Do the French love Russians? How is life for Russians in France? Get ready for boring evenings...

How do we Russians who moved to France live now? Just like the French, as they say. Because we have been French for a long time, we work in French jobs, we raise French children, many children no longer speak Russian, and if they do, it is only because their parents want to preserve their original language...

Russians in France are treated with great sympathy, although some still think that we drink champagne in the morning and smash our glasses on the floor. And there is still such a romantic concept as “l"âme slave, the Slavic soul... This all comes from the “white” emigration, but the attitude towards them passed on to us. Later, of course, this was also superimposed on the concept of “new Russians”. And now, "Putin's Russians", crazy people who are bombing Syria. I try to explain all the time that I personally am against it, that I do not support Putin. This is most important to me, I don’t know how other Russians do it.

I think that Russians are treated well. In America, where I also lived, no one really cared whether you were Russian or not, there are millions of nationalities there and therefore whether you are Russian or Chinese, it doesn’t matter at all. And here Russian is such an aristocratic image. It, of course, has nothing to do with us, but the idea of ​​such a Russian holiday as in the Robbie Williams song “Party like a Russian” does exist. There is something like that plus memories of the “white” emigration, which we did not find, but we undeservedly take advantage of.

It's good to be Russian in France.

As for our emigration, 25 years ago it was very difficult for us all, very difficult. Firstly, we were leaving the Soviet Union, and we didn’t understand whether we would return or not, I had the feeling that I was leaving and maybe I wouldn’t see anyone again. Now it’s hard to believe, but it was very difficult to contact someone by phone, not to mention the fact that there was no Internet, phone calls were terribly expensive, you had to go to some friends, negotiate for a certain time , it took hours to call because the telephone lines as such were not good.

We were completely cut off from our relatives, but perhaps not like when people left in the 70s, when there was generally a wall between the Soviet Union and the rest of the world. And it was very difficult for us financially. I left at the very beginning of 1991, still under Gorbachev and the Soviet Union. When we left, many of those who remained called us “sausage emigration.” It seemed to them that it was already safe in Russia, in the Soviet Union, and that we had gone to a foreign land for money. And this is some kind of terrible absurdity, because in fact, money flowed like a river in Russia, but here we had a hard time making our way in a foreign country. We weren’t political emigrants, we didn’t have any help in principle, we made our way absolutely ourselves. They always told us: “Well, you left, it’s nourishing and kind of boring there, but here in Russia it’s poor, but fun.” But it was the other way around - we were terribly interested, we were joining a new life, we had to remake ourselves, because emigration is when you question absolutely everything. But in Russia, on the contrary, then it became boring, the usual political insanity began, like under Brezhnev. And therefore I think it was unfair to call us that.

I came because the French state invited me, they were looking for young Francophones to establish connections. And at first I had a very small stipend, about 800 euros per month. With this money we could rent an apartment, we constantly moved somewhere, in the first year - 12 times, to different cities. At one time we lived in the Russian nursing home, Nikolai Vasilyevich Vyrubov helped me and settled us there, I sorted out the library there. There was a Russian library there. My work has always been related to language, although I had good French. I started writing articles and it was hard, because I already spoke excellent French, but writing articles was still a different caliber. It took me a monstrous amount of time to write an article, it was torture, but I had good editors, I had already written for good magazines and the information I provided was important to them, so they patiently edited these texts with me and so on. way they taught me to write. So I learned to write in French and now I don’t care what language I write in, I continue to write in two languages.

When moving to France, I had to endlessly deal with paperwork, documents had to be constantly renewed. I also did technical translations; we all did them because they paid well for it. Then, with my literary, translation, and journalistic work, gradually it all resulted in real work and some kind of ordinary, average French life, which we all continue to live.

