Post: #1

How bad are the Eastern Europe winters (for example, in the Baltics or Czech Republic or Hungary) in your opinions? I heard it's really rough over there.

I can see myself having a blast in the summer and fall, but I'm not sure I want to handle dark cold winters that last forever.

So as a general question, have any of you guys been able to successfully have dual residences? Like living somewhere that is #1 for women in "nice" months, say May to October, then back to the US (or wherever you call home) November to May to charge up.

Is this feasible long-term or are you kind of handicapping your life in both places in your opinions?

I've never lived more than a few months outside the US at a time so maybe taking baby steps is the way to go.

Post: #2

(10-22-2010 11:01 AM)midknight Wrote:  How bad are the Eastern Europe winters

Not to be glib, but ask Napoleon or the German Army.

But here's some useful information, and a story.

I was near Moscow around December. I guess it doesn't matter what year, or what century.

I was visiting a girl in the suburbs of Moscow. This was before they had really modernized the economy, no one had cars and we took the train about an hour to Moscow to sight-see.

I was actually in the polling places with her and her family for their first real election in over half a century-- they day they elected Boris Yeltsin. It was beautiful to see the smart, emotional Russians breaking free of the Soviet era.

The train station was about half a mile from her apartment building. There were very few cars even among the hundreds of people living there. The people would get off the train and walk through a beautiful woods to get to the dingy apartments. It was an icy, packed down snow pathway, treacherous. It was very romantic, after exiting the noisy train, we would walk through the silent, dark woods-- a quiet, small crowd.

I flirted with the girl I was staying with her family for a few days, then one icy night as we teased each other in the dark, I finally pressed her up against a tree and feverishly kissed her. She was willing to marry me, I view myself as stupid for not doing it, as I was ridiculously picky about looks. She was a genuinely smart, helpful girl without a nasty temper. (EXTREMELY important)

Umm, how cold was it? There was a still damp cold of between 0 and 10 Fahrenheit, in Moscow it seemed to seep into you even without wind.

But there was something SO beautiful about Russia in the winter, different that what I've seen in the Catskills, in Minnesota, in Vermont, in the Sierras. There is a resonant, lush austerity, a character in the forest that is magically primeval.

If you love nature you might dig it, but then I liked Minnesota.

When cold gets down to a certain point-- about -35 fahrenheit, it becomes almost a different, third sensation outside the hot-cold spectrum. Your rubber-soled shoes become hard and click as you walk. It's really like a dream.

After living in almost every American climate from Minnesota to the SoCal desert and Hawaii; my impression is climate preference seems genetic-- I'm half Norwegian.

Post: #3

(10-22-2010 06:24 PM)iknowexactly Wrote:  

(10-22-2010 11:01 AM)midknight Wrote:  How bad are the Eastern Europe winters

Not to be glib, but ask Napoleon or the German Army.

But here's some useful information, and a story.

I was near Moscow around December. I guess it doesn't matter what year, or what century.

I was visiting a girl in the suburbs of Moscow. This was before they had really modernized the economy, no one had cars and we took the train about an hour to Moscow to sight-see.

I was actually in the polling places with her and her family for their first real election in over half a century-- they day they elected Boris Yeltsin. It was beautiful to see the smart, emotional Russians breaking free of the Soviet era.

The train station was about half a mile from her apartment building. There were very few cars even among the hundreds of people living there. The people would get off the train and walk through a beautiful woods to get to the dingy apartments. It was an icy, packed down snow pathway, treacherous. It was very romantic, after exiting the noisy train, we would walk through the silent, dark woods-- a quiet, small crowd.

I flirted with the girl I was staying with her family for a few days, then one icy night as we teased each other in the dark, I finally pressed her up against a tree and feverishly kissed her. She was willing to marry me, I view myself as stupid for not doing it, as I was ridiculously picky about looks. She was a genuinely smart, helpful girl without a nasty temper. (EXTREMELY important)

Umm, how cold was it? There was a still damp cold of between 0 and 10 Fahrenheit, in Moscow it seemed to seep into you even without wind.

