I work with Russians

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Do you want the video of CCMH playing an accordion or the music video of "Who Stole the Kiszka?"?
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My feet moved faster. I was muttering "dontgetstuckinmyheaddontgetstuckinmyheaddontgetstuckinmyhead" and someone passing me laughed.

One word.........IPOD!
 
I used to work in a former soviet republic, Kazahkstan specifically. It was amazing to me that there were two very separate spots to be filled in on any form, citizenship and nationality. As and American, I always figured the two were pretty much the same, but not there. The former communist masters used "divide and conquer" to help keep the masses under control. Part of their strategy, especially under Stalin, was to move troublemakers from their home country to a totally different soviet republic and cut them off from home. In the small part of Kazahkstan I was in there were Kazahks, Uzbeks, Georgians, Ukranians, Czechs, Germans, Koreans, Tartars, and even Russians. No one nationality, not even Kazahks, were in a majority. The Soviet masters emphasized the nationality so the troublemakers that were moved were pretty much isolated for a generation or two from the local population so they could not stir up trouble in their new home. It also helped dilute the power of the indigenous population so the Russians that lived there could remain masters. These prejudices remain, especially with the older people. It surprised me how scared most people were of anyone of Tartar nationality, for instance. I think that policy has a lot to do with the trouble that the Uzbeks are having in Kyrgyzstan that was recently in the news as well as many other problems in that part of the world.

I know I’m rambling, but this section is called random ramblings so I guess I’ll go a little further. I don’t know where you are working and it is very possible the people you are working with are actually Russian citizens of different nationalities. When I was working in Kazahkstan, many Americans (Europeans too) would immediate talk about me working in Russia. I was not in Russia. Russia is a separate country. The former soviet republics got their independence around 1991 and do not consider themselves Russian at all. That was equivalent to telling someone that is working in Canada that they are working in the US.

I guess one more story. When Kazahkstan got its independence, they faced a big decision. What was going to be the official religion of the country. No one religion had a majority, but the two leading candidates were Eastern Orthodox and Islam. Eastern Orthodox was tied too closely with Russia, so of course they chose Islam. The reason they had to choose a national religion? So they would know which holidays to make official.

Anyway, I’m sure I’ve bored enough people enough. Have a nice day.
 
LOL! No Russians, at this facility. Mostly Ukrainians. Quite a smattering of all the rest though. Long ago, I sold cars and we had a new guy named Uri. Thick accent. A hillbilly came into the parking lot and Uri went to talk to him. He greeted the customer in the usual, official way and the guy immediately picked up on the accent and said "Where you from, boy?" in an aggressive tone.

"I am from Georgia." Uri deadpans, in his thick Eastern European accent.

"The hell you are! Stay away from me!"

LOL!!! Two jokes in one. Uri *was* from Georgia. But this clown wasn't educated enough to know that and assumed he meant the state, which is funny enough, on it's own. He thought Uri was lying and only said he was from a state that had an accent, like that would cover it up.

I laughed all day. Every hour or so, I'd remember the interaction and it would start me laughing again.
 
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Kind of a sad story: When I was teaching Spanish, the local community college was having an international night and I was reading the flyer out loud to the class (extra credit if they went) and as I rattled down the flyer, "Featuring authentic music and dancing from many nations: Colombia, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Kazakhstan ..."

A few boys who had just seen Borat interrupted to say "Kazakhstan is really a country?"

"Yes, it's the 10th largest country in the world, straddling both Europe and Asia. It's about the size of the USA less Texas and Alaska."

"Oh, I just thought it was made up for Borat. So he's really from Kazakhstan?"

"No, he's a British comedian."

Then I had to try to explain how "Cohen" is used as a joke last name in Britain, lost them and then moved on.

Although I thought that nowadays textbooks are updated so that countries like Kazakhstan and the Ukraine are included.
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Pfff. I own a globe from the 1970s. Talk about useless. For the longest time, I had a map of the world, as my shower curtain. It was awesome. You could sit there, on the pot and learn geography. Not that it does any good. Only rivers and mountains keep their names.

Ivory Coast, Congo, etc..
 
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Thank you! I've decided I have two books in my head, that need to come out, but I need to install a character that can utilize the humor that rattles around in my head. Both books are dramas.

Would you believe I failed English every year, in High School? Then, when I got to college, I passed out of Freshman and Sophomore English (one of only 4 people, that year, who did well enough on the written exam, to skip 2 years of class). I was allowed to skip large parts of Advanced Expository Writing (where I met my, then, wife-to-be) because the instructor held up my paper as "The first perfect paper I have ever graded." I don't remember it being very good. Not funny at all. I had to keep all humor out or I knew he wouldn't take it seriously. The day after that, the curvy, red-haired girl, with the green eyes, sat at my table. We divorced about 8 1/2 years later and last year, she became the CEO of Sprint's Silicon Valley division.

I wish the internet had been around back then. I would have gotten more into actual writing, 20 years ago
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Now I have to start from behind. Feels like it anyway.
 

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