Journey on the Trans-Siberian: St Petersburg

Re:Journey on the Trans-Siberian: St Petersburg by gk1 on Monday July 23, 2018 @03:52PM (#17595424)

Oh that's funny, I didn't even notice that... "Guess who's the goofy American in this photo!"

Passport photos aside (which really do require a neutral face, even in the US), Russians do not smile in public or to strangers the way we do in the US. Smiling in public is seen as a sign of foolishness or low intelligence. When Americans come to Russia they interpret the lack of smiles as hostility, which isn't true.

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Re:Journey on the Trans-Siberian: St Petersburg by paulsutter on Monday July 23, 2018 @11:43PM (#17597965)

Thanks for explaining, I've wondered that. By the way, smiling is OK on US passports[1]. I've taken a lot of visa and passport photos, and I have seen a requirement not to show teeth. But I've only once had a photo returned. And I really wasn't grinning in the photo.

Incidentally, that slighty-more-serious mood in Russia feels comfortable for me. Maybe because I tend to smile less than I "should" in the US.

[1] From https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/require...

"You must have a neutral facial expression or a natural smile, with both eyes open"

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