Amerikanka

We flew for twelve hours from Seattle to Copenhagen and two more hours to St. Petersburg, then rode into the country on an ancient tour bus, in which the only people who returned our American smiles were big-breasted women in photos affixed to the windshield with yellowing Scotch tape. By the time we stepped off the bus in Pskov, my eyes were watering uncontrollably. Some of the other students in my group were actually crying. I may have looked like I was overcome with emotion, but really I was just exhausted. It was late June in 1997. My twenty-first birthday.

I was greeted by Lena, my Russian host sister for the next eight weeks, her parents, thirteen-year-old brother, and boyfriend, Zhora. Somehow, we all squeezed into one Lada. The Russians made me sit up front, pointing at my legs to indicate that I needed the front seat because of my height. Zhora, who was taller than me, folded into the back with the others. Looking out the window at the Soviet architecture, I remembered a movie that I’d watched in my college Intro to Russian class. It was a romantic comedy about a man in Moscow whose drinking buddies put him on a plane to Leningrad while he’s passed out on New Year’s Eve. The man wakes up in Leningrad and makes his way to what he thinks is his apartment in what looks like his building at his address, Third Builder Street, only to find the apartment occupied by a beautiful woman. Romance and hilarity ensue. According to my teacher, Russians watch this movie on New Year’s Eve like we watch It’s a Wonderful Life at Christmas. My heart quickened when we pulled up to a gray concrete building that looked identical to all the surrounding buildings. I could hardly believe I was here.

My family in Texas did not understand my interest in Russian. Growing up, I knew only one bilingual person: Stephen, a pastor at our church who, according to youth group scuttlebutt, knew at least seven languages. Once on a Wednesday game night, I volunteered for cleanup duty so I could ask him about his abilities.

“You want to know how to learn a language? Here’s what you do,” he said, pointing down at the spot previously occupied by a