Russians and Feet

On our first full day in Russia on this trip we went to see Romeo and Juliet. Jet-lagged and trying to get comfortable in my seat, I placed my right foot at the heel on my left knee (as I would normally do in the States) during the intermission just out of habit, having no clue of what Russians find appropriate or inappropriate. Most of the Russians around us had left to get some food or beverages during the intermission, so it was just a few of the American class sitting in our row. There was a woman who was sitting in front of me who had also left during the intermission, and on her walk back to her seat she was giving my foot a death stare. Confused and tired, I sat and did nothing thinking that I was just tired and she wasn't really looking at my foot. She got to her seat and did not sit down, staring at me now and gesturing to my foot while angrily rambling in Russian, which was quite intimidating for a first day experience. I put my foot down to lean in and try to pick up some of what she was saying and as soon as I put it down she nodded, turned around and sat down. I asked both Marc and the student who had studied in Russia first semester about this and apparently showing the bottom of the foot is taboo, as it is dirty and touches the ground.

About two weeks later, we befriended an 18 year old Russian boy named Oleg. I was talking to him about the leg crossing through poor Russian and simplified English when I decieded I would demonstrate and ask him what was bad and what wasn't. I crossed my legs completely with one knee on top of the other and asked Oleg if that was ok, to which he responded it was good and normal. Then I slowly started moving my right knee (on top) to the right and asked him to tell me when it was bad or inappropriate. It seemed that as long as I was able to point the bottom of my foot mostly towards the ground it was fine, until I got almost all the way down my leg and Oleg said "No this is a bad thing!" It seems that just so long as people can't see the bottom of your foot you're in good shape, but I've become very conscious about how I hold myself and how I cross my legs, keeping both feet either on the ground or pointed toward it.

On our train ride from Moscow to Novgorod, some of us met a Russian man by the name of Max. We talked with him in the diner car for several hours and had beforehand taken off our boots, not wanting to track dirt and water all over the train. As his English was very good, he was able to translate for us what the waitress had asked us earlier and we did not understand. She asked why we weren't wearing "topochki," a type of slipper that is thin and small but keeps your feet covered. It was far from cold on the train, but she was still concerned about us catching a cold from having our feet uncovered. I experienced this a little bit at our hostel in Moscow when I was barefoot and walking to the shower in the morning and got another death stare from the cleaning lady in the hostel (something I'm getting good at it seems). I asked Max (from our trip who had studied in Russia already) about why she might have stared at me. He asked, "Were you wearing topochki?" to which I said, "No," and he said that that was most likely the reason. I wore some shoes that were easy to slip on for the rest of the time and didn't get any glares from her ever again.

Overall, I find the Russians' view of feet very odd, but they find it disrespectful when I do things that we would find perfectly normal in the US. As a result, I have come to think about my feet much more and I am much more aware of where they are and how they are positioned. I'm just curious about how long it will be before I'm not as conscious about them and don't have to think twice about how I'm going to position my feet.