The children grew up and became absolute Frenchmen. I have two children, the youngest is pure French, he was born here, his father is French, and my eldest daughter, who was born in Russia and her father is Russian, and who lived in Moscow until she was 7 years old, she became an absolutely Parisian girl, although she speaks well in Russian. But I, for example, was always very afraid when she went to Russia, because she looks like such an absolutely Russian girl, Masha, and speaks Russian like a Russian, but her head is of a different nature, she doesn’t understand a lot in Russia, just like all the children brought in at her age. And it's dangerous. For example, I have a friend, her daughter grew up with Masha, and we told her everything - about the Gulag, and about Stalin, then this girl became a lawyer. But then she listened and listened... And then she said: “Well, how can this be, he (Stalin) did not have the right to do this.” Well, what can we say to this, a person has a legal consciousness, it is embedded in the head from birth, our children here have different heads, different ones. And that’s why it’s always scary to let them go to Russia, because they look like locals, but in fact they are not locals and can do something stupid that is dangerous for them. We had this happen, a policeman stopped Masha on Red Square and began to extort money from her, and I shouted to her on the phone: “Give me everything you have!”, because he tried to take her to the police station, and she told him: “Give me I need a receipt." Children growing up in France are completely different, these are the memories.

Out of habit, browsing the French Internet for all sorts of interesting things for my readers, I accidentally came across the blog of a French coach (this is a coach in our language) on seduction and dating, who gave his readers an article with an intriguing title “7 reasons to date a Russian girl.”

After reading it, I couldn’t resist and give you its translation below in its entirety.

7 arguments from Julien in favor of Russian girls!

1. Russian girls are beautiful

It can be said that the reputation of Russian girls as some of the most beautiful in the world is confirmed by my experience. Refined silhouettes, angelic faces - they turn the heads of everyone they meet on their way. Elegant to the tips of their well-groomed toes, they walk in their high heels with the grace of ballerinas! They make us, men accustomed to turtleneck sweaters and jeans under skirts, dream. It's decided! Your next passion should be a ballerina, not an orange bottle! Invite her to a restaurant, sit in a comfortable chair, order whiskey, place her opposite you and admire, admire!

2. They will teach you to act like a man.

Good manners need to be learned. And if in France they are already lost, then in Russia it is still customary to hold the door and let the lady go forward, take off and hand her a coat without the risk of being accused of machismo.

Even in France, Russian girls will expect similar treatment from you. So, if suddenly your girlfriend (and not necessarily Russian) puts on high-heeled shoes, then it is better to take her by the arm and lend her a shoulder, instead of accusing her of walking too slowly.

In addition, a Russian girl will expect decisions from you, as a man, about where you will go and how you will spend your time. Therefore, forget your usual “Hey, what’s his name, I don’t know, decide for yourself.”

Use these outings as lessons, because, I’ll tell you a secret, even French women love this kind of forgotten treatment, although they don’t talk about it openly!

3. There is no term “warmth” in Russian

There is only “hot” or “cold”. If a Russian lady doesn’t like you, she will immediately show it to you. If it’s the opposite, it will make it clear that you will feel it!

And if French girls don’t kiss on the first date so as not to be considered bad, then Russians, if they fall in love with you, will throw away all conventions and surrender to the passion of the current moment; for them there is only “here and now.” Passionate, crazy, crazy evenings... Appreciate it, because this is the kind of relationship you will remember for the rest of your life!

When Russian girls are in love, they don’t count on little things.

4. Russians love until the end

Passion... a Russian woman in love experiences it every day and is ready to make any sacrifice for the sake of her beloved, like the wives of the Decembrists who went to Siberia for their husbands.

Do you feel sick? She will drop everything and sit next to you, take on all the responsibilities around the house, cook your food, treat you and listen to all your stories. And most importantly, he will do all this with an open heart, and not because “it’s necessary.”

If it’s the man’s job to decide, then the Russian woman’s job is to be present, help and create comfort.

5. It will help you reduce drama.

Russians often have a hard life - medicine is dangerous to health, total corruption at all levels, winter for up to 8 months a year...

Therefore, when they come to France, they know how to appreciate pleasant moments and be content with little. Russians do not have the constant habit of crying like we do.

Therefore, be prepared in the company of a Russian girlfriend not to get hung up on trifles and small troubles, learn to be positive.

6. They know everything about us

Like us, Russians watched movies with Pierre Richard and Louis de Funes as children, and also empathized with the heroes of “Helen and the Boys.” Russians sing songs by Joe Dassin, Edith Piaf, Patricia Kaas and Vanessa Paradis at karaoke, and are also able to talk about Beigbeder’s latest novel.

Unbeknownst to us, Russians are very fond of France and French culture. “See Paris and die” - that’s what they say!

