Sauna, not Banja in Tomsk
Almost a week ago the first official Buddy Building Club event took
place. We met in front of our dormitory, played a game as atoms and
molecules, splitted up into small groups and started to search a contact person.
Our only devise was a piece of a map. Finding our contact person, we should answer which russian sur name is the most wide spread. Do you know it??
Nothing of that warned us against the upcoming games. The contact person brought us to the stadion where we had to comply some dangerous tasks.
The winners' trophy was a glas of salty tomatos and cucumbers :P
As the title says I visited with some international students (from Italy, Finnland, Columbia, Austria, Kasachstan, Russia, Germany) a Sauna. Yes, there is a difference between a Russian Sauna and a Russian Banja. The first one is like a rented appartment with a huge living room and some nice features, such as a billard pool, a swimming pool, a banja and a turkish sauna. A Russian Banja is a room that is heated up like hell and you get beaten with a "Wenik" (a bunch of birch branches). Belive me, you feel hurt and relaxed at the same time!
Renting the sauna for 11 people we had a great evening while playing billard, drinking beer, sweating in the 120°C banja and jumping into the cool pool. And if you have any questions about Finnland or about the current girlfriend of Berlusconi- just ask.
In Russian language course we read a text about the reason why the Russian smile conspicuously less than any other nation. More precisely, Russian don't smile in business and in public. A smile reflects your high spirits and a good relationsship. If you have no reason to smile, you don't smile. Even smiling in order to be polite or to comfort somebody is not common. Consequently, Russians smile among family and friends, while in busniness they are serious and reserved. The Russians regard smiling during negotiations unprofessional and not reliable. A shop assistant is would not smile to his clients, besides to his known regular customers. Even the children are taught to behave serious in school and when talking to an adult.
Nevertheless, the function of a smile is changing. It becomes more and more common to smile and greet friendly in services. Laughing with and smiling at foreign people is not regarded inappropriate anymore.
One additional information is helpful to understand the unfriendly service in shops, at airport and so on. During the Sowjet Union era the productions and supply of anything, e.g. clothes, electronic devises, even food, were not sufficient at all. These deficits and those high demands caused strong power of salesmen and, in general, of anybody who could offer anything. Customers were regarded and treated as lower petitioners or even beggers. A salesman has never been in the position to promote his products or his service. Only after the break down of the Sowjet Union and with the upcoming international trades the supply increased and thereby the position of providers and customers changed. Nowadays, the young generations trade and sale in a more pleasant and appealing way.
Nothing of that warned us against the upcoming games. The contact person brought us to the stadion where we had to comply some dangerous tasks.
 |
| one of 6 tasks: trust your unknown collegues! |
 |
| Another task was to imitate a monster with 5 legs- by the way we have been 7 people per group. Consequently, we had to get rid of 9 legs... |
The winners' trophy was a glas of salty tomatos and cucumbers :P
As the title says I visited with some international students (from Italy, Finnland, Columbia, Austria, Kasachstan, Russia, Germany) a Sauna. Yes, there is a difference between a Russian Sauna and a Russian Banja. The first one is like a rented appartment with a huge living room and some nice features, such as a billard pool, a swimming pool, a banja and a turkish sauna. A Russian Banja is a room that is heated up like hell and you get beaten with a "Wenik" (a bunch of birch branches). Belive me, you feel hurt and relaxed at the same time!
Renting the sauna for 11 people we had a great evening while playing billard, drinking beer, sweating in the 120°C banja and jumping into the cool pool. And if you have any questions about Finnland or about the current girlfriend of Berlusconi- just ask.
In Russian language course we read a text about the reason why the Russian smile conspicuously less than any other nation. More precisely, Russian don't smile in business and in public. A smile reflects your high spirits and a good relationsship. If you have no reason to smile, you don't smile. Even smiling in order to be polite or to comfort somebody is not common. Consequently, Russians smile among family and friends, while in busniness they are serious and reserved. The Russians regard smiling during negotiations unprofessional and not reliable. A shop assistant is would not smile to his clients, besides to his known regular customers. Even the children are taught to behave serious in school and when talking to an adult.
Nevertheless, the function of a smile is changing. It becomes more and more common to smile and greet friendly in services. Laughing with and smiling at foreign people is not regarded inappropriate anymore.
One additional information is helpful to understand the unfriendly service in shops, at airport and so on. During the Sowjet Union era the productions and supply of anything, e.g. clothes, electronic devises, even food, were not sufficient at all. These deficits and those high demands caused strong power of salesmen and, in general, of anybody who could offer anything. Customers were regarded and treated as lower petitioners or even beggers. A salesman has never been in the position to promote his products or his service. Only after the break down of the Sowjet Union and with the upcoming international trades the supply increased and thereby the position of providers and customers changed. Nowadays, the young generations trade and sale in a more pleasant and appealing way.
