Juan and Donna Ulep were among six Oregonians and 27 Americans to travel recently to Russia to teach English to Russian students.
The Sweet Home couple traveled with the Mid-Valley Friendship Force, a local organization that organizes goodwill exchanges between Americans and other countries.
“They wanted some teachers to come,” Donna said. “I said, ‘I’m not a teacher.’”
Friendship Force responded that she had reared children and worked within her community. The whole goal was to help the students read, help with pronunciation and just talk with them one on one, letting them practice with native English speakers.
“The kids, if I hadn’t known better, I’d say they were American kids,” Donna said. “Kids are probably the same everywhere. The kids are really what we went for.”
Russian students are taught British English, and the teachers are Russian, meaning they sometimes don’t understand the contextual use of the language.
“I think we were as much help to the teachers as we were to the children,” Donna said. They had questions too.
“The country was still in winter mode,” Donna said. It was gray and drab, trees missing their leaves, like Oregon in the winter. There was still snow on the ground when they arrived, but within two days, “the sun came out, and it was absolutely gorgeous. They day we left, it got bad again.”
Despite the late snow, planting season is much like Oregon’s.
“They’re housing, particularly in Moscow a city of 9 million, is all high rise,” Donna said.
During World War II, the country’s wooden buildings had been destroyed. High-rise housing was the solution to putting people into homes. Novgorod, a city of 300,000, had a few small houses.
The Uleps spent time in St. Petersburg, Novgorod and Moscow as well as touring the country during the month of April.
“They’re learning to cope with freedom,” Donna said.
“It used to be the state that decided what to do, where to live, etc.,” Juan said. Those who were prepared are doing well as the country has shifted away from communism, since the mid-1980s. Russian teens deal the best with it because they didn’t live under communism.
Both enjoyed meeting the Russian people.
“The ones we dealt with were fantastic,” Donna said. “They were ever kind, ever pleasant.”
The Uleps and their group were greeted like they were family.
“We were more of an oddity to the people who weren’t involved with us,” Donna said. “We felt welcomed wherever we went. We learned to go to the market and shop.”
“They didn’t have what you’d call a supermarket,” Juan said. “One thing we can appreciate is their public transportation system.”
Children were able to get around the city on bus and underground trains.
“There’s some areas where their lagging behind,” Juan said. “The roads are not well-maintained because of a lack of funds.”
Police visibility other than on traffic is non-existent,” Juan said. They have more freedom now than they ever have. The Russian press is free. Religion is back, and they have been restoring churches that were used for everything from museums to warehouses during communist regimes.
While there, the Uleps’ day started with their host family, Elena and Pasha Agfanova’s family, at 7 a.m. The members of the family would be at work by 8 a.m. The man they stayed with was a policeman. His son was trained at the police academy, but like the United States, needed experience before he could go into police work, so he worked as a security officer. His sister was attending school.
The family ate differently as well. Bread and cheese or porridge was breakfast, perhaps with little sausages. They had tea with everything. Their host family grew all of its own vegetables in a country dacha, a small plot of ground owned by most Russian families for a garden. The vegetables would go into a soup called borsht, made with beats and cabbage. Fish is also a popular Russian food, especially varieties of North Sea, Baltic and freshwater fish.
What vegetables are not used by a family are typically sold in the markets or on roadsides.
Smoke salmon was cheap in American money, Juan said. A dollar and half was the equal of 42 rubles. That was enough to buy $15 worth of smoke salmon around home.
Russian cuisine went through some rough times during the decline of communism.
While taking a walk, an older man thanked Donna and Juan, as Americans, for what he called “Bush legs.”
Their hosts explained that during parastroika, the senior President George Bush arranged for food supplies to be sent to Russia. That shipment included tons of chicken thighs and legs, which later became known as Bush legs in Russia.
“At that time,” Juan said. “That’s the only thing that kept them from starving.”
Distribution under the previous regime had been stagnant and came to an abrupt halt, he said. “When state economic planning ceased to exist, everything stopped.… People still needed to eat.”
With the condition of the economy and infrastructure, Russian distribution couldn’t reach the people.
“They were open and welcoming, interested in what we were doing,” Donna said. They ask advise and opinions of the Uleps when they needed to make a decision, something the culture is not used to. The Uleps usually responded with questions, the way an adult might help a child through a decision.
One teacher was deciding whether to change jobs and increase her salary from $120 per month in her Moscow job to $480 per month in a private school. She was torn between the pay increase and loyalty to her students. The Uleps helped her work through that decision, and she eventually chose to take the new job.
“She explained she was torn between loyalty and upward mobility,” Juan said. “The idea of upward mobility is still non-existent, so the decision makes a lot of pain.”
For Juan, the highlight of the trip was a chance to see “their cultural achievement … especially their arts. Their churches are meticulously built.”
He enjoyed Russian architecture, Juan said. “We build box houses. They build boxes too. They call it Stalinist.”
Donna appreciated the depth of Russian history, which showed “the resilience of the people,” Juan said. They were proud of their history, culture, music and performing arts.
In classrooms, the Uleps were pumped for information on America and on American politics. Among questions were why President George W. Bush won the presidency instead of Al Gore, who had more than half of the popular vote. Juan was also asked who he voted for and if he knew the American national anthem.
Juan turned the last question around and asked the student whether he had a national anthem and whether he knew it. Soon members of the class were singing the Russian national anthem. Juan also explained the electoral college to the class.
“We were just beginning to get acquainted with them, and we had to leave,” Juan said. Both hope to return to Russia someday.
This summer, two teachers from Novgorod will visit the Mid-Valley to perfect their English.