Life Interview

Interviewee: Olga Moskalova Skyler Vanderhoof Dance and Culture 1010 TR 5:30-7:50 7/11/13

Thesis Statement & Research Methods For my Life history interview I chose a very close friend of mine that emigrated here from Russia. She lived in the southern part of Russia close to the black sea that is actually not a part of Russia anymore. I have always been interested in her life there due to the fact that she emigrated here when she was 30 years old, so she is full of information in Russian culture. We set up one meeting since we are close friends and spoke for about two hours over dinner. I felt the interview went very well. We have a close relationship so I felt very comfortable asking about her life in Russia including questions that some people may not ask. Discussion I learned so much that we hadnt talked about in the past and was very surprised as some of the things that she told me about Russian culture. We talked about many different topics such as food and family experiences to religion and her emigration to the United States. General Living in Russia Olga said when you first arrive in Russia, one the first and biggest things that you will think are that people are not friendly. When you look at people they will look away where in American culture most will smile at you or possibly ask how you are doing. Once you interact with people you will find that this is not the case and people actually are very nice and welcoming, but initially they seem very cold. Olga was very shocked when she arrived in United States and felt somewhat uncomfortable with everyone being so friendly with her, but it was one of the things she liked most about moving here. This is something that would most likely be a culture shock for me since I am very used to being friendly with people that I am not familiar with.

Family Life One thing that Olga loves about American culture is larger families and family values. In Russian culture the father does not play a huge role in the family like they do here. In a typical Russian home, there is no more than one child. Economics play a large part in this, but also the Russian culture is very oriented in a child upbringing in the aspect of school and activities. Most children in American culture come home and from school and help with chores and things around the house. In Russian culture, a child will go straight from school and go to activities such as dancing, tennis, soccer, etc. The mother of the family typically takes care of everything in a household such as cleaning, cooking, etc. so that her child does not have to worry about things like this. The childs main priority is gaining an education and being involved in as many activities as possible. When there is more than one child, you cannot give as much and have your children in as many activities. When she moved to America, one of the first things she started doing within her house was implement chores and responsibility in her children. The strong, independent aspect of upbringing that American culture has was a good upbringing in her eyes. It almost seemed that the mother would give up her own life and forget about herself for her child. This is something that would be hard for me as a parent since I was raised in the typical American household where you were held accountable for any action that you made and was raised to be a very independent person. Olga felt that you did not teach your children how to live and work at a young age so work ethic tends to lack in youth. Economics When Olga was living in Russia it was a strong communist country so your take home money was funded by the government. If you were a government official family, you were very well

taken care of and had things such as a car that most people did not have. In conjunction with above family topic, economics played a huge role in how families stay together through their life. Most people in Russia cannot afford their own apartment let alone their own home. Due to this, families lived together through their life into old age. Some families have three generations living in one apartment due to lack of money and a shortage of apartments in the country. Once you start working and have children you and your spouse will live with one of your parents until they pass away and you inherit their living space. You can also get some conflict issues with this living situation due to fact that your parents and grandparents feel that they need a strong say in how your child is raised. Olga felt that she did not raise her oldest son since her mother felt she was a more experienced mother and had better input which was very hard on her. Life Cycle When it comes to Russian culture, the elderly are very respected and looked as someone that is very wise. In American culture, this tends to lack in many areas. When a family member becomes ill or elderly that can no longer function on their own, Americans will put that family member in a home where they do not have face those challenges and can continue their life as normal. In Russian culture since you are all living together, you rely on each other and take care of your parents in old age until the passing of that family member. They feel that this strengthens family bonds and increases love within a household along with better care of that family member. In the Russian language there is a very definitive underlying language that you will use to speak with elderly. Some languages have feminine and masculine words, but when speaking Russian there are masculine and feminine words like any other language, but there is also an age level meshed within that. In English we tend to use more formal words when

speaking to adults, but this underlying language seems to be a completely different tense of speaking. This part of the language shows a great amount of respect to someone of an older age. Communication In any culture there is a common slang and stereotypical usage of words. It is no different in Russian culture except that when it comes to social class there is a huge emphasis on this. Since Russia was a strong communist country there was a huge weight on where you were on the social ladder which came out when speaking to people. People of a higher class spoke very differently than someone of a lower class and you could sense from the beginning of your conversation where they were on that ladder. When it comes to body language, there was not much body language where Olga was raised. Olga lived in the very southern part of Russia what is now Georgia, but during the time was part of Russia. When she moved further North when attending medical school she was also very shocked at how much people used their body language to speak. Social Status There was a huge emphasis on social status in Russia being a communist country only when it came to material items. Someone that was part of a government family always had the best clothes, a car, etc. where most people did not. The social scene that is in the United States does not exist too much with Russia. Olga was very shocked at how much she saw people that wanted to look a certain way and act in a certain manner to gain social status within a certain group. The only time social status ever was to play a role in Russian culture was when it came to your income level and where you were on the governmental ladder. In the United States we see things typically on the eastern coast of royal families that are very high in social status. Most

