As a young child growing up during the Cold War, I never would have imagined that I would ever travel to the Soviet Union, let alone receive any type of education there. I was brought up with learning about how bad the Soviet Union was, how the Russian people want to destroy the United States, and that if you go to the Soviet Union, they will send you to a Gulag and brainwash you with Communist rhetoric. Needless to say, the 1980’s painted the Russian people, and their government as an “Evil Empire” that was ready to destroy the United States in an instant.
During my senior year of high school, there was an opportunity for me to learn a foreign language. My high school in Texas, offered a few languages to study. There was French, Spanish, German, …show more content…
Being from Texas, I never really experienced any type of Eastern European food, minus the occasional Polska Kielbasa or Pierogi, so Russian cuisine was a new experience for me. The first thing that I tasted when I arrived in Russia was the borscht. I have heard about what it is, but I wasn’t too sure what it would taste like, or if I even wanted to try it. I asked my host family what was in it, and they explained that it is a very simple soup consisting of chicken broth, cabbage, beets, potato, carrots, and beans. I couldn’t be rude to them or starve to death, so I tasted the borscht, and it was delicious! It was hot, a little tart and salty, and it was very filling. My family explained to me that to fight off the cold during the Russian winter, every home has a pot of borscht on the stove, and there is always some bread to go with it. I was told to eat as much as I want, and there is a bakery located right down the street that sells fresh bread every day. How could I say no to all of this wholesome goodness? I tried other dishes as well, such as Pelmeni, which is a meat dumpling which is similar to ravioli that you boil in water with a few bay leaves, drain the water after cooking, and serve with sour cream. The pelmeni was rich in a flavor that I never experienced before, and I could not stop eating them; …show more content…
I took the summer off where I mostly stayed around home, and went to downtown Dallas a few times to have some fun. While in Dallas, I found out that there was a Russian community, and a friend suggested that I should go check it out. Being that I just returned from Moscow, I thought that it would be a good idea to go visit the community, and see if I would notice any differences.
The one thing that I noticed about the Russian community in Dallas was that they had assimilated into the community, and embraced the culture of the United States. The Russians still kept the culture and language of their former country as they blended into the community. There are grocery stores, and Russian language magazines in their neighborhoods, but the only difference is that they speak Russian more than English.
The Russian community in Dallas is small compared to other immigrant communities throughout the United States. However, all immigrant communities throughout the United States all have the same principals and ideals in mind. They assimilate into the American way of life; they carry over the culture and foods of their home country and immigrants will tend to flourish in these communities because of the bonds from their home countries, and the languages that they can understand to make life a little easier for them once they are in the United