What Americans think about Russia

Scott at the New Year's Fair on Red Square. Photos from the personal archive of Olga Khristoforova

I know from my own experience that Americans treat Russia and Russian people with a great deal of curiosity and goodwill. Perhaps only with the exception of President Putin which they consider to be a symbol of world evil, writes Olga Khristoforova in her Holaolly blog.

​My friend Scott has already come to Russia with me three times. At first, he was very surprised at how cordially even strangers greeted him - either they would give him a Soviet badge at a flea market, or a random passer-by would invite him to the bottle shop. It was a great discovery for him how safe it was on the street even at night, contrary to the prevailing Western idea of ​​an extremely criminalized Russia.

The role of Santa Claus Scott fits every time very responsibly, so the image is extremely convincing. Photos from the personal archive of Olga Khristoforova

I will put on the best at once, or Scott on ice fishing somewhere in the Penza region. Photos from the personal archive of Olga Khristoforova

Every time, returning to the United States, Scott enthusiastically tells his friends about the unprecedented beauty of the Moscow metro station and about the dead Lenin in the Mausoleum; about kebabs on the grill and about a strange vegetable salad with sausage, seasoned with fermented drink from old bread; about ice fishing and a bathhouse with brooms; about the boundless Volga and tea on the top shelf of the Moscow-Penza train compartment; about my cheerful grandmother Nina and her balalaika; about the scale of the New Year in Russia and about how, on New Year's Eve, he was stuck in an elevator costume of Santa Claus. After such colorful stories, Russia is seen by Americans as a sheer exotic attraction that you definitely need to visit.

The irony of fate, or Exploitation of the American immigrant in the fight against the Colorado potato beetle in the Russian village. Photos from the personal archive of Olga Khristoforova

Scott brings T-shirts with V.V. Putin as souvenirs for himself and his friends from Russia - they enjoy unprecedented success in America. They say Putin is the only one we could carry on ourselves.​

The case in Sheremetyevo. Scott chooses gifts to friends. Photos from the personal archive of Olga Khristoforova

Americans have especially tender feelings for Russian cuisine. Even if they have never been to the countries of the former Soviet Union, when they hear the word “borscht” they immediately begin to smile and roll their eyes dreamily - they say, we know, we love.

Excerpt from the menu of the Russian restaurant in Portland. Photos from the personal archive of Olga Khristoforova

Far from being a cheap Russian restaurant in Portland, where I live, very popular. Russians rarely go there, because the price of $17 for a portion of cabbage rolls with sour cream seems like a total scam to us Russians. But the Americans go, they like it - in what other restaurant will they be able to peck sunflower seeds and snack on vodka and lard.

Oregon is the only US state where the Russian language is third in popularity after English and Spanish, which indicates a large share of the Russian-speaking population. However, at the first meeting of each of my new acquaintances, the fact that I am from Russia is very interesting. They always immediately ask what part of the country I’m from, and they seem a little upset when they hear that I live very far from the taiga. After the release of the film “Happy People: A Year in the Taiga” about the everyday life of villagers in the small taiga village of Bakhta in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, a good part of my American friends dreams go to this beautiful, harsh and such inaccessible taiga.

The queue for Russian pies length in 40 minutes. Seattle, WA. Photos from the personal archive of Olga Khristoforova

But it’s one thing to dream, and quite another to actually go there, as did Walter, whom we met by chance during a city festival. First we started talking about his dog, which he trains in Karelian, because the ancestors of Walter’s family lived in Finland, on the border with Karelia. Then it turned out that in the late 90s Walter worked as a truck driverohm in Russia. Together with his Georgian partner, who helped him with the Russian language and other incomprehensibilities, at the wheel of ZIL, Walter traveled around a good part of Siberia and the Far East.

Shortly before his work visa expired and he returned to America, Walter set off on a flight to Chukotka. Somewhere in the Far East, the ZIL engine died for a long time. Due to protracted repairs, the return to Moscow was postponed. After 9 days, ZIL was on the move, but Walter was no longer in time for his flight from Moscow to the USA. In order not to violate the visa regime and leave Russia on time, he decided to cross the border from Alaska. And I went. On the ice. More precisely, along the ice bridge that forms in severe frost between the island of Big Diamid (belongs to Russia) and Little Diamid (belongs to the USA). Customs officers found no reason to detain him and happily released the US citizen to his homeland. US police stopped ZIL only in Washington. Since this colossus did not meet any American standards, I had to give it to the museum of military equipment.

Walter and his understanding Karelian dog. Photos from the personal archive of Olga Khristoforova

In this whole incredible story, only one thing remains a mystery to me - if the Bering Strait in winter is a sea of ​​moving ice blocks, then on what kind of icebreaker did Walter transport his ZIL from the Chukotka Peninsula to the Big Diamid Island? Unclear. Bering Strait — This is not Crimea, there is no need for a ferry crossing there. Although who knows what happened at our eastern borders in the late 90s. It’s a pity, I can’t ask Walter again - there are no contacts left. But it seems to me that if an American plowed our Far East driving a ZIL, then, probably, the Bering Strait was knee-deep...

PS Scott was so impressed with the visit to Russia that he shot a couple of short videos about it.

Original article published in personal blog Olga Khristoforova and reprinted with permission of the author.

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