10 things I love about post-soviet countries
Post-soviet countries visited this past year: Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan Nine years ago, I visited Russia and the Baltic States.
1. It feels like people are between West and East
My impression is that educated people are more conservative than in the West, and less extreme. They don't buy into the same things that Western people buy into. They just seem more reasonable, less batshit crazy. However, I'm still not that familiar with these countries and I need to familiarize myself with them much more.
2. People are warm and welcoming
3. People are cold and unfriendly
What follows might sound like stereotypes. They're just my own personal observations.
My impression: Cold and unfriendly when you're total strangers (customer service is the opposite of the US), extremely warm and welcoming when you're getting to know each other or when you're a guest.
This doesn't apply to all of them. I find people in Kazakhstan to be more in between, and people in Armenia are the loveliest.
4. It's beautiful
Those Orthodox churches and other colorful buildings!
5. It's ugly
Those soviet buildings!
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