get into the best schools due to what last name you have attached to your first name or what companies/organizations your families own. Olga did not see much of this in Russia especially when it came to academics. Russia felt very strongly on only accepting a student that was on a high academic level into their colleges and did not look at where the student came from. In some cases you see students actually interviewing to get into a college when I believe it should be based on academic performance. When you are looking at communication between couples, it was not acceptable to show any type of affection in public during Olgas upbringing. You were not to hold hands in public or kiss in public. She feels it is becoming acceptable as time goes on, but is still looked down upon. When you are looking at who you associate yourself with it tends to be with who you attended college with and people that you work with. Typically you see people associating themselves with people they see every day and not too many outsiders. Food Food is a very a large aspect in Russian Culture. In American culture, dinner tends to be the biggest meal where in Russian culture lunch is your largest meal. Most people will take a two to three hour break from work to go home and prepare lunch for their family. Olga was very shocked when she moved here and was living with an American family what their eating schedule was and what was eaten at that time. A typical breakfast in Russian culture consists of leftovers from the previous night. In American culture, you see a lot of cold cereal and fruit for breakfast. Even if they had braised lamb the night before that is what they would eat for breakfast which seems very unappetizing to me. The biggest things that people eat in Russia are meat and potatoes any way that you could imagine it. They do not have many one dish meals like we have in America, but courses. It is very common to start with an alcoholic drink and some soup, and then move onto some bread and meat, then to your main course, and last dessert.

We typically think of courses as fine dining, but in Russian culture this is extremely normal. Olga has been around many thanksgiving meals and she often refers a typical Russian meal as a thanksgiving dinner here in America. They will have many people over to their house for no particular reason and have a feast. I asked what is something that is we do not eat here, that is eaten in Russian culture. She doesnt see too much of difference in food except for a few items. One thing that would scare most people in America would be something her mom would make. She would take a pig head boil it down into some sort of jelly like substance to use on other foods, but that is the most extreme. Dress Dress seems to be a very important aspect in Russian culture. Overdressing and being presentable is very much a normal aspect in everyday life. Olga feels that people are very critical about the way you are presented and will tell you if you look anything less than presentable without hesitation. The normal dress for a female consists of a dress with the highest heels that you have along with an obscene amount of makeup. The male dress has not changed much as time went on. A suit is a typical dress for a male wherever he is going. Some younger generations you will see in jeans and possibly a t-shirt, but you will typically see a male in a suit. When arriving at a funeral, Russian culture will wear black like the American culture where in some cultures they will wear white. Holiday/Celebration The biggest holiday in Russian will be New Years Night. You do not have religious holidays due to the fact that the entire country was Atheist. New Years Night did not consist of gifts, unless it was a small gift for a child. One holiday that seems to be in conjunction with Russian culture is Mothers Day. In Russian they recognize Womans Day and the woman will receive

gifts from friends and family. They also have Mens day which goes along with Womans day. One holiday that seems to resemble the 4th of July in America is the 9th of May in Russia which recognizes the ending of WWII. No gifs are typically exchanged during this holiday, but a large gathering and meal is what you will typically see on this day. There is no dance that is involved with any holidays or gatherings in Russian Culture. Time and Space In American culture time is of the essence and most people seem to always be in a rush and on the go. In Russian culture, it is a very relaxed and easy going culture. When you leave work, you are not in a rush to get home in most cases and you dont see many people prepping for the following day at night like they do here in American culture. When people arrive at home after a day at work, they want to be with their family and they are in no rush to get the next day started. When you are looking at relationships, Olga says that she was shocked as to how American culture is towards their friends. In Russian culture your friends are your family and you see them on a very frequent basis and typically speak to them every day on the phone. You see this sometimes in American culture but typically people do not speak with their friends on an everyday basis. Dance and Music There are a few common dances in Russia, but there is not a cultural dance specific to Russia. Most people do not like to dance especially in public- at least when she was living there. She feels that now there are more dance clubs as time goes on, but when she was living in Russia there were not much dance that she saw. A typical fun night in Russia would be spending time with friends. When looking at music, one large part of Russian Culture is going to a theater.

Olga describes going to the theater in Russia is as large as American culture going to see a movie but on a more prestigious level. When going to the Opera or Theater you will wear your best gown and tuxedo when going. I asked if a male dancing was considered appropriate in Russia. She responded with when she was living in Russia, there were specific activities for boys and girls. There was no such thing as a male dancing or doing gymnastics- it was only appropriate for girls to perform in that way. Living in the United States and Utah Living in Utah was somewhat hard for Olga when she first arrived in Utah due to the strong religious influence in Utah. She felt very bombarded and space invaded when people started showing up at her door asking her what she believed in a religious aspect. She felt that she could not go anywhere without being approached about religion. She felt that it is not appropriate to be asking someone that you do not know what their religious beliefs are. She fell in love with the friendliness of people in the United States, but there was that initial shock of religion when living in Utah. There were times where she felt that people would look down upon her due to a language barrier and treat her as if she was almost stupid because she was still learning English. She has never felt that she was over privileged, but has always felt that you have to fight for acceptance as an immigrant and a minority. Conclusion As a whole, I felt the interview went very well. I gained a lot of information that was new to me that I had not heard from her before. Some things that were very surprising to me were the religious aspect of the country. You were required by the government to take classes on atheism and you did not have a choice after the revolution. Most of my perceptions were correct about

Russian culture except for a few small concepts since I have been around Olga for many years and have asked questions in the past. I was very impressed with how much appearance meant to their culture. I feel that American culture has gotten very lazy since the 50s when it comes to dress so this was something that I loved learning about. It seemed that racism was not a huge part in their culture, but it did exist with immigrants into Russia which I loved learning about. Being a communist country I would assume that racism would be a huge part in their society especially with how image oriented they are.