Living in Russia: interview with European
This is the podcast and here is Maxim and my special guest Eric. Today we want to talk about Russia. That's why this podcast will be in English language. This is something special for me. Usually, I'm starting podcasts with the words like "Dobriy den".
But today we speak in English, so, maybe it's something new for us. But check the subtitles will be following for this podcast. And you can understand everything even you don't know English language. This is for my Russian guests and my friends know who am I – I'm the author of the podcast and the website maximkrasitskiy.com – it's my website, you can find the
articles. And today I have a special guest Eric. And Eric, can you tell a little bit about yourself? Who are you? What are you doing here in Russia? And also I have a good-great story how do we met with the Eric. t's interesting also that we met suddenly. And later I know (found out) that Eric is not Russian guy, he is not from Russia. But he stay here. So, Eric tell, please, what are you doing here? – Okay, thank you, Maxim for having me in your podcast show. – Welcome! – I appreciate
that, thank you. I am from the Netherlands. i was born there. After a few years I left to Austria. That's the place where I live for the moment, and now I am for three months in Sochi – Oh, good place. – It's a nice place, yes, exactly. I like it here, it's very good, very relaxed, very chill, yes. – Okay, you live in Austria now, so, you're from Europe, and come here for three months. It's a long period! Maybe you have so many stories and one stories also I want to tell – that how do we met – how it was. Also, suddenly. I've been in a nice bar in "Why Not?" bar, here, in in Sochi ,and when i go to order some beers drinks and when i come back i saw two guys and eric one of these guys and another it's uh our another friend from germany so and we start to talk that oh it's this my place this is my place so because we have we booked the same when we took the same table it's only one table is empty on a bar so we took it and we have to speak you know to to have no conflict no possibility no possibility to know speak it's interesting that you start to speak english i say oh okay i can speak english it's not a problem and you it's it's also interesting for me why two guys from europe what do we hear and why not and yes you told the same i'm from austria i'm staying here for three months in sochi and for me it's very quite um strange what uh foreigners doing in russia so long so and maybe you can tell why what the point to say so here in sochi that's i can make a long story about it i can also be very sure to say in sochi is only because i wanted to learn the russian language and for this i looked where is a good place to study the russian language also a little bit about culture a little bit about the history and there are a lot of opportunities but the south of russia was for me quite a surprise such okay everybody knows about sochi because of the winter games in 2014 yeah i'm not a sports guy so i didn't know anything about it i missed it and i came by the internet by the international language school to the option of sochi and because of the time of the year january february march april april it's nice to be in the warmest part of russia yeah and figured out okay that is on the black sea and better not to go to saint petersburg yeah it's not a guy but it's more cold there so totally different weather completely yeah but anyway uh why do you interested in russia because uh it's uh you're not interested in uh okay about the sochi i i quite understand the sochi it's a warmest part of the russia it's nice to be here but why russia that goes back to the years that i was was very young in school i must probably i must have been 14 years old or something we had history lessons and about russia and of course that was the soviet time yeah they spoke about so for scope was uh the way that the farmers were were organized it's totally different life was of course it's you cannot compare with the with today and that's perhaps better for me because otherwise i would not come to russia i guess but because it was different as the things that i knew for that time with my 40 years old it interested me so why is this so different and why do i hear so so less about this part of the world so my interest is always from that time from the soviet time from the soviet time and that i was wrong so i was already interested and you grew you grow older you go to other university or you do other studies you go to work you have the normal life and russia came a little bit well it was not in the foreground in my thoughts it is something that you that you simply okay it was nice but after a few years i realized in europe i want to live my life different as it is in europe you decided to change your life i didn't decide anything at that moment but i simply asked myself again why why why is this in the soviet union's so different and why do i hear nothing about it so again i was interested in what is happening over here but okay years ago it's already in modern like it's it's two years ago that was when i no no no that is that is when i was uh when i was 20 right okay meanwhile my first company but i was looking for other things i knew okay i am in europe but the world is bigger but i don't hear anything about the other side of the border um and that was for me also strange because that time the soviet union was only 800 kilometers away from me where i lived yeah yeah i don't know nothing it's interesting yeah because of the latvia all these countries they were in the soviet union so which means soviet union was very close to you exactly okay so again the first interesting is when he was gone the the soviet time the second it was like when you become 20 20 years old certainly interesting and probably uh it's third it will be the third time yeah there comes a third time of course third time like a modern time yes and now it's a russian time and uh so i i i don't know but maybe it's the the country is different now not like in seoul no no no maybe i think it's for sure but what's the what was the first time you interested in russia russia as it is today yeah for me was became the first time interesting in 2005 2006. i learned people i don't know people from poland and because of this
