Chernobyl, the Ukrainian response to McDonalds

You can usually figure out how people feel about their country by their first reactions to questions about it. This is a good way to tell what they may be proud, embarrassed or scared of (fear is often connected with respect). I’m not going to provide a psychological analysis of what John wrote about Ukraine, I just want to talk about some out-of-date facts, which are no longer true but have never the less become part of our history. We have learned since primary school, that Ukraine used to be a bakery of Europe, but for me it seems embarrassing to even say this aloud now. While we still have rich soil, Ukraine doesn’t use this resource in a productive way. Our harvests don’t yield enough because of a lack of modern agricultural technology and also because of some unpredictable changes in the weather during the last few years.

So, let’s talk about some less historical and more trivial issues. The question is: what are the real things that could be mentioned about Ukraine? To discover this, I’ve carried out an informal survey concerning what Ukrainians think the two most famous or infamous things about our country which are well known abroad. The answers could be random events, facts or persons but the requirement was to answer my question quickly and spontaneously. The absolute chart leader among them unfortunately happened to be Chernobyl. Second place was a tie between the brothers Klitschko (http://klitschko.com/)  (although Andriy Shevchenko was named too) and the Orange Revolution (2004). In the third position we had the Ukrainian dishes borsch and salo. Oddly enough, among the culinary delights, varenyky was brought up just one time. Other things mentioned were The Black Sea and the fact that UA was once part of the Soviet Union. Some of the responses showed that Ukrainians have quite a low opinion of their country. The cruelest thing I’ve heard was the reply of a 21-year old girl (she studies in conservatory, plays violin and is quite modest in general), who answered “salo and vodka”. On the contrary, someone also remembered the Antonov airliner (http://www.airliners.net/aircraft-data/stats.main?id=389). This probably means that we still have patriots.

Of course, the goal of my exploration was to also find two facts about America. This questioning basically divided people into two camps (although the participants were not really aware of it). The first of these was concerned with economics and politics, with the other discussing national symbols of America and some trivial stuff as well. The primary group referred to their widespread currency represented by the U.S. dollar, the powerful economy, strong military, NATO, and finally struggling with and suffering from terrorism. Among the most memorable events named was September, 11th.

But anyway, and it is the second group’s entire fault, the absolute leader among the things associated with America was fast food in general (and McDonalds particularly), which according to the latest investigations of American scientists can be put on the same footing as Chernobyl for Ukraine. The second place was allocated by such “icons” as cowboys and the Statue of Liberty while the third one was occupied by Hollywood which of course is the principal center of the US movie industry. Also mentioned by one person each were the NY Yankees baseball team and US Capitol.

I’ve got to say that a lot of people have some positive stereotypes about America being a country of big opportunities, independence, and a high standard of living; (maybe this also was a hidden meaning in bringing up the iconic cowboys and the Statue of Liberty). American people were considered outgoing (people’s mentality will be discussed at a later date). Seems like Ukrainians are much more negative about their country and do not really appreciate what they have here. For example, just one person pointed out the beauty of Ukrainian women.

Even though I have a good excuse because I’m not a sociologist and I didn’t have a large audience to ask my questions (the very first intention was just to write my own opinion), any complaints about the results of the “exploration” will be accepted.

Posted by Helen

Ukraine is game to you!?

Between American movies, TV shows and music; most Ukrainians have created their personal opinion of life in America. Of course, the chance that these beliefs are accurate may be a little far fetched. (However, I do think that it is possible that a general knowledge of American culture, history and geography can be learned from these same sources.) I assure you that while the characters in the sitcom “Friends” may be able to afford a large apartment in New York City working as  a struggling actor or in a coffee shop no one else in the city could possibly do this (except maybe for the characters in Seinfeld?). Americans are generally not very good at geography. In fact, most foreigners consider it an insular country. Only about 37% of Americans have a passport and many of those may be foreign born that have recently become naturalized. Let me tell a joke:

What do you call someone who speaks three languages?------trilingual.

What do you call someone who speaks two Languages? ------bilingual.

What do you call someone who speaks one language?-----an American.

Most Americans know very little about Ukraine but usually they have at least heard of the country and know that it was formally part of the Soviet Union. I think they may remember the Crimean War and the Yalta Conference from history class but these are probably remembered as being associated with Russia and the USSR respectfully. I assume that there are probably only four things that most American minds can conjure up when Ukraine is mentioned. First would be that “the Ukraine” was the breadbasket of the USSR and that Hitler sent his armies to capture it, secondly they might think (incorrectly!) that Chicken Kiev is the national dish. The next item would be the disaster at Chernobyl. This happened not too long after our own Three Mile Island. Once more, it is possible that people remember this happening in the USSR and they might not be aware that it is located in the present country of Ukraine. The most recent source of information about Ukraine would be from the aforementioned Seinfeld sitcom. In one episode, two of the characters were playing the board game called “Risk”. The characters could not play the game in one sitting and there were concerns about cheating. When one of them had to run an errand he insisted that he was taking the board with him and then the other fellow demanded to come along also. They ended up taking their inexhaustible game on the subway. The following clip shows what happened next:  http://youtu.be/fzLtF_PxbYw.

Posted by John 

P.S. I would like to hope that the Ukrainians that know me think I am an exception to the last paragraph. I am mediocre at dozens of things but I have at least traveled to almost every county in Europe as well as six continents. I think I can also remember picking up a minor in geography from some school out west. Additionally, I have studied both Russian and Ukrainian History.