Personal data:. Karla Rieth . 4 year college degree, Bachelor of Science in Art Education. Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, USA. Art Teacher, Lake Bluff, Illinois 1986-1989. I am an American citizen. Married 1986 – present

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Personal data:

Karla Rieth

4 year college degree, Bachelor of Science in Art Education

Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, USA

Art Teacher, Lake Bluff, Illinois 1986-1989

I am an American citizen

Married 1986 – present

Answers:

1. I heard the word on the news in America – as something going on with President Reagan and Gorbachev – along with the fall of the Berlin Wall, things happening in Poland, etc.

2. When it became possible for Americans to go and live in Russia – when the USSR became separate countries. When I read about the changes in our news.

3. Moving to Russia for 18 months with my husband; we heard that the Russian minister of education had asked for Americans to come work in Russia to teach a curriculum to Russian teachers about Christian morals and ethics. That was a positive thing for us to experience. Leaving my home and relatives and living in a foreign country was a negative. Meeting many wonderful Russian people was a positive.

4. Growing up in capitalist America, I felt that the Communist party and members were incorrect in their thinking and philosophies. I didn’t encounter any leaders while in Russia. We knew our landlady spoke with the KGB about us and our daily habits. We had to register our family members when they came to visit us, which was a pain. In America we don’t have that sort of thing. We were told our emails were read and our phone calls listened to. We had to work with officials about everything we did with the schools, or even to get trips scheduled out of Kostroma.

5. I was uneducated about the goals of Perestroika. I’m not sure how things are in the former Soviet Union at this time – I don’t read a lot about it or see much on the news. I do have Russian friends who immigrated to the US, and they tell me how things are going.

6. When I was there I saw Communist demonstrations and parades celebrating the Soviet holidays. It was so recent that the country had changed, and it seemed like people didn’t want the change. Now it has been long enough I’m sure these events have more nostalgia and feelings of sentimentalism.

7. When we were in Russia, it seemed that some people were very curious about faith, the Bible and Christianity, since they had not had it for 70 years. However, there were also people who had no faith or interest in it because they were schooled in Communism and a belief in no God. People seem to gravitate towards the Orthodox faith, or if another faith, one with the liturgical aspects of Orthodoxy.

8. I am not qualified to answer that question, as I was only there 1996-97.

9. No we have not.

10. We attended festivals and concerts in Kostroma oblast during our stay in Russia. We attended the ballet in Moscow. We visited the Hermitage and other sites in St. Petersburg.

11. Coming from the USA, we like to see entrepreneurs. We enjoyed visiting new businesses in Russia, and there seemed to be a contrast between the state-run businesses and the ones led by individuals. It was a time of experimentation and learning by all, but there didn’t seem to be much disposable income.

12. We were blessed to come to Russia with plenty of American dollars and they had a great deal of purchasing power in Russia at that time.

13. We liked to shop at what we called ‘the western stores’ because the items reminded us of what we were used to. We shopped there regularly. For us it seemed more difficult to buy items than in the USA, there wasn’t the selection or quantity we were used to, but we enjoyed the hunt!

14. No we didn’t.

15. Read, watched videos we brought with us from the USA or spent time with friends.

16. Our work was unusual and not normal as we were foreigners trying to work with teachers, who had a busy schedule. We worked around the schools’ schedules.

17. We could see younger people being influenced by the videos and information coming from the west. We saw a stark contrast between younger and older people in the clothes, shoes and outwear they had.

18. I am not aware of this.

19. We only watched videos we brought with us, because we didn’t speak Russian.

20. We did not do this.

21. I am not qualified to answer this.

22. I remember a dark sense of humor from people in regards to life and its difficulties. People told us things like “everything goes down the hill to Moscow” – meaning things made in our city weren’t available to purchase because they were sent to Moscow. Also an auto parts factory that couldn’t pay its workers, but they kept coming to work, in case they might get a paycheck (if they quit they would never get backpay) and the joke was that people eventually would be paying the factory just to work there.

23. We were the foreigners that Russians met. Many of our Russian friends said they were brought up to be afraid of Americans. We felt the same way about people from the USSR. There was a lack of knowledge about each other.

24. We dealt with KGB when registering our visitors or when doing official business. They seemed to be authoritarians who liked to intimidate people. There was not the American “The customer is always right” in Russia – we felt as if we were always going to get in trouble.

25. We did not.

26. We had a drunk man trying to get into our flat. He had a knife. The police came. Our friend was accosted in Moscow by Gypsy children.

27. No I did not.

28. We only heard a little about this but due to the language barrier and our limited time with people it didn’t come up.

29. It was interesting to come into the country after this all happened and see how life was.

30. From 1980-1991 Russia was not on my radar. I only knew what I read about it in American newspapers, magazines or saw on television. Russia was our enemy. Then we heard rumblings of discontent in eastern Europe and the Soviet block. When the Berlin wall fell it seemed unreal, but I didn’t understand the implications. Today, as I read National Geographic magazines from that time period, which describe what life was like for people before, during and after Perestroika (and show photographs) it isfascinating to me. Perspective changes things and I can see things I experienced in Russia described in the written word and shown in the photos.

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