i came to poland and i saw the connection with the former soviet union because of the architecture because of what the people are talking about and then my interest immediately immediately came back popped up like like some flower out of the ground when it is warm like now in the springtime this is the time that i started also to say okay learn this language because if you learn the language yeah then you can go there and then you can discover what it's all about yeah and many things open for you you can check by yourself check the language you can speak with the people you can read the science because you know not many science russian english language or even in german so uh it's good and you decide also to study with russian language i did that already in 2008 i guess that it was that time i found some books okay i was looking at the surveillance science and i think okay this perhaps is a little bit heavy it is not english it is not french not the polish language not the german language not the dutch language they were all familiar to me but if i ask you something in russian you can understand for example in australia that's a good question yes exactly yeah of course okay from the three months that i have in russia i already have 11 weeks behind me okay i have one week left the russian learning russian language now in these 11 weeks was a hard job it was a lot of work but it helped absolutely it was a good thing to do so the next step is discover russia what i did the last 11 weeks and go back to europe and come back to russia again okay so but uh you study now russian also okay great next question will be in russia okay but anyway try yeah it's interesting it's interesting story that uh you have a first interest so and you take your interest during all your life interests about the russia in this uh you know it's many many times few times you maybe remember about oh it's nice to get a good idea good idea to go to russia but this is your first time you came to russia or it's the second third time or it's the first time first time this yeah this is first yes this is the first time so very surprisable for you many things i think well i i brought with me the stereotypes the plane was full of stereotypes okay yeah but as soon as i came on the airport in krasadar a few stereotypes already left done done yes disappear yes because because what i what i did not expect is the chilled and polite way of dealing on the border control with the people from the airport it was completely relaxed so you say that the borders it's fine yeah absolutely so no strong you know poker face no i didn't find them no kgb yeah tried to try to search search okay yeah but uh it's good it's good to hear and also about stereotypes yeah you know that i live the whole my life i was born in the in russia it was soviet union yeah but my whole life live in russia and i was born in kamchatka is the far uh east yeah i think yeah but far east of russia and the most of my life i live in siberia in crosstalk this is my very cool motherland yeah very cold uh we have to wear the hats for uh starting from september and just you can take off your head um from your head yeah some of something uh only in may so it's been nine months nine months it's always cold yes yeah so yes it's cold time but no i like winter mode starting from this place because in the winter you can ski you can i use all this snow as to to play so far my childhood it was the best and now also i'm i moved in a sochi it was like five years ago and it's interesting to hear you about the russian how you discover it what's what's what's first and you know that we have yeah about to speak to speak about the stereotypes we have some things that foreigners how we think we uh how we think they think about russia and so yes and that's why we have a like expectations versus the reality so first it's the border for you but maybe you can tell about more about the stereotypes and what what did you expect to see in russia and what you see in reality here and what's the difference okay good question let me start with the stereotypes yeah until now i didn't find the always drunk and vodka drinking uh russian man i didn't see him like we're drinking tea a caramel tea why not everybody drinks tea and by the way in this region and this is also something that i'm not new of course yeah you produce your own tea yes so yeah i think this is um but it looks like the same i'm not gonna drink this one okay um so that that was that was surprising you know um other stereotype it is always cold and dark of course not we are now and um 46 no 4844 not another line i don't know how the call is yeah the polar line yeah yeah okay okay we call it like okay but it's on the same pitch i think that's i see nobody with the bala like i must really go to a good deal i guess and uh all my life i live here in russia i see but i like only philharmonia all in the museum yeah exactly exactly and then of course well i have to live in uh it's eight or nine days i want to bring some maturoshka to europe of course for some people that i know i cannot