But there was something SO beautiful about Russia in the winter, different that what I've seen in the Catskills, in Minnesota, in Vermont, in the Sierras. There is a resonant, lush austerity, a character in the forest that is magically primeval.

If you love nature you might dig it, but then I liked Minnesota.

When cold gets down to a certain point-- about -35 fahrenheit, it becomes almost a different, third sensation outside the hot-cold spectrum. Your rubber-soled shoes become hard and click as you walk. It's really like a dream.

After living in almost every American climate from Minnesota to the SoCal desert and Hawaii; my impression is climate preference seems genetic-- I'm half Norwegian.

Great story! Loved it.

But are you going back to Eastern Europe to live in indefinitely or still tied to the US? Any favorite places besides Belarus (which definitely seems like it's new virgin territory)

You hear about celebrities like Johnny Depp and George Clooney living in the US and Europe, half here half there.

I'm just wondering how realistic it is for us mere mortals and what the pros and cons are and all that.

Post: #4

OP:

The logistics of whether you can be at certain places at certain times are mostly mathematical. You're asking in the abstract, but it immediately leads to concrete questions like:

1) Can you leave your job and come back to it making the same $ per hour? I heard of high school acquaintances who worked for six months then went to surf in the Canary Islands six months a year.

There are jobs you can do like this that have low social status ( waiter , fishing boat worker) but they have the advantage that you can leave and not alienate the employer, come back next year and do it again.

2) Can you make money location independent?

3) Are you just one of those bastards that doesn't make that much but has a freakish talent at frugality and therefor still always has money?
( Haha I hate all those guys-- I piss away everything INSTANTLY)

There's no one really trying to stop you from going where you want-- it's just a question of not being totally broke when you're there. If you have a college degree or are pretty book smart for about 2-3k you can get a CELTA English Teaching certificate and go LOTS of places with hot chicks and stay for years. That's one route that is good in that it has a pretty clear sequence of things to do to succeed, and a waiting infrastructure you can hook in to when you go somewhere.

I was in Ukraine at an elite private high school ( my half-my-age girlfriend has just graduated and we were visiting-) and they asked me to teach a class on ..anything I wanted. I did an improvised seminar on Stephen Covey's " The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People." They asked me if I wanted a job, but I was on my career track back in the land of women-who-are-men.

I was spouting some profound shit like "Depression is the problem of the Second World, alienation is the problem of the First World." and the Russians loved that philosophical style. It's not like a I'm a real intellectual, it's just their culture is so f'd up they can't even envision being able to start a business without thinking the Mafia will extort from them. Even though that's maybe true, this makes your whole mindset a marketable thing there.

The American attitude that if you're smart enough and work hard enough, you can make it happen is very absent in fatalistic Eastern Europe. It's one of the best things about American culture, although I hate to admit it cause bitching's more fun. So that's your in-- without you even knowing it. At least til now.

Teaching English: I can't imagine being more easily, better proofed than being up in front of the class with a chick you want knowing all the other chicks are checking you out. Almost obviates the need for game. Girl #1 will realize Girl #2 wants to fuck you so #1 will want to fuck you first. Check out daveseslcafe.com No affiliation.

Beware though, when I ask foreign English teachers about women I get real nasty feminazi responses. Even from guys. They aren't fun loving and open minded like PUA guys. But it sounds like a good racket for what you want. Just leave out why you're really there. That's what dirty old men like me do.

They can think whatever they want, that's their problem. Teachers tend to be a narrow lot.

Post: #5

OP: Forgot to answer your specific questions because I just love the sound of my own voice.

My location plans are sort of complex. I want to have kids but it's insane in the USA because the family court system means your wife essentially owns you.

Through genealogy, I am entitled to Italian citizenship. If American chicks have an Italian fantasy ( just mention Italy and watch them moisten) imagine how bad it is for Russian chicks from a cold, dark climate!!!

