids still have fun, Pic 2

Hi,

When I came to Russia I quit smoking. I had smoked 0ver 30 years. Its a good thing!
The price of cigarettes is so cheap in Russia that I would have smoked even more. In the US I was paying 4 to 5 dollars a pack. In Russia I would only have to pay 75 cents. I am thankful to have quit.

The article that I link too, says that in 10 years that Russians have increased smoking 100%.
That is sad, When the US is trying to stamp smoking out, Russia is trying to get everyone to smoke.

What do you think? Is Smoking OK?

comments welcomed

Link to article
http://www.rbcnews.com/free/20070528155737.shtml

Kyle

Wow!!!!! I'M Hungry!

Hi.
Russia holds the world largest omelet record!
This is one big omelet. I think omelets are great to eat. This omelet was made of 11,000 eggs. Take a look at the slide show and see the biggest omelet in the world. Yummy!!

Link to super omelet.
http://www.nbc5.com/irresistible/4607537/detail.html

My Sweety!

My Russian sweety, Her name is Svetlana. She has lived in Moscow all her life, and had no desire to come and live in America. She did come to visit me twice in America. That took a lot of courage, I think!

She calls me a big Bear and that is the nicest thing that anyone has ever called me. I am a lucky Bear!

She truly is my better half. She has unbelievable patience with me and never can get enough kisses. :)

I just want to let my sweety know that I love her, and because of her I am getting to explore that world of Russia.
It is a fantastic, beautiful, peaceful, and calm world.

Thank you Svet,

Kyle

China, World Military Power???

Hi,

Is China a world Military power that must be worried about? Does America have a reason to worry about China?

Yes and Yes!

The Chinese are one of those countries that keep their mouths shut and pocket books closed. They bragg about nothing and silently churn out trillions of dollars of manufactured items, that are sold the world over. No one knows what the military is really like in China, No one knows much about China, as they think they do!

What do you think about China?

Kyle

link to article
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411366/1154449

Cheaper to Live in America?

Hi,

I just read an article about the cost of living in Russia. It confirmed what I knew. The cost to live in Russia is more expensive than the USA. Even Gasoline. Which makes no sense. In Russia you do not have imported Fuel. In the USA almost all fuel is imported. Yet the Americans have cheaper gas.???? In Russia all fuel is pumped and refined here.

Any comments.

Kyle

Link to article
http://www.timesrussia.com/russian-prices-2006-part-1

I want to go to a Russian Village!

Hi,

I had a very interesting weekend. I took off Saturday morning at 8 am. I was on my way to a Russian Village to enjoy the Village life for a weekend. I was going to work on the garden. My better half (Svet) was with me and our dog Boza. We had a nice weekend planned.

We left Moscow and 3 km later stopped and got McDonald's. That was a mistake, We spent about 1and half hours in McDonald's. Now for you Americans, you have to understand that Moscow McDonald's are 5 times busier than American McDonald's. This was the sign of how things would be for the day!!

We finally left the McDonald's, Full and only slightly grumbly. We pulled onto the main byway, and realized that there was around 4,000,000,000,000, Yes zillion, cars on the road. Then for the next 5 hours we tried to leave Moscow. We succeeded in getting only 50 km away from Moscow.

Now at this point, The dog (Boza) was laying in the back seat in a state of shock. I was grumbling, mumbling, and rumbling like a big bear. The only one who was happy was Svet. She was enjoying life, as she always does. She did not even care to tell me that we are lost. She was having too much fun.

You must understand about Russian drivers to understand why it was so much fun! Russian drivers do not look at a two lane byway as only two lanes. A two lane byway is 3 lanes, the shoulder for emergency is another lane. The dirt down the middle between the byways is a lane(median). Also the opposite side of the road is lanes, if no one is over there. Even if someone is over there. They do not care. So what I am saying is that a standard two lane byway becomes up to 8 lanes going in one direction. With all these lanes of traffic you would think that you would go some where. Alas, that is not to be.

After 5 hours of trying to go 50 km, we came to a town that the local police kept us from going through. Now this was the only way to the Village. We gave up, Turned around and drove 50 km back to Moscow in a half hour. The only thing we had to watch out for was Russian kamikazes driving at you because they think that they are going to get somewhere fast.

I still had fun, When I am with my sweety (Svet) she makes life wonderful. I am not sure how she puts up with my grouchiness. The dog has recovered and so have I.

We are leaving next weekend, at 4 am. No McDonald's and finding a new way to the Village. (Maybe I can just drive down the opposite side of the road) The Russians do it!!!!

Kyle

Sunrise to Freedom, The Russian Village

Hello,

This is a typical Russian Village. 12 people live here still, 10 years ago 30 lived here. Many Russian Villages are almost gone, This one had a Monastery for women. There are no roads to the village except a dirt trail that even a 4 wheel drive would have trouble on.

I myself want to live in such a Village. They have electricity but no running water. The air is clean and refreshing. The water tastes wonderful.

The houses are falling down and crumbling. Nature is reclaiming the old Villages one inch at a time. 10 more years the Village will be gone.

I find that sad.

Comments welcomed

Life in Russia.

Hello Everyone,

I am an American born , I was raised on the farms of the Midwest. I now live in Moscow, Russia.

I have moved here to be with a woman that I met on a cell phone date site. Her name is Svet.

Svet and I basically signed up at the same time on a mobile web site. We just by chance, even got a message to each other. Svet did not like the site and I did not like it either. I sent Svet a message because her profile was the only one that was not sexually orientated. I happened to check back one last time and Svet had responded to my letter.

That was the start of a year of emails and sms. That led to the love of my life. I came to Russia because Svet did not want to come to America. (contrary to popular belief, not all Russian women want to leave their country).

This Blog is going to be about anything all over the world that catches my eye. I have learned much since coming to Russia, The most important thing is that the Russian people are just like The people in the United States. Or anywhere else in the world.

So this Blog will be to show the world . "It Is A Small World After All"

Kyle

PS,

Picture of a sunset in a Russian Village.

Picture of a Russian Village called (Sunrise Of Freedom)

How to say it in Russian?

Small English-Russian Dictionary from Svet

Part I

The idea of small English-Russian Dictionary comes to us after we analyze what people look for about Russia. Very often they wanted to know something very easy and nice like "I love you!" or "Happy Birthday!"

How to say it in Russian?
English word	How Russians would write it	How Russians would pronounce it
Hello!	Здравствуйте!	Zdravstvujte!
Hi!	Привет!	Privet!
Nice to see you!	Рад(а) тебя видеть!	Rad(a) tebya videt!
Thank you!	Спасибо!	Spasibo!
Take care!	Береги себя!	Beregi sebya!
Best wishes!	Всего наилучшего!	Vsego nailuchshego!
I love you!	Я тебя люблю!	Ya tebya lyublyu!
Happy Birthday!	С Днём Рождения!	S Dnyom Rozhdeniya!

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