American women don’t wear skirts. For example, my mother only wears a skirt when she’s got to. Your women like wearing skirts. I think that they’re trying to look like fashion plates. That’s nice thing. But I approve of the reasons for that liberation which explain why American women made that choice.
- Но эти же мотивы привели к скандалу с Клинтоном.
- In America the stronger sex have lost their mail aggression and self-confidence. Russian men are more…masculine. They aren’t afraid of expressing their opinion, even if that might offend someone or if someone might not like it.
- Скучаете по Америке?
- When I’m home on vacation i take a lot of walks in the country. The landscape is flat – there are fields all around – and you can see everything. If a car comes by even strangers wave at me or just smile. You could say that it’s artificial politeness, but that’s the way things are done in a small town. I miss polite small-town America.
- Вы живете за границей – это нормально для Америки?
- For most Americans any trips abroad are unusual. Well, my relatives have enough money to go to Europe, but they don’t go that far. Even Canada – as far as i know, Americans don’t go there that much. Sometimes they go on vocation to Mexico. But my cousin have never left the country.
- На каком языке вы теперь говорите с детьми?
- We decided that Andrei would speak Russian to the children and that I’d speak English. But sometimes it’s the other way around. It’s funny, when they annoy me and I come at them with a Russian expression “Все!” In English that would take two words, and in Russian it’s shorter and sounds good.
- Что чувствует иностранка на московской улице?
- When I’m out for a walk with the children i meet up with other Russian moms. They ask me who I am, why i came to Russia. They’re not much interested in America, much more in how i manage with to children. I don’t have to speak Russian to strangers all that often. I take the subway to work, but i have got a monthly ticket. The store and the market – that’s usually for Andrei. He buys everything faster and better, and also, he doesn’t get cheated: as he says, well, he’s been going to the market all his life.
- И последний вопрос. В России, говоря о любви к родине, часто приводят в пример американский патриотизм. Как, по-вашему, что это такое?
- Patriotism means, first of all, tradition. A hundred years ago Americans were already celebrating the fourth of July. Each generation meant that many more patriots raised. School children start the day in class with the pledge of allegiance to the flag. Before any competition, including school ones, everyone sings the national anthem. And all that is sincere.