Germany, UK, USA, Russia
So, Kiev’s been and gone and we’re now back in Voronezh, until we leave again in a week and a half. There were four of us who went: me, Claudia, Anna and Richard, all foreigners in Ukraine. I’m from the UK, Claudia’s from Germany, Anna’s from Russia and Richard is from the USA. Whenever anyone asked us ‘Ot kuda?’ (‘Where are you from?’) we had to reel off the list of countries. It was quite funny. The concierge on the train to Kiev didn’t find it funny though and when I asked to go to the toilet she tutted and said ‘Ach, innostrantsy (foreigners)!’ I took it as a compliment. Sometimes it feels like Russians like to use the term ‘foreigner’ as an insult and it really annoys me. Never mind. At least borders don’t matter when it comes to making friends and when we leave soon we’ll have a lot of goodbyes…
Claudia, Me (Joe), Richard, Anna
09/12/2008 at 20:04
Hi Joe !
Do you remember me, I was a French erasmus student in Bath in 2007 and we were in the Amnesty International society together. It’s nice to hear from you.
I just wanted to ask : I heard that many Russians were xenophobic and weren’t afraid of showing it. Is it true ?
10/12/2008 at 11:12
hi, Adrien.
yeah, i remember!
i think xenophobia is a problem in Russia, definitely, but I think it’s partly to do with their culture and history. Meeting foreigners isn’t what most people are used to…