(The name is pronounced "yoshKARola").

I am not going to call the agency in this city a scam, but it comes close. I know there are two other agencies, which are obvious frauds, this third one really exists.

For example, I was told the hotel rooms were "about $35". However, there were no rooms available at that price. After I went to 4-5 hotels, the only room available was for $60/night. This was a room without telephone, fan, refrigerator. Also, they (the agency) advertise on their web site they can get you an apartment for $30-$35 a night. When I got there, they said the person with the free apartment wanted $75/night.

I stayed at the first hotel ($60) for only one night, after it turned out that in the evening, the restaurant down the hall transforms into a noisy discotheque. I did find a "hotel" about 4 kilometers away from the city, for $38/night, but then a group of guys and one lucky girl arrived in the room next door and started partying at 2 in the afternoon. I exited my room to go downtown, to get away from the festivities, and a big naked man came out of the room, screamed something in Russian at me, and went back inside and slammed the door. The next day another group of partiers arrived and now I knew why the rooms were cheaper here. I decided to join the fun, and they welcomed me with many drinks. But they refused to talk about what they did for a living (this means they do something illegal) but unlike Samara, where I know people who don't want to talk about their "occupations" and they are still friendly, the Marielitos were getting hostile about my curiosity.

I wouldn't have gone there if I knew I would have to spend more than TWICE as much money as they told me I would. As far as I am concerned, it's a scam if I was told one series of "facts" and the "facts" mostly changed when I arrived there.

About the city, Yoshkar-Ola, I have never seen such an unfriendly city, not since I visited Buffalo, New York a long time ago. I am not talking about the apparent surface hostility of Russians, this is easily punctured, and most Russians become very friendly after a few words. You get jostled and bumped so much in YO, I would guess it's their form of saying "hello."

I have spent a lot of time in two other Russian cities, so I am used to this different culture, but Yoshkar-Ola is sooooo unfriendly. The agency was especially unfriendly, treating me as if I were some disease, whenever I went there. They were like this from the moment I walked in the door. I guess they didn't like that I hadn't spent a lot of money on letters or translations (I speak passable Russian).

The directions they gave me at the agency were idiotic (since they already knew where I wanted to go, they assumed I would also know, from some sort of mind-osmosis - "it's in a big red building" "what street?" "I don't know"), and they had absolutely no knowledge of any bus routes, or timetables, trains schedules, airlines, or mini-busses, or even where the movie theatres were located, or how to find out what movies were playing.

When I went to the movie to watch what was advertised outside, the ticket-seller said the dates on the sign was wrong, that movie would be here "soon." The bowling alley had a concrete wall where the approach should be, and drunks standing in front of you when you delivered the ball. Bowling from hell.

I don't understand this weird place. Do they think all foreigners are rich, and that foreigners really love to throw their money around? Throwing money away to a bunch of ungrateful, hostile, uncilivized barbarians is what foreigners are supposed to be fond of doing? I don't want to spend $1000 to spend a week in this place where the roads are so bad, it makes the roads in Samara look like the autobahn. I can spend $1000 to spend TWO weeks in any other major city in Russia, and the people are much nicer. I especially wouldn't consider marriage to someone who thinks that foreigners should just accept that they have to spend a lot of money to visit their wonderful Gorod. That they shouldn't be concerned about spending a lot of money. Wow, I can see it now, "buy me this, buy me that, you're rich, aren't you?"

What is it about this place, and why do they call it a "republic?" Make your call, Buffalo, New York, or Yoshkar-Ola.

What was the agencies that you know were fake? And which one was the one that treated you bad? Was it Virginia?

The are hotels for much cheaper there (I know a guy who paid around $20 / night a year ago).

The city is really not the friendliest place. I plan to visit it when I go to Russia next summer, just out of professional curiosity.

As for finding a soulmate in Y-Ola, I would stay as far away from that city as one can. The city is saturated with the scam culture.

NOoooo I can't believe I just spent over an hour writing and when I post the message it says I am logged out and of course when I log in the message is flushed. Then I realize I am in Yoshkar-Ola.

I arrived here early this morning. It's still the same. I told the taxi driver I wanted to go to the Hotel Virginia. He said okay and off we went. He delivered me to the Dating Agency Virginia, not the Hotel.

Before I left home (another city about 500 miles form here) I had asked the agency global7network if they would arrange an apartment for me. The owner was overseas, and he referred me to X, the office manager. Everyone in the office always refers everything to X. And X is usually not there. After unanswered calls, SMS text messages, and e-mails, I finally got someone at their office.

"Hello?" (Y answers).
"Hello."
"There is nobody here. Goodbye."

Try again.
"Hello?"
"Hello, is X there?"
"No, there is nobody here. Goodbye."

