I spent this year's late July and early August in Russia. It was cool. Under 90 at all times, definitely. A lot changed over the 4 years I passed in USA, but some things are just the way I remember them.
... you can see what you breathe in.
... you've had the Malboro man grin at you from a billboard that takes up one full side of a building some 20 stories high.
... you've seen a fellow your age on the street dressed in a black fish-net shirt, and no heads were turning.
... an assortment of magazines is sold around every corner, and half of it is porn.
... fear of arrest becomes the only reason you carry around an I.D.
... you spot a graffiti-covered garage dedicated to the recent soccer tournament.
... your friend boasts hitch-hiking 2,000 kilometers this summer to the annual Bard-song Festival.
... the only cassettes and CDs sold around town are cheap bootlegs (when I say cheap, I mean 50 cents for a tape and 2 bucks for a disk)
... Political Correctness is dead.
... the first thing people ask about vegetables they are served is "Are these homegrown?"
... you can take 3 friends to a cafe, eat a good meal, have a drink or three, and only pay around 4 dollars for the whole shebang.
... near a train station, you and your friend spot a poster proclaiming the superiority of the Stalinist block to all other blocks and Parties - and you spend the next hour decorating it with highly offensive (to Communists) poetry.
... sick and tired of watching the idiotic commercials on all of the 7 main channels, you almost wish for the Communist regime to return and bring back quality television.
... you stumble out of the airport half-dead with jet-lag, and the first thing your friend shoves under your nose is a book (well, I'm exaggerating, she did say "hello")
... there is only one movie theatre in the city, it shows only one movie, the movie is a few months late ("Star Wars" hasn't made it to Moscow yet when I was there), but you can always find any and all movies, including the ones now playing in American cinemas, on bootleg tapes (and for a reasonable price too :)
... the hottest topic to discuss with your friends is the recent restoration Savior Christ's Cathedral, which has been completed ground up in a ridiculously short time using cheap materials instead of the original marble.
... your internet access is horredously overpriced, and the only way to pay for it is to ride across town, give the company cash in hand, sign your name, and hope they don't forget to add the hours you just payed for to your account.
... if any of the cars you see were driven in America, their owners would certainly be on the EPA's most wanted list.