Monica September 2014 team report for Russia

Hypothesis: "People try to find happiness more and more by turning back towards nature and
towards their inner selves."

<< Dreams dont come true in Russia >>

Dreams dont come true in Russia or at least so Ive been told by a Russian young man.

Dreams dont come true in Russia kind of hard to believe while wandering the streets of two of the
biggest cities of this country Moscow and Saint Petersburg.
Moscow with its majestic metro stations that trigger the memory of fairytale ball rooms, with its
internationally renowned ballet and theatre, with its cheerfully colored churches with onion shaped
towers, with its amazing buildings covered in the dust of ruthless time
Saint Petersburg with its imposing architecture and opulent grandeur, with its beautiful parks and
gardens, with its shivering producing bell rings, hosting one of the biggest museums in the world which
is in itself a dream for many
Now that I think about it there is actually one thing that I have noticed in Saint Petersburg lack of
kids between the ages of 5 to 15. And that could mean two things. First, that there is holiday in July and
the children get shipped off to some relatives living in the country side to enjoy their summer more
authentically. It happens quite often in Romania too, so it could totally make sense.
The other reason goes a little bit deeper. Children represent hope for a better future. And if people
dont see that projection of the future bright enough in their minds, then they probably choose not to
have children. And that would make me to draw the conclusion that they are not happy enough as to
look at what is to come with an open heart and a cheerful soul.
Sadly, I dont really know which of this two options is closer to reality. Or maybe it is a combination of
both. Defying our expectations, Russians dont really speak English (not even the ones from the big
cities), so my conclusions are mostly based on observation.
Anyway, travelling further away from this two famous cities, you encounter a surprisingly desolated
Russia. Abandoned buildings, stray dogs, holes in the streets, rats, weird smells, tangled bureaucracy
that lasts for hours, incredibly muddy roads it all reminded me of my home city probably 20, maybe
even 30 years ago.
But I expected more from Russia. I expected more from a country that claims to be (and is recognized to
be) one of the most powerful in the world. I expected more from a country who has the courage to seize

territories of others. First you organize your stuff in the territory that you have you make sure that
people have what they need and that things run smoothly, and only afterwards you can find the courage
to claim pieces of other countries as yours. Or not? Well apparently not for Russia.
As Russia was such a huge soft spot of mine, I tried to learn more about its times of glory. And it was
actually in the library of Hornsjo that I found a book about the USSR, few days before leaving to Sweden
for my pre course. I took it with me and it was this book that made me understand how difficult it was
to rule such a huge country, how the grandeur that I saw as an outsider when thinking about USSR was
actually not at all reflected in the inside of the country, and how all this system was so poorly organized
that it was obviously just a matter of time until its implosion.
I read about all this with curiosity, and probably with a little bit of disappointment. But I definitely
expected things to have gotten better until now, twenty years after. Sadly Im not sure they did. Not
for the average Russian, for sure.
Walking around the streets, you can see that people dont look happy. Factories have been replaced
with shopping malls, there are not enough working places for everybody, corruption and bad
management are thriving, the old and the new (typically Russian buildings in desperate need of
restauration and huge shiny buildings, most surely brought there by globalization) intertwine in a
hideous way which emphasizes the discrepancies of the world we are living in. On top of this, Russia is
currently undergoing economic austerity and this affects peoples everyday life in a strong negative way.
The power of their currency shrank constantly in the past two years, prices varying from day to day.
Inconstancy began to rule peoples lives and living in insecurity is for sure not a reason for happiness.
I noticed that people are drawn to materialism. Getting a new job makes them happy, of course. But
they still compare themselves to the ones who have it better. Which is not a bad thing in general, if you
keep in mind to also appreciate what you have. Comparison with the ones superior (in any kind of way)
might produce competitiveness and performance. I can understand that people need a certain security,
moneywise speaking, before they can focus on the spiritual part. But the moment you live in an almost
luxurious apartment (although rented), and consider that you are not even in the middle class, just
because you dont own a car well, there I see a problem. It probably means that you dont really know
what poverty actually is, and comply yourself in complaining instead of appreciating.
As these measures of austerity that I was talking about earlier were imposed to Russia as a consequence
of its political choices (regarding Ukraine and Crimea), I was curious if people were upset with their
ruler/rulers for making these choices. They were not. They welcomed the annexation of Crimea as if
they were reunited with their brothers and sisters. They were not happy with the economic status of
their country, of course, but believed that what happened was right and was what should have
happened so Russia was not to blame for the economic situation in which the country ended up (at
least in their eyes). About Ukraine, the people I have asked considered it to have fallen in between the
conflict of Russia with the US sort of a bad luck.
Not all the people we have talked to about this subject liked Putin, but all agreed that he was the best
ruler Russia could possibly wish for at the present moment. They felt the need of a strong leader, and
they saw that in Putin. On the other hand, they were reluctant towards the transparency and correction
of the elections. They were convinced that their disapproval could not make a difference. They saw that
the system was failing them every day, but were resigned about it.

