My wife and I were invited to a joint birthday party last night, to which we arrived at 7:30pm.\u00a0 By 8:30 I was feeling very ill, and was quite astonished by the speed at which everyone was drinking vodka\u00a0or some very ropey Martini (never mind the label, if that was Martini then I’m the Queen of Sheba).\u00a0 It didn’t help that the vodka was of poor quality, but even if I’d been drinking Absolut’s finest I’d have been in trouble.\u00a0 I’m no stranger to drinking with Russians, but this lot were on another level.\u00a0 By the time we left at midnight some of them were still going strong.\u00a0 Drinking like this\u00a0is a spectator sport.<\/p>\n
Anyway, for the last few hours I stuck to juices and tea in a desperate effort (which was ultimately successful) to avoid being hungover for the rather important meeting I have with my boss this morning, and in doing so I was able to talk to some Russians about actual stuff, as opposed to being a gibbering wreck with my head down the U-bend.\u00a0 One of the things I got asked a lot is why I like Russia so much, and why I prefer Sakhalin Island with its terrible conditions and crumbling infrastructure over Dubai with its fancy hotels and (supposedly) luxurious lifestyle.\u00a0 The answer, as I’ve always said, is the people.<\/p>\n
Here I don’t feel much like an expat.\u00a0 This party took place in a Korean restaurant which I would bet sees about two expats a month, and I was the only non-Russian at the table.\u00a0 A handful spoke English, but not much was spoken.\u00a0 Although I am treated as somewhat of a novelty by Russians, I can safely say that in this group of people, I belonged.\u00a0 I joined in the fun along with all the others and did not feel one bit out of place.\u00a0 I met some new people, and drank to their health, and left amongst much back slapping and bear hugs and promises to get completely plastered tonight over a game or two of billiards, which I fully intend to keep should my wife feel generous and allow me to go.\u00a0 I’ve been in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk only about 11 weeks, and already know a gang of locals.<\/p>\n
I contrast this with the Middle East, where I was only once ever invited to a local’s home and never to a social function which involved close friends and family.\u00a0 There were many meals in fancy restaurants (with a depressing lack of ale), but these were all business related.\u00a0 I suppose in many ways this was my fault, as I made no efforts to learn the language, understand local customs, or learn what passes for the culture in that part of the world.\u00a0 But I always got the impression that even if I had made a gargantuan effort to immerse myself into the locals, I would never have got very far.\u00a0 Indeed, I can’t think of any westerner who is close enough to a local to thump on his door on a Friday (think Sunday) morning, invite himself in,\u00a0embrace his mate’s wife who is making him a coffee,\u00a0jump on the sofa beside his mate who is watching TV and demand that he gets his arse into gear because the weather is good and we really should do something.\u00a0 In fact, I can’t think of any westerner who would feel comfortable banging on a local’s door on a Friday morning under any circumstances, unless he had a prior invitation for a specific purpose.\u00a0 Every westerner I spoke to on the subject in the Middle East said there was always an “Us and Them” feel about the whole situation.\u00a0 What I found was an unbridgeable gulf between us and them, and although some people worked hard at closing the gap, the gulf remained nonetheless.<\/p>\n
Now it’s one thing to identify that a huge gap exists between two cultures, but quite another to identify why.\u00a0\u00a0I’m just an engineer and not a psychologist so I am not stating this as fact, but I reckon\u00a0the reason\u00a0is a difference in the thought processes\u00a0adopted\u00a0by the religious and the secular which takes the two to such different conclusions of any given situation, and this in turn modifies the general behaviour of each.\u00a0 I always feel I can understand how a Russian man thinks (leave the women out of this for now), and never find that I am too far off his wavelength.\u00a0 In the Middle East however, I often found myself talking to somebody whose mindset\u00a0was a galaxy or two away from mine.\u00a0 Take by way of example an entry<\/a> on the UAE Community Blog which in my opinion highlights\u00a0just how far apart the\u00a0Middle Eastern mentality is from, well, just about anywhere secular:\u00a0<\/p>\n I\u00a0have posted an entry earlier this year about the “Wellbeing Show” which featured, among others; magicians, tarot readers, Seminars on how to know your future, and a whole lot of other nonsense.<\/p>\n …<\/p>\n To all of you who are familiar with islamic laws, you know what kind of offence that is. And if you care, please help spread the word and stop this nonsense.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Then in the comments, a reply reads thusly:<\/p>\n Thanks for highlighting this topic. I believe that only weak people go to these astrologers because they are not content with whatever God has given them. They go to the astrologers because it makes them feel better & stronger, although in reality they are being fooled & ripped of their money.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Which is all well and good, until you read the second part of the comment:<\/p>\n No one in his right mind can deny the existence of black magic, it is a fact<\/strong>. And ajwa dates is one of several remedies prescribed by our Prophet peace be upon him to protect us from the evils of magic.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n So tarot reading is offensive nonsense which must be opposed, whereby anybody who doubts the existence of black magic must be a nutcase.\u00a0 It can hardly be said that these sentiments belong only to a fringe minority in the Middle East, indeed they are pretty widespread, and it was this type of thought process, i.e. that\u00a0certain\u00a0trivial\u00a0things\u00a0are categorically wrong but we’ll put blind faith in\u00a0others which outsiders find ludicrous, which I believe prevents westerners from really immersing themselves with the locals in contrast to how I am able to get on in Russia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My wife and I were invited to a joint birthday party last night, to which we arrived at 7:30pm.\u00a0 By 8:30 I was feeling very ill, and was quite astonished by the speed at which everyone was drinking vodka\u00a0or some … Continue reading