Hello, I haven’t been active as a tour guide since taking your seminar for tour guiding in 2000, but am still interested in the touring profession. After reading your note regarding meeting people who are interesting, I thought I’d share with you my wife and my experience. From October 2008 until October 2009 we spent a year in Moscow, Russia. My wife is of Russian/Ukrainian heritage with her father having served in the Soviet army in WWII and being a German prisoner of war for the last four or so years of the war. My wife grew up in Marrakech,Morocco going to French schools and speaking Russian at home. Her father had a pre-Bolshevik education and spoke “Pushkin” or “intelligentsia” Russian which she learned at home. She was offered a position through a company which hires people, including linguists, to work for the American embassy. As a result we lived in Moscow and saw much of the Moscow including surrounding historical and cultural sites. We spent a year with out an automobile and used the Metro to get around. The system as most know is extensive and we thought relatively cheap. With a Metro map and my wife’s Russian skills we either walked or rode to also every attraction in the Moscow region and nearby “Golden Ring” cities. Two groups of people come to mind. One was the American Embassy workers my wife worked with who were from all over the U.S. from Washington D.C. to California and the other were the Russians living in Moscow. The Russians were at first a little leery when my wife asked directions or information, but, after they heard her Russian were helpful and curious. Included in the group were some young Russian girls who worked in a gated foreign housing area called Rosinka about 10 or 12 miles northwest of the American Embassy where many American workers lived. I found it interesting to talk to them and try get an idea of their education background and what they knew about the world outside of Russia. They worked in the gated community offices and community center because they spoke and had studied English. The group I thought were interested because they representative of the future of Russia, including the Russian view of the outside world and the United States. Although educated these young ladies had biases based on the past like many of our youth also have. This included a limited awareness of things not Russian. When Michael Jackson died in June, there was a big display set up outside the American Embassy in his memory. Young Russians are interested in American entertainment icons, but, unfortunate, like young Americans, accepted views of the world from previous times. World War II was a war fought between Russia and Nazi Germany. Oh yes,there was fighting in other areas, but, only secondary to the “Great Patriotic War.’
These experience are some which a tour group would not be able to obtain on a limited time tour of a place such as Moscow or St. Petersburg. Moscow is not high on tour places for American or Western tourists, but I believe it would be very enlightening for many. In the spring of the year the American Consulate office had Russian youths lined up to get visas for foreign travel, many for summer visits to the U.S., but I cannot recall talking to any American young in Moscow. The year was enlightening, but, I realize not practical for tours by American for profit tour companies. Unfortunately both the American employed overseas and the locals are interesting if you have long enough to get to know them. Unfortunately this is not the case. Ray Pregl winter - 2000 ITMI seminar