So definitely a mistake that you want to avoid when you're here in Ukraine is confusing this
country with Russia so you just saw there a clip from my previous Tip Thursday about Ukrainian
etiquette and I don't think nowadays I shot that video probably about two years ago that so many
visitors to Ukraine actually confuse Ukraine and Russia I think that's become super clear but
there's still a lot of things that you're going to need to know about Ukrainian culture that are
different to your own as a Westerner before you come here to Ukraine not just for a visit but
to spend say three to twelve months per year like basically to relocate part of the year here
so on this very very cold Odesa evening it is minus 12 celsius поехали!
So the first big cultural difference that you're going to have to get used to when you arrive in
Ukraine is the massive difference in the dating culture now the upside to that is your dating
options compared to back home basically no matter where you're coming from in the world almost
they're going to be significantly better here in terms of well there's just a lot more beautiful
women first of all and depending on who you are probably you're gonna gel with them maybe a little
bit better in terms of values at least that's what most guys say who come here or interested in
spending a lot of time in Ukraine now of course the massive downside in terms of dating culture
I've gone into in a complete plethora of videos on this channel the phenomenon of scammers scammer
girls here scammer central Odesa Mama it is full of them and they're going to be looking for
you the foreign guy who comes who maybe isn't as au fait with the local dating culture hasn't maybe
gone through enough of the trauma of being scammed and figured it out yet you're going to be
a prime target for them but on top of that obviously you have
differences in terms of expectations in general that I've gone into in the other videos and also
on my online programs and I think the real key what I see in terms of guys who succeed with the
local dating culture and those who don't at least those who will say reach their potential
in terms of expanding their dating options and developing real long-term relationships here or
even if they're not interested just lots of quick ones is two things first of all they develop a
real man mindset now you probably heard Russian or Russian speakers speaking about a real man
it's a big compliment for Russian guy to call you a real man he's paying you a huge compliment if he
calls you that and that's basically the fact that they are very assertive they tend to lead they
tend to be very dominant a lot more than you're going to see in modern dating culture in the West
for sure they could come off as a little bit uncouth or inconsiderate in Western dating culture
but here that's exactly the expectation that's made of men in the culture and on top of that you
need to develop Slavic mentality intelligence SMI as I call it that's basically understanding
not just how you have to behave but also how the women behave here what their expectations are
what is good behavior what is not good behavior and those two elements are more than 50 of it
So the second big cultural difference that you're going to notice if you come
here to spend a lot of time and even if you just spend a short amount of time
is if you are one of those people who relies on speaking English exclusively
now if you come here just as a tourist that's not a big deal in the sense that of course you can go
to all the touristic centers like here in Odesa or you can be in Lviv the western Ukraine or in Kyiv
the capital and as long as you're in some kind of i guess restaurant bar somewhere in the center or
museum whatever they will be able to accommodate the fact that you don't speak Ukrainian or Russian
and you can do everything in English that's not a huge problem but if you plan to spend
more time here not just touristic time then it's going to become a bigger and bigger necessity
for you to at least be able to speak some Russian and I know Ukrainian is the national language but
in reality cities like Odesa they use Russian in everyday life and still to a certain extent
Kyiv the earlier you get started the more of a return you're going to get in that investment and you
will struggle to do the things you want to do if you rely complete in English yourself so either
you're going to have to get an interpreter to do a lot of this stuff for you or you can learn
the language yourself so that's one of the big cultural differences I think that you know it's
easy to just rely on English especially if you're the stereotypical American or Brit because it is
the global lingua franca but it is not realistic to do that for a lot of things here in Ukraine
So the next big cultural difference I want to point out and this is going to definitely affect
people that come say from Northern Europe I think more than the rest of the West and that is the
complete disrespect for rules here in Ukraine in general if you come from a country where
people are real stickler for rules maybe also United Kingdom to a certain extent that
it's going to be a massive cultural difference here in Ukraine because it reminds me of Ireland
maybe 20 or 30 years ago people have at times a healthy disrespect for authority and rule of law
and other times it's obviously a major problem for getting things done that people just don't respect
rules in general don't respect the laws there's a lot of corruption so definitely be prepared for
that if you're doing business here if you're doing anything with the government or if you're just
