a pro tip to translavs: don't go entirely based off of western stereotypes!
a lot of them are borne out of xenophobia! (ESPECIALLY in the US and how they view russians..)
and even true stereotypes (like slavs being 'cold' because we interact differently) aren't just like,, some innate thing, there's a history there as to WHY people act like that! (though diaspora is more likely to assimilate to their country and not act like this it kind of gets lost.)
like i think that one russian lady online said it best when she said "we had to be to survive in the USSR. you didn't know why somebody was being nice to you for no reason, who you could trust."
we are a very battered ethnic group due to history, and the more you understand history the more you understand the context in how we exist, what are stereotypes you should avoid, and the context in how our culture is.
but that may just be me idk im not ur mom
-cisslav
(this isnt a callout i just see advice that is in a vaccum and i feel its not truly helpful if you want to be in our culture yk? like yea sure come on in and have fun but there's a way less hard way to do that! but thats just how i went about connecting more)