So, if you help them open the door to all things French and serve as a guide, they will appreciate you even more!

7. They will teach you a lot more

Be prepared for anything. After work, Russians usually go to the opera or theater, and not to the latest Spiderman movie. Their favorite book on the night table is Anna Karenina, which they can easily recite, and not the latest issue of Cosmo with a special appendix about “your boyfriend cheating.”

Let's be honest - Russians are more educated and well-read, and therefore have more knowledge of literature, painting and sculpture than a French teacher of fine arts.

And, the cherry on the cake, if you politely ask a Russian, she will happily explain all this to you and even show you with real examples, taking you to the museum. In addition, they know how to grace our “r”...

So, my dear unmarried readers, dreaming of France and Paris, absorb information about what the French value most in Russian women and draw the right conclusions!

33-year-old Emily Durnovo moved to Moscow from Paris five years ago, managed to learn Russian, become a farmer and became disillusioned with our men. She told the Rambler portal about what she likes and doesn’t like about life in Russia; here are just a few of her statements.

My parents divorced, my dad married a Russian woman and moved to Moscow. The choice in favor of Russia was made not only because of my Russian wife, but also because my father has Russian roots. Before the revolution, my great-grandfather from the aristocratic Durnovo family lived in St. Petersburg, and then immigrated to France. To meet my father, I came to Russia from the age of 11, and every time I felt happy here. I soon realized that I adore Moscow almost as much as I hate Paris, where I lived then.

The difference between Moscow and Paris seems colossal to me. In the metro in Moscow you very rarely see a piece of paper, and in Paris no one cares about cleanliness in the literal sense of the word. In Paris, I only liked the architecture, but the city is dirty, and the people are also nervous and aggressive. Living there was a lot of stress for me, but here I am calm.

The standard of living here is about the same as in Paris. I don’t have a lot of money, but I can afford entertainment - exhibitions, cinema and cafes. In addition, Moscow has many free events, much more than Paris. When I first moved, Moscow seemed to me a mix of skyscrapers, churches of different faiths and Soviet five-story buildings. I liked the architecture, which Muscovites love to criticize. Yes, large blocks, yes, Soviet houses, but this is the history of the city.

I didn’t have expectations or stereotypes about Russia, because I don’t like to compare, you are like or not like they show on TV. In France, the media still say that in Russia there are poor people who stand in lines for bread. But even when I was at university, I understood that this was nonsense. When I came to Moscow in the 2000s, no one had smartphones or Wi-Fi. Every evening I memorized the routes on Yandex.Maps and went for a walk along them without a navigator. Therefore, today I know Moscow well. Now Muscovites are constantly on their phones, and it infuriates me because no one looks at each other.

I like the optimism of Russians. We, the French, are always dissatisfied with everything, we constantly find fault with everything, but the Russians are always satisfied with everything. For example, something fell on the floor, they wiped it, oops, and everything became clean, a dirty table is also not a problem - they covered it with a napkin, and everything was okay. And if something breaks, they can pretend that it’s okay. This surprised me - the ability to enjoy life.

Russians also love to waste money. And if they have them today, then they can say: “We’re going out for everything.” Of course, I’m not like a hamster, but I always think about tomorrow, what if I get sick and tomorrow I need money for medicine.

It takes me no more than 10 minutes to get ready and leave the house. And my Russian friend spends three hours putting on makeup, styling her hair and changing her look several times. I ask: “Where are you going like this?” She answers: “To the supermarket.” OK! That is, she dresses and puts on makeup just in case - what if something happens, but she is ready. I don’t understand this, I put on sneakers, a T-shirt and jeans and go to the supermarket. French women can also be so fashionable, but this is not my world.

When I moved to Moscow five years ago, men here did not yet wear beards or roll up their jeans. Now in Moscow men look like clones. You are fashionable if you walk around with a tattoo, sneakers, rolled up jeans and a beard. Hipster style was popular in France five years ago. Please, but you're a little late.

Relationships with Russian men are another experience. You go on three or four dates with them and only on the fifth, maybe, do you kiss. That is, everything happens romantically, but a little old-fashioned, like our parents. For the French it’s easier - you kissed almost immediately, and if you don’t like it, then bye. Of course, it’s nice that Russians look after you - they hold the door, take your bag, help you get dressed and pay you.

