Russian habits, way of life and traditions often cause bewilderment among foreigners, and sometimes even make them stupid. Europeans and Americans consider Russians wasteful, insincere and seriously wonder how they can, for example, sleep without curtains on the windows or equip a separate bathroom. Novate.ru talks about nine of the strangest habits of Russian residents in the opinion of foreigners.
Habit 1: Take off your shoes when entering an apartment
If you invite a European friend to visit and ask him to take off his shoes in the corridor, he will look at you like you are crazy, and ask quite a normal, from his point of view, question: "Why?" The fact is that it is customary for foreigners to walk around the house in sneakers, boots, boots or any other shoes. Unlike our roads, their streets are almost always clean (mainly due to the paving stones), so foreigners see no reason to walk around the apartment in slippers or barefoot.
Habit 2: Wash dishes under running water
For Europeans, utility bills cost a pretty penny, so they are very economical about water and electricity. We advise you not to wash dishes with running water in front of a foreigner, as, most likely, he will have a heart attack at the sight of such waste. In France and England, for example, housewives simply plug the sink with a cork, collect water and wash dirty dishes in it. As for Italy, there is a dishwasher in almost every home, which uses several times less water than is obtained by hand washing.
Interesting fact: In Germany, there is the following life hack: they only fill the dishwasher before going to bed, as there are cheaper rates at night.
Habit 3: Do not disconnect batteries before leaving for work
Many Russian apartments are so well heated in winter that their residents are free to walk around the house in a T-shirt, shorts and barefoot. In Europe, this will never happen, if only because there is no centralized heating in the countries - they try to turn on the batteries as rarely as possible in order to save resources. That is why the French, the British or, for example, the Germans will always wrap themselves in warm pajamas, bathrobes, terry socks and heated slippers in winter. And when they leave home, the Europeans must shut off the radiators (which is very rare in Russia).
Habit 4: Sleeping without shutters or blackout curtains
The absence of curtains on windows in Russia is not uncommon. Some people prefer to leave the window completely open, while others hang only a thin translucent tulle. But in Europe, this habit causes confusion and shock. They used to sleep with shutters tightly closed, since even the slightest light from a lantern prevents people from falling asleep. Arriving in Russia and checking into a hotel, many foreigners ask for a room with blackout curtains, since stylish and fashionable options that are usually present on windows in hotels are far from always complete block the light.
Habit 5: Design Separate Bathrooms
Separate toilets are common in Russian apartments. And some people even deliberately choose such apartments, since not every man can afford to wait two hours for a wife to take a bath to go to the restroom. As for Europe, in most cases the toilet and the bathroom are combined. Foreigners think that it is very convenient, because in one room you can do all the things at once. Plus, their savings on utilities affects - a European will never take a shower for half an hour. Water procedures take them from the strength of five to ten minutes.
Habit 5: Refuse windows and bidets in toilets
If you often travel around Europe, you probably noticed that most apartments have a bidet and a window in the bathroom (even if it is very tiny). This is very rare for Russia. Of course, in private houses, a small window is sometimes equipped, but this is rather an exception to the rule. But foreigners consider it compulsory to ventilate the restroom every day, and they wonder why the Russians do not. The bidet is a different story - Europeans consider frequent showering an unacceptable waste, since a large amount of water is used. But the bidet, in their opinion, is much more economical. Perhaps that is why baths are so rare in European bathrooms.
Habit 7: Putting your trash in one bag
“Sort trash? No, you haven't heard. " This is how most Russians will respond to Europeans. It is not customary for us to put plastic bottles in a separate bag, paper trash in another, and so on. But in Europe, a fine is imposed for such an attitude towards the environment. They carefully care about the environment and sincerely do not understand how Russia can ignore such important issues. So, be very careful if an Italian or a Frenchman invites you to visit. Throwing a half-eaten slice of pizza in a waste paper bag won't get you patted on the head.
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Habit 8: Constantly ventilate the room
Once the Finnish journalist Anna-Lena Lauren published a post on her Twitter, in which she genuinely wondered why Russians so often ventilate apartments and offices. When she worked in Moscow, she constantly watched her colleagues open the windows, even when the temperature outside was freezing. The girl considered this a terrible waste and was indignant at how you can so easily release heat into the street.
“I don’t understand where this Russian obsession came from with constantly airing something. In the Moscow office, colleagues opened the windows even when the thermometer was minus. At that moment everyone was sitting and shaking (although the heating was on), and all the energy was wasted, ”wrote Anna-Lena. Mainly her indignation was associated with the high consumption of electricity, which the Europeans are very careful about.
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Habit 9: Believe in omens
Do not whistle at home - there will be no money, a black cat crossed the road - to failure, sprinkled salt - to a quarrel, do not eat from a knife - you will be angry. Russians are familiar with these signs from childhood, but most of Europeans do not understand them (if not all of them).
In many foreign materials, which describe the unusual features of the inhabitants of Russia, there is necessarily a point about superstition. For example, American Alex Collins says that in his country, whistling is an expression of pleasure, and he is confused when he is told that whistling somehow affects the availability of money in home. “I still don’t understand why in Russia you need to“ sit down on the track ”before a trip? I was told that this is a silent prayer for good luck. However, this is never done in America. If my apartment is cleaned, my luggage is collected, and my travel documents are in my hands, I just leave the house and go to the airport, ”Alex shares his impressions.
And abroad they approach interior design differently. More confirmation of this - article Spied on by the Europeans: how small apartments are competently decorated in the West
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/260120/53183/