Юлия Борисовна Кузьменкова - Russian She-bear in American and British Settings. A cross-cultural travelogue

Юлия Кузьменкова

Russian She-bear in American and British Settings

Across-cultural travelogue

Drawing by K. Puzankov

© J. Kuzmenkova

© K. Puzankov

Part 1. America and Americans: from wow to how

How it all began

Ive got a call on a gloomy wintry morning not the best time for the news. No, not for me. And in my place anyone would be taken aback and get a bit suspicious woken from a drowse by something like that: My congratulations, Julia! Youve got it! Ready to jump with joy, arent you? Why should I? In the declining post crisis Russia there were few reasons for good humour rather for well-founded pessimism.

I couldnt afford being discourteous and of course Ive made all the appropriate noises over the phone: thats great, thank you, oh, yes, Im awfully touched and so on but perhaps some of my mood came to the surface and was immediately noticed. You didnt catch it, the motherly reproach came.Its a stroke of luck. Youre on the 1999 list for the IVP. Come at once and Ill tell you the details. The journey will probably change your whole outlook.

Maybe the wise girl is right, I thought and looked out obediently. Nothing in the air spoke of any change other than impending rain so nice for November. Inside it wasnt much better either. My kitchen where the call had reached me badly needed repairs after twenty years of  I hope its easy to guess what and it had been number one on my urgent changes priority list for centuries. Yes, the call was from the American Embassy but I simply couldnt afford indulging in surprises.After all, Ive got a family to take care of, not to mention my professional projects and quite a heap of administrative work to do. Slightly curious though as to what on earth had this IVP (sounding suspiciously similar to VIP whom Ive never been) to do with me I was walking towards the embassy. It started to rain heavily (another uninspiring fact) when I reached the premises still wondering what was going to happen to me in the nearest future.

What I came to realise was quite an event. Going to the United States for three weeks as a member of the International Visitor Program (IVP) with the group of Russian teachers of English to uncover the aspects of the American education system That was unheard of! Moreover, to have your joint report accepted by an international conference board and on top of it, to have all the expenses covered by the American government that sounded too good to be true. I needed time to digest the news, as Russians say.

The enormity of the news discovered went home, Ive got a funny feeling of being an impostor. There should be a kind of mistake, those fine things couldnt be intended for me, they are for some ethereal VIPs, and Im just an ordinary human being. (When the matter was discussed later in the USA, it turned out that nearly all the members of our team reacted almost in exactly the same way on learning the news). It was pure chance, just as if you suddenly won in a lottery. But if it were really a lottery I would be on the losers side, as usual.

Yes, that really sounded a bit too good Suddenly a chorus of voices started shouting and raging in my head.

No, no way, dear! one of them yelled. What about kids? another implored. And more pressing work? the third slyly inquired. But the most persuasive was the fourth.

Hey, just think properly. Youll have to abandon you daily routine for a month or even more, to have jet lag problems, to be on guard every single hour, to communicate with all imaginable and unimaginable sorts of people And on top of it youll have to leave your cosy bear den with thousand and one small things, small thoughts, small deeds trifles you cherish no matter how small they are and even dearer being small.

Oh, I instantly recognized the latter voice it was my primal inner opponent, my inner she-bear self. Normally deeply hidden but most reasonable and convincing as no one else when voicing an opinion. The best way to deal with it was just to ignore before it could score too many points to become irresistible. So thats what I did for the time being. Successfully, it seemed.

So I began digging in my past looking for an explanation something plausible to retain my safety belt of scepticism. About a couple years ago I was making a report on typical mistakes in cross-cultural communication at a Moscow conference. The room was full of familiar and not so familiar faces of our compatriots; somewhat relaxed I felt free to offer comparisons of the kind: we are used to, they misinterpret it, our mentality is too they cannot grasp the difference While thus speaking less and less formally I suddenly caught my breath to my sheer confusion I'd spotted in the periphery of my view a face or two that undoubtedly belonged to them. Proceeding now with greater caution I was at the same time trying to remember whether in my agitation I could have used a phrase or a gesture that mightve been offensive. Thatd be a capital joke: while theorising about possible dangers of losing cross-cultural awareness to fall into the same trap! I wound it all up rather smoothly and was about to leave the room when to my returning horror one of them raised her hand and said shed like to speak to me after the session ended. Youve got it; theres no one else to blame, I thought waiting for the lady to approach. Having introduced herself, she said that she was much interested (oh, thank God) in the subject discussed and offered further cooperation.

And it so happened that our keeping in touch was followed by filling some forms and papers related to a nominee selection for the IVP which were duly sent to officials in Washington. They benevolently granted their consent but I still have suspicions that it was mostly due to the fact that Id last travelled abroad some twenty years ago

Sightseeing

On a cold winter day our team boarded the plane due to take us to the unknown shores of America which we were eager to explore. And it was probably symbolic when after some four or five hours of tiresome flying we were rewarded by a unique chance of catching a breath-taking sight of vast fields intertwined by hills covered with snow glistening in the sun. The landscape below was fantastic reviving in the memory surreal polar scenes from Poe and Lovecraft. We searched for traces of human presence or interference and unconsciously, despite our rational selves for signs of strange and unknown creatures crossing the land and erecting their eerie buildings but found neither. It looked as if those untouched and unknown vistas of rocks and snow lay guarding their fascinating and horrible secrets. Later we learnt that it was Greenland, the green part of the name being rather misleading.

After our exhausting 11 hours journey we landed in Washington, D. C. America welcomed us by chilling wind and zero temperature. The weather was unusually cold for this time of the year and ever-present evergreens and poor remaining pansies were suffering from frost. Slightly dazed we speculated how we were going to survive the after-effects of the jet-lag. Our programme was packed quite densely starting at about 8.30 and going into the late afternoon and we had only Sunday to recuperate before our lectures and visiting tours began.

Sightseeing proved to be an amusing source of gaining cultural experience. The tour around Washington was a great success; we had a local guide, young and enthusiastic, who really knew and loved his city. Still we were also able to show him a peculiar feature in the capital. While sitting in the Capitol that fine after noon my attention was caught by a huge old clock I noticed that the time it showed was somewhat strange. Wed seen quite a number of street clocks showing time in different cities of the world; but outside there were several clocks and here in the hall only one. Then my glance suddenly fell on my watch which showed 8.30 p. m. Moscow time (I didnt change it during the entire journey) and I suddenly realised that it was exactly the time I spotted on the wall clock. I turned for explanations to our guide but he only suggested that the clock had stopped. Content with that and thinking it was just a coincidence, I was curious enough to have another look at the clock in five minutes. Imagine my astonishment when it was showing 8.35 the Kremlin time in the House of Representatives in the Capitol! I had a funny feeling as if my proud she-bear happily clapped her paws.