And women in Russia, like princesses, sit and wait to be kissed. In Russia, a girl is like a statue, everyone looks at her and admires her beauty, but in France everyone is equal. Because of feminism, no one treats women any differently. When I moved to Moscow, I had a young man in France. But then I went there, where I carried my own heavy bag, put on a jacket and paid the bill for myself. In contrast, I realized: that’s it, I’m going to live in Russia.

In Moscow, I still didn’t understand what love means to Russians. Russian men are a complete mystery to me, because you will never guess what he really wants.

He calls you and says: “I want to see you, I miss you so much,” and you tell him: “Let’s meet,” he says: “I can’t” and disappears for six months. For six months, not a single call, not a single message, and now he calls and says: “Hello, dear, how are you?” Does he really think that I sit and wait for him for six months?!

In France, he calls you and says: “Let’s meet,” and that means he wants something with you. And here you wait and wait and may not get anything. When you start asking Russian men what’s going on, they say that they don’t want to rush, let’s take it easy, as if they have chaos in their heads. Maybe they were spoiled by Tinder, they constantly sit there and choose: today I want you, and tomorrow you piss me off. I don’t like such acquaintances, they are without soul.

In Russia people get married very early and because of this there are many divorces. This is amazing to me - young couples can have lovers on the side, how is that possible?! People often tell me here that I am so old now, but have no children. How so? When to get married? And for me this is amazing. In France, a good job, a good education and an apartment are important; before thirty, no one thinks about getting married. And when you are 30 years old, you already have experience in relationships, you immediately understand whether it is love or not.

Recently, when oil prices fell sharply, collapsing the Russian ruble against the euro, Russians began to look for new sources of foreign exchange earnings. Tourism became one of these sources for them. Seeing the favorable relationship between the ruble and the euro, crowds of Western tourists moved to Russia. Even more are planning to visit Moscow this coming Christmas. However, before you go to this unknown country, you should know some rules of behavior in Rossini, so as not to incur trouble from the Russian authorities and the anger of the native population (la population indigène).
First of all, you should know that Russians do not like foreigners. Therefore, while in Russia, you should do everything to be accepted as Russian. First, you should put on a chapka - a Russian national headdress, which in winter serves as protection from Siberian frosts, and in summer from the scorching heat characteristic of the sharply continental climate of Western Siberia, which geographically includes Moscow. Thus, in summer the temperature in Moscow is 36.7°C, and in winter -42.2°C. True, in order to attract tourists, the Russians underestimate the temperature in their weather reports, measuring it not in Celsius, but in Reaumur. The only city in Russia that is located in Europe is Kaliningrad. This city was taken by the Russians from the Germans following the Second World War. The only city where it is not cold in winter is Sochi. This city was taken by the Russians from the Turks in 1829.

In addition, in Russia you should not smile. Russians never smile. Even a Russian proverb says: “He who smiles is a fool” (C’est un fou, qui est souriant).
In Russia there are two ways to say hello. The first one is simply to say “Zdrawstwui, te!” or “Dobri dien!”, looking at each other, without shaking hands or other special gesture. Only men shake hands, and only if they haven’t seen each other for a long time. The second way is a strong brotherly hug, practiced between loved ones or friends.

Despite the strict conservative morals that reign in Russia, in Moscow you can find naked women in the middle of the street. These are members of an organization called MORZH. This abbreviation stands for Moscow Organization for a Healthy Lifestyle (Organisations de Moscou de Vie Saine). In Russian, this abbreviation sounds similar to the name of the northern pinniped, a marine mammal with long fangs and a mustachioed muzzle. These people do not drink traditional Russian vodka, do not smoke cigarettes, and are by no means prostitutes. In accordance with ideas attributed to their never-existent mythical leader Porfir Ivanov, they go naked, douse themselves with cold water in the cold and engage in winter diving without scuba gear, diving under the ice of the Moskova River.

In addition to chapka, Russians wear white pointed hats with national patterns. The Russians call this hat la kirghiz.
Public toilets for men are designated by the letter M, which means male (mâles), while public toilets for women Z are designated by the Russian letter, which means female (femelle). Many public toilets are equipped with floor-mounted toilets. However, even if they are equipped with a pedestal toilet, it is better to use it while squatting, climbing on it with your feet.

