Encounter with Eastern Europe

by The Tacit Sage

It all started with a girlfriend in high school. She used to write notes in Russian. I’m positive those notes were the only Russian being written or read in all of Alkali Flats and environs. But a seed was planted.

Russia was such an exotic, forbidden sounding place. We were taught at so many levels that they were the bad guys. Of course I didn’t believe it and it didn’t matter anyway: I wanted to go to Russia, and I wanted to learn Russian. So I spent the next thirty years buying books, taking classes, carrying flash cards, and attempting—with very limited success—to learn the language of Leo Tolstoy, Peter Tchaikovsky, and Anton Chekhov.

Interestingly, my chance to go to Russia didn’t come until just recently when I ended up in neighboring Ukraine on a business trip. It’s hard to describe my time in Kyiv. It was exotic, but very established, so very old. I met people who were cautious but very friendly. The history, both ancient and recent, was inspiring; I wished I could have been present to see Vladimir the Great and the Orange Revolution.

Although I crammed, the ability to communicate became a frustration. Yes, Ukrainian and Russian are different, but especially in eastern Ukraine, Russian is easily understood. I wanted to do more but was only able to help translate in minor ways. Even so, it gave me a desire to do better the next time. And all said it was an amazing time in a wonderful place. We found that people, even in former Soviet Bloc countries, are just regular people: they respond to kindness, they’re eking out a living in tough political and economic times, and like you and me they have dreams for themselves and their children. I’d go back in a heartbeat.

And Russia? Yes, I was there for about two hours—in the airport. I sat by Svetlana on the flight to the United States, another beautiful example of humankind.

I came to realize even more, like the Russian agent in the most recent Mission: Impossible, "We are not enemies."

The Implication

Two Ukrainian proverbs:

“You don’t really see the world if you only look through your own window,” and, “You get farther with a friendly word than with a club.”

© 2012 Alkali Communications. All rights reserved.

Insets:

1. Orange Square graffiti, Kyiv

2. Andreyevsky Cathedral, Kyiv

3. Vladimir the Great monument, Kyiv

4. Downtown Kyiv

Clicking pictures will open them full sized.