So my plan is to move to EE ( not sure where, that's part of what my next trip is for) find a wife, test her loyalty for a couple years with absolute jackass behavior ( just kidding) then take her to Italy for her reward. It takes FIVE YEARS to get a divorce in Italy, so she can't kick you to the curb as quickly I don't think. (Since the court assumes you're still married even though she left you for Sergei the Russian pimp/doctor/biznessman, they don't assign you child support. )

Then, live happily ever after listening to the kids speak Italian better than I ever will and not growing up in Female Male Land.

Free medical care, a country MADE for bicycle riding, and a beautiful, verdant landscape in which to fade into the sunset.

All the while drinking good cheap wine.

There's an Italian saying I think it's "Dolce Niente", it means doing "sweet NOTHING."

Compare that to America, where instead of a restful nap, we take a "Power Nap." That is so funny.... so sad.

As a friend who grew up in Italy said about Americans, "They miss the whole point in life."

Post: #6

iknowexactly,

Your dream follows mine veeeery closely! After I'm done having my fun and living the life abroad, I'm going to settle down in a non-divorce friendly country with my EE dream girl...didn't know about Italy! Great info!

Post: #7

(10-23-2010 02:17 PM)theusualsuspect Wrote:  iknowexactly,

Your dream follows mine veeeery closely! After I'm done having my fun and living the life abroad, I'm going to settle down in a non-divorce friendly country with my EE dream girl...didn't know about Italy! Great info!

If you have an Italian grandfather or even great-grandfather you have a pretty good shot at Italian citizenship, which of course is same as EU citizenship. I think Ireland makes it pretty easy too. I'm half scandinavian and that country basically told me forget it.

Post: #8

Good plan on Italy. But I backpacked through Italy and noticed the guys there are young, hungry and definitely hitting on foreign girls left and right. You'd also have to worry about your future wife bolting for a younger guy in my opinion, unless she's too busy with your kids that is.

Post: #9

The more people who tell me not to go to EE during winter, the more I want to go.

Post: #10

Remember that one of the advantages of going in fall/winter/spring is that there are drastically less tourists. Much better than when then simply see you as a tourist if you arrive in July or August, when half the people are away on vacation.

I've only been to EE during the fall/winter. Poland/Czech/hungary, etc isn't that bad. But the baltics are pretty chilly and Moscow was downright very cold. I was there the first week of November (around this time of year) and it was -10C, about 14F. When it got the 32F, it felt like a heat wave. Today in DC it was 77F!!! However, winter in Eastern Europe is quite beautiful and peaceful.

Post: #11

Midknight--Good point, but at my age, I know if she's the kind that walks, she's not the kind I have a use for. All relationships are temporary anyway. Everyone disappears.

Post: #12

EE during the winter depends on where you go. Places like Hungary and Bulgaria aren't that much different then the DC area. But if you stray too far north I think the lack of daylight could get difficult.

Post: #13

The sun sets in Tallinn at 6pm right now; in another month, it'll be 4pm. I didn't think it would get to me, but it definitely does. I got really, really depressed last year.

Post: #14

I second Roosh's sentiment here....the less jerk off frat boy Americans (think Medellin) the better time I will have.

iknowexactly: Cool story, also funny you mentioned the soles of your shoes. My brother said the exact same thing about the Slovak winters. He was completely unprepaired and had to go buy real snow boots with thick leather and rubber soles. His tennis shoes completely started to crack in half (Think about when you chew bubble gum then eat some ice cubes, the gum loses flexibitity and snaps in half like a stick)

Post: #15

Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia - something like a NY winter. I've lived in Wisconsin (went to grad school there) and it was colder than EE. Now, Russia is a different thing, pretty cold there.
Wintertime - stay in large cities, ski resorts... Summertime - large cities empty out, as people mostly go to the beach. Of course, not everyone can afford to spend all sumer at the beach, but the regular folks with 9-5 jobs save their money and energy to be able to drive down for the weekend beach parties.