Once more.
"Hello?"
"Hello."
"There is nobody here - "
"WAIT! Podazhdeete! Zhdeete!"
"Yes?"
"Is X there?"
"No. There is nobody here."
I can't resist...
"That's true. You're out to lunch and no one else is there."
"I am not eating lunch. But there is no one here."
"But you're there."
"Yes, but there is no one here."
"But how can there be nobody there if you're there?"
She doesn't understand the complex logic of this statement.
Silence.
"Do you know when X will be back?"
"No."
"Do you know where she is? I phoned and sent e-mail, no answer."
"I don't know where she is."
This is true. At the office I noticed people would just abruptly get up from their desks and exit the office, telling no one what they were doing. I once asked Z where X was (she was not in the office) and Y said she did not know, or when she would return. I asked about this and Z said everyone just leaves without a word to anyone else. (X does everything in the office, because if you have a question, Y and Z, and the owner will say you have to talk to X. X is usually not in the office, and doesn't answer her phone. Isn't it odd, not to tell your officemates what you are doing when you leave the office? I am not talking about a smoke break, I mean if you are going to be gone for several hours?
"I need to know if she found an apartment for me."
"I will call her." Okay!
After a few minutes I call X again. She says that there are no apartments (who would've guessed?!) because there are two "foreigners" arriving next week. So what am I? Chopped shassleek? An honorary Russian?
I quickly searched the interent and reserved a room at Hotel Virginia at their website, expecting nothing. Incredibly, I got a confirmation, and acknowledment, on my cell phone, and via e-mail, within 2 hours, from Konstantin.

Now, back to the taxi who doesn't know where the Hotel Virginia is.
"I thought we were going to the Hotel Virginia." (Why would the driver think I want to go to a dating agency at 06:00 on Sunday morning? What, am I going to take my luggage on a date to the restaurant?)
The taxi driver: "You said Virginia."
So I overlooked this (I know I told him him several times Hotel Virginia, and he agreed) and got out my suicase and looked up the address I had written down. I showed him the address and repeated the address several times and it was one block away, but he didn't trust me, and he had to make two phone calls and verify that the Hotel Virginia was, indeed, around the corner from the Dating-Service Virginia.
Finally, we arrived. My mistake, I did not have change now. At the station, I had agreed to pay 100 rubles for a ride to the Hotel Virginia. I gave him a 500-ruble note, and ola!, he does have change. Then he keeps an exra 50 rubles.
I said, "You said 100 rubles."
He says, "But I have to make phone call."
First the taxi is so dumb as to not know his own city and the hotels in it, then he claims he went to all this extra trouble, but it is after I showed him the correct address.
"It is not my problem, if you do not know where to go."
Then he says "But you have luggage." Oh, so it's not his lack of knowledge of his own city, it's my luggage that caused his price to increase 50% from what he agreed to. What, does these people actually want foreigners to invest money here? If they screw you for 50 rubles, they think anyone would invest serious money here?

There is in some people here, this "desperate" look in their face. It doesn't matter what you say, or do, or act, this desperation never leaves their face. If you smile, you expect a smile back. NOT. It remains on their face, desperation. Even if you get mad, the desperate look stays in place, as if they are off on some secret section of planet Yoshkar-Ola, where ordinary humans are afraid to tread.

It is a Republic, the Republic of Mari-el. The state that Yoshkar-Ola is the capital of. I have no comprehension of how a "republic" got started or what it means, I think it means it is semi-independent. At least the people act independently of standard norms. Some of them speak Mari, a language similar to no other on earth. It is a sort of Pig-Latin of Russian.

I call them Marielito's the people who live here. It vaguely reminds me of the original Marielito's the ones from Cuba. During the Jimmy Carter administration, The president with 860 teeth was glad to accept 40,000 "refugees" on a massive boatlift from Cuba and was hailed as a great humanitarian. It turned out that Castro had emptied out his jails and insane asylums, so 40,000 loonies and people with low ethical standards were suddenly let loose on the streets of south Florida. Miami soon become the nation's leader in crime.

Also they stare at you, sometimes they look back at you with their heads turned almost all the way around, walking into telephone poles, if you capture their stare and stare back.

"Go away. Just get out of here." He's dismissed. I don't want to get a bad attitude, I just arrived here. It's just greed.
The bus is only 10 rubles.

Again I notice there are many "little people" here. I mean, I think maybe there could be some envronmental chemical or something that prevents people from attaining their full growth (physically and mentally). They are not dwarfs, but close. This place sometimes reminds me of a fictional locale, a fairy-tale, complete with dwarfs, gremlins, fairy godmothers, evil stepsisters and trolls, etc.

One other anecdote about Maxim agency (Dating-Agency Virginia). They had sent me several "letters" purportedly from interested-in-little-ol-me ladies, but they were pretty obvious (obvious to me, I am a writer, and know about writing styles!) that one person wrote all the letters. It would be ovbvious to just about anyone who doesn't reside in Yoshkar-Ola. Now I learned Maxim had passed away, about 6 months ago, and I went there out of curiosity and to express my condolences ( I had never been there). My cover story was to ask about taking Russian lessons. I had exchanged e-mails with Maxim about learning languages, and he was an interesting and intelligent fellow.

I was sure Virginia Agency was sending me bogus letters, because at that time I was corresponding with Natalia, and the same "Natalia" sent me an "introductory letter," from another agency. When I met Natalia, I asked her about it, and she said she had not sent me any letter from Agency Virginia, why should she, since we were already corresponding through lobal7network aganecy?

