Alles in Ordnung

Another lifetime ago it seems, I was on the mother of all art courier trips, bringing a major photography exhibit from the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg (its first ever photography exhibition), to the Deichtorhallen in Hamburg. The trip involved a truck drive through the Russian/Finnish border, an adventure in itself, an overnight stay in Helsinki, an overnight ferry across the North Sea to Lubeck, Germany, then back on the truck for the final leg of the journey to Hamburg. 

That trip was just slightly less eventful than the first leg of the adventure when I originally brought the show to St. Petersburg from Chicago. I could write a book on that one. One of the greatest pleasures of the first trip was meeting Hessu, the Finnish truckdriver with whom I spent in addition to the time it took to drive from the Finnish capital to the magnificent city on the Neva, eight hours at the aforementioned border in the middle of the night in the middle of a Finnish winter, waiting in a several mile long line of other trucks trying to get into Russia. 

We had lots of time together Hessu and I, obviously, and we became fast friends. I can't describe my joy when later that year, waiting for my ride while standing in the courtyard of what was once the Winter Palace of the Russian Tzars (until the Bolsheviks stormed it on October 26,1917), and learned that it would be none other than Hessu, driving my cargo and me from Russia to Germany, 

Hessu's job took him far and wide. Like every Finn who expects to spend time outside of his country, he spoke a number of languages, although I don't recall him being able to speak Russian. There, what seems to have become the lingua-franca of much of the world, English had to suffice, which was really helpful for poor, pitiful, mono-lingual me. 

Truly an international man, much of our conversations centered around his adventures hauling freight throughout the continent. He wasn't shy talking about the characteristics of people from the various countries he spent so much of his life in, including his own, where it seemed he spent the least of his time.

In our day and age, we tend to shun ethnic stereotypes. I'm not talking about cartoonish depictions of say the drunken Irishman, the penny-pinching Scot, or the Italian with mob ties, although those things do indeed exist. But the reality is, stereotypes don't come out of thin air, and people tend to in one degree or other reflect the values, customs and traditions of their cultural identity and the place they come from. 

Why wouldn't they? 

Perhaps because of their connection with the events surrounding the Second World War and the Holocaust, one group that no one seems to have problems stereotyping are the Germans.

Germans, the cartoonish stereotype goes, drink copious amounts of beer, the men wear lederhosen, the women dirndls and everyone socks with sandals, they are humorless, strictly efficient, punctual to the second, and above all, have an almost religious devotion to rules. The latter of these traits many believe, is a contributing factor to the rise and acceptance of Nazism and the Holocaust in the 30s and 40s. I don't necessarily buy that but it's a subject for another post.

Hessu's take on the Germans was their almost super-human efficiency. He pointed out the German expression that he felt defined the German people more than any other: "alles in ordnung." Literally it means "everything in order" but it is used in several contexts including asking someone if they're OK as in: "is everything in order?"

Well as they say, in a case of life imitating art, when we reached our destination in Hamburg and unloaded the nineteen crates containing the exhibition, we asked the person responsible for packing at the museum if we could help him place the crates in storage. He politely declined saying that he had a detailed plan on where the crates would go and it would take too much time for us to hang around to implement it. He then showed us his plan which was an intricate to-scale drawing, created by the hand of someone who was obviously a grand master champion of Tetris, with each crate tightly interwoven into its own place, leaving no room for error. Which meant that if one of the crates had been measured wrong, even by an inch, the whole plan would have to be scrapped. Unfortunately, the crate sizes provided to him were not complied by another German, so.... We didn't stick around to check how it all turned out, but hopefully for the best. 

I have another little anecdote of an experience in Germany. My wife and I were visiting friends in Frankfurt. From there we were headed to Prague and our friends helped us find the trains that would get us there. In this particular itinerary, there was to be one stop where we would need to switch trains. I asked how much layover time there would be between trains, assuming it would be about an hour or so. It was four minutes. "Isn't that cutting it a little tight?" I asked my friend, "...what if our first train runs late?". "Don't worry" was his response.

Well, it turned out our first train was indeed running late, by about a minute and a half, which is why the efficiency of the trains is a constant source of frustration for most Germans. I was sweating bullets fearing that we wouldn't have enough time to de-board our train, then find the track of our next train to make the connection. 

Turns out we had plenty of time.

