Eastern Russia

so i was just playing translator for the dorm staff and some newly arrived russians. the russians didnt speak chinese and the dorm staff sure doesnt speak russian. they speak a little english, but mostly just a few nouns scattered amidst some chinese. turns out the russians dont really speak much english either. even basic slow english was not working too well. either way, after the exchange, i was talking to the dorm staff about all the new students arriving and i mentioned that the russians didnt really understand what i told them in english. she was astounded and said something along the lines of I thought english was the international language that everyone understood. I need to practice my english. I guess russia gets excluded from the international sphere, or at least eastern russia.

there are some pretty interesting stereotypes/prejudices against eastern russians here. Most of them stem from a belief that they are too dumb and lazy to help themselves. Apparently, the situation is quite bad right across the border. I can vouch for the validity of the story, but i talked to a local who had been to visit some cities in eastern russia. they said tomatoes were $5US and potatoes were $1US each. They also said all the russians wanted to buy his 20cent lighter because they couldnt buy lighters in russia.

from another perspective, one of my teachers believes the russians that come study chinese are rather smart, but dont apply themselves.