Some toilets do not have toilets or urinals. Instead of toilets, there are holes in the floor, and instead of urinals, there are drains.

You must bring toilet paper with you to such a toilet. The most common type of public toilet in Moscow is the latrina. A visit to it costs about half a euro. Russians themselves consider latrins to be unhygienic, and therefore many Muscovites - both men and women - prefer to communicate with nature among garages.
The implementation of hygiene procedures in Russia is very problematic. Not only may hotel rooms not have bidets, but many hotels use la puisette, which Russians call the unpronounceable word “rukomoinick,” for hand washing. The washstand is equipped with a device that proportions the amount of water released. A typical valve is a cone valve, which opens by pressing from below on a rod attached to the valve, and closes itself under the influence of gravity and water pressure.

Russians hate us because we use their natural resources. The government is forced to sell gas in exchange for food, and the Russians themselves do not have enough gas, but they do not understand that if they run out of gas, they will have nothing to eat, since nothing grows in Russia due to the harsh continental climate and the poisoning of the earth by emissions military-industrial enterprises.

Russians can seem very friendly. This is their natural cunning. Therefore, in Russia you should not talk to anyone or answer questions on the street.
You should especially not meet Russian women. The fact is that women in Russia take it for granted that men should pay for their lunches and dinners. In Russia, married women or women with a regular sexual partner do not work and are entirely supported by men: instead of fighting sexual exploitation, Russian women force men to pay for it.
Russian women are superior to French women in their level of education and erudition. But they receive education not for professional growth, but in order to lure a man into their arms and constantly extract money from him. For Russian women, a man’s appearance is not at all important - they prefer bear-like men, who have the same military-style haircut and do not take care of their nails, and are ready to forgive them everything if they support their family and woman in abundance.

Russians believe that men are physically stronger than women. Therefore, you will seem impolite to them if you just stand there and watch a woman carry something heavy. According to Russian etiquette, a man must take from a woman all her cargo, with the exception of a lady’s handbag.
You should not assume that all girls in Russia are fair-haired. It’s just that many of those whom nature has endowed with dark hair dye them light colors. In addition, many residents of former USSR countries come to Moscow, who speak different dialects of the Russian language, but despite this, they understand each other well. It is people from Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan who wear dark hair.

Russians are well aware of all the shortcomings of their country, but they don’t like it when foreigners talk about these shortcomings. They especially don’t like it when I criticize Putin in front of them. “Putin est peut être un fils de pute, mais c" est notre fils de pute,” the Russians themselves say about this, although the puns “Putin/pute” are in Russian and is not observed.

But in front of Russians you can tell jokes about national and sexual minorities. Not only will they not judge you, but they will even support you. The only thing you can't joke about is your parents. Mother and father are sacred for Russians.

It is also not customary for Russians to fart in a crowded place. Russians may not tell you anything, but they will have a stronger opinion of the immorality of foreigners. In general, Russians are not particularly burdened with etiquette and tell people everything they think about them.
Many people believe that there is no metro in Russia. However, this is not true. In Moscow, even under Stalin, two modern subways were built at that time: one for public use, and the other secret, designed to protect the population from a nuclear strike. And under Putin, despite the permanent crisis reigning in Russia, the metro is even expanding. However, it is better for foreigners not to get into this metro - in the crowd of people that prevails there, they can unnoticedly take out your credit cards, unnoticedly remove your watch, and even unnoticed rape.
However, there are situations when you will be forced to enter a Russian house. Here you need to know that when Russians enter a room, they take off their felt boots and put on slippers instead. They will offer you to do the same - they have specially prepared chaussones for guests.

Bathrooms in Russian houses do not have toilets - it is located in a separate, very small room located next to the bathroom.

Using prostitution in Russia is also unsafe. You can be photographed or filmed on a hidden camera, and then, blackmailed with this recording, forced to perform espionage tasks.

You will be surprised, but in Russia they don’t sell pancakes with caviar on the streets, and the vending machines in which vodka was sold on tap were dismantled under Gorbachev as part of his campaign to combat nationwide drunkenness. Now Russians eat exactly the same shawarma that Arabs sell in Paris. Only it costs not 9 euros, but one and a half to two.

