Relating to Relativism

Today, Saturday, is the day that I have my conversation class. For three academic hours, which is two hours and fifteen minutes of real time, I lead a group of around 10-15 adults in discussion in English. In some ways, this is a very nice deal for me. There are never any tests to grade or papers to correct, and I don't have to worry too much about introducing complicated grammatical structures. On the other hand, my students range in age from about 15 to 45 and in ability level from intermediate to advanced. Also, this is a fairly long time to talk, so the topics must be very interesting, which generally means controversial. Thankfully we have a little library of books like A-Z Conversation Topics which prove to be very helpful.
Today the topic was "Decisions." The worksheet basically presented situations in which a difficult decision must be made, and we discussed these. As per our training, I would have the students first discuss in pairs or small groups, following which we would have a general class discussion. Some of the questions were mostly just for fun, as in "Would you rather be extremely ugly but very intelligent or unbelievably beautiful and particularly stupid?" Others, however, were more serious, like "Do you believe that men like Hitler were evil or were they simply acting according to their own morality?" and "You are 45 and pregnant and the doctor says there is a %50 chance your baby will have Downs Syndrome, what do you do?"
It quickly became apparent to me that I was no longer in America and certainly no longer in the Bible Belt. I expected that many of the students would have positions I disagreed with, but I was unprepared for the degree of difference. When faced with the question of whether they would prefer to be a cruel tyrant or one of his slaves who was kind and just, all but one chose the king. Partly, I think this is due to the fact that Russians are more straightforward and don't tend to give the politically correct answer to look good, but they all said that is better to have power than to be ruled. One used The Prince to justify her position. They honestly look at Machiavellian morals with approval. Now, I do agree with cultural relativism to a point. While I think that murder is always wrong, I think that while revenge killing is murder for us it could be justice in a different time and place. But to say that Hitler wasn't evil because he was doing what he believed in is simply insane to me. To be fair, half the class did say he was evil, but the idea that the other half found his actions in any way acceptable astonishes me. I didn't really know how to respond.
Later in the class, I had to walk away from one group after hearing one girl make the statement that people with Down's Syndrome aren't really people. I didn't call her out on it, but I made it clear in my subsequent remarks that I knew and cared about a number of people with Down's. I just didn't want her to make such a statement again since I wasn't sure how angry my voice would sound in direct response. I then found out, upon asking, that the usual course of action in Russia when a mother gives birth to a child with Down's is to send the child to a special hospital. There the child is largely ignored until it dies around age 15. That explains why I've only seen one person with a mental disability in all the time I've been here. Thankfully, the majority of the class did speak up and say this is a horrible thing.
I don't really know what to do. As a teacher of English, it is not my place to give sermons. I don't want to give my opinion in such a way that students feel pressured to adopt it to gain favor. But really, how can I be silent?

As American as Television

I honestly don't know if I could have done this in the era before the internet. Even though I'm nearly halfway around the world, my friends and family are just a computer screen away. My daily routine now includes reading the New York Times, checking Facebook, and watching The Daily Show. I sometimes feel like I'm cheating, like being in Russia should be more isolating.
That is not to say, however, that being here is just like being in a new city in America. Not only is there are real language barrier, there are cultural differences that surround me and make me aware that I am foreign. Some of these are minor, like the way grocery stores are laid out, while others are major, like the attitude of the people towards cheating and bribery. Things are nothing like the stereotypical images of soviet Russia, but it is clear the people here tend to think differently than people in America. We had a chapter on criminals and the justice system in my class for upper-intermediate adults, and they all took it for granted that it is better to err on the side of locking up innocent people than to let guilty people go free. When I tried to explain that the American justice system is built around the opposite idea, that the rights of the innocent are protected, they looked at me with doubt and confusion.
I suppose it is normal that going someplace foreign makes me appreciate being American more. What surprises me is the role that television plays in this. My roommate, Megan, brought The West Wing with her on DVD. I never saw this show when it was actually on the air, so I'm learning to appreciate it now. I know it is highly fictional and overly idealistic show, but it really does a lot to make me proud of America and to love our government, especially when compared to what I see on a regular basis here. Oddly enough, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, which Comedy Central graciously makes available online to everyone, regardless of geographic location (the only network, as far as I can tell, to do this), also help me to feel more American while I'm here. The good humor they have, even when mocking and complaining, is strikingly different than the attitudes I see around me normally.

Speaking slowly and drinking tea.

It is incredible how long I've been here. Literally. I've been in Russia for one month and twenty days, but it doesn't feel that long at all. Still, I've gotten used to so many things here. It seems pretty normal to spend most of my time talking to people who only sort of understand me, so much so that when I talk to other native English speakers I often find myself speaking more slowly and using lots of hand gestures. They do the same thing, though, so it isn't particularly insulting to anyone. My classes are starting to fall into a routine. The days that I thought were long have gotten longer, but at the same time they are now easier for me, so it's no problem. I do still drink lots of tea, especially on Thursdays. Since I don't like coffee it is very nice for me to be in a place where they drink hot tea to get caffeine.
The children's class I have on Thursdays went much better yesterday than it had the week before. It was very heartening that things improved so much. The class is difficult for a number of reasons: The kids have a very low level of English; I have a very low level of Russian; the kids are fairly undisciplined; and the textbook encourages a more free-flowing rather than structured lesson. This week, however, it all worked well. The lesson objective was to learn "Is it a ...?" and I think that 6 or 7 out of the 8 kids learned it. That's the other odd thing about this class. The textbook doesn't expect them to actually learn much in a given lesson. It is amazing what you can do to stretch learning this simple 4 word sentence into an entire hour.
Tonight I made chili and we had honeydew melon (or something like it) and bread with it. There wasn't any cheddar cheese to put on it, but sour cream made it really good. We watched an episode of the West Wing on DVD while we drank our tea. In a few minutes I'm going to head to bed. Tomorrow I have an individual lesson at 11 and my conversation class at 1.

Pictures of my apartment.

I meant to put up some pictures of the apartment a long time ago, but I'll do that now.
The first picture is of our hall. This is also the location of my wardrobe. The telephone is here, as are the coat rack and a small sofa. The second picture is of the Volga out my window. Next is my bed, which is about 3 times the size of the one I had in Moscow. The downside of it, besides no sheets fitting properly, is that the light from the window shines directly in my eyes at a fairly early hour.The next is our entry way, which isn't at all impressive looking and kind of made me worry I'd be living somewhere sketchy. It turns out the Russians simply don't care that much about making their entryways look nice. The next pictures are of our dining and eating space. We have a nice stove and really nice refrigerator. The cabinets are all really high up, though, and so the top shelf is almost useless. The final picture is of the Volga at night. Sadly, my camera is no good at taking night pictures, but it is really beautiful, trust me.