Blog - Phrases about Russia

Following up on my previous posts about the bureaucratic mess in Russia, I thought it'd be interesting to share two phrases about Russia, which everyone here knows:

1. Надо благодарно принимать (you need to gratefully accept it);
2. Умом Россию не понять (you can't understand Russia with your mind).

The first one originally comes from a song titled "Nature does not know bad weather", but I think it's better to apply it to as wide a range of situations as possible. Cause if you don't, the inevitable bad things in Russia will only piss you off and make you bitter. So instead I prefer to take this advice, and focus on the more pleasant things around :)

The second one hints at Russia's and Russians' irrational behavior. You're better off not expecting too much, cause people may very well suddenly decide something very different. Oddly enough, Russians seem to take a certain pride in this. Perhaps I'm just too Dutch and down-to-earth to fully get it :)