As I mentioned in several previous posts, I've been studying German for the past year or so. I've discovered over the years a very useful resource for language learning is YouTube videos. In several of the German videos I've been watching are references to stereotypes about Germans and how in fact, a lot of them are founded in reality. According to them, and these videos are made by Germans mind you, most German people are indeed obsessed with punctuality, tidiness, order and rules. So just deal with it OK?

But I stumbled across another video, this one in English and made by an ex-pat Brit living in Germany named Benjamin Antoine. That could be the reason that his YouTube channel is called "Brit in Germany". The aim of his channel as you can imagine is to describe the cultural differences between Germany and especially the UK, but also other cultures, that expats living in Germany might experience. 

The title to this particular video is Freedom Isn't the Point Here and in it, he points out that there is a much deeper meaning to all the perceived rigidity found amongst the Germans. 

Here is a link to the video.

I won't go into details because I highly recommend you watch the video, but the point of his thesis can be summed up in the following "money quote": 

Germany isn't structured around individual freedom, it's structured around shared responsibility.

In other words, all the rules, regulations, personal habits and the rest, do not exist out of some irrational compulsion, but out of a sincere desire, to make society work for everyone. 

Here's more from the video's notes:

There is a core difference to how German society is structure as opposed to American or British society. It all comes down to the individual vs. the collective. In Britain and the US, the self comes first. In Germany, the structure and the system come first. 

Now of course I am generalising here but American values and to a lesser extent British values prize autonomy. German values prize reliability. And neither is right or wrong. But they produce very different lives.

As an example, Antoine points out in the video something I was already well aware of, that the Germans are diligent about recycling. Unlike Americans at least here in Chicago where if we do bother to recycle, we just throw all our recyclable material into one bin where someone in a recycling center allegedly sorts it all, the general public in Germany is expected to sort out their own recyclable material by type and if plastic, by color, then thoroughly clean it before depositing it into the appropriate container. I'm not sure if there is a law that regulates this, but one can rest assured that if you mess up, a neighbor will be more than happy to point out the error of your ways.

Contrast that to a family outdoor family gathering held in the backyard of my cousin's house a few years ago. When it came time to clean up after the meal, I asked her where she deposited her recyclable material. Her response which I'll never forget was: "I am very proud to say that in this household, we do NOT recycle." It was almost as if I had asked her where her altar for animal sacrifices was. 

Another unfortunately typical American attitude was highlighted by the uproar during the COVID pandemic, where tens of millions of Americans were aghast by the requirement for everyone to wear masks in public, Claiming it was a violation of their rights, people expressed the idea that it was their God given right to get sick if they so chose to do so. Of course what they failed to take into account was the real reason to wear masks, avoiding spreading the infection to others. That plea largely fell upon deaf ears, at least among the anti-maskers. Small wonder that the COVID mortality rate in the U.S. was higher than any other nation in the world. 

Another more mundane German obsession is punctuality. When you think about it in the terms brought up in Antoine's video, being punctual is really more about showing consideration to others, than a rigid mandate, although it's that too. The same with laws against making excessive noise after 10PM and on Sundays, and a whole slew of other regulations designed to make life a little more livable for the Gesellschaft, society.

In my studies of the German language, I've noticed that German can be very specific when it comes to describing things. For example, German can have many words to describe something where English might only have one. But these German words are not interchangeable, they each have their own slight variation or nuance that English simply does not bother with.

But there is an example in reverse, where German has one word that describes something English recognizes as two entirely different concepts. 

That word is rücksichtlos, and it can be translated into English as either ruthless or reckless. 

Here's a brief English definition of ruthless:

having or showing no pity or compassion for others.

And here's one for reckless:

without thinking or caring about the consequences of an action.

To a native English speaker, one could be ruthless but not reckless, as self-gratification is the essential quality of ruthlessness.

Likewise, a person could be reckless but not ruthless, as self-gratification is not essential to reckless behavior, in fact more often than not, it's just the opposite.

It's when you get to the literal meaning of rücksichtlos, that you begin to see the connection between the two and with that, start to gain an insight into the German mind.

Rücksichtlos literally means without regard. German, at least here, does not distinguish between regard of oneself or regard of others, just like all the things in Antoine's video, what matters most is the regard itself.

In that vein I differ a little from Antoine's assessment of Germans not valuing individual rights. As I see it, Germans do value individual rights, as long as they don't interfere with the rights of others. 

