[DaveR]

(01-28-2015 07:07 AM)_Cicero Wrote:  

Two new notes on Russia...

One thing I have doubts about is really how robust the "russian women are hotter than american women" meme is. There are hot women in Moscow, but I'm actually not convinced it's better than, say, NYC. The other day I was waiting on my girlfriend to come out of the metro during rush hour, and I decided to count how many 7s and above came out and the total number of women. The results? I counted up to 170 women, and during that time there was one clear 8 (maybe), and 4-5 7s by my subjective count. And this was at a posh station in the center. This confirmed what I'd been feeling -- you have to check out lots of girls on the metro to see a hot one. The good thing about Moscow is that there are 7 million slavic women here, which, if my sample was truly random, means that the best guess is that there are still something like 40,000 8s in the city, and perhaps another 200,000 7s. Meanwhile, a city like San Francisco only has 800,000 people, so literally every other woman would have to be smoking hot in order for it to have as much talent as Moscow.

Agreed. I think it's less about ratios and more about 'access'. A lot of guys are initially overwhelmed when they first land in Russia/Ukraine because just about every girl dresses conservatively - high heels, skirts/dresses, makeup, etc.
I find a lot of Italian cities have better ratios of 7-8s, although it lacks in 9s compared to Russia. And the whole country is a sausagefest.

(01-28-2015 07:09 AM)_Cicero Wrote:  

^Second item. Question for Dave R, which others might have. I forget to re-register with the Russian government after my last trip out of Moscow. If I leave again, and register when I come back, will there be any problems? Or, what kind of problems can you get into if you don't register?

Very unlikely to cause any problems if you have fair skin; I've never been asked for any documents other than when driving. It can cause some problems for your employer because the fines for businesses are quite high.
However... Highly-qualified specialists have 90 days to register after each trip, so probably easier to ignore it until next time. Other kinds of visas are supposed to be registered within seven business days.

If you're considering residency in the long term, it's best not to ignore the registration requirement, although missing it a few times won't make a lot of difference over a couple of years, especially if you're a frequent traveller.

The main problem is usually that if one forgets to register it's necessary to leave and come back in order to be able to register at all. Your registration slip may be needed in a few situations: when getting packages released from Customs, opening/operating bank accounts, visa extensions, etc.