Ukrainian Cultural observations

The following things are some cultural observations I’ve recorded during my six months in Ukraine. Some are funny and peculiar while others are extremely important in understanding and acknowledging in order to be accepted into a Ukrainian household.

1) Ukraine is very much a foot culture. People will pass judgment on you based on the cleanliness of your shoes. Remember to take off your shoes once entering a house as most times even guest slippers are available. Many important buildings like schools and administration buildings have small troughs of water to clean the mud from your shoes before walking into the building. Our shoes in America would probably be a lot cleaner if we weren’t able to drive just about everywhere.

2) One of my favorite customs is for family or friends to sit in silence before someone leaves to travel. Long ago, Ukrainians would sit still in belief that demons that would be watching and hoping to upset someone’s travels would become bored and then leave. Today this is done more out of tradition.

3) School is much more strict and less lenient than American schools at the same time. Students are expected to stand up and greet the teachers as well as say goodbye, ask to enter a classroom, and basically plead for forgiveness if they are late. On the other hand, students run through the halls yelling, wrestling, blasting music on the cellphones, and join in mass groups during breaks to smoke outside the building. Similarly, there are two bells for each period – the first for students and the second for teachers who are almost always late. I have walked in on teachers smoking in the men’s room and it is not uncommon for toasts to be made with wine, champagne, and even vodka on holidays at school.

4) Bribes are very common in Ukrainian society, whether to get you out of trouble from the militia, local government, or to boost your grade or get out of a test at the public and university level.

5) The people in my town look at me as a child since I speak Russian like a toddler and believe since I am new to their culture I need to be looked after as much as possible. I am not only thankful for my host families assistance, but also for random strangers who have given me cellphone chargers after losing mine, rides home after getting lost, and free food when they found out I don’t grow potatoes.

6) The discussion of money, how much you make or how much you spend, is very common and to many Americans seems very blunt and rude. However, this is just one more way Ukrainian culture is different in their openness to discuss things we may not like to share, like our pay stubs.

7) Men almost always greet and part by shaking hands and women are never expecting to shake hands. Shaking hands with your gloves on is considered to be very offensive as historically enemies would hide weapons in their gloves. Also, it is bad luck to shake hands, or pass money, through a doorframe.

8) Almost everyone has two jobs, their official work that pays them and their gardens and farms that feed them. Ukrainians are food of practical knowledge and people are expected to know how to farm and raise animals for the products as well as experience.

9) Never whistle indoors. Ukrainians believe you will whistle away all their money.

10) Gossip is pretty popular, just like America. Everyone knows what I buy at the stores, what I receive at the post office, and probably by now how much I receive for my living allowance. Teachers at my school also are very reluctant to share feedback to improve my lessons and often just talk to each other to criticize me rather than telling me directly.

11) Ukrainians are very multitalented, as most students play at least one instrument, sport, and can either paint, draw, dance, sing, or all of the above. The time spent at the School of Music, Sports, or Arts is just as important as the time studying Math or Science at the public school.

12) Family names are not important. Ukrainians like Russians use patronymics. This is when an ending is attached to the end of your father’s name according to your gender. For example if a boy named Sasha’s father’s name is Vasyl, then his patronymic name is Vasylovitch. If a girl named Zhenya’s father’s name is Vasyl then her patronymic name is Vasylivna. I used to introduce myself as Keith Alan Jamesovitch, but people just laugh at me. Most times the family name is not even used, especially in schools. Family names will also end based on gender. For example Dima Fiatov and his sister Tony Filatova – same name different ending. Even with studying famous Russians us Westerners don’t acknowledge the patronymic name, like Vladimir Putin, the former president of Russia. Most people here know him as Vladimir Vladimirovitch. (ps. Russian’s new president’s name translates to “bear”)

13) Ukrainians are very reserved. On buses, subways, and on the sidewalk, you won’t find many people yelling and talking loud unless it is following a football (soccer) match. Even good friends may simply greet each other with the nod of a head or a quick handshake when passing in public. This is one of the more difficult cultural characteristics for Americans to fit into since most times we want to smile at everyone, say hi, and talk to strangers.

14) Russian vs. Ukrainian. Do not make the mistake of calling a Ukrainian person a Russian. Though the cultures and countries have much in common, Ukrainians pride themselves in their own identity and their sovereignty. Even out East where Russian is more commonly spoken than Ukrainian, there is still a mix of the languages. The reliance on Russian is often explained as out of custom and what they are used to speaking and what is most widely understood. Speaking clean Russian in Eastern Ukraine is as strange as speaking clean Ukrainian.

There are many complicated political problems in Ukraine, argued by those who are loyal to Russia and those who want to join NATO and be more like Western European countries. Just as you hear the Democrat vs. Republic debate in America, this is the most common thing you will hear debated in Ukraine.

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Now what I would like to do is have the readers of this blog share some of their own cultural quirks and the interesting things about daily life in America. Being out of the country has made it difficult to explain the little things about American life as written above about Ukraine so I would greatly appreciate your assistance as to make American culture more vivid for my students. Thanks.