What's the deal with Russians hating ice?

i LOVE ice. Russia is FULL of ice. So, what's the deal with Russians hating ice? I seriously don't get it. I would have thought that a country covered in ice many months out of the year would be so used to ice, that it would not be a big deal to put ice in drinks, but apparently, that's not what the "cool kids" are doing nowadays in Russia. Or maybe they never were.

Before heading to Russia, I had heard a little about how getting ice in Russia is a bit odd. But I did not really believe it until I had arrived. Of course I wanted to test it out the first time I went to a Russian restaurant, so I asked for ice in my drink. The waitress's response: "почему?". I was at first stunned for a second because I thought to myself " What do you mean, 'why?' because I want it THAT'S why!" Of course I did not say this to the woman. I just smiled politely and said to her, "потому что мне нравится лед". She then told me that she would bring me the ice, but would have to charge me 20 rubles. This is when I stared at her for a moment, giving her the "are you fucking kidding me?" stare. Then I finally just told her that was fine, I just wanted ice. 

When I finally got my glass of ice (no water in it....that would have to come separately in a bottle), I shit you not, there were 2 ice cubes in it. I then asked the waitress if they ran out of ice cubes, but I don't think she understood my sarcasm because she just answered no. So yeah.....that was my first experience with ordering ice in Russia. It definitely wasn't my last. i AM an American after all....and we love ice in all our drinks. Me especially. I love my drinks especially cold. I am seriously THAT guy who will put ice in his milk. Not always, but when I want it extra cold.

I began researching to find out why this ordering ice thing was such a big deal. I came across an article that gave a bunch of different answers:
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/03/ice-enough-already/

After reading that article, the only reason for Russians not liking ice in their drinks that made sense to me was the whole health issue. Because, yes....Russia's water supply is pretty crappy. This is why you can't get water on tap anywhere, and can only get water in bottles....and you have to always boil your water at home on top of using water filters. But yeah.. as for that, I feel that if you're a restaurant, you shouldn't be serving dirty ice cubes anyways. And it's seriously not that hard to boil some water, put that water in an ice tray, and make ice. voila! Then I could actually see why one would charge for ice cubes. Even then...if you're gonna charge for ice cubes, more than 2 would be nice. Jus sayin....

Anyways, of COURSE i'm going to be bringing a couple ice trays with me, which seems pretty crazy because that would probably be the last thing someone would think about taking with them on a long ass trip to a country made of ice.

 I can't even remember If i saw ice trays in the stores... I'm pretty sure I saw some at Ashan (omg-love/hate relationship with that store, but I'll get to that later....) but yeah.. i just want to be on the safe side. and who knows...maybe i'll end up bringing over some cute-shaped ice trays. maybe mustaches? maybe unicorns? maybe hearts or stars? who knows...the possibilities are endless! lol!

aHA! i have decided. Since I am a princess, i should have an ice palace! JUST like this happy-looking girl! then my life would be complete!!!!!!! sort of.
okay. I have just spent about 25 minutes looking at cute and adorable ice molds. I am officially a super girly-girl nerd who has too much time on her hands. Actually... i dont have time on my hands. But i just kept finding cuter and cuter molds.

okay. that's enough for now. that is ENOUGH on ice and ice molds!!!

until next time....... <3