In one of my last posts, I mentioned creating flash cards to help learn words. Instead of writing down the English translations of the words I'm trying to learn, I often substitute pictures. As rücksichtlos describes two English words, I had to make two cards. The picture I chose to represent ruthless was easy, you more than likely know it. It's the picture of four of the most ruthless people I can imagine, Jeffery Epstein, his partner Ghislaine Maxwell, the current president of the United States and his current wife.

It was harder to come up with a picture to represent reckless, so I just googled the word "reckless" and looked for accompanying images. The first image to come up  (which I used), was a picture of a chimpanzee driving a car.

I think the Germans are on to something. *

*My apologies to chimpanzees for that crude comparison.

When In Rome...

Czech tourists visiting the Roman Forum, May, 2000

On the evening of our first day in Rome almost twenty-two years ago, my wife and I went into a restaurant near the Spanish Steps. We were seated inches away from another American couple, a few decades older than us. Judging from their appearance, they were fairly well off and from their accent, were from Texas. 

I've traveled abroad a bit and from my first trip to a foreign country to this day, I've been very conscious of the image of the stereotypical American tourist and how not to act like one myself.

The couple seated next to us on the other hand, were the personification of "Ugly Americans" abroad: loud, rude, throwing their weight and money around, disrespectful of the local culture, the whole nine yards. 

At the beginning, the waiter was patient with them despite their endless inquiries about the items on the menu. After he brought their food, they immediately began to complain. I don't remember the specifics, only that the wife ordered a meat dish that tasted strange to her, maybe it didn't taste like the food she was used to at the local Italian restaurant back home in Lubbock. Then she did something unheard of in Europe, demanded the waiter bring the food back and exchange it for another dish.  

To be honest, this probably wasn't the best restaurant on the block, let alone in Rome. It catered primarily to tourists and for that reason, I'm sure it wasn't too unusual for the wait staff to hear that demand, especially from Americans. So the waiter obliged her.

Next she ordered the filet of sole. When she tasted dish number two, she summoned the waiter, who by this time was beginning to lose his patience, and told him the fish didn't have any taste. His snippy response was: "it's fresh fish, it's not supposed to have a taste." 

They weren't having any of it so back to the kitchen went the fish. She wasn't much happier with dish number three and after eating only a few bites, the two got up and left, which was as great a relief to us as it was to the bedraggled waiter. 

After they left, I apologized to him for the boorishness of our fellow countrymen. Brushing it off, he said something to the effect of "all in a day's work".

The one comical thing about the experience was the waiter's use of the English language. He spoke perfect English, but as the ordeal with these two went on, his English got worse and worse. By the end of their meal, he said to them: "beh, a... scusa miei signori, ma, I no speaka di good English."

I thought about this when I read an article on the web this morning listing things American tourists do that are confusing, aggravating and downright offensive to the natives. 

Some of the things on the list were not surprising: we tend to expect everyone, no matter the country, to speak English. We are loud, we wear unusual things like sandals with socks (actually more of a German thing I've noticed), and shorts, tee shirts and sneakers in places where they are not appropriate, (guilty as charged). Some other things listed were just plain weird such as the idea that Americans prefer to ride in the back of taxicabs. Now I'm no expert on the subject of taxicabs around the world but I have ridden in taxis in Rome, Athens, Istanbul, Berlin, St. Petersburg and Tokyo, and in none of those places was riding in front with the driver an option.

Going through the list of stupid things Americans do when traveling abroad, I came up with three general categories of offenses that thoughtful American tourists ought to avoid according to the article. Listing the three from the most grievous to the least are:

• Disrespecting the culture of the place.
• Looking like a doofus.
• Looking like an American.
  

I'll begin with the least and work my way up. For starters, I'm American and while I don't agree with everything that goes on in this country, I have no problem being American. Even if I did, there's not much I could do about it anyway, so I'm not going to change my behavior simply because it makes me appear to be what I am. Besides, if I do all the things the article suggests that won't make me appear American such as refraining from the following: 

• wearing sneakers,
• being polite to strangers, or 
• expressing excitement over seeing a building several hundred years old,

I could probably pass for a local in London

 

I might pass for a local in places like London, Berlin or Prague, that is until I opened my mouth and started to speak. 

