Random thoughts and Russian viewpoints

So, in my posts I have been giving some details about the places that we’ve been, but I have really not conveyed the interactions with people so far.  The most interesting ones are with Jane, our tour guide in Russia because we got to spend 2 days in her company on a van 

 and she answered political questions we had.  There was a statement made about Ukraine on the bus on the first day and she said, “Oh, let’s not go into politics” like a good girl, but then promptly forgot her own edict and gave us a first hand account of how great a political, 

 propaganda machine news coverage can be.  She states that Putin is trying to protect Russian citizens in Ukraine who aren’t being listened to by the current government.  She states that people are worried about Russian terrorists now, but there 

 never have been any.  She also points out that Crimea was a gift from Russian to Ukraine during the time of Kruschev and doesn’t seem to think that means that they gave it up…It was interesting to hear the other side of the situation, one in which Russia is the protector and Ukraine is the aggressor against it’s own people, or rather, people who used to be Russian and I don’t know, should maybe go back to Russia if they don’t like the way that they are being

 treated in Ukraine.  I mean, this is like the President of Mexico saying that he doesn’t like the way that Texas is treating Mexicans there and it used to be part of their territory, so they’ll just take it back…but not in the eyes of this Russian and most likely most of the country here. 

 Also, I asked her about gay rights and Pussy Riot, because I wanted to know what some young person felt about these things.  She said that she doesn’t personally agree with the gay lifestyle, but some people are this way.  She states that they just don’t want propaganda exposure for children before

 they are of age to make a decision about their own sexuality.  Which mirrors what a lot of people in the US still feel is an appropriate way to treat this issue, so I can’t say we’re way more progressive here, but hopefully we have moved away from thinking that

people become gay because they saw a Pride parade or that all gay people are pedophiles, etc.  It was definitely eye-opening and nice of her to let us into her world for a second, it gave me another reason to be glad that her world is not mine.  We asked about their schooling,

  their military service, their food and all of these things appear to be the same as in our country, although they are expected to specialize in school by elementary school and the parents usually make the choice for the child what will be their specialty.  Also, while there are

 the traditional foods that are national icons here, she said that on any day that’s not a holiday, they just go eat Chinese, subway, or Italian food.  I know the iron curtain doesn’t exactly exist anymore, but I have to say that it feels like it still does some.  I mean

   from the buildings to the parroting of the national justifications for actions, some parts of this country just felt backwards and still scary.  Maybe I’m a cold war baby, but from having to have a visa to going through immigration every time you entered or exited the terminal, it felt like the 1980’s all over again.