One year, two Easters

As it happened, this spring I celebrated two Easters. The Orthodox Easter has just passed, on April 27. The Catholic-Protestant Easter occurred this year almost a month earlier, while we were in Arizona, on March 23.

I didn't see any celebrations in America. We went to the Grand Canyon that day. The only sign of Easter I saw was that fewer Native Americans were selling souvenirs on that day. The commercials advertized either "Easter sales" or "spring sales". No other noticeable signs of Easter.

In Russia, every Easter week we have an excursion to the Church on the Blood. Why that particular week? Because then people are allowed to ring the bells! The view from the Bell Tower is breathtaking. My students and our American and German friends put on earphones and pulled the strings of the bells. (Photo: Talitha, a 4-year old American girl.) A professional bell-ringer was there to help us enjoy ourselves and, if possible, to save the city from a terrible cacophony of sounds. He showed us what to do and how to do it and played the main tune. "The tuneful peal rang on" floated above the city for a whole week. What a joy for Christians! What a nuisance for non-believers and tourists who are sleepy or hung-over in the morning!

Two cultural scenarios

Is there any difference in how Russians and Americans behave in theaters and stadiums? I have a maniacal interest in how cultural scenarios vary from culture to culture.

1. A Broadway Show
Theaters in Russia run up to 15 or more different performances each month. So, you can go to the same theater every day of the week and see something new. In America, or in New York at least, one theater runs one and the same show every night. If you want to see something new, go next door, to another theater. (We enjoyed the musical Hair Spray, and now I remember it every time I wash my hair.) One show may run for months and even years. Well, really, why trade good for worse? Actors polish their acting and singing. People go to see their favorite shows again and again, and they know all the words by heart, and at the end they often stand up and sing along together with the actors.

And yet, I wonder how it feels when you go on stage for the 100th time and have a hunch this groundhog day will last for who knows how long? I must go online and look for statistics of suicides among Broadway show actors.

2. A Basketball Game
I wanted to see basketball March madness. It's a fancy term which means end of the season games of university basketball teams. That couldn't be arranged but our hosts from the Department of State kindly offered us a substitute: an NBA game between New York Knicks and Orlando Magic. The game itself was good. However, I expected cheering to be somewhere between 8.0 and 9.0, according to the Richter magnitude scale. Alas, that was not to be. Cheering was good and whole-hearted but our Russian fans cheer as cheerfully. Ok, the fact has been established and dutifully filed.

Now, here comes the dessert. The most curious thing about circuses, stadiums, and theaters in the two countries is how people get to their seats! In Russia, we say "excuse me", those already sitting usually stand up unsmilingly, and we squeeze to our seats facing them, with our backs to the stage. In America, people say "excuse me" and smile, those already sitting smile back and usually don't stand up, and Americans squeeze to our seats facing the stage, with their backs to the sitting (or standing) people. My American friends explain that the latter approach is more rational, because in this case people don't kick each others' knees. My Russian friends counter by saying that seeing a face is better than... eh... you know...

Elevator cultures

A careful observer will notice that, when trapped in an elevator, Russians and Americans behave differently. Our Russian culture is more Eastern, is a "group culture". It manifests itself in diverse ways: long feasts with many people around the big table and lots of sophisticated toasts, sayings like Mir ne bez dobrykh ludey (People kind and fair are everywhere) and Na miru i smert krasna (Meeting your death is no fear/is a blessing when there are people near you), etc.

In Russia, people in elevators stand in a circle, while in America and Europe they stand in rows. I surfed the Net looking for any observations about elevator culture in different countries. That's what I found at http://invisiblehandinyourpants.wordpress.com/ :

"Elevator culture in Chile: The first person onto the elevator holds the door open, temporarily assuming the position of elevator attendant. He/she waits for everyone in sight to enter and then allows the door to close.

"Elevator culture in America: Everyone stands in the back of the elevator, hoping it will shut in the face of the fat woman stampeding towards the closing door and thus enabling them to begin their journey 2.5 seconds sooner. If successful, smirks and furtive glances are exchanged."

Skyscrapers, skyscrapers, and I feel so small...

Skyscrapers, skyscrapers, and I feel so small... (Neboskryoby, neboskryoby, a ya malenkiy takoy...) These are words from a song which any mainstream Russian would know. In Manhattan, you do feel small and insignificant. We lived on the 21st floor of the Sheraton Manhattan hotel. (Enjoy the view from the window.) At times I felt like a jailbird.

Bulls and bears

In my previous entry I mentioned Wall Street. As a text that we translate with my students says, "Stock market speculators fall into two groups. One group, commonly known as bulls, hopes to profit by correctly predicting an increase in the value of a stock. The other group, bears, hopes to profit by correctly predicting a decrease in the value of a stock. Bulls are said to "buy long." That is, they buy stocks intending to hold them until they can be sold at a higher price.