find them it's nowhere to buy it it's a trick question eric because of the patriots i even don't know where to buy and i saw also matriarchy museums and uh maybe many years ago like in my kitchen garden we have some but no not now okay and one more about my uh expectations oh yes by the expectation of my expectations they are only uh you can only have an expectation when you know something or that you think that you know something yeah but some expectations should be confirmed when you come here maybe some good expectations expectations that i have are these of the stereotypes they are not confirmed i don't have expectations because like i said before if you know something or you think you know something or you heard something about what people talking then you can create your expectations yeah but i do not do that it's simply i go to russia and i want to see what i see i have information before from internet from people that make videos in russia so i know a little bit about the different areas that russia exists of the russian federation okay i know that i know it's a modern country like all the others and i know there's also russia that i do not see now because it's completely different it's a big country it's not like in europe you have 28 countries but everybody knows something about these countries you have no other option because you live there no this is a different story so expections expectations um expectations no surprise yes okay very surprised very surprised excellent and it started at the airport in crosstalk okay but uh now so you almost three months you've spent here in sochi you've been in krasnodar you've been here in sochi and around this area so you speak with the people and you study in the russian language i think now you can say honestly for sure what do you think about the russian people how russian people looks for you then that must refer to what i said before actually because it is a big country and then i um when i am here and i speak with other people in sochi then i speak for uh with people from moscow yeah people from st petersburg where i speak with people from somewhere uh yeah old people far east also how are how are russians well i can tell you but then we need three hours i guess okay so there are a lot of many different russians and how i see how it works in sochi it's an open-minded population people are open people are warm they are always willing to help you yeah so this is something very nice and it is a surprise because of that one stereotype the russian that is rude talks so polite yeah warm so okay yeah it's good good it's good thank you because i'm also russian and i always worrying about these stereotypes about the serious face you know that many foreigners um they say that when we look at the russians they are so serious so concentrated like what happened but yeah for sure i also agree with you that people uh here maybe sometimes looks very serious but inside always warm always kind of kindly for me russians are also the same yeah but uh okay and uh maybe you have a chance to look uh at the russian culture well i i mean about you know music about the architecture uh also here in sochi we have a very big soviet heritage and maybe you also have a chance to look at them and uh about the culture of russian what do you think and have you uh have you see oh this is a russian culture oh this is a you know soviet maybe culture oh i like this music or i like this uh in museums and things i like this art what kind of culture you see and hear and the social you like it or don't like it why not there's some many questions yeah yeah it's usual because the culture is you know the culture is everywhere yeah even we drink the herbal tea is also cartilage because this is a local tea and for me uh we call it ivan chai it's a chai like with special name so everybody know this this is also the part of the culture i visited the t montage of course and tried a few kinds of different teas must say very good tea that we get here that's of course for this regional part of the culture and there i go again the country is very big many many different cultures of course but that is thing i think something that i also see in the people um that they know they live together with all kinds of different people yeah nationalities cultures it's always i think i think this is this is what the russian is the culture is in the in the people okay when we talk about culture i think also it has to do with food it's also a part of the culture yeah the food in this region of course is very nice and very russian is the what is it you cannot leave without eating them yeah um very good good nice uh the food anyway is good taste yeah it's because it's a coca's forecast here it's kavkaze kitchen we also like it about music unfortunately i could not go to a theater or something or oprah or concert or something so i didn't see some some singing or playing even from the ballet of course what is in the big cities uh it's not here it's not here you have to go moscow this is uh this is perhaps a pity this what could do sochi better i think yeah yeah me too yeah this is one of my wishlists for this city it's a ballet or more culture yeah okay would be nice yeah so about architecture there is a no there's not a lot of sovereignty there are some buildings left yeah um and i found some that i said okay that's my favorite because the soviet architecture yeah you like it or you don't like it yeah i like it but it's not that much in in the the street view but when you're walking through the streets it is not a soviet time where you walk it's a modern city yeah what i said before a modern country um what i like about this part of russia is the sagatorium something that