From Russia, With Love

Did I mention that all of my current work colleagues are Russian speakers? Funnily enough, none of them are from Russia - they range from places like Lithuania, Uzbekistan and the Ukraine.

It's the first time that I've met people who lived through the break up of the Soviet Union, and it's amazing how different our childhoods were. I took the Care Bears and My Little Pony cartoons for granted, while my Ukrainian colleague strained to catch a glimpse of colorful cartoons when her satellite accidentally picked up some Polish television signals. Growing up, children in the Ukraine had to grow up quickly and plan for futures that held the most promise of enough money to buy life's essentials.

But on to less depressing things, I'm learning other interesting things:

1. Last names in Eastern Europe
Certain surnames are associated with different countries. So if the name ends in ---sky (Polish), ---nov (Russian), ---chenko (Ukraine). But it's hard to tell these days since people traveled a lot from country to country so the surnames are no longer indications of where they're from.

2. They thought I was from Kazahkstan. Here's a picture of Ms. Kazahkstan:

I never knew they looked so Asiatic!

3. "Idiot" in English is the same in Russian, just with a Russian accent. This one, I can definitely remember. =)