Alright, alright, I know it's been like a week since I last posted. Nothing exciting has happened in that time! And as much as I know you're all hanging on my every word, I'm sure you'd get bored quickly if I filled this blog with posts about how I stayed inside on my computer for the entire three-day holiday weekend, then overslept and missed the make-up class on Sunday. Liz and I went out, along with Elizabeth, for a little while Friday night. We got some tasty Chinese food and later attempted to go to a gay club with Jorge and his friend Max; they wouldn't let the girls in, so we left, grabbed some snackies at a produkty and hung out in the apartment for a while. Oh, and I got my passport back, complete with shiny new multi-entry visa, from the university. They didn't lose my documents again, yay! The fact that the multi-entry visa is both larger than and not attached to the passport does kind of bother me, though. I suppose if it all stays in its pouch it'll be fine.
This evening, Brenda and Corinne and I met with a friend of Sergei's by the name of Tamara. She's the sweetest old lady, brimming with knowledge about Russian culture. We're meeting with her Friday evening, and next week on Wednesday and Friday as well. This is the kind of thing I was expecting to do for the entire Russian Psyche class, so it's cool that we're finally getting to it. I mean, I've enjoyed the other stuff we've done (making syrniki, watching movies), but this is what I was interested in in the first place. We're squeezing 8 lectures on Russian history and culture into 4 lengthy visits to this woman's apartment, and I'm already looking forward to going back.
Tonight's lectures were just a sort of overview to gauge our familiarity with the subject matter and get to know each other a little bit. Tamara has been a teacher and professor of many topics of Russian culture, as well as Russian and English language courses. She taught in the US for 12 years during the Soviet era, and was alive even during Stalin's reign, although she was just a child (she said she was 7 or 8 when he died). She basically told us about her life, things she's observed in her years of experience and travel, the disparity between common stereotypes and what she (and we) have observed, and the general features of the Russian character. According to Tamara, the main feature of the Russian psyche (
Even during the Soviet era, when everyone was nominally atheist, people would still observe religious rites (e.g., baptizing an infant), simply because that's what you were supposed to do. Baptizing an infant had little to do with anyone's personal faith; it was just part and parcel of the whole song-and-dance that accompanies a baby's entrance into this world. From what Tamara said and what I've read in the book I bought for this class, Christianity's influence on Russian culture was really more of a structural effect than anything else; it recontextualized and gave new names to many facets of the old pagan beliefs. The decision to adopt Christianity, as opposed to any other religion, came about after the Tsar sent people all over the world to learn about other cultures; upon attending a Greek Orthodox service in Byzantium, the emissaries were so taken by the beauty of it all that they "were certain they were in heaven, for nothing so beautiful could exist on earth." Yes, sometimes crucial decisions like the theology upon which a country will be governed is based on frivolous things like "who has the prettiest churches?" You do have to hand it to them, though; Russian cathedrals are gorgeous.
Evidence of Russian piety (regardless of the affiliation of their particular God or gods) is found all over the place in the language. There are a lot of words referring to successful people or people with particular attributes (being very strong, etc) that contain the root "Bog," which is the Russian (actually etymologically Ukrainian, but who's counting) word for "God." For instance, in Russian, the name by which the Virgin Mary is referred to translates literally to "mother of God." No one here calls her Mary, Saint Mary, or the Virgin; they call her the Holy Mother. In icons, she is typically pictured cradling the baby Jesus in a very maternal fashion; as opposed to many Western depictions of the Madonna and Child, where said Madonna functions more like a human-shaped chair for said Child. Whereas in Western Christian tradition, the emphasis is on Mary's spiritual (or physical) purity and the Immaculate Conception, Russian Orthodoxy places huge emphasis on the fact that she gave birth to a child, nevermind the details of the child's or her own conception. In many ways, this echoes the idea of "Mother Earth," and by extension "Mother Russia." Motherhood is huge in Russian culture; as an interesting aside, a lot of Russian profanity is centered around the womb (contrast American profanity, which is mostly sexual, or French profanity, which is mostly religious).
Russians are also incredibly superstitious. I could write an entire blog post on Russian superstitions, but I think I'd have to spend the rest of my time here researching it first. For instance, no Russian will shake your hand over a threshold--one of you must pass through the door first, or it's bad luck. An unmarried girl should not sit at the corner of a table, or else she won't be married for a certain number of years (I think it was 7); if the seating arrangement is such that someone must sit at the corner, a married woman will take that seat. A lot of the superstition comes from the influence of East and Central Asian cultures, which provides me a convenient segue into addressing the third aspect of the dual nature of the Russian psyche.
Russians attribute their love of beautiful things and refinement to their European heritage. At the same time, however, they acknowledge that they are a brutal people. Which is understandable; Russia is a brutal place. But still. Russian men, as an example, swear a lot, drink a lot, are violent, etc. These unsavory attributes are usually blamed on the influence of Asian cultures (chiefly the Tatars). Russia exists in a strange place between Europe and Asia proper; the citizens' appearance is largely European, but they are living in what is, geographically speaking, Asia. There is also a lot of prejudice against people who look Asian (or otherwise ethnic, but particularly Asians); I can't imagine what life is like here for the Chinese and Japanese students enrolled at my faculty. Presumably, they're treated with at least a modicum of respect by academics and those in the university's employ, but when venturing out into the city, I can't help but wonder what they experience.
The chat with Tamara was kind of a massive information-dump, but it was certainly informative. I'm super excited to go back. She's also got a pupil that she tutors in English by the name of Olga, who is going to talk to us (to practice her English) on Friday over tea and cakes. She likes the Beatles and old movies, and she's leaving Sunday for Prague, and that is all I know about her. Maybe we'll end up practicing our Russian, too, I don't know. But it certainly promises to be an enjoyable evening.
The rest of this week is also jam-packed with stuff. Tomorrow night we're going to see a play (performed in English by American students, because it's free and Sergei and his other Russian students are also coming), then Friday we're going back to Tamara's, then Saturday we're touring the Peter and Paul Fortress and attending some kind of Frida Kahlo-themed flamenco dance show. Maybe if I get a minute to rest on Sunday I'll post about it all. Things calm down a bit after Saturday; next week the only thing besides regular class is going back to Tamara's on Wednesday and Friday evening. We have another lecture with Sergei on the following Tuesday, and then Corinne and I leave with the Elizabeths for Estonia on the 29th, and that about does it for March.
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