Alla Bondarenko—Putin's War from a Russian Gal with Ukrainian Relatives' Perspective

My guest is Alla Bondarenko. She’s an art historian and gemologist from St. Petersburg, Russia. She works remotely for a Russian company in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. Her two passions are psychology & travel.

Lucky for us, I’m not interested in gemology, so we mostly discuss travel & psychology. No applause please—it’s my job to ensure each episode is worth listening to. But this one, especially, you’ll want to copy the link and share with friend(s).

Why?

Because Alla is the smart & opinionated friend, who, if you got her in a room to “pick her brain” (like many people say they want to do with you over coffee sometime—but you never hear from them again), you’d be like: “Holy moley—this girl’s been holding out on me.”

She doesn’t volunteer what she knows, but with a little prodding, you realize the wealth of information in her noggin. In Texas, we’d say, “Look at the big ‘ol brain on Alla.”

Enter Man O. Perhaps the brightest Christmas light on the tree—at least during the USSR years when Christmas was largely erased from the calendar thanks to anti-religious policies under the Communists. But we’re back! Note the picture at the bottom of the show notes.

For this episode, I reserved a private room in a co-working space. And the two of us dive-deep into:

Alla growing up in Russia
Russia-Ukraine conflict
masculinity / femininity
fake Covid vaccine cards
the years following Soviet Union’s implosion
Alla’s opinion of Putin

For those of you with no patience—you’re either a bad doctor or lack self-regulation—at around 30:00 minutes in you’ll hear a unique opinion of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Or maybe you have a 30-minute commute tomorrow morning and want to hear a fearless Russian’s take on Putin that’ll fire you up for the day. If so, you’ve come to the right place.

You can catch the rest of this podcast episode on your way home, on a walk, or at the gym. Aren’t podcasts the greatest invention since drip coffee? You can listen anytime, anywhere.

By the way, last week I cracked the piece that allows my left AirPod to sit comfortably in my ear. Lady Overseas also has trouble with her Apple Airpods, saying lately, “Half the time, they just don’t work (she’s had them for just over a year).”

Is this part of Apple’s planned obsolescence? I don’t know. But despite owning more Apple stock than Michael D’Albor can dead lift, I decided to make an executive decision at Costco yesterday—I love me some Costco—and bought this here set.

Thus far, I couldn’t be happier with my purchase. If somehow Bose f*cks over me, you’ll be the first to know.

Expensive? Yes.

But do they offer bennies that don’t make you feel like you got got?

Also, yes.

For example, with Bose earbuds (vs. Apple Airpods Pro), you get:

3 months’ Spotify Premium free
Longer battery life: Bose (5 hrs, 30 mins) vs. Apple (5 hrs, 6 mins)
World’s best noise-cancelling technology (Apple can’t compete here—and it’s not even close)
High-fidelity audio—proprietary acoustic architecture means Bose listening is crisp & balanced
Tiny mics work together to focus on your voice, filtering out noise for less distractions during calls

Where was I?

When I ask Alla about the first time she’d heard about the war in Ukraine (henceforth referred to as “the conflict”), she says she didn’t believe it at first. When friends spoke of this news—she thought she was hearing another mass-media manipulation. In fact, it took several days for her to finally believe it was true—Russia had indeed invaded Ukraine.

We also talk about her troubles working remotely as a result of “the conflict.” For example, since Visa, Mastercard, and all other money-transferring services are now blocked for Russians like Alla, she says she must be paid in a Russian account—but then she immediately turns her rubles into cryptocurrency.

Since the war began in February 2022, she says the exchange rate of Russian rubles (RUB) has plummeted. Right now, she’s taking a 20% pay cut at work. But for many weeks following the conflict, she suffered what amounted to a 50% pay cut, almost overnight.

We also share our thoughts on topics such as: travel, dating, meditation, and much more.

Having Alla on the podcast was my biggest “score” of ’22. Suffice it to say, you’ll learn something new. You’re also nearly guaranteed to hear an opinion you haven’t heard before.

She’s incredibly bright, well-read and possesses that singular trait I value most in a podcast guest—she speaks candidly & without reservation.

Questions asked:

Where were you living when COVID started?
Was Russia strict about face masks and getting vaccinated?
Is there a lot of corruption in Russia?
Compared to the US, is there free speech [in Russia]?
Have you ever known anyone to go to jail for political purposes?
What is the The Gulag Archipelago about?
Did you get a chance to look up the Holodomor?
Because the ruble dropped so fast, are you concerned about your parents eating [in Russia]?
Why do Russians have such good practical skills?
What are your memories from the time when the Berlin Wall came down?
Have you ever dealt with a situation where you felt as though mingling with Westerners would get you shamed by your friends?
What brought you to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico?
What part of Bali were you living in?
Would you leave a tip if the service was average?
What was it like growing up in Russia?
When was the first time you heard there was a Russia-Ukraine conflict going on?
What convinced you that there was an actual conflict & that Russia was moving armed forces into Ukraine?
Why do you say there’s no difference between Ukrainians and Russians?
Do you think Putin would return the Soviet Union to its former size [if given the opportunity]?
Why would your friends hate you for talking about the Ukraine-Russia conflict?
What is the approval rating of Putin in Russia?
What kind of work do you do here? Are you paid in rubles?
Do you think a lot about what your future looks like?
Are you dating? What type of men do you prefer?
Which nationalities of men have you dated here?
[Question to Brad] What’s your favorite type of woman?
At what age would you say you’d be married?
Are you able to save money here?
Do you live alone or do you have a roommate?
Were you raised in the Church?
Do you find meditation and prayer very similar?
Do you have a favorite book?
Is it true that a lot of Russian troops didn’t know they were “invading Ukraine?”
Do you know any hardcore communists? Do they value human life at all?
What are the downsides of communism?

Fun questions:

Social media: net negative or net positive for society?
George Clooney or Brad Pitt?
Favorite movie all-time?
Favorite band? Type of music or album of all time?
If you were a Jeopardy contestant and got to choose the final category, what would you choose?
[Final Jeopardy question] Do you think the leading cause of distraction among young people today is because of external factors or is it internally-driven?
If you could go anywhere in the world for two weeks, where would you go?
If someone gave you $100,000 worth of stock in Spotify, Airbnb, or Pinterest, which would you take?
If you’re hosting a dinner party at your house & cost is not an issue, are you having 4, 6, or 12 guests?
At this dinner party, you klink your glass and stand up to thank everybody for coming. What do you say next?
Is not wanting something just as good as having it?
Was COVID deliberately unleashed on the world by the CCP?

“I travel around the world to know better people, our world and myself. My purpose in life is to collect knowledge, experience and share it to the people.” – Alla Bondarenko