Sure they have some unique historical buildings, but it is a bit superficial (frankly just dumb) to try evaluating a culture based on availability of tourist attractions. Or national food alike.

So, what's good about Russia? Probably what one might see on the Discovery channel. Just stop there and form an 'educated' opinion about any culture. Like preprocessed food that you can conviniently stick in a microwave: they already have made all the decisions and conclusions for you. That's easy and one can share it with one’s alike friends.

However, for those who resent the insulation of touristy encounters, there is a whole range of cultural peculiarities which you might never come across even if you live there as an expatriate. You know, expatriates tend to have an extended cultural shock usually until they cease to be expatriates, and hence have no idea about the more 'real' character of the place they spend months or years of their lives.

So, let me try to throw just a few of them. (These are just generally correct, they will not be always true with each person or case, just in most of cases.)

1. The thing which makes the top of the list for me is a unique Russian flavor of fatalism. One needs to understand the history of the country to see where it is coming from and to understand it as a key element to the national character. Well, history aside, since fatalism implies some power that prevents you of exercising your free will, this power will manifest one way or another, but will always be out there. On the other hand, the fate also implies that people believe they are subjected to its power. The Russian folklore is particularly reach in this respect, take 'ot sumy ili tyurmy ne zarekaisya' ('never say you won't be broke or go to prison') for example. The power can manifest itself as government, clans, family, or even black magic (in the old good pagan tradition, no kidding). The practical question is how does it affect the Russians? Well, it is the realization that whenever you deal with a system of some sort you will inevitably loose. For example, if your girlfriend gets harassed by her boss, she won't bring a complain forward. If one wants to set up one's own business the last thing one does is to go to the police when government tries to bribe you. And so on. It's more pervasive than just this: if you want advice from your family or friends they would think you are crazy if you want to go and solve the conflict via the legal system. And it is not that just the legal system is corrupt. It's because they know that it cannot be not corrupt in the first place. An individual cannot do or accomplish anything by oneself. Take the American dream and reverse it. Then ask yourself if you can enjoy living in the society dominated by implied insignificance of an individual this society projects.

2-... TO BE CONTINUED...

russia, they have rivers and wodka's rivers ***