Various Notes
1. The first purpose of my posting, reporting on Ryazan basketball, is over. Ryazan State U had a pretty rocky year, finishing with a losing record, but they turned up the intensity and made it to the finals, beating the Military Academy's team by over a hundred points. Then they lost big to the Medical Institute in the final. I should note here that the only foreigners from non-Soviet countries (primarily from India and Africa) study medicine in Ryazan and the team was primarily made up of international students. Makes me wonder if MedInstitute enjoys an advantage from athletic superiority or from not drinking and smoking in the locker room. A little of both I imagine.
2. The Juice was set loose briefly in Moscow when Iowa City's Orion came to visit last week. Unfortunately between travel complications and the recent addition of 7 classes to my weekly schedule I only saw him for 2/4 days. Despite time restrictions, the tour of Seth's Moscow was reasonably comprehensive, finishing on Saturday with a lesson on swearing in Russian at the horse track.
3. In response to some comments. I also remember the Brad Eric cooing myagkii, and I still have nightmares about him shouting "TVYORDII!" and then crushing the cat he had so recently been stroking. Leslie, if you say "Million" like Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers movies, it comes out about right. KK, please address me as Seth Jamesovich.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Formalities
The Kulturologia department at the university asked me to participate in a round table discussion of academic standards. My job was to give the American point of view on cheating, in particular plagiarism. I had a lot of awesome things to say about plagiarism, because I have battled with it all year in my classes. My presentation shocked the crowd, as plagiarism in Russia is rampant and acceptable; according to one of the speakers 80% of students plagiarize and you can buy "10000 Term Papers!" disks at any bookstore. A couple choice quotes from the round table:
"I remember one test where I stuffed a text book, not that big, down the back of my pants in the hopes that my teacher would leave the classroom during the exam."--Head of the Department
"In America, is there a prize such as 'Most Honest Student'?"--5th Year Student
A few days later one of the girls in the 1st year who organized the round table came by the staff office where I spend most of my days to give me pictures they had taken. She came in and loudly said [in Russian], "Hi, Seth! How are thou? Here are some pictures of thou with us!" Heads turned and coffee mugs fell to the floor. I had actually noticed before that she addressed me informally and had thought it a little strange, but not strange enough to say anything. When she left Valeria Aleksandrovna, the office secretary in charge of watering plants, told me, "Seth, you are a teacher and she is a student. You deserve more respect than that."
Anyway, here are some of the pictures:
The Kulturologia department at the university asked me to participate in a round table discussion of academic standards. My job was to give the American point of view on cheating, in particular plagiarism. I had a lot of awesome things to say about plagiarism, because I have battled with it all year in my classes. My presentation shocked the crowd, as plagiarism in Russia is rampant and acceptable; according to one of the speakers 80% of students plagiarize and you can buy "10000 Term Papers!" disks at any bookstore. A couple choice quotes from the round table:
"I remember one test where I stuffed a text book, not that big, down the back of my pants in the hopes that my teacher would leave the classroom during the exam."--Head of the Department
"In America, is there a prize such as 'Most Honest Student'?"--5th Year Student
A few days later one of the girls in the 1st year who organized the round table came by the staff office where I spend most of my days to give me pictures they had taken. She came in and loudly said [in Russian], "Hi, Seth! How are thou? Here are some pictures of thou with us!" Heads turned and coffee mugs fell to the floor. I had actually noticed before that she addressed me informally and had thought it a little strange, but not strange enough to say anything. When she left Valeria Aleksandrovna, the office secretary in charge of watering plants, told me, "Seth, you are a teacher and she is a student. You deserve more respect than that."
Anyway, here are some of the pictures:
Me making a mean face in preparation to blow Russian students' minds
Teachers raise their hands in response to the question, "Who hates their students?"
Me and Miss Informality. Maybe this picture gave her the wrong impression...
Teachers raise their hands in response to the question, "Who hates their students?"
Me and Miss Informality. Maybe this picture gave her the wrong impression...
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Softening and Toughening
Yesterday I was stopped by the police for the first time in Ryazan'. I believe this may put me in double digits for total number of times stopped by Russian police and it is the fourth city where I've been pulled aside. I had my passport with me so it wasn't a big deal and by now I understand that I match the police profile for "illegal immigrant" when I don't shave.
That said, I lose things too often to carry my passport around and I really hate shaving. I've decided I need to soften my image a little. This means doing the little things. If I don't have time to shave, I should try to wear pastels. I'll stop for cotton candy, popcorn or ice cream. Maybe I need to get a man-purse.
You're probably saying, "Hey, that sounds great! But what if you run into some toughs who don't think very much of your softer attire? Will you just abandon the ice cream and the man purse?" I thought about this, too. I'm going to get a tattoo. Two tattoos, actually, on my biceps. On the left, Ь and on the right, Ъ. For those of you who don't read Russian, the former is the Cyrillic unvoiced soft sign (which turns a normally hard sound, like the "l" sound in "mill" to one more like "million") and the latter is the Cyrillic unvoiced hard sign (which turns normally soft sounds hard). When I run into those hoods and they want to throw down, I'll just rip open my button-up and flex ol' Ъ, and I think that should do the trick.
Yesterday I was stopped by the police for the first time in Ryazan'. I believe this may put me in double digits for total number of times stopped by Russian police and it is the fourth city where I've been pulled aside. I had my passport with me so it wasn't a big deal and by now I understand that I match the police profile for "illegal immigrant" when I don't shave.
That said, I lose things too often to carry my passport around and I really hate shaving. I've decided I need to soften my image a little. This means doing the little things. If I don't have time to shave, I should try to wear pastels. I'll stop for cotton candy, popcorn or ice cream. Maybe I need to get a man-purse.
You're probably saying, "Hey, that sounds great! But what if you run into some toughs who don't think very much of your softer attire? Will you just abandon the ice cream and the man purse?" I thought about this, too. I'm going to get a tattoo. Two tattoos, actually, on my biceps. On the left, Ь and on the right, Ъ. For those of you who don't read Russian, the former is the Cyrillic unvoiced soft sign (which turns a normally hard sound, like the "l" sound in "mill" to one more like "million") and the latter is the Cyrillic unvoiced hard sign (which turns normally soft sounds hard). When I run into those hoods and they want to throw down, I'll just rip open my button-up and flex ol' Ъ, and I think that should do the trick.
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