hi guys you might think that i'm Chinese, right? it's totally fine because
it's kind of confusing - i'm Russian but i'm Sakha but i live in china even back
to Russia when i was living and studying in Moscow sometimes i could feel myself as
a foreigner because i had many funny stories when some Russians assumed that i am Chinese
today in this video i just want to share with my feelings what it's like to be an Asian
Russian and living in china. As you know, Russia is the largest country in the world
and it has over 193 ethnic groups. Russia is so large that it covers 11 time zones,
because of its large size Russia is divided into 83 federal subjects, 22 of them are republics,
republics are administrative divisions originally created as nation-states to represent areas
of non-russian ethnicity they have their own official languages and their own constitutions.
I was born in Yakutia which in the eastern part of Russia and we are indigenous Siberian people
who live there. Our winter is going down to minus 60 degrees celsius, so if you are interested to
watch about my hometown i have a playlist about Yakutia, you can find it on my channel. So, in
Yakutia the half population are russian slovenian people and half of them are Sakha people - like
me. So i think, my mentality is kind of a mix of western Russian and also a mix of the asian Sakha
mentality. It's quite different compare to each other, Sakha people have their own
native language and culture. We have our festivals and we have our own religion. Western russians
they also have their own religion, their culture, traditions and so on. I remember when i was a
kid i have been traveling a lot with my mom, i remember one day when we were shopping in moscow
with my mom and there was one russian man who was so happy to see us and he just came behind us
it's kind of funny and mix feelings of being asian russian.
at the same time you feel like a foreigner in your own country and at the same time,
it's really funny. of course you can bump into not well-educated people in moscow but
not everyone are the same but i still had some funny stories for example
i don't really care about them but it's just really funny because you can understand
completely everything what they talk behind you and also i had one a really funny story when i
was traveling with my friend to dubai. she is also Sakha girl and when we were going to the
breakfast in our hotel, we were in one elevator with russians, a father and a son. They start
talking about us behind us they assume that we are chinese. the father told to the son: oh see
these chinese girls they probably already want you. it was really really awkward and really
funny at the same time. i always introduce myself as a siberian or Sakha because many people always
confused why i am russian and why i don't have a blondie hair, especially here in china.
so let's talk about china when i moved to china i think everything became
much more complicated because when i introduced myself as a russian to chinese person, who was
really confident that i am chinese and start talking with me in chinese and then
i reply to him in chinese that i am russian their mind is just blowing
so when i introduced to the chinese person that i am russian they always think that i'm joking,
they say: hahahaha good joke and i'm like no i'm not joking
so when i am just trying to explain about my background that russia is not only blondie hair
and blue eyes, i think they just can't accept it maybe they just feel really
disappointed. they probably want to see some blondie hair russian girl. when i'm trying to
explain about my hometown they just don't believe it. they think that my parents are
actually chinese who just moved to china a long time ago. even those people who say:
okay i believe you that you're from russia but then they so they start explaining me the history
i spent a lot of time of trying to explain that i'm russian but sometimes when i don't have time
or when i'm just uh really tired i can just say like yeah yeah i'm korean or i'm japanese or
i'm mongolian or something. and then they accept it they accept this fact but they don't accept the
fact that i'm russian. this is really funny but when i live here in china i have a feeling that
i feel myself more comfortable here because chinese people are asian and i'm also asian
and i look same with everyone but at the same time you are so different. when I
start working here or having chinese friends I feel myself different, my mentality is different
compared to chinese people, I still have a russian and sakha mentality which is completely different
to chinese mentality so it's also confusing. but i am really proud of being Sakha because
i think it makes me really unique and a lot of people are interested in my background,
in my culture and I'm really happy to share with it, so in overall i think it's really nice and
interesting and really unique to be born in this kind of a mix of two different mentalities and
cultures. i think it makes you more open to the world and it's really broadening your horizon
that there is a lot of also different cultures and ethnics and different nationalities.
so i hope more and more people can have less misconceptions about that all of the asian
people are chinese. so if you also have the same experience with me you can leave your comments.
let me know what you think about it, i hope you like this video bye bye see in the next video