i do not really know or not really see in similar kinds in europe there are by the way many things that i do not see in europe that i see here yes yes it's a different little bit of course yeah and that's of course why we have different cultures yeah three months i was in uh sochi okay i talked to a lot of different people a lot of different different kinds of minds but at the end they all have the heart that beats the same that is something that i see so you mean that uh one common thing we have for every russians from all the country but we have a common common sense something inside us so yeah that and maybe these sense make us russians i think so yeah yeah i agree with you because i also i live in the different cities in moscow in saint petersburg and for sure in siberia and the people i know i see the difference you know in mentality some some small things uh if the difference be because you know always the location where we live in in influence in in people but uh everywhere i see the same language the same cultural things the same values and you can you can speak freely and uh with every ev everywhere in russia the same people really the same for me it's not big difference i believe some of some of them also you know that we have many many many nationalities in russia and the russian culture is it's a multicultural we have more than 30 nationalities the small groups of and some eighty groups in the from start from north to the south here in this area also many of those and we but we speak with russian language we speak freely with everybody so it's good and interesting but uh when you say to somebody that you're from iran you're from europe so what do you expect maybe you know some angry on you or polite on you and how the people russian people react that you're from europe and you're from new orleans um i think from all reactions from all the different people that i met the reaction always is the same oh wow you're for europe oh well yeah i'm from the palace oh wow netherlands i live in austria oh wow austria all always exciting yes yeah okay that's that's okay that's very nice fight we simply say okay uh hi maximilia i am eric yes yes nice nice to meet you can i put my cup over there yes yes somewhere in the middle squeeze there but it's crowdy place but this is how it works yeah and uh i like it i like it very much it's something different that's what i know from from the place where i live there is more there is more anger there is more um a hold back yeah nothing but nothing for nothing yeah but uh anyway um what what is uh so you know the the the big part of the questions i want to ask you it's about the living in russia how do you think to live in russia so for example okay now you are tourists but after you you live here already three months it's not a short period like a tourist usually takes like a weekend or two weeks maximum for three months you can already check what is that uh about you know economy perspective or how money you need to to live here for example yeah so that uh what what the people the local people how they leaves are so what's um what's what they have what they like how they like spend spend the times and everything you know like a daily daily routine or daily life regular life and it's interesting for you to know to know from you uh what's the regular normal you know typical life in russia how do you think and according many perspectives the medical care maybe that last question i can uh thank god not answer okay yes it's good nothing to do yeah um so okay i don't i cannot answer that question but the what i see in the three months of how the people are living i think it's quite normal quite you can compare this to two others big cities in somewhere else in the world it's not a very big difference um but i see um active people if they are active with working or they are active with sporting sports uh on the street something very nice to see it's like workout yeah yeah okay yeah it's very nice to see and they they they really care about um about the bodies that's that's something perhaps that comes from the past but then actually it's come from yeah always at any soviet union we everybody in a garden in the middle so in a court we have a uh we call it tourniquet so we can we do is for exercise yeah i even have the the pipe in my apartment yeah where i can do the exercise we love it yeah it's very nice um so they are always active but at the same time you can relax and you can by the way do what you do on the streets do what you like on the street nobody will look at you like oh this is not okay what this person is doing no everybody can do what he or she likes and everybody is watching for his own for his own stuff that's something something very nice i don't know it like this because i come from another part of the world where in the meanwhile now people have the second nature i guess i don't know what this is but they try to look at you if you act well this is this is something yeah this is something very strange i don't know why this is it it's a change in the in the society i guess thank god i don't see it here so for me also this is a very because of this it's a very relaxed uh three months ah so you're relaxed here yeah absolutely and calm you feel calm good life everything is there simply the the things that you that you have or that you need in life everything is there plenty of it it's nice people look happy yeah and uh also i want to say that you are like your man because now uh we we're done with the coffee and also give the restriction about it and now for for example it's free to go to the shops the malls to the like supermarkets everywhere and you know it's uh some supermarket big big mostly you