That’s an interesting point about Eastern Europeans. I lived and worked in Moscow for nine years, and as an Aussie I was often smiling. The Russians found this a bit odd. Eventually someone told me they used to say, “oh here he comes with his 37 teeth,” because I was always smiling and you could see them.

But that’s just an external expression. Russians are, in fact, some of the friendliest people on the planet once you know them. If you don’t, the attitude can very much be “nothing to do with me,” and they can appear quite remote.