When I got to the West in the 90s, I have not encountered a dream to live there, but I understood people who had such dreams. Each shopping was comparable to the museum trip; one could find almost everything there, and moreover, even I had enough money! I felt like a full participant of an expensive auction. It was a culture shock. Now, coming to their shopping malls that seemed to be luxurious, I hear from our fellow countrymen that "ours are better". And yet... There is no longer a tempting carrot that you can’t buy even here. But a lot of people dream to go west. However, those who have the ability to think straight understand that in the early years the things were going worse there than here. And yet...
Mikhail Zhvanetsky made an accurate diagnosis of this strange phenomenon: "Our people tend to Stockholm (London and so on) only in order to be surrounded by the Swedes. Everything else is already in Moscow. Or almost there." Our people are escaping from their own kind, because one can hardly suffer himself, but when there are a lot of people like him around - it 's too much! Therefore, the spesific dignity, often emphasized by the description of a decent vacation spots - there is a lack of our own. What are we afraid of? First, the rudeness, the declared to be an openness of soul; and secondly, the failure to keep clean beyond our own house. The diagnosis of Zhvanetsky again: "We have a very low percentage of hits in the toilet bowl, spittoon, litter-box".
http://0-stranger.livejournal.com/650443.html