know try to ask it but for the people it's already done story and if we happy and we've done with the kovit and this is so finished it's mean for us we we can deal with this and also that uh because uh when i'm saying this why you like it because you come after all these restrictions because uh it's not it was not so um it's not about quite not so many people uh places opened before so and that's for you is the tourist as the person who discovered the russia it's it's a good time now because to visit russia many things is open for you not so many restrictions that's good i really don't see anything about what we had before with all these this kind of restrictions nothing i had only one restaurant in cluster they asked me for my documents okay sorry i don't have them yeah okay yeah i do not understand you yeah okay this was only this was one place it was on the second day that i was here 12th 13th of february yeah yeah there's nothing yeah yeah but because also i uh for me it was uh the important thing what happened so during the one one year or more than one year it's uh you know many things closed and uh i also feel during the life in sochi during the life of russia i always feel the safety it's okay like my last maybe after 1990s it's always quiet always nice you can go uh during the night for example in social i'm never afraid to go out at night this is something that i checked the first night that i was walking because i had a walk at the shore at the coast and it was already after 12. it was completely silent at the streets but some young woman was walking there yeah yes whoa okay yes you know yeah completely completely relaxed really this is what's safe what i like also and also i feel relaxed i feel safety here in this place and only one time it's about they call me to change my life yes be in a bit in a big way but now it's i see that it's opening and it's also again call me period for me i hope now it's it's more funny and it's uh always will be like this and uh what about the economy what about the money uh because the the prices in uh how the prices in austria and how the price is in russia so here is a cheaper to live or cheaper to live of course in these three months you see that the prices go they increase they go up yeah a little bit and um this is something that already happened in europe from september 20 to 2021 yeah so we are 2022. yeah but there the prices go up already from that time um so i don't know what happened before but since i am here in these three months okay the prices uh go up but it's everywhere now and for example if you buy electronics they are extremely expensive now yeah in europe also and funny perhaps to to tell you a friend in the netherlands he gave me for three years ago or two years ago uh often with the microwave combination oh okay but my channel the microwave function did not work but he didn't need this oven and i took it with me um and now for one week ago he asked me do you have this oven yes i still have it yes but you don't don't need it no i still don't need it can you please bring it back because mine uh broke down and i want to buy a new one but these are so extremely expensive suddenly can you please bring this one back okay because it's uh not not a good time to buy a new one it's absolutely not a good time so uh it doesn't matter where you are in this world this happened in russia the same way right now at the moment because because of the sanctions because of the border we have this uh also the price so we just wait and use the electronics what we have already and uh on the place of your friend i also call to someone could you could you bring back because i changed my mind and i need it now yes yeah so yeah it's good it's a good story yes this is how the time's changing and um perhaps no not perhaps they are changing here also so still you are in such a black sea and still you are in a very nice environment yeah where is uh good to live and yeah i think that's that's a very good positive thing but uh for you is this hard for you to get in here to russia because uh because of the visa because of uh i i don't know maybe any other documents or paper things or money things and is it a problem for you and for for the people from your country to come here to this russia not at all not at all no everybody normally everybody can get a visa yeah i got my visa in three days for three months it's a student visa this is the first time i am in russia so i cannot stay longer the first time but to get the visa yeah you have of course everywhere the the requirements of the documents you need to have i don't know what it is what all different countries need but in my case it was a piece of cake and nowadays still it is a piece of cake so if i go back to europe the first thing i do is get the new visa for coming back to russia and this will be no problem okay so you can uh you can get another visa one more this is a free month for three months for this i have to stay out of the country for three months now okay but uh yeah that means after three months i came back yeah welcome why not it's a good plan so it's totally not a problem for europeans to get people oh it's good you to know and also the why is the student reason uh you are not a student or you're asking yes i am a student i'm learning a russian language okay in a english class it's a international language school okay so yes i'm a student um would i would i not go a student and it was only one possibility to just go as as a tourist and the tourists gets maximum four weeks okay you cannot get three months yeah yeah because the tourist visa it's a different this is a different story and you can also come with a working visa but that is a different story