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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Stormborn" data-source="post: 3210279" data-attributes="member: 14041">2 years in Kyiv (Kiev, Ukraine) gave me some interesting insights into the Slavic mind, although I dont know how much of that is clouded by Soviet occupation, so here are some things that seem very Russian to me:- Horde everything.  Doesnt matter if you need it now, you will probablly need it more later.  So never use more than you have to use.- Public face/Private face. Streets in slavic cities are very quiet compared to other places I have been (US, Scotland, England, France, Italy, Germany, etc.) and most people have a very determined and stoic look on their faces, coming off in public situations as distant and cold.  In private its another story entirelly - very warm, very friendly, once you are accepted you are all in. - Even in modern times, and would be so much more so in the Baba Yaga setting, everyone is very superstitious - or traditional, if you prefer - holding onto beliefs about bad luck, old wives tales about what makes you sick and what makes you well,etc. for just about every aspect of life.  Every peasent in Russiya is going to practice "magic" of some kind, even if its ineffective wardings against evil spirits.-People dress like its colder than it is.  Like the cold is always there waiting for them.  In Kyiv people put their winter clothes at the end of August and dont take them off until late April.  I am from Alabama and not used to the cold and I didn't dress as warmly as they did most of the year.- People dress in dark and somber colors, but then decorate their houses in bright, occasionally garish, colors and very busy patterns.  This reflects the public face/private face.-Echoing what Sean and Deb said:  People in general come across not so much as pessemistic as resigned to fate.  Life is hard, its cold and its dark and there are things waiting for you out there; but you have no choice in the matter. Just keep going.I like how Ivanava described her father in Babylon 5.  He would take a large drink of vodka before bed "To keep away the wolf."  When things were really bad he would take a large drink of vodka and 3 small drinks of vodka "because sometimes she brings her cubs."</blockquote>

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