The only thing that I saw Russians frustrated about was the fact that they are not officially
acknowledged as the winners of the Second World War. Americans stole this recognition from them, as
Americans believe themselves to be the ones who won and brought the war to an end. But Russians
consider that they were the ones who actually carried the burden of the war on their shoulders, the
ones who stopped Hitler and made him retreat - with a lot of human sacrifice, of course; the ones who
won the war. And they seem annoyed that the general international perception has been distorted by
the Western media machine.
I saw Russians as very proud people. Partly because, as I said, they truly believe it was them who won
the Second World War, and consider this something exceptional. Also, because they were part of this
huge empire, to which they tend to go back to. It is said that the image of Putin in the hearts of the
people resembles more and more the one of a tsar, and that gives an even stronger feeling of patriotism
to the Russian people.
As I have previously mentioned, most Russians only speak Russian and I believe this is a huge proof of
patriotism, stubbornness, but also ignorance. They do learn English in school, but the English teachers
are not very good themselves with the language. Even the young people you ask them a question and
sometimes they seem to understand, but they cant answer back. They either dont know, or they are
not confident enough about their knowledge.
The perception of the common Russian people is that they dont need more than their own language.
Russia is a huge country with a lot of places to visit and an incredible amount of people living in it. If
Russians want to travel, they can travel in their own country without having to learn English. Also, they
can meet new people every day in the same manner. As far as I noticed, tourism in Russia is also mostly
focused on Russian people, and it is quite difficult as a foreign tourist to find directions, explanations or
anything else in English, for that matter. The general attitude is that, if foreigners chose to come to
Russia, they should have learned Russian before.
But this closes the country very much, and it closes the people living in Russia inside its borders. If they
dont speak English it is very difficult for them to travel to other countries, to experience other kind of
people with other kind of cultures. If they dont speak English, they dont have access to international
press, and considering that independent press is pretty much dead or dying in Russia, they are very
susceptible to manipulation.
Dreams dont come true in Russia maybe they dont. Maybe they do. But anyway, it doesnt mean that
people dont dream. It is what makes humans to keep going in their quest towards happiness.
In all fairness, I met happy people too. Travelling for four days in the Trans-Siberian, we were befriended
by three mothers and their six children. Only the eldest of the daughters spoke some basic English, but it
was enough as to manage to get along. We found out that the mothers were very good friends,
travelling for holiday to some relatives from the Asian side of the country. I can imagine that, having two
weeks of holiday out of which at least one you spend on the train trying to get to your destination, you
must learn to also enjoy the ride, and not just to wait to get to the ending point. And they seemed to
have managed that.
The little girls (aged 7 to 16) were playing around and having fun all day long. They were also very much
into creating some type of bracelets out of rubber bands. After we became friends, we were given as

