As one of few foreigners in a small city in Siberia, Benjamin Lourie (IAFS ’16 and Global Grant recipient) is often asked why he chose Gorno-Altaisk, a small city of 60,000 near the border with Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China. The truth is that he didn’t. Lourie has been teaching at Gorno-Altaisk State University as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) since September 2016, and his location was assigned to him. Benjamin expressed his desire to be off the beaten path so that he could see the “True Russia,” any area outside of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Lourie notes, “Someone should have warned me to be careful what I wish for--I ended up in the smallest city out of roughly 25 Fulbright ETAs in Russia.”
Having been in Gorno-Altaisk for less than 24 hours, Ben found himself teaching a class of 40 students on an empty stomach and with no morning coffee. His plans to find a coffee shop on the way to school or to stop by the university stolovaya (cafeteria) didn’t work out, and he would later find out there is only one coffee shop in the city and the stolovaya doesn’t open before classes. His first lesson was a presentation about his life in the U.S., which he hoped would dispel some stereotypes about Americans. Wearing his signature gray suit, Lourie felt confident in front of the students.
“There was a good mix of students: those who were very shy about speaking English, and those who were excited to speak English,” explains Lourie. Despite the lack of reliable technology at the university, including no Wi-Fi and a few distracted students, Lourie made it through his first day of teaching. He would go give his presentation several more times throughout the semester, whether visiting one of the local high schools or meeting with a new group of students at the university.
As a major in International Affairs and Russian Studies at CU Boulder, Lourie studied abroad in St. Petersburg, Russia in summer 2013 and again in spring 2015 as the recipient of a Global Grant scholarship. However, being an English language teacher in a remote corner of Siberia has proven to be a new adventure. Additionally, Lourie is living in the dorms, with his roommate being the only other American in the city. His neighbors include a teacher from Germany and another from China. With many of the cuisines he loves at home missing in town, Ben has learned how to cook all his favorite foods. If he isn’t cooking, he hopes his neighbor from China will invite him over for spicy, authentic Chinese food.
Lourie received the Critical Language Enhancement Award along with his Fulbright grant, which has allowed him to greatly improve his Russian language. He prides himself in being able to attend classes with Russian students. Furthermore, being in a provincial city has greatly improved his understanding of Russia overall. Before his Fulbright year comes to an end, he hopes to visit more parts of the Altai Republic, which shares an uncanny resemblance to Colorado, as well as several other cities in Russia and Kazakhstan. He also plans to return to the Republic of Georgia, which he first visited while studying abroad in St. Petersburg two years ago.