I asked the lady in the office if Maxim had a brother. (The first person I talked to in the office had looked very similar to Maxim).
"Yes, he does, but he is not here today."
"He has a brother?"
"Yes, he does, but he is not here today."
This is eeriely similar to the weirdness in the other dating agency's office. ("There is no one here.")
"Who was the person who came into your office with me, a few minutes ago? Who introduced me to you?"
She looked perplexed, then "Uh, oh yeah, his brother is here today."
Just another oddity in a city orbiting somewhere out in the slow lanes past Jupiter.
Perhaps, after inventing fictional people, it becomes difficult to remember real people? MPS - The missing person syndrome- found in the city of Yoshkar-Ola

At the hotel, they tell me that I have to register my visa, for 600 rubles. This is a new one on me, since I already registered the visa in Samara. OVIR even said there was no need to re-register. The hotel may be following by-the-book procedure. Which is that the visitor must register in every city he visits. However, the last hotel I visited (not in Yoshkar-Ola) did not need this, only my immigration card and visa. Maybe the authorities have their own scam going in YO.

Two days ago, I did an internet search for agencies in Yoshkar-Ola. In case Elena and I are not a match made in heaven. There was an agency Alina, that I thought was a scam, but they replied to my message asking for their address, and supplied an adress, although I wasn't able to find it on their web site.

I noticed there are 6 fulltime employees. Yeah, right.

If you are not sure if about being scammed (or who the real scammer is) you can find out with a $479 complete background search. Does it cost this much to prove what that you're being scammed? My friend in Samara (stayinsamara.com) will verify your "penpal" for $20.

$240 for "on-line" Russian lessons?

Should be interesting if I go there. I hope not to, I hope Elena works out. Elena already told me her opinion of the dating agencies in her city ("I am not registered with any of them, they are all dishonest.")

Oh, no I submitted my profile to Alina and already (in two hours) 4 ladies replied to me. Wow, I must be young, handsome and rich (not the opposite). Each reply is about the same length, and the choice of words is somewhat varied, but the styles are similar (you know it is the agency composing and sending these letters, not the ladies, otherwise the replies would be widely different - one would be terse, another talkative and long, one sweet and pining, one standoffish, etc.) But these invitations to respond are all the same, short, sweet and very interested in YOU.

I don't really want to advise anyone to stay away from here. By all means, come to Yoshkar-Ola, it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience! Disney World, fuhhgetabuodit! You will never have such a strange and wonderful time as in Planet Yoshkar-Ola.

I didn't realize there was a language called Pig-Latin! My apologies to Writer, I thought he was being not nice but maybe he wasn't!

Hope you're going to take some photo's of them.I for one would love to see what they look like! Plus what the REAL Y-O look's like other than the one's on the web.

I don't have anything against Mari or other languages. Sorry if I insulted anyone. I have an unfinished web site about languages (word-pal.com)

It is just that it seems that sometimes, when I talking to people here, they insert the key word in Mari. So, for example, they would say, "Don't forget your XXZZEER." (This is in Russian, so I understand the "Don't forget your" part, but the last word is in Mari, and I ask them to repeat, and then they say the word in Russian. It is like Americans speak, sometimes, putting in a word or two in Spanish.

The hotel room is kind of strange. There is no closet nor shelves to put your clothes. There is only a tiny triangular (?) coffee table and two tiny end tables (big enough for the telephone). The blanket for the bed is only half the size of the bed. The bed is big enough for a football team. The door is some deep varnished luminous red that almost seems alive in the evening when the sun shines on it.

I did meet Yelena. She is very interesting, intelligent and conversational. I am glad I came here.

Cdnexpat, I salute your stick-to-itivness. My Russian teach at the local community college (an American) explained in great detail how the Russia language developed and how every ending does, indeed, follow a pattern. I don't think a single person in the class knew what he was talking about!

Keni Morgan, don't despair, the one thing I can do sort of well, is read. Even if you don't understand the words, you can learn how to read them, because all the letters are usualy pronounced the same way wherever they appear (except for "e" and "o"). Of course, there is also the problem of which syllable to accent, this is very important...

Once you read them, they can become familiar to you as you mouth the words.

I was taking Russian lessons. They were only 2 hours, twice a week, but she gives much homework, so I spent 10 hours doing the homework. This is what i need, someone to "push" me, because you have to do all the work yourself, anyway. There are many ex-pat Russians living in US who can help you learn Russian.

FWIW, an American who is familiar with the faces with a lot of 'Y-0' debutantes, visited there.....and said he recognized more than one girl on the street.

I'm not sure there's any reason to go there except for a good laugh.

'Marielitos' is a funny comparison, since I worked in a detention center for them, and would love to see some of these 'marielitos' locked up, also.

Writer,

Good luck with your Russian studies. I know that it is not the easiest language to learn. But I am sure that "terpenie i trud vsje peretrut" (терпенье и труд все перетрут).

Whoops, looks like I posted in the wrong group