As for me ever passing as a local in places like Tokyo or Istanbul, dream on.   

On the other hand, I don't want to look like a fool and frankly, some of the things we Americans routinely do seem quite odd to people in the rest of the world. One of them is eating and drinking while walking around. In that respect, there is a good reason to do as the Romans do, as well as the Berliners and practically everybody else in the world does. Most cultures take their eating and drinking seriously and don't believe those activities should be multi-tasked.  

A Chilean among a group of Poles at a papal audience in the Vatican

Another real curiosity is Americans' (from both hemispheres) obsession with their country's flag. Unless you're at an international sporting event or the celebration of a national holiday, it's unusual to see non-Americans displaying their nation's flag, especially as a part of their attire. Americans from the United States anyway, should realize that this appropriation of the image of our flag goes against official flag etiquette. but they go ahead and do it anyway, even in foreign countries, making their doofus rating extremely high.

The article I read, dwells on things I would place in my bottom two categories of "mistakes" Americans make abroad, while mistakes of the first category, disrespecting the culture, the only one that really matters, are glossed over. Most of the actions mentioned in the article, are trivial cultural differences which may provoke humor or curiosity among people who are not from our culture, maybe at times even endearment, but hardly ever annoyance, anger or offense. 

More enlightening than the article were some of the comments that followed, which went like this: "who cares, when I'm a tourist, I'm contributing to the economy of the country which gives me the right to do as I please."

Therein lies much of the problem.

Sure our money helps the economy of the place we're visiting, but we're not exactly part of General Patton's army liberating Europe from the grip of oppression, so we shouldn't act like we are.

Horror stories abound about tourists (not always Americans) behaving atrociously. Many of them revolve around taking selfies with no regard to the place they find themselves. One of the worst stories I read was about a group of Americans posing for selfies inside Auschwitz, while chanting "U.S.A, U.S.A". Another involves tourists of an unknown nationality at a wildlife refuge in Australia, perhaps the one I visited outside of Melbourne, shaking a Eucalyptus tree, forcing a koala to fall out.

 

The best advice I can give anyone traveling to a foreign country is this: you are a guest of that country so act like one. At home you might throw your coat on the floor, walk around in your underwear and pick your teeth at the dinner table, but hopefully you wouldn't do that in someone else's home. These selfie taking, tree shaking morons probably would do those things in somebody else's home, so there is probably nothing that can cure cluelessness of that magnitude short of a permanent travel ban.

As for the rest of us, it may sound a bit corny, but I truly believe that when we travel abroad, we are in a small way, ambassadors for our country. The way we speak, behave, and present ourselves in public is a reflection of not only us as individuals, but of our culture as well. Now it's true that reasonable people understand not to judge an entire nation based on the actions of a small handful of individuals. But stereotypes are powerful mental images, not conceived out of thin air. Human nature being what it is, negative stereotypes can be reinforced by only the slightest provocation.

What's more, when you're a guest at someone's home, the host may have a particular set of customs and rules of behavior that any respectful guest should try to abide by, so long as they know them.

It's the same when visiting a foreign country.

Here are a some of the "house" rules and other tidbits of useful information I gleaned during my travels abroad:

ON ATTIRE...

During our visit to the Vatican, we noticed that women including my wife, were discreetly asked to cover their bare shoulders upon entering St. Peter's Basilica. What about the men you ask? Well we didn't encounter any sans sleeves, but I can tell you that a man clueless enough to walk into the most important building in the Roman Catholic Church wearing a tank top, deserves every bit of public humiliation meted out to him. 

In other words, when it comes to the way we dress in foreign countries, sometimes it comes down to plain common sense, and sometimes not. You wouldn't dress the same attending Carnival in Rio as you would the Hajj in Mecca, would you? But it's not always so cut and dried.

Hagia Sophia, Istanbul

 

 

Making it more complicated. whether we like it or not, accepted standards for dress are quite different for the genders in many cultures.

Everyone knows about the restrictive dress codes for women in some conservative Muslim countries that don't exist for men. But in the west, the reverse is true. It's perfectly acceptable for example, for women to go sleeveless just about anywhere except inside some places of worship and other solemn sites. Not so for men usually, outside of the gym or the beach.

Fortunately in the age of the internet, it only takes a few keystrokes to learn what flies where, and what doesn't. And if we miss a certain detail such as the case above, no worries, we will be reminded. 