dealing with other normal people here in Ukraine Ukrainians not the biggest on following rules
So the next thing that's a big cultural difference nowadays between Ukraine and most
Western countries is the PC culture in the West that has not arrived here by and large to Eastern
Europe in general and definitely not to Ukraine so let me explain how this might be a big cultural
difference may even shock you a little bit so using racial epithets, playing on stereotypes
different racial groups is pretty common here it's not always nefarious sometimes it's just a little
bit of good-hearted fun other times it of course reveals a deep rooted prejudice against certain
groups so on the upside about that you don't have to be overly concerned about political correctness
here and for a lot of guys coming from the West that's a breath of fresh air the people aren't
just overly sensitive about the terms that people use and you can have a joke and that can be
taken the wrong way probably but at the same time then overt racism is a lot more tolerated here
so it's kind of a double-edged sword in that sense some of it is good not too over sensitive about
these things then on the other hand there is more overt discrimination or prejudice so
you're definitely gonna have to get used to it in any case when you come here so that's that that's
basically something to think about in terms of the cultural difference between here and the West
So as a final point about the cultural differences to expect here in Ukraine just
like to draw your attention the fact that this country has big differences in terms of the
climate first of all we're just cleaning up here the Christmas decorations by Odesa town hall and
you can see there's a little bit of snow behind now snow is not that actually that common here in
the south of Ukraine it's actually really warm in the summer and on top of that you just have
different little subcultures in terms of maybe ethnicities in the country like here to Odesa
there's a if you go to Budjak I have a vlog about that there's actually a lot of Bulgarians, Gagauz,
Roma, Moldovans or Romanians living there as well as we'll say Ukrainians and obviously a lot
of people who feel partly Russian throughout the country as well the culture in Lviv in the west
is dramatically different to here in Odesa the mix of people where they come from
and the kind of subculture that's grown up around the city this is a big port city
obviously people spend the summer by the seaside at the beach you don't can't do
that in Lviv in the west it's more an old world historic city very very beautiful
and the local culture is more coffee drinking culture for example so you have this just as
you go around the country and that is super cool about Ukraine that you have those differences
it doesn't mean it's a huge difference it's not obviously it's one country but you do have
these little subcultures you have the mountains in the west with the Hutsul went up there the
Carpathians were amazing for example you can go hiking skiing so you can basically do most things
it's very different to say neighboring Belarus where you don't have those huge
differences in topography, climate and maybe the mixture of peoples as much makes Ukraine I think a
lot more interesting and just be aware that it's not monolithic in terms of culture either here
There you go there were the five things that you need to know about Ukrainian culture before you
move here for an extended stay so at least three months three to twelve months per year and if you
are interested in learning a lot more than just about the basic differences in the culture I have
my high level consultation group it's going to be 10 high-level guys who get together online we have
seven live streams and we discuss the major issues for Western guys when they move here in terms of
things like real estate whether you want to buy your Black Sea villa and use it during the summer
not here in the in the freezing cold of winter it could be a Kyiv penthouse or you're interested
in knowing how to come here and spend more than the three months visa free that most of us is
available and actually get a residency permit maybe temporary permit maybe even eventually
get Ukrainian citizenship there's just some of the things that we go into along with other
things like business opportunities how to build a network here of friends also business contacts
in Ukraine so you get to take the most out of the opportunities that a move to Ukraine will afford
to you basically so that you can 5x your lifestyle by spending three to twelve months here that I'm
going to relaunch it's actually gonna start at the beginning of March and they're gonna open up
for enrollment very very soon and the way to find out about that is to be on my free mailing list
so if you're not on that then it's a no-brainer go down below click on the link and basically you get
a free gift which is my favorite secret places here to be beautiful women in cities like Odesa,
Kyiv and Minsk in Belarus if you're also thinking of a trip to Minsk will be useful to get that
info so down below that's a free gift you basically just confirm your email after you
type it in and then you're on the mailing list and then in due course you will get the opportunity
to join the the relaunch season two of Slavic Utopia Secrets: Ukraine coming very soon
the sun is about to disappear over that horizon and it is absolutely freezing here it's minus
12 celsius as I said so I'm going to get in off the balcony here here and warm up a little bit
see very soon in the next video до побачення до свидания from a chilly but beautiful Odesa Mama