Russian Love: Etiquette And Habits Of An American Man Vs Russian Lady
If you are one of the ones that is seeking the love of a Russian woman or for those that are using a K1 Fiance visa to bring their fiance to the U.S.A, there are a few things you need to know about the woman of your dreams. Often times a man will bring a woman to the America through a K1 Fiance visa and when she gets here he has a hard time trying to understand her. By the time a man is working through the Green Card with his new spouse, he may feel like he made a mistake marrying her. In all the Green Card is stressful enough without also having to try and understand your new spouse.
If the Russian lady of your fantasies has come into your life and you have been bitten by the Russian love bug, then this article is going to help you understand your Russian love.
Once I began to travel to other countries, I soon discovered that the word cultural was completely subjective. In Russia what is considered to be OK for the Russian culture, is usually not the case in other countries. Often times Russian culture is considered to be rude or odd. It works the other way around too, because before I came to America I believed in a widespread stereotype that Americans have absolutely no culture.
It was later that I discovered many Americans considered Russians to he lacking in culture as well. Both parties have reasons to think that, because their cultures are defined by their society, by its customs, traditions and beliefs and unless someone is interculturally competent and travels widely, it is hard to understand why people from other cultures don’t do it the same way we do. Some things may seem obvious to us, but they might seem absurd for the people from other countries.
For example, one of the first things that Russians notice when they come to the U.S. is that people are not dressed well. Appearance (especially women’s) matters a lot to people, so they would spend their last money on hairdressers, make-up and fashionable clothes.
If you go to a restaurant in Russia you have to dress up. Dressing up not only is going to make you feel good about yourself, but it shows respect to other people who come to that restaurant. I remember how shocked my Russian friends were when they went to a U.S. restaurant for the first time. They were celebrating their wedding anniversary, so they were dressed up in an evening dress and suit. My female friend called me as soon as they got out of there. She said: “You wouldn’t believe what just happened. There were people at a restaurant wearing sweatshirts and jeans. We felt like idiots, because everyone was staring at us. Why are Americans are so uncultured?”
I didn’t know what to respond to that. I didn’t think Americans were uncultured, because I lived here for a while and learned that culture was defined completely differently. I just advised that next time they go to a restaurant they should go to an upscale one if they want to have the same experience as they did in Russia.
For most Americans looks are not that important and they seem to place comfort and convenience much higher to avoid discomfort. “Why are you always wearing high heels? Aren’t you uncomfortable?”- an American friend of mine asked me. “Beauty requires sacrifice.” I would quote a popular Russian saying, but she would just shake her head.
If you are going to Russia you will mostly likely be confronted with rude and unfriendly people. Yet there is a reason for this kind of interaction. The cashiers at the store will never smile at you and if you need to ask for directions or need help with something, people on the street are rather aggressive, unhelpful and very unfriendly.
To smile at someone can have many different reasons and results, it is not part of the Russian culture. If a guy on a street smiles at a girl or vice versa it means he is interested in her. Otherwise it is unacceptable for strangers to greet each other and smile at each other and it can be misinterpreted.
The last thing that Americans find rude and insulting is that Russians do not greet each other more than once when they run into each other. “They greet you only once and all other times they just walk by you pretending that they don’t see you.” It is true that Russians greet each other only once during the day, and they on another hand don’t understand why their American coworkers say Hi and smile every time they see them. They often feel awkward.