and for every country it is also yeah always the same okay but uh you know i heard that you like russian cars yeah i think for who said that for the guy for the for the my friends who will see this uh podcast watch this podcast i think it's interesting to know that uh yeah i i think you like lada lada and volga the vulgar yes yes it's not typical you know everybody like you know the fancy nice you know the car with the glance and also the german cars american cars and uh sometimes russian cars also uh especially the army cars but the the ladder rather involved why why do you feel so much love well first i must say for the normal daily use i take another car i even have at my place in austria i also have the lada diva okay yes never white white color the regular no no no the dark green color it is hunter green yes thank you very much and this is a car that even i can cannot destroy so undestroyable it's almost undestroyable yes and i use it i use this lara neva as a tractor okay um imagine you build a car it is 1978. you build the car yeah and after um after 45 years you still build this car the same design then it must be a good car yeah kind of cannot be a bad car yeah it's it's me only that uh in 1970 some that the people create the future car so and still nowadays it's definitely definitely yes it was the future yeah for sure it's a joke but we also you know we're always surprised why they don't change their design for the car but maybe they have no designer on the factory so and it's good if if you can sell this it's okay it's a like classic suite you know suit the the classic it's always classy okay so you can sell it every year yeah the same i i also changed my mind about the neva when you and it's it's funny too it's always funny to hear something from european guy that oh i like neva i like uh ladder what you come you come from the country where the all these new electric cars and you say that you like yes of course it's strange it's it's also funny that the reaction of the people they are they they react all the same but what you have a ladder in in in europe so yeah you have all over the world this is not a big problem and even the ladders that are produced today yeah you can buy in our countries yes yes new one new ones yes yes they are not bad because now uh renault is also in the club the lara club but this never mechanic not auto no no no everything mechanic no uh is is the urban version it has even electric windows and the engine doesn't produce so many gas or or long gases unhealthy gases i don't know but like i like the gases from my ladder i have no problem with that yeah you know for the every owner the guess of the the it's like perfume you know yeah so it's and also you know the how you call another the the big russian car the volga no no no no the other one like the big the truck you mean no no no no the the big they use it for the ambulance before in the soviet union you know with this eyes my favorite of the favorites of the events the best van in the world yeah all wheel drive than hunger when i and i heard this first time because bukhanka it's so typical soviet world because we all call this steel we call this uh type of cars it's muhanka yeah and uh it's uh you know that before the police and the ambulance use this uh because it's uh it's typical yesterday i saw a police bukanga it's still yes they still use it because because they do not break i guess yeah unbreakable this you you don't and also if you have uh some damage you just take the i don't know some instrument and do it by yourself yeah it's very easy to fix this car okay so but uh to buy this niva or lada you have a salon salons you know the the markets how you do can you buy in europe yes the russian car yes from russia or inside to your country you have the shops for the like all the cars russians i think okay what russia produced for the world because it's interesting and it's good to know that russia produced neva uh some enthusiastic people like you with this car so yeah it's really good to know so eric and what is your future plans future plans about the russia future plans about europe and you have to leave soon yeah your visa is ending yes almost end so and uh do you want to come back one again of course yeah yes that's what i thought before the first thing i do when i'm back in europe this look how i can get what kind of visa i can get to come back after three months okay or what possibilities there are to stay in a good time because i want to change the the place where i live uh from europe to russia for poland period yeah for definitive definitely yes i want to live to leave europe because in europe there are so many things changing and they change in a way that i um do not i cannot say i do not agree with this because i have nothing to say but i do not see my life for the future in europe because of the changes and they are not in a positive way for me um this is a complete you can do another podcast about this yeah if you like because yes it's uh it's it's you speak about the regular life like there's the regular life like for the people what what what what simples people uh live in the life it's changing now it's not the the different like no not 10 20 years ago in this moment uh the european union yeah that we have to deal with if you live in the netherlands or austria you are part of european union they are changing laws and they are changing laws in this kind that you must give away parts of your freedom that you had before and it is not that you have this kind of freedom in russia it's not about this but the way this works and the way that they think they must plan the future is something that i say okay perhaps not with me uh yeah yeah this one i