Foreign Affair: What is different in France for a Russian woman?
A Russian woman arrives from another world, where she never experienced Western lifestyle, to establish a foreign affair. She has to learn a lot of things, starting with the basics: how to use a check-book or how to buy a travel card. Gradually she learns how to behave herself in the French society. The man plays the role of a Pygmalion. He does not find it especially difficult to "mould" a perfect wife from the woman he's got. Unlike Bernard Show's famous character, the Russian woman does not resist this influence. She learns quickly and easily. At first she is delighted by everything she sees in her new life, and she tries her best to blend with it. Due to lack of experience, of insight into the Western lifestyle, she does not feel critical about her environment.
The first thing she learns from her husband is being economical. She is far too light-hearted. Thrift is not something that characterizes Russians as a nation, used to an abundance of lands and natural resources. Besides, she arrived from a country where the state was in charge of everything and where people were not scared of the coming day. In spite of the fact that market economy has been around in Russia for ten years now, the way people think cannot change overnight.
In France, a Russian woman has to change her attitude towards money. Her husband explains her the family budget, where the key expense items are the payments towards mortgage credit. In Russia she lived with her parents in an apartment provided by the state and she had no idea what it is like to be out in the street with nowhere to live. This danger is constantly following every Western person. So he tries to buy real estate. The best option is purchasing a house. This is the dream of every French person, it rules his existence, it makes him work. Hence the need to save up on everything.
In a foreign affair, the Russian wife does not bring home her salary. The only way in which she could contribute to the family budget is becoming a good, economical housewife. To succeed, she has to get rid of some of her "Soviet" habits, such as leaving the water running or the kitchen gas stove working: both are very expensive in France. Neither could she spend hours chatting over the phone: you have to pay for the time, not just for the service, which turns even small talk into a luxury.
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