There are only two large cities in Russia - Moscow and Leningrad, the rest are small towns where planes do not fly, and if you want to visit other Russian cities in addition to Moscow, then you will have to travel by train. In Russia, passenger trains are divided into two main categories. Trains called "Elektritchka" are similar to our commuter trains, although they travel more than 100 km from the city. At elektritchka, tickets can be purchased at the last minute and the seats are not numbered. The controller constantly travels by train and sells tickets to those who did not manage to buy them. Seeing the controller, ticketless passengers, which are the majority, run across the platform at the nearest station to the rear cars, which the controller has already checked.
Mainline trains consist of sleeping cars. The carriages are divided into three types according to the fare: "luxe" or "SV", "coupé" and "platzkarte". Each such carriage has a chef de wagon, called “provodnik” in Russian. The guides heat a samovar with hot water, available to travelers, and you can always turn to them if necessary.
Taxi can be easily identified by their checkerboard-painted doors and roof. This tradition was brought to Russia from America, where the taxi market was dominated by the Checker company, whose logo was a chessboard. However, it is better to take a taxi not from the hotel - FSB agents dressed as taxi drivers are usually on duty near hotels and can put a bug on you.

If you're lucky, you can take a ride in a taxi like this.

People are always interested in knowing what others say about them, so the French often ask me what image France has in Russia, how Russians treat them, what stereotypes there are about the French in Russian culture, what people in our country think and say about them.

I always feel awkward answering this question. I always say that the image is positive, but then I have to admit that they don’t really think or talk about France in Russia. We didn’t even bother to come up with nicknames for the French, we just borrowed the word “paddling pools” from the English. But the French tried themselves and came up with “Russkoff” and “Popoff”.

I make excuses, explain that we have never been direct neighbors, that we do not have enough common history to form a detailed and multifaceted image of France in our culture, but France is exactly as far from Russia as Russia is from France. Nevertheless, in France they think and talk about Russia constantly and a lot.

And if you think that the French imagine a typical Russian as a bear with a balalaika, then you will be surprised how much they know about Russia and what strange things they manage to think about it, despite their knowledge.

Dostoevsky and hieroglyphs

Probably only by deliberately avoiding newspapers, radio and television can you live a day in France without stumbling upon any information about Russia. Even if we discard the standard news items - politics and economics, wars and disasters - that Russia regularly supplies to the world community, there will still be a subject for an article, book or program: guides to the Trans-Siberian Railway, ethnographic, military and historical films, interviews with Russian writers , concerts of Russian performers, ballets and classical music - all this constantly becomes the topic of festivals, exhibitions, reports and broadcasts.

By the way, the most famous Russian writer here is Dostoevsky, followed by Chekhov and Tolstoy, and Pushkin, certainly familiar to Slavists, is ignored by the general public. It is interesting that a Frenchman who has not read Dostoevsky is considered by his fellow citizens to be a poorly educated person, because he is a “world-famous writer,” but a Russian person who is familiar with Moliere and Hugo is surprised, because these are “French writers.” Proud of their literature and culture in general, the French are unlikely to admit it, but it seems that there is some kind of literary inferiority complex hidden here.

Russian, which used to be very popular in France, is still one of the ten most studied languages. Of course, it is losing ground: China has surpassed it by a large margin. Naturally, the leaders are English, German, and Spanish. This is all understandable; the French need these languages ​​for business. Why they need to learn Russian is a mystery. When the myth of the socialist paradise of the brotherhood of workers had not yet been destroyed, many French learned our language only because Lenin spoke to them. Now all this is irrelevant, but Russian continues to be taught, not only in schools and universities, but also privately - just for fun. Russia attracts.

It’s funny that, despite such popularity of the language, you can easily find French people who are sure that Russian writing is hieroglyphic.

Bears and degrees

The same gaping gaps in knowledge are found in the field of geography. The average Frenchman will not only easily show Russia on the world map (it is generally difficult to miss Russia), but will also say without a doubt that it is the largest country in the world, and will confidently name the capital and (at least approximately) the bordering states. In France, in general, secondary education is quite good, so, of course, they are aware of climate zones. And this does not at all prevent them from believing that it is cold always and everywhere in Russia. “This is not true - the tourist website dissuades us - in some places there are warm summers.” What frightens the French most is a temperature around 20 degrees below zero, because it can easily be observed in winter in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Temperatures below -40 do not bother them at all, because this “only happens in Siberia, and people don’t live there.”

