Russian

One lottery ticket for your career luck

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And here I am.. fashionably late with the new style of the website, but I hope that you will enjoy it on your mobile devices as well 😉

I guess, you know that I never reappear without a fresh container with motivation. I would never disappoint you, so, here I am, packing my things to get a Lobbyist training with the European Parliament.

What a Russian soul has to do with the European Parliament, you would ask. Everything and nothing: during an exchange semester in Germany in 2010, I got a student excursion to the European Commission in Brussel. I was very excited when we were offered to seat in the seats of the Commission officials, you know 😉 Many important decisions are made there, decisions, which affect the world politics. So, I was happy and I wished very deep in my soul to be able to work in the European politics one day. Just for a bit. Just for life experience. A strange wish to a non-European person, isn’t it?

9 years later, whole 9 years later I was invited to get an intensive Lobbyist training – but not in Brussel, in Strasbourg. All costs covered. I still have my Russian passport, I have just applied for the German permanent residence permit, and I was wondering at first, what gave me this opportunity. Talent? Motivation? Strength? Nope. Curiosity. Because I applied for a place in the program one day before the deadline, the same day I found it. Just for fun, just because I was curious if I have any chance.

There is one popular joke in Russia. A man dies and asks the God: “My whole life I wanted one thing: to win a lottery. God, why didn’t you give me just that?”. And the God answered: “Actually, I was going to. But you did not buy a single lottery ticket”.

Buy your lottery ticket very much in advance, dear reader.

Kind regards,

Your Russianladyabroad

Why confident talented Russians get fired in Europe

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When working on this article, I thought I would write a list of reasons, why talented Russians (and guys from CIS-countries with the similar mentality) get fired in Europe already during the probation period.

Let’s take Germany, a usual job not involving IT or scientific research, where people will forgive you whatsoever if you do the job. The main reason why Russians get fired is that we are UNSOCIAL. Unsocial according to the European standards.

If you are Russian, you know for sure, how our satirist Zadornov made everybody laugh by telling, how people smile 24/7 in the US. If you work in Europe at a position where you see people at least twice a day – congrats, smiling is the easiest thing you are going to need. Here is my personal list, why you may be considered unsocial (and therefore get a label “you are not good for the team spirit” and get fired) while working, for instance, in Germany:

  1. You don’t spend the dinner with your colleagues. You just wanted to go shopping during the lunch break to have some minutes off from talking? Forget it. In Germany, people expect you to eat with them every damn time they want to eat together. Because you all are a team! The worst is, even if they eat somewhere very expensive and not tasty, you are still invited in an obligatory manner.
  2. You don’t drink coffee with your colleagues. We all know days, when you count minutes to get a project done and all your deadlines are burning. In fact, I have such days at least 3 times a week. Buuut….when your colleagues invite you for a cup of coffee, you go and drink a cup of coffee, even if it’s your 7th for today. Because you are a damn good team member.
  3. You don’t tell, what you did on the weekend. The question, which is usually asked on Monday, makes me sweat every week. Hmmm…what did I do on the weekend? Had sex with my BF, slept till lunch, watched TV?…Nope, I need a good story and everybody should see, what an interesting person I am. Because I am a damn team member. And I just love telling everybody about my personal life.. Continue reading →

Thought for the day

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Every person who lives abroad sometimes has a question, if the life in the home country would be better, easier, and closer to your heart.

This might be a week or two when I am sick and tired and start looking for a one-way ticket to Russia. In order to support me, my mom sends me pictures, which became my very own “meanwhile in Russia” journal.

I was always very much impressed, how little Russians cared about the environment since 90s came into the play. However, that is one thing to leave the shit behind – and this is another thing to leave in the very shit you collect every day.

This is an example of mentality I could never understand.

Behind the car: “Vika, Happy Birthday”! and “Gulia, please forgive me!”

A very special sense of life’s humour.

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Kindly yours,

Russianladyabroad

Reputation of Russian women in the world: how to use if rules apply, what to do if you don’t comply

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In Russia, I was a “strong 5 from 10” type. Small, curvy, well educated, with many interests in various areas, I was not in the centre of attention.  Surprisingly, this has changed once I moved abroad – but not necessarily for the best. This article will be a summary of stories from some countries, which shows, how men around the world are fixed on the idea of “Russian brides”, and how to deal with that.

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Russian character: 7 character traits to get rid of if you want ANY international career

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A friend of mine has inspired me to write this article. Living abroad since 2013, I already forgot, how many character traits, clichés, ways of thinking and bad manners I overcame in order to be where I am now. Every time I give a comment about a need to change any “typically Russian” behaviour, I get something like “You are a Russian hater!” in exchange. As a “Russian hater” (a hate of myself, I suppose, by definition…), I might feel free to just give it all and list here ALL “typically Russian” traits, which will make a sustainable international career almost impossible to any Russian who sees no need to change.

If you think that everybody will accept you “as you are” and you will have no need in changing yourself while building your career abroad – you are very wrong. These 7 character traits will cost you a career, no matter, how smart, talented and experience you are –therefore, just trust me and get rid of them!

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Sneaky photographer – Grand Kremlin Palace

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The topic “Sneaky photographer” will give some ideas on travels to places, which will not be on the first page of every travel guide. As long as possible, I will also add pictures from sights, where no pictures are usually allowed (but I am a SNEAKY photographer, you know, and I always switch off the lighting when making pictures of wood, gold and paintings!).

No worries, I am not going to turn my career blog into another travel blog – but I love to share what I see from time to time 😉

Many people don’t know that one can actually visit the Grand Kremlin Palace, situated in Kremlin itself, both the new part (where our emperors were sitting – now those rooms are used by our President for all official occasions) and the old part (where our Tsars lived and ruled).

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Question room – Internships for 30+

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Today we got a question regarding internships and fellowships for ladies 30+. This is a very important issue, especially for those living in developing countries, as it is much more difficult for us to get an invitation for an interview because of the visa issues.

First of all, I would like to remind you that experience is worth nothing for an HR officer if you can’t present it in an excellent CV (Resume). For this reason, I am currently working on a video about creating a perfect EU-CV “from scratch”- but this will take some time.

For now, I would like to bring you some new ideas on how to FIND an internship or a fellowship as a 3d country citizen if you are 30+.

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