also you don't see you in this new new new world new new rules exactly that's quite simple to say i don't see myself in this new world what they plan for you and there are things also changing that that you cannot know if you if you still um can can travel as free as you used to do the things that perhaps uh you lose parts of the things that you own yeah because it is a new system not possible anymore to own something like like this or that what you have now but this is a complete completely different topic yeah about this i think uh now europeans can understand you clearly the russians think what why why why what's happening but you know that uh where is the guarantee that in russia the same changes uh russia also changed now today and this year last year the russia's changes they also got new laws and everything do we have a guarantee that russia not change or now you see that just russia so the you can you can build your life as you want uh not not like in europe but in the future maybe in russian the same the same situations happen but in a country like russia um i feel myself more free as in a tiny little continent that's called europe where many different countries nowadays still do not agree about all kinds of things and at the same time they want to create a union but they are always struggling and have different thoughts about how to solve problems about what to do so there is no uh there is no union if you compare this with the russian federation yeah there is a soviet the soviet union yeah we had before there are many republics and that wasn't there yeah it's different it's uh yeah it's different because soviet union you can tell you can say you can have your opinion about it it doesn't matter it was a union yeah and europe nowadays after many years of european union still is not a union and the changes that are going to be they force us to act like we are in a union but we all have different cultures and we are not used to live together like it is in russia in russia you are used to live with other cultures with the many many people many people and from different nationalities and i don't know during for five years i live here i don't know any accident with the problems between the different ethnic between different nationalities i only see how we only see problems and always come down yeah a little a little disaster for sure it's a big topic but uh may are you alone at this feeling in europe or it's uh so like a few other europeans guys think like you and want to come to russia or other countries for living so and can choose another country for evil if if it's so uh maybe you have to give them advice about the russia because now you are here and maybe some guys will see uh will watch this podcast and say okay this guy was in russia he's your wife so maybe russia it's like it's okay it's not our country well let me let me first say something to do this would you what you talk about yeah before that you're alone or some some someone else think like like you i i'm already focused on russia for for most 20 years yes so i know i knew a little bit what i can expect from russia that is what we talked before what do you expect yeah i expect nothing because it's expectations you have if you if you know what it's all about well the things that i knew i was for sure that it is like that so i don't have expectations it is like that but i that's already more over 20 years they care for this learn about this learn about russia and people in europe they think the same as i they are not a few they are many many many many of them and many people that i know in the netherlands that i talk with um even if i say i live in austria then they already say wow you live in austria oh so it's good if if i if i was able to i had the possibility i also would leave this country this is not a small group and now in the meanwhile for me austria is also a history but but many people are all talking about oh i want to go there i want to go there um so they start in searching the new life searching the accommodation nice accommodations for them yes they they also have the same feeling as i have okay things are changing we don't want to be a part of this new kind of living and how can we make a nice living in the future without without being a kind of victims of all the changes this is perhaps strange to think but so it's a trend it's a friend yeah it's uh something something something happened and then the people start asking the questions for for themselves also where to go okay yeah well the the last place i would recommend in this moment is europe don't go there because you uh but you can if you do not know what is going to happen yeah you know it's a funny story that i told you that many of my friends they uh they look in europe like the place for living now you come from the europe and say that a nice place for living in russia it's so strange it's so strange yeah guys of course podcast yeah listen eric don't worry here's every day sorry or even think twice about about all and you know you need to scale everything there what is the positive or what is it negative for you personally to live and uh as a as i agree with you about the freedom that uh for me it's always here in russia and you know that especially like 20 30 years ago and just soviet union break yeah we have a little bit uh criminal situation with the mafia we never you know for foreigners maybe more story but yeah we have some problem but starting from the beginning of 2000 so very quiet very nice living and also i feel freedom for myself here and i can go everywhere i can do every whatever i want and if it's legal if it's normal and if it's cool so i can go somewhere do fishing or maybe uh some hiking