"Bears "sell short." Expecting the price of a stock to fall, bears borrow the stock from their brokers and sell it at today's price. If and when the price does fall, they repurchase the stock at the lower price, return it to their brokers, and pocket the differ­ence. The broker is paid a fee for these services.

"The exact origin of the terms "bull" and "bear" is not known. However, you can re­member what kind of market they refer to because bull's horns point up and a bear lumbers along looking down at the ground."

There is a sculpture of a bull on Wall Street. Those tourists who know at least something about blue chips, stock exchanges and such, touch its horns. Those who think little of business and much of life after a working day ends, touch the opposite part(s) of its body. Which part of the bull would you touch?!

Friends will be friends

What's the chance of meeting a friend in a city like New York. One zillionth? Less? I met 4 (f-o-u-r -- four!) my friends from Yekat! Ok, ok. I admit I didn't meet them by chance. We had arranged it many days and many miles before that day. Anyway, it was nice seeing them: Ludmila Razumova (leftest) and Alla Onischenko (closest to me) with whom we had worked shoulder to shoulder at my college for a few years, and Alla's two daughters - Sophie (blackest) who studies now in Britain and who used to be my student and that's why is still somewhat shy when talking to me, and Miranda (pinkest and youngest) who used to be friends with my daughter and now is more American than Russian.

That was quite a reunion! Lucy teaches comparative literature and is married to a wonderfully accomplished mathematician Okhtai. It's Okh for friends which is curious because, first, it sounds and means something like ouch for a Russian ear, and, second, it's unpronounceable for most Americans because - despite the history of the English language - today they just can't pronounce the hard sound h. Okhtai is used to introducing himself as Oktai and after having worked for Google is now working on Wall Street.

Alla is a happy mother of two happy and very talented and very different daughters. Writing about her/them will probably take me days, and I guess I better do it by doses. For now, I'll just say that she's happily married to Jorgen /'yor-ghen/ who is not an accomplished mathematician but is a born-and-yet-self-made entrepreneur with a head of a mathematician. As my wife is also an accomplished mathematician, I wonder whether it's a kind of Karma for an accomplished linguist??

TESOL Convention

TESOL /'tee-sawl/ stands for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. We took part in their annual convention which lasted a few days. What was it like? Hundreds of people walking in all directions, scores of presentations going on simultaneously in dozens of rooms of 2 big hotels - the Hilton and the Sharaton Manhattan - and on a few floors of the educational exhibition. It all looked like a huge anthill. I felt like an ant, an English-speaking ant. I had never seen so many English teachers in one place before! It must have been scary for those students who hate English!! Nightmares for weeks on end are guaranteed!!!

My loyal readers, I wouldn't like you to yawn thru my lengthy descriptions of those eventful days. Here are just a few conclusions that I made:

1. Americans finally realized that teaching English is a good business and they are coming!

(The Britons had realized it a few years before that and had already occupied many markets, Russia including. In fact, I sometimes think that Russia is the last stronghold of the British empire.)

2. Contrary to my expectations, paper dictionaries are still being published and promoted.

3. Today both students and teachers are looking for interaction in the classroom.

4. Online and proactive teaching/learning have a great future.

I wish I could live long enough to see a similar global convention of teachers of Russian!

I wanna wake up in the city that doesn't sleep

Our flight from Portland to Chicago was delayed for 2 hours. As a compensation, on board I enjoyed the company of a 6-month-old princess. She didn't understand Russian, but was fluent in babbling in English and French. We chose English as our lingua franca and played happily all the way to Chicago.

The flight from Chicago to NYC was delayed for 2 hours. (Why am I not surprised?) We spent those exciting hours on the tarmac. They didn't feed us on board (they never do in America, just drinks and an occasional miniature pretzel), which buoyed up everyone's spirits. By the time we arrived at the hotel, I was starving. At 2 a.m. a group of hungry Russians stalked streets of New York for food. There were quite a few people on streets. New York didn't sleep. One guy walked along the street with a cat on his head. The cat obviously didn't mind.

I realized I was humming a tune of Frank Sinatra's song all night until I finally got to bed in the morning. Hum along with me!:

Start spreading the news, I'm leaving today
I want to be a part of it - New York, New York
These vagabond shoes, are longing to stray
Right through the very heart of it - New York, New York

I wanna wake up in a city, that doesn't sleep
And find I'm king of the hill - top of the heap

These little town blues, are melting away
I'll make a brand new start of it - in old New York
I'm gonna make a brand new start of it - in old New York
And if I can make it there, I'm gonna make it anywhere
It's up to you - New York, New York

New York, New York,
I want to wake up in a city, that never sleeps
And find I'm A number one, top of the list, king of the hill
A number one

These little town blues, are melting away
I'm gonna make a brand new start of it - in old New York
And if I can make it there, I'm gonna make it anywhere
It's up to you - New York, New York