Incidentally, Istanbul pictured here, is still a city in a secular country, although that may be slowly changing. The traditional clothing seen in the photo was optional when the picture was taken in 1995. Hagia Sophia, one of the great architectural wonders of the world, at the time was a museum, but has recently been converted into a mosque, and head covering and needless to say, modest dress is required for all women visiting the building today. The one thing that dates this photo, is that being a mosque, shoes would now be removed by everyone entering the sanctuary. See below. 

ON LANGUAGE:

The old joke goes like this: 

What do you call someone who speaks three languages? Tri-lingual. What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Bi-lingual. And what do you call someone who speaks one language? American.

It doesn't help that English is the most widely spoken language in the world meaning that native speakers of the language can "get by" in most foreign countries by not speaking a word of the local language. That doesn't mean we shouldn't try. Of course, unless one is linguistically gifted, it's very difficult for a well-traveled person to be conversant in every language of every country visited. 

So how much of the language of a country should one know before traveling there? My own experience is that a little knowledge of a language can be a dangerous thing. Confident with my 500 word German vocabulary, I discovered that when I started up a conversation in German in Berlin, if the person responded in kind, I would become lost, quickly. An even worse feeling, is proudly addressing someone in the local language only to have them automatically respond to you in English. 

Unless you already know the language, my advice in visiting a country whose language is not your own, would be to at least learn essential words and phrases such as "hello' and "goodbye", "excuse me", "please", "thank you", "do you speak (my language)" and the ever popular, "where's the bathroom" before you go, no pun intended. 

Funny story, before my first visit to Russia, as is my custom, I studied the language for a couple months. It turned out the most difficult word for me to pronounce was their word for "hello" which in its native Cyrillic spelling is Здравствуйте. See what I mean? When spelled phonetically in the Latin alphabet, it's not much easier : ZDRAVS-tvuy-tye. But I persisted, and to this day I can still say hello (but little else) in Russian, and sound quite convincing. So when I got there and greeted people with a hearty, Здравствуйте!, I discovered that like here, people either just abbreviated it (zdrastu) or used the much simpler, more informal, Привет (PRI-vet). What gives, I asked my new Russian friends who told me that Здравствуйте was much too cumbersome for Russians as well.

Numbers are helpful to know, especially involving money transactions. And if you're visiting a country whose language has a different (but not all that different) alphabet from ours such as Greek or Cyrillic, learn it; it's not all that difficult, it shouldn't take more than a week or two of casual study. Then at the very least, you'll be able to read street signs. 

And in the internet age, it wouldn't hurt spending a little time with Duolingo or an equivalent, just to get a feel for the language.  

While you won't be able to have a meaningful conversation with such a brief introduction to the language, you'll gain respect from the locals for making the effort, except perhaps in Paris.

ON CULTURAL SENSITIVITY...

I once walked into a bar in the Central Business District of Melbourne that boasted offering a vast array of international beers. Being somewhat knowledgeable on the subject, I wasn't particularly interested in any of the national brews, so I asked for a British Ale, to which the bartender responded: "We're in Australia mate, not England." 

So I asked him what the Aussies drank. He said: "Well we've got a good German Weissbier, a Belgian Trappist Ale, and an American IPA."

Interesting. 

I never made the mistake of bringing up England Down Under again. 

Oh, and while we're on that subject, if you ever find yourself in Prague, don't refer to the Czech Republic as an "Eastern European" country unless you're prepared for a protracted lecture on European geography, history and politics. 

ON DINING... 

Second to language, food is perhaps the most integral part of most cultures. In Japan, the preparation and presentation of food, like so many other things we take for granted here, is raised to the level of high art. We all know of the great culinary traditions of India, China, Mexico and of course France, to name but a small handful. Always keep respect for the local food culture in mind when traveling abroad. 

In my book, the country that dials the cultural significance of its food up to an 11, that is to say, one level higher than all the rest, is Italy. 

Poultry Market in Florence

Even in an informal setting, you'll be set straight in no uncertain terms if you make a faux pas when ordering food in Italy, such as the time I asked a waiter at a glorified fast food joint in Florence for a little Parmigiano Reggiano on my plate of shrimp pasta. 

