About Katya Expertise I am Russian, I was a child when I emigrated, and felt like I had lost my roots for a while. So when the time came, I studied a bit about my own culture, and sort of reclaimed my heritage. I hope I know a fair bit about Russia, not only from being Russia and speaking Russian etc. but also through my own journey of finding out more about Russian culture.
Experience I am Russian and have studied a bit about Russian culture, as well as doing a intercultural communication course at university.
Organizations World Vision.
Education/Credentials One year left of my bachelor degree in international relations.
I just recently started dating a man from Russia. He has lived here in Canada for eight years, is 33 years old, and is very close with his father.
We are going on a trip to another city in a week for five days. As we are still in the getting to know one-another stage of the relationship, I am still unsure of how to act around him. I know that he comes from a place with many different cultural values than those which I was raised with as a Canadian.
I'm just wondering if you can offer me any advice on how to act around him, what the traditional dating customs are of the Russian people, and whether there is anything that you can tell me to watch out for?
Thank you so much for your time!
Answer Hi Lisa!
I'm not a big fan of answering questions relating to relationships since people even from the same ethnicity or country are usually very different, and what may be true for one person may not be true for another.
However, a general characteristic of Russian men is that they expect women to be well-groomed all the time. Most Russian men don't like women who are too 'boyish'; a lot of them prefer women who are more 'gentle', caring, 'feminine'.
I would keep these things in mind; however, I wouldn't let these things overshadow your own personality coming out. After all, he has to like you for who you are, and being Canadian is probably part of that:).
