Russian People

I could probably go on and on about my experiences with the Russian people here in Moscow.  For one, I'd hate to think that anyone would judge the people of my home state of Georgia by spending a few weeks in Atlanta, whatever their opinion of them may be.  I also understand my experience with the people of Moscow has been limited with regards to language barriers and time.  That's my disclaimer to this post.

With regards to the students in my class, including the 5 French students I have, they're amazing.  Daniel, one of the American students from Clemson University, said on Tuesday at the beginning of class "Each time I come to class it's like I'm going to church.  We all ask each other how you're doing and shake everyone's hands".  It's true.  Any student that passes me on the way to their seat always shakes my hand and they typically all ask how I've been, what I did the night before (if they weren't with us when we did it) and if I slept well.  Throw in a question about if us Americans are staying warm too.  The students really admire their professors over here.  I've been told that it's common among all of their classes by other professors.  I'm reluctant to think that it's mostly because I'm an American visiting professor.  I can't say enough about the quality of students in my class.  They're great.  There's a picture of the group from our trip to John Deere attached to the blog.

The people of Moscow that we've encountered on the metro and in the stores can be wrapped up in a couple of characteristics.  For one, they're very quiet.  When we went to the big grocery store, the equivalent to Walmart, we Americans could just listen to figure out where each of us were.  We would get separated and within a couple of seconds could find the group if we listened to the surrounding aisles.  I'm not sure if that means that as Americans we are very loud, or that the Russian people are very quiet.  However, it's the same way on the metro train ride.  The metro is pretty loud and if we want to have a conversation we have to speak up a little.  The Russians don't speak on the train.  The second thing that I've noticed is that they are very determined and focused.  They walk very quickly wherever they are going (possibly to get out of the weather).  It's a sense of determination that isn't as universally obvious in America.  In the stores, they're on a mission.  There isn't a lot of lolly-gagging (that's a technical term).  Their determination/focus seems to spill over into their work and study as well.  They're mainly concerned with their own actions, and really don't acknowledge others.  One of the students in class mentioned how you could go to the mall or downtown dressed crazy or different than everyone else and no one would even notice.  From my brief experience over here, I'm inclined to agree.

On Wednesdays we take trips to various agricultural industry locations.  We've been to John Deere and today we went to a 2,000 hectare farm that focuses on milk and potato production.  I want to say that it belongs to the government, I'm not very sure.  It produces the milk and potatoes for schools and universities, without selling them to the public.  At both locations the people have been incredibly hospitable.  They're genuinely proud of their professions and want to share their knowledge with others. It has little to do with the fact that we're foreign.  At John Deere I asked about internships for our students and they stayed with our Russian students for a good 30 minutes after the presentation to get contact information and discuss opportunities with the Russian students within John Deere.  At the dairy today each student walked away with a liter of milk and kefir (I'm not a fan of kefir, as I mistakenly grabbed some at the store across the street when I thought it was milk.  I found out it wasn't after turning it up for a nice big gulp from the bottle).  They're happy to answer questions and show us around.

The surroundings here when you look at buildings, the streets, and the metro (what I've mostly experienced) seems lacking in infrastructure.  Being exposed to the Russian people's work ethic, I can't imagine how this country would prosper if the infrastructure was equal to that of America (and I consider ours lacking in many areas).

Regardless of the political situation brewing because of Syria, I know the people here are good people.  One may question their leadership and politics, but I can't question the merit of the people I have come to know.  Ivan Drago, you had me fooled.