When in Rome, definitely order the Spaghetti Carbonara, the glorious signature dish of that city, but not Spaghetti Bolognese, especially don't order it in Bologna, nor anywhere else in the country. And never, I mean NEVER, order spaghetti and meatballs in Italy. 

When in Naples, (God willing I'll get there some day), the birthplace of modern pizza, order first and foremost the Pizza Margherita featuring only toppings that represent the tri-color flag of Italy, red tomatoes, white cheese and green basil. Order extra toppings if you must, but don't even think of asking for chicken or heaven forbid, pineapple on a pizza in Italy, unless you want to be thrown into the street and laughed out of the country.

ON SHOES...

I would say one of the biggest cultural differences between Americans and many parts of the world concerns shoes. I'm not talking about sandals with socks or sneakers instead of "proper" leather soled shoes, but something much more serious. I'm talking about wearing outside shoes indoors, especially in someone's home.  

When you travel abroad, especially in eastern Asia, be prepared to take off your shoes inside, as not doing so is considered unsanitary, uncouth and disrespectful in much (but not all) of the world. The American custom of wearing shoes inside one's home by the way, is deeply rooted in our own culture, and is deserving of a post of its own if not an entire thesis.

Here is perhaps the most practical advice of this entire post: in Japan you will be taking off and putting your shoes back on so often that you will want to bring shoes that slip on and off easily, not the tie-up boots that I foolishly chose to wear.

DO UNTO OTHERS...

The best advice of all on how to behave in another country is to simply follow the golden rule: don't do anything over there that would piss you off if someone came to our country and did here. Tourists to the  States who particularly bug me, are the ones who incessantly compare the way we do things in our country to the way things are done in theirs. That is one of the most common criticisms of the Ugly American abroad, yet I've encountered many visitors to this country, Europeans especially, who feel entitled to do exactly that here. 

To those folks I would say this: 

We've heard it all before; we may even agree with you that some things are better in Europe. Trust me, you're not telling us anything we don't already know. So people, please stop it; just take in our culture for the better or worse of it, and relax. I promise to return the favor and not complain how much better things are in the good ol' USA when I am a guest in your country. Be it noted that I'll do my best to convince my fellow countrymen and women to follow suit.

To wit: my message to Americans traveling abroad is as follows, don't be an asshole.

So shall it be written, so shall it be done.

Traveling abroad is one of the great experiences of life. It opens our minds, our hearts and our souls to our fellow human beings. It connects us to other cultures and teaches us among so many other things, that despite all our differences, at the heart of it all, as my father always used to say, "people are people." 

By all means, do a little research before making your journey. In our day, with all the information we have at the tip of our fingers, there is no excuse to arrive at our destination completely unprepared. 

On the other hand, don't go overboard with the planning. I've found that one of the most rewarding parts of travel is encountering the unexpected. Those are the moments that stick in our heads and provide us the most powerful learning experiences. 

Like the time I was detained and nearly arrested in St. Petersburg. 

OK maybe that wasn't the most rewarding experience, but it did teach me a few things. And I certainly haven't forgotten it.

At the risk of invalidating everything I've written above, don't sweat making cultural errors in other countries as the mistakes we make are the keys to learning about a culture, as hopefully my little anecdotes in this post illustrated.

I'm truly wistful, writing this at a time when global travel has been curtailed for two long years and may be in doubt for the foreseeable future. Perhaps the single most powerful moment for me in all my travels was the time I had the great privilege to be able to sit in Red Square in Moscow and take in the vast array of emotions going through my head. Having lived through much of the Cold War, that place represented for half my life, a foreboding, distant, terrifying world in which I could never imagine setting foot. By the time I arrived in 1995, the world had changed, or so I thought. Being there in person, Moscow, despite its idiosyncracies, could not have been more beautiful or exhilarating, very much unlike what I expected. The same goes for the people of that great city. 

Ancient Orthodox cathedral in the shadow of the Soviet Era Rossiya Hotel, Moscow

Flash forward to today and my own city, to a restaurant called Russian Tea Time, steps from where I work. It has been besieged of late by hatred and threats of violence because of Putin's invasion of Ukraine. If that by itself is not outrageous enough, the ultimate irony, or more appropriately, stupidity, is the fact that the restaurant is owned by Ukrainians. 

If only all of humanity could be so fortunate as I was to have had the opportunity to be able to look at the world from the other side of a conflict and realize that the people there, cultural differences aside, are no different than us.