At the Movies

Tomorrow (Wednesday) is a national holiday in Russia.  It is Teacher's Day.  It's still a working day, but students teach the classes, and they give a concert for the teachers.  In honor of Teacher's Day, the rector of the Institute in Orsk invited all of the teachers and their families to a viewing of an American film, dubbed in Russian, at a local movie theater, and I went along for the experience and some language exposure.

Have you seen the recently released film "Abduction"?  It's an action thriller directed by John Singleton and starring Taylor Laurner, Lily Collins, and Sigourney Weaver.  I saw it today with my new Russian friends in a modern high-tech movie theater with high resolution projection, a fantastic sound system, and comfortable, reserved seats with lots of leg room.  I didn't understand all of the plot (until I read a Wikipedia synopsis of it after the fact) but it was easy to tell what was going on in the film.   Set in the US, the film was full of American good guys and Russian bad guys who were both after the same young American guy, the Americans trying to save him and the Russians trying to kill him.  Scene after scene showed the Russian guys shooting the American guys and the American guys shooting the Russian guys with interspersed scenes of car chases, explosions, and lots of action fighting.  The film has a happy ending, with the good American guys beating the bad Russian guys.

Professor Olga's son loved the film!

About half way through the film, my mind flashed back to a chance meeting I had with a Russian economics professor at the Institute the other day.  He had asked me a question that he thought I could give a simple answer to, "What is life like in America?  The only image we have of it is what we see at the movies."  I asked him if he had two free hours for me to answer that question, and he invited me into his class to speak about life in the US, which I did with the help of some English majors who translated my 45 minute impromptu speech.  That professor was at the movie theater today with many others.  After today's film experience, I can only shake my head and ask myself what they must think of us.  I have my work cut out for me as a cultural ambassador!

First Days in Russia

The Adventure Begins!  

Meeting the vice rector (left) with Marina (right)

After almost two days of travel with a nine hour layover in the Moscow airport, I arrived in Orsk, Russia, at 2:00 in the morning on Friday, September 30th.  The head of the Institute's English department, Marina, and her husband were there to welcome me, and move me into my room at the student dispensary.  What is a student dispensary, you wonder?  So did I.  I thought it was going to be a student dormitory.  It is far from it.  The dispensary is actually a facility where students can live while they are being treated for minor medical problems, and it also has guest rooms for special guests.  I am in one of the guest rooms, and it more like being in a hotel than a dorm.  My room is not huge, but it has a comfortable bed, a stuffed arm chair, a private bath, refrigerator, a radiator heater, and a 13" color TV with rabbit ears.  The only thing I've noticed missing so far is a laundry facility, so I'll be washing my clothes in the sink and drying them on the radiator - a very workable solution.

NOT cafeteria food!  Yum!!

After just three and a half hours of sleep, I got up at 7:00 to begin a full first day.  I met the director of the dispensary and had breakfast (the dispensary has a marvelous dining hall with wonderful food).  Then it was off to the Institute with Marina for morning meetings with the rector, two vice rectors, and a dean.  In the afternoon, I was a special guest at a meeting of the English Speaking Club ABC, where about 50 students all wanted to take their photos with me!

The English Speaking Club ABC

 From 4-6pm I sat in on a tutoring session with two gifted high school students after which I had a wonderful dinner of carrot salad, salmon, and mashed potatoes.  I crashed in bed by 8:30 and slept through the night.  

Taking photos with the "native speaker"

On Saturday, another Professor, Denis, spent the afternoon taking me on a walking tour of the city and helped me take care of all of the practical details, like getting set up with Internet access, a cell phone, and laundry detergent!

This weekend, I'm beginning to prepare lessons and presentations for several upcoming special events.  

Starting tomorrow, I'll be guest teaching in two different classes each day so that by the end of my stay, all of the English students will have had interactions with me.  I've also been asked to write a paper for a conference, give a presentation to the Institute's professors on the American education system, and prepare a three hour workshop for high school English teachers.  As you can imagine, I'm not sitting around bored!

Thanks to all of you who were keeping your fingers crossed that I would get a good Internet connection.  With the help of my new friends, I was able to get a USB modem set up that gives me Internet access anywhere I take my laptop!

This blog expresses my personal views.  It is not an official web site of the Department of State nor does it represent the Fulbright Program or the Department of State.

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