around just you know we have a call cast here very high like yeah alps garden we have there so and uh just buy the ticket go inside and you know yeah uh yeah do let's do it ski resorts do whatever yeah you want it it's really cool and nice and also you know that you know still in russia a lot of business opportunities for me and when i speak with my friends they always say that this opportunity this opportunity a lot of because you know there we have a soviet heritage not me and many zero business was in in soviet so and now it's still so many opportunities for the people here in russia they come here open something and many many businessmen now it's growing and it's still a lot of a lot of places where you can focus and grow and also the taxis we have nice vivid taxes that's also something that i heard uh heard of and thought by myself oh only this is a reason to leave you you know no it's actually uh for what for i should pay taxes any longer because i see so many things that do not help me or do not help the country to to develop more or to get for more people a good standard living life but i see all kinds of strange projects where the money flows and then i'm asking myself okay you want to do this even more in the future that's very noble that's very noble but i think we have problems enough that we first have to solve and one of them is what i told you before if you want to be a union but yeah you cannot act like a union then i think you have a lot a lot of things to do it looks like individuals not a union exactly anyway so eric um anyway i think we can uh go by to the end of the podcast and today and also i want to thank you for this podcast and for me it's always interesting to speak with the people in the from europe and especially with you eric really and i i i appreciate the me the humanity about russia in and what you talk about the what the people you see here the culture you see here the economic and this freedom uh safety feelings uh believe me i'm i'm as i am as a russian i i know this and to hear it from the european guy it's you know it's quite like no prizes notable yeah no for me that oh thank you thank you so much and uh because you know that uh we worry always about what people around uh they can think you know wrong way about russia really it's a it's a it's a probably problematic it it was always i think from starting from the cold war but we still think that it's good to be honest it's good to be open and we try to be open in this case and to listen this story is very cool i want to say one thing that i think is very important if you talk about how people think about russia or europe also how do you think about russia i also talk with a lot of people and then i say look that's our neighbor yeah now the days it's not 800 kilometer kilometers from us uh uh away but a little bit a little bit more 2000 okay perhaps from where i live moscow is only 2 400 kilometers yeah but so that's not far away still five years but four hours by playing five hours okay yeah okay but but still uh people um do not have a good view or the right thoughts about their own labor and then i say would it help why i asked them always would it help if you understand the language because it's very easy to understand the whole world where you talk things or speak the english language everybody speaks english language yeah that's easy it's easy but now you come to worship oh that's a different story yes i know it now because i tried to learn three months language i know how difficult this is now yeah yeah i got you yeah yeah you can translate later i can translate for you so this is always the thing that for me is very important if you want to learn to know a country understand the language yeah not know not only know the language but understand the language you know understand the emotion of the people and the emotion behind the language and that is very important yeah i agree with you and for me the you know when you learn understand another language it's like you have a you know spare glasses for this yeah you wear these glasses like i'm using these you see the another world here's another culture and other people and you can read the books read the and they are very quiet interesting it's uh it's like the same for you know for the english to read the shakespeare in english and leader shakespeare in in russian or in other languages yeah it's always interesting but no always little bit gap between the native language of the what the author wants yeah that's why for me it's a interesting reason to know the language to understand the culture exactly so keep it as advice for the for the european guys yeah that's what i study russian english and come here it's what i say already many many years guys guys guys yeah learn learn this language and you you get a completely different view yes so okay okay eric uh yes thank you very big thank you for podcast very nice to speak with you very nice to know you and i hope you uh these three months in uh in austria come very quick and you come back here so and we can record another podcast of course perhaps you can do a podcast in europe you'll come yeah also why not yeah and uh anyway i want to say in russian spacebar uh for this podcast and i hope it's interesting for the people from russia if you decide to listen it uh and uh you stay stay with us and also for the europeans to maybe know something about the russia about how to live here because today it was a eric here the dutch man from living in austria a dutch man from australia from austria and uh a local uh local guy maxime who come from siberia also to sochi yeah so it's it's quite interesting ah thank you for everybody and i hope see you bye guys
2022-05-10 05:14
