A crash course on who I am and what I am doing

While I have traveled often, I have really only made one attempt at documenting this through writing a blog. Feel free to read it over if you like. The address is http://www.bike4d.org/ . I learned a few things from that experience about writing about what I do. If I tell the stories of the people I meet and the things we experience, the stories are interesting. Who really wants to read a story about some guy who goes out and looks at old buildings and old statues? I am all about the human experience. That will be my goal in writing this to share with whoever decides to read this, the experiences I have with people around the world.

I always have a lot to say but I do not always have the patience to wait for my fingers to do the talking. Any encouragement you give me in writing this will have a direct impact on the quantity of writing. I am a terrible speller so my wonderful wife has access to this blog as well and will be making regular changes to my spelling. Yes, I am married, and at times my wife joins me on my crazy adventures and sometimes not. At the moment, I am sitting in an airport in Dublin, Ireland waiting for a flight to Leeds, England. That story will come later.

I want to share with you all a paper I was thankfully forced to write about a recent journey I took to Russia. The paper is a reflection on my experiences there and I thought it would make for a nice introduction.



”To know a culture and a people, one must be fully immersed in the target culture. While Gallaudet is a beacon in the darkness that sometimes encompasses deaf education, a single light cannot illuminate the complexities of deafness around the world. To bring light and understanding to others around the world that light must be carried into the homes and the hearts of as many people as possible. One such medium for this cross-cultural exchange exists in the Gallaudet University Personal Discovery Program lead by Jean Berube. Recently, I was given the opportunity to accompany the Discovery program on such a mission of understanding and sharing.

I am a linguist, specializing in signed languages, and a professional interpreter. After several years at Gallaudet attaining a Master’s degree, my exposure to deaf culture was limited. I was able to attain an in-depth understanding of American Deaf culture but the international Deaf community remained an enigma to me. By traveling to Russia, I was able to broaden my understanding of Deaf people as a world community.

Several unique opportunities presented themselves to allow total immersion in the Russian Deaf culture. The Discovery program opened the doors for us all to interact with the local populace on a level that is ordinarily difficult to attain. The workshops dealing particularly with Russian deaf individuals, I felt were salient to intercultural interactions. Our Russian-speaking hosts knew only Russian and English, but were lacking in their ability to interact with the Russian deaf in their native language. This allowed those of us familiar with deaf interactions to establish a pidgin language. While at first there were communication barriers, we quickly overcame those. In the end, we were better able to communicate directly with the Russian deaf than the other Russians were.

My goal in accompanying the discovery program to Russia was to interact with Deaf people from another culture. Due to the variety of groups we were able to provide programs for; my goals were met and exceeded. The programs we ran included young children, professional educators, university students, and many more. This variety of interactions allowed us all to see a fairly complete cross section of Russian individuals. While working with groups of people in a structured environment was beneficial, we were able to interact additionally on a more intimate level. In lieu of stay at hotels we opted to have our board provided by local Russian families, thus truly experiencing a total immersion in the local culture.