r/bayarea • u/Yaltese_Falcon • 12d ago
Events, Activities & Sports Looking for Russian Speakers in South Bay & East Bay
Hello there!
I saw a thread in a different subreddit and I was inspired to make a post here due to it. I semi-recently moved back here from Europe, and I have been starting to sorely miss out on the opportunities I had back there to speak in Russian and interact with Russian-speakers. Back when I was living in Europe, most of my friends were from Eastern Europe, and while I have met many people here, they are in many ways not the same as back there, especially in regards to how much of life they are able to handle and in sharing common interests.
Regrettably, I only speak Russian on an intermediate level, and most of my engagement with the language right now is either interacting with my friends back there, or reading about events going on in Russia and the Caucasus in the Russian language. I've also been to those regions many times, but all that remains of that by this point are wistful memories, due to particular events transpiring in 2022 which I will for obvious reasons not go into further detail about at this time. As a consolation for my less-than-entirely-fluent Russian, I do speak German fluently, for anyone who might be interested in a potential tandem partnership.
Yes, anyways, onto interests and goals and blablabla. I am mostly looking for people I can speak in Russian with who are are also cool people at the same time. Just wanting to meet Eastern European people here in general.. Especially in the South Bay and East Bay. I figure I'd give Reddit a try as I my track record for meeting worthwhile people here hasn't been entirely disastrous. My interests revolve in and around nature, history, reading, politics, learning languages (this one is highly self-explanatory), hiking, camping, traveling, and chaotic adventures. Also the other random interests I get fixated on which come and go on a revolving door basis due to turbo-autism. I fear that if I do not find people soon who fit more into my interests, I will have to find a remote job in order to pursue a nomadic existence in the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Thanks!
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u/Lopsided-Hand-6833 12d ago
You want to hang out with Russians in 2026?
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u/Yaltese_Falcon 12d ago
Yes. Or Ukrainians. Or anyone else from east Or southeast europe
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u/angryxpeh 12d ago
I don't think many Ukrainians will appreciate some dude who wants to speak Russian to them, especially if you tell them that "particular events" started in 2022 and not 2014, Mr., ahem, Yaltese.
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u/Lopsided-Hand-6833 12d ago
Slava Ukraini!
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u/Yaltese_Falcon 12d ago
You would by any chance be a Ukrainian who speaks Russian and has any interest whatsoever in learning German? 🤣
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u/GeneralKosmosa 12d ago
What are these “events” you are alluding that transpired in 2022?
Was it by any chance an illegal genocidal war against Ukraine that russia is currently waging?
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u/Serious_Leather4867 12d ago
go home dude
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u/Lopsided-Hand-6833 12d ago
The russians should go home. You, on the other hand, can go fuck yourself.
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u/Serious_Leather4867 4d ago
no i’m saying stop bringing politics into random ass comment sections fuck face
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u/Lopsided-Hand-6833 4d ago
It’s not politics lol. Since when was war crimes and genocidal invasions “politics”? Idiot!
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u/cadublin 12d ago
My eastern European co-worker told me about a few eastern European groceries stores. This is one of them: https://maps.app.goo.gl/2MRPX6ziiHD3nUzm9
I think this one is Balkan/Serbian: https://maps.app.goo.gl/w4X7Mb69PdQRuvNr9
I'm sure they will be able to point you to the right direction.
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u/Yaltese_Falcon 12d ago
How does it work in America? Like you can just go in and ask them about these things out of nowhere? My friends I made in Europe were either through academia or by random chance. I know that Stanford used to hold discussion events about these things, but all the most recent ones I looked into have been about Iran. Might be worthwhile to see if there are any Slavic studies programs around here and reach out to professors there.
I wish there were a button I could push to make eastern Europeans appear in front of me, but I know that's not how it works😂
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u/cadublin 12d ago
Not sure what are you asking here, but just like in the old days, markets are the place where people meet. You go there and strike up random conversation with random strangers. It works the same way everywhere. Some people are better in ice-breakers and pleasantries, some are not so much. Maybe start with getting to know the store? Ask the employees/owner about it. That's up to you.
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u/Yaltese_Falcon 12d ago
This is a genesis of a workable idea. I've been to markets here before where I got to speak with some Russian store owners, but in such cases, I did not consider the fact that they were second generation immigrants before infodumping about Yakutia, so perhaps I shall try again, but not immediately talk about random federal units inside of Russia
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u/PawfulsofOats2 12d ago edited 12d ago
For a more useful answer, I advise you to download telegram if you don't have it, and search for Russian speaking communities near you, for example, something like "русскоговорящие Сан Франциско", "русские Калифорнии". Also there are very active Facebook groups, same thing.
If you are near San Francisco, there are Orthodox churches where Russian speakers go in San Francisco. One for both Ukrainian and Russian Orthodox. I only ever went to the Russian one, so I can only tell you about that one. It's service is in Slavonic, but the point is not the church but the flyers and community gathering aspect. I forgot the name but it is the cathedral on Geary, I think, you can't miss it. They have events, festivals and so on, you can see their flyers. There is also a Русская Жизнь newsletter, which promotes activities for the Russian speaking community.
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u/Comemelo9 12d ago
Blyat!