Hang on a tic

I get irritated by the following: a new Russian acquaintance asks me questions about where I'm from, what I'm doing here, where I live, and what I study. After maybe five minutes of conversation covering topics from chapter one of every second-year Russian textbook, the interlocutor declares my Russian language skills to be "very good!"

Hey. Try asking me about the origin of Halloween and its traditions, whether the Dakotas are actually ceding from the US, or why the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries are so important, and then see how good my Russian is. My host mother asks such questions -- perhaps she is the only non-professor that knows the true limits of my Russian. She probably overestimates my listening comprehension, though, since I tend to nod understandingly more often than I should.

I composed this in my head last night as I was trying to fall asleep. And then I realized that the real reason I can't answer my host mom's questions about American life is not because I don't have the vocabulary or grammar necessary to do so, but because I simply don't know the answer.

It's unsettling. Maybe I should have learned all this stuff in elementary school, but missed out thanks to homeschooling (not complaining, Mom!). Maybe I should have been more inquisitive about holidays and civics, but it's hard to be inquisitive about the ordinary. And now I'm in a foreign country, where my ordinary is the foreign, and those around me are inquisitive on my behalf.

Just as quickly as I learn about Russian culture, I stumble headlong into gaps in my knowledge about American culture. I give a half-heartened attempt to explain something about pagans, Native Americans, or Hilary Clinton. Then I might realize the futility of my endeavor, and end with, "Ya he zhayu, kak skazat' po-russki" (I don't know how to say it in Russian) if I want to blame my incapacity to answer based on vocabulary: "All Saints' Day," "eve," "to cede," "tribe," "reservation," "caucus," "delegates," etc.

And sometimes I just admit the humiliating truth: "He zhanyu, kak obisnit', dazhe po-angliiski" (I don't know how to explain, even in English).