My parents met in Moscow in the 80s, my mother did a French and Russian degree, my father was based there for almost fifteen years... there was no way I'd ever escape Russia as a conversational topic. To make matters worse, my school decided to ruin my year 13 leisure time with Russian history from Alexander the 2nd until Khrushchev, and what a bundle of larks that was (Partially sarcastic, I did find it very interesting).
However, for those of you who feel somewhat confused or befuddled by the whole situation, I suggest you look at this:
This is a video explained by John Green in relatively simple terms what the problems are/were, and John Green may just be my favourite YouTuber by a slight margin.
When I arrived in Sweden with my dad, we got into a taxi and immediately my dad picked up on his Ukrainian accent. My inner journalist was bursting with questions and, after I overcame my shy tendancies, pretty much asked his life story. Originally from Kiev, married to a Russian-Ukrainian woman, he had so many stories and opinions on the matter to tell me. It was interesting hearing things first hand, and actually really sad to hear that his family were still back in Kiev, and needless to say, the poor man was very worried about them.
It just goes to show, it's worth getting to know strangers sometimes. Everyone has stories, you need only ask for them. And what a wonderful stroke of luck it was that I met him, because otherwise, this post might never have come into existence.
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