About Adaptation
I feel like all my notes about trips to America are really a story about adaptation, for me and for my children. People are constantly adapting to everything. In Russia, I had my home, work, and caring for my mother. Then suddenly, I had to adjust to being a retired person, not working, and getting used to living alone. In the States, I’m adapting to living with family. Here, I had to get used to everything — how to turn on the faucet, how to use the air conditioner, start the dishwasher and washing machine, where things are kept, which store to buy what from, even getting used to the labels on packaging.
When I first arrived, I looked at everything with wide-open eyes. Now, I’ve gotten used to the everyday things. But still, the adaptation process is endless for someone born and raised in another country. To fully adapt to a country, you need to be born and raised there. Valya speaks English very well; she graduated here with honors. She and Levi read in English, watch English-language movies, and interact with Americans, but even they don’t feel completely adapted.
The adaptation process is endless for someone born and raised in another country
When you move to another country, adaptation happens faster when you’re younger. Take Marik, for instance — I feel like he’s already fully adapted to this environment. He’s now spent more time here than in Russia. Once, before he left for the States (he was around three years old), I was walking with him along the waterfront, and there was a woman with her six-year-old grandson. I looked at this child, and he seemed strange to me. A seemingly smart, healthy child, but his sentences sounded odd. Now I think he just grew up in a different country. Probably, Marik would look the same way in Russia now.
Recently, he said, “I used my tears for no reason.” Or, “Oh, it didn’t print right.” Levi calls this language “Runglish”. One day, he came home with his arms covered in marker scribbles. I said, “Ugh, like prison tattoos. In our country, that’s something they do in jail” (though it’s not just in prisons anymore). And he replied, “I know, I know. They write — love my mom.” (Can’t forget mother dear 🙂 ). Actually, he speaks cleanly, without an accent, but his sentence structures can be strange.
I continue to attend English classes on Wednesdays, but progress has been slow. We used to have such a good teacher. She could really get us talking and structured her sentences in a way that was easy to understand. She brought us interesting exercises. But she was only in Arizona for two years and has now gone back home to another state. Now we have two guys teaching us. One of them has no experience, and the other speaks quickly and as if he has a mouthful of mush. I don’t understand them well. I’m still going, but I feel my patience is running thin, and I think I’d benefit more from online classes at home.
