Personal space is an interesting aspect of life which I never really gave much thought to...before living in Russia. It is something that is treasured by Americans but virtually unknown to Russians.
Of course, there are situations where personal space can be compromised in the USA. For example on the New York City Subway, public transit in general or sold-out concerts. In these situations it is understood that our personal bubbles will be popped, and we can usually handle it for the duration. However, my first lessons in Russia's lack of personal space was learned four years ago in Yekaterinburg (Russia's third largest city, with 1.5 million people). The three lessons that occurred follow.
Of course, there are situations where personal space can be compromised in the USA. For example on the New York City Subway, public transit in general or sold-out concerts. In these situations it is understood that our personal bubbles will be popped, and we can usually handle it for the duration. However, my first lessons in Russia's lack of personal space was learned four years ago in Yekaterinburg (Russia's third largest city, with 1.5 million people). The three lessons that occurred follow.
It was before 12:00 and very few customers were in the bookstore I was shopping at. There was a woman making her purchase, and I stood approximately an arm's length distance behind her while waiting for my turn. When it was my turn, I began taking the two small steps to the cashier when some old woman ran in front of me. In my terrible Russian, I asked her if she had no eyes or simply thought she was a queen. She began yelling at me, saying I wasn't next, and if I had been next I would have been closer. I asked her if she thought I was simply standing there for my health. She ignored my question and turned to the cashier. From my perspective, I was giving the person ahead of me their personal space (again, about an arm's length), and due to that, some woman decided to cut in line.
I approached the registration window at a doctor's office, having some concerns about symptoms I was experiencing. Since I couldn't speak any Russian then, I brought a friend with me to help translate. While speaking with the receptionist I heard someone enter the waiting area...and then I felt someone brush against my arm. There were a total of three people in the entire waiting room, and with the new addition, all three were at the reception window! I looked sternly at the unwelcome person and asked if I could help her with something. She looked at me with contempt and told me I didn't need to speak rudely to her. She didn't move one inch away.
While standing in line to buy subway tokens, I was shocked to watch two people cut in front of me because there was 1/2 an arm's length distance space to the person in front of me. I strong-armed them and asked if they thought I was there to simply look at the wall. They looked at me as if I had just spoken bad about their grandmother. I regained my position in line and stood the same distance from the person in front of me.
I have adjusted more...but still cherish my personal bubble, and I miss the fact that others cherish theirs and acknowledge bubbles. Of interesting note, this doesn't only happen in the large cities. Surgut, with a population of 330,000 people, has the exact same situation! Russia simply has no concept of personal space, and little respect for waiting for one's turn in a line.
Cool it with the anti russian remarks compadre. I've lived here my entire lives (hello gregory) and not once have I experienced my personal bubble being popped. Talk about americans cherishing personal space chyeah right, people losing their jobs because liberal degenerates are poking their noses in your personal life
ReplyDelete