gifts some of this bracelets, and afterwards we were thought how to do them and encouraged to do
some for ourselves using the colors and the patterns that we liked. They also thought us how to count
in Russian, how to say thank you and your welcome, and how to spell some of the colors. The
youngest of the daughters was especially sweet, as she forgot from time to time that I dont understand
Russian, and she started to speak to me in her own language until somebody stopped her and explained
once again that I can only understand English. They were all very friendly and nice to us, and they
brightened our long, long journey. Their mothers also seemed to have fun together, sleeping during the
day and laughing and storytelling during the night, when the air was much cooler and breathable.
Out of all the people that I have met in Russia, I was most impressed about this one young girl named
Aliona. We met in a hostel in Irkutsk (our couchsurfing hosts actually owned a hostel, but in times when
the hostel was not full they were accepting couchsurfers; as we wrote to them almost two months
before arriving they accepted us without truly knowing how many guests they will have, and it
happened that the hostel was full when we arrived, so we ended up sleeping in a tent, on a porch in
front of the hostel). But the atmosphere there was really amazing, and the hosts were finding time to
interact with everybody and make sure that people were having a good time. Their way of handling
things actually inspired us a lot. They were the ones who introduced us to Aliona.
Aliona is a 20 year old Russian girl from Saint Petersburg. She was travelling together with her boyfriend,
a huge backpack that he was carrying, and his guitar that she was carrying. His guitar was called Friday,
like Robinson Crusoes friend. They came from Saint Petersburg to Irkutsk, half way through the country
and 5500 km distance by hitch hiking. It took them two weeks, and it was during this travel that Aliona
realized she is pregnant. She knew she was too young, but she seemed happy about it nonetheless.
I liked her a lot because she was incredibly energetic, strongly positive and very communicative
(although her English was not the best). She was waving her hands in the air a lot when she was talking,
and she looked a little bit silly (in a good way). We talked about a lot of things from Russia and not only;
she told us about her hopes and dreams. She had just finished a collage in order to become a teacher,
but she was not sure that she wanted to do that for the rest of her life. Moreover, she realized that she
was to become a mother soon, and she had to accommodate the baby in her future plans too. But the
plans were plenty. She loved reading, and was dreaming of writing a book someday. She was thinking
about the possibility of opening an anti-cafe, or owning a hostel.
She was playing the guitar, as well as composing her own songs (we asked her to play a few songs for us,
and she tried to explain to us what the songs were about before singing one was a traditional Russian
folk song about mountaineers who die in their quests to conquer the heights; the other one was
composed by herself and it told the story of a red cat who brought sun in peoples lives and who left
pieces of fish as gifts in their dreams). I asked about her relationship with nature, and she told me that
she is not going to the mountains as often as she would like, but that it is one of her familys traditions
to go every summer to some lakes near Saint Petersburg and sing guitar songs around the fire (both her
parents are singing the guitar). I asked if she was happy, and she was. Although she didnt have a very
well organized plan for the future, she painted her future in bright and colorful lights.
Based on the glimpse that I had into the hearts and minds of the Russian people, I could say that my
hypothesis is wrong. People are much to anchored in their daily lives and problems as to have time to
search for happiness by turning back towards nature or towards their inner selves. Maybe things will
look different after the country manages to stabilize a little bit and find an equilibrium point. After

people will have access to the basics of their necessities, Im quite sure they will be tempted to look for
more. And perhaps then they will find the path towards nature.
Still, the ones who were in contact with nature all along know how fulfilling it is to connect with it and
how much peace and tranquility you can acquire by getting in touch with nature once in a while. Also, by
spending time in nature, away from all the technology and distractions of our everyday life, you
automatically acknowledge your inner self more.

Metro station in Saint Petersburg

Hermitage Museum (Saint Petersburg)

Not so shiny parts of Saint Petersburg

View of Moscow and one of the seven sisters buildings

Happy to reach Red Square

Creepy ghost window in the yard of the Architecture Museum Moscow

Graduation ceremony in Moscow

Neighborhood in Saratov

With the inventors of Cyrillic Alphabet in Saratov

Statue of Lenin with his pointy finger from Saratov

(similar statues with him can be found all over Russia)

Entrance of the open air museum about the 2nd World War in Saratov

Stairs with the years and the battles who took place in those years during the 2nd World War in the open
air museum in Saratov

Friends made during Trans-Siberian ride

Street in Irkutsk