Caveats

In my last post, I promised to introduce you to Teabag, but for now I feel obliged to go back on my word. Some Russians reading the blog feel I am not being objective, and indeed from the very beginning I have felt that to be true. I also know that there is a certain smugness that people feel towards Russia, and that smugness is now co-mingled with fear and even hate now that Russia is doing better. If that describes you, and you are American, I have a bucket of slime to pour on your head towards the end of this entry. If you read everything except the bucket of slime, then you are a coward. Sorry, those are the facts.
Here are some more facts: since I came to Russia two years ago, I have managed to pay a good portion of my debts, more than I would have been able to pay in the US; by the time I leave I will likely have good command of two more foreign languages, namely Russian and Spanish; I will have experienced more in two or three years than I would likely experience in two decades in the US; while I have been thrown out of my flat numerous times, I have lived in Russian friends' houses free of charge equally as often.
Americans' and West Europeans' stereotype of Russia is as follows: slovenly drunk males staggering down the street, or maybe laying down on it; radiant, desperate women dying to leave the country, hopefully with a sober man; laws which are not laws; contracts which are not contracts; vast, derelict factories; cops who take bribes and are aligned with organized crime.
Although I don't know about the cops, the rest is true. My experience here has not undone my stereotypes, but rather embellished them. But it is far from the whole story.
Russians' stereotype of Americans is as follows: ignorant, slovenly, overweight women inexplicably paired with good-looking men; people who believe that America singlehandendly won the Second World War; terrible food; corrupt corporations that push the US into wars simply to enrich shareholders; Jews who run the whole damn thing.
I am with them on all but the last point. But really, in the future, every time you read this and smirk at The Drunk Russian Bullies, don't forget that we come from a country that routinely goes to war for no reason, don't forget that the US is arguably the world's biggest polluter, don't forget that a good portion of US voters don't know the furst thing about geogaphy or history; don't forget about those great tubs waddling down the streets; don't forget that we consume more of the world's natural resources than any other country and give almost nothing back. We are a country which has turned into a pig.