Vodka also makes it onto the list of clichés. I especially like this stereotype because the French themselves have a good taiga log in their eye on this matter: according to some data, France is ahead of us in average alcohol consumption per year (though not by much). But it is much more interesting that the French imagine a Russian not always drunk, but on the contrary - never drunk, no matter how much he drinks. They consume alcohol in France, as in our country, contextually: for football in a bar - beer, to get drunk out of grief - strong drinks, in a formal setting - champagne, wine; In addition, in the same way, drinks are divided into men's and women's (men's are stronger, women's are sweeter), and, of course, the homeless, the unemployed and young people drink the most. The only significant difference: having a glass of wine at lunch on a weekday in France is completely normal. And with such a habit of alcohol, they are afraid of vodka like fire and have a complex that they will never drink Russian.

People

These Russians seem to the French to be unfriendly militarists who are associated with the mafia and the KGB, and at the same time - the most sincere and hospitable people. It seems that the frightened French traveler, who found himself in Russia, believes that there is nothing good to expect from the local residents, and, having been convinced of the opposite, he rejoices like God over a repentant sinner, who, as we know, is worth a hundred righteous people.

However, these gloomy labels do not apply well to the better half of Russian society - Russian women are reputed to be beauties and excellent housewives. A French man is very surprised to learn that a Russian bride is going to cook, raise children, and pursue a career. Their own women only gained the right to vote in 1944, and legal backwardness is strongly associated in their minds with patriarchal culture. It is quite difficult to say whether there is patriarchy in Russia or matriarchy, but as far as lack of rights is concerned, in this matter we are all equal.

By the way, Russian men suddenly began to enter the French marriage market. They don’t yet have any more or less attractive image - it is known that they speak in a low, chesty voice, but there is little information about their appearance. But when Karl Lagerfeld said in an interview that, while he considers Russian women to be beautiful, he finds the appearance of Russian men repulsive, the French for some reason zealously rushed to defend the latter, accusing the fashion designer of racism and recommending that he look at himself.

The French also know about Russian men that when they meet, they kiss on the lips. This is probably what Brezhnev needs to say thank you to. In addition, our fellow citizens, both men and women, in France are for some reason credited with incredible abilities for foreign languages ​​and a strange habit of throwing a glass over their shoulder after drinking the contents.

Mafia and KGB

At the same time, the French are afraid of Russia. They know about Perestroika, about the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain, but no historical facts can convince them that the USSR is already a thing of the past. One of the most popular questions from French tourists to Russian guides is whether the KGB is listening to their excursions.

I cannot say with a pure heart that all this is nonsense, untruth and exaggeration, but it’s still funny to see with what naive horror they watch our parades on May 9th. It’s hard for me to say why they watch them at all. Probably, then, why do people watch disaster films and programs about the end of the world? Russian military might, nuclear weapons, tanks and the red button still inspire fear among locals.

Paradoxically, this stereotype easily coexists with the conviction that things made in Russia, in principle, cannot work and that there is no civilized life in Russia at all. There are no fashionable clothes, nightclubs, transport, television, the Internet, and everything technological is made by a folk craftsman on the knee of a felt boot (they don’t know what a felt boot is). At the same time, it may be difficult for them to understand what “out of stores”, “water turned off”, “no communication routes have been laid” mean. A strange picture emerges in the imagination: everything is there and there is nothing. Maybe the French love oxymorons? Maybe that’s why they love this gigantic oxymoron so much, stretching for 10 thousand kilometers between Asia and Europe?

From an incredible mixture of stereotypes, some completely inexplicable legends are born. For example, they asked me if it was true that the Russian mafia transports vodka through the Russia-Belarus oil pipeline. It was difficult for me to understand how an engineer working in the aircraft industry could believe that this was even technically feasible.

It's really very simple! Even educated, intelligent people with developed critical thinking want to believe in fairy tales. Russia for the French is a country where the laws of reality do not apply and everything is possible. This is a fairytale. Bloody, scary, but so charming.