Welcome to a new world! Hospitality has always existed in Russia. Russian people are welcoming. However, one thing the country has always lacked is a hospitality industry. Over the past few years, however, due attention has been paid to the issue, and the hospitality industry started to develop. At the very least, the 4.5 million…
MOSCOW: Stress and the City A city or a village? The majority of people in the world definitely prefer living in a city. According to some assessments, two thirds of the planet’s population will be living in cities by 2050. Because of this, humanity will go through radical social and environmental changes. After all, life in…
MOVING UP: From crimson blazers to regular business suits Old habits die hard. Foreign entrepreneurs who want to start a business in Russia are still afraid of the “Russian mafia.” This, of course, is a myth. The criminal squabbles and lawlessness of the 90s have long faded into oblivion. Once, a German, a Frenchman,…
CLEOPATRA’S NOSE or the profile of a Russian business woman Blaise Pascal, a 17th century French scientist, once said that “had Cleopatra’s nose been shorter, the history of humankind would have developed differently.” It’s a wise observation. After all, only stupid men think they’re in control of everything. In Russia, we see it like this: the man is…
The illiterate person is like a blind man, or books vs. smartphones People who think that all Russians do in their spare time is have dinner parties or go to the banya are very wrong. The myth does not line up with reality. And the reality is that Russians love to read, maybe more so…
World Cup: stereo types take a big hit The World Cup opened the eyes of millions of foreigners when it comes to Russians. They understood that Russians have nothing in common with the scary images painted by unscrupulous media in the West. A lot of myths have finally been dispelled. Russians are welcoming and friendly people.…
Here, anybody can outplay you… Ivana: Do you know how we keep warm in Russia? Austin: I can guess, baby. Ivana: We play chess. Austin: I guessed wrong. (From Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me) Like just about everywhere else in the world, Russian people love football. But nobody loves chess the way Russians do. Almost…
We are Russians, and that explains a lot How do Russians differ from Americans? How does an American differ from the French? How do Americans differ from the French? In quite a lot of ways, but most of all they differ from each other in their culture. The word Culture in this case must be…
The supermarket challenge Political analysts, sociologists, and economists have spent countless hours arguing about what caused the collapse of the Soviet Union. But if we had to sum things up in one word, it would definitely be “deficit.” This isn’t a reference to an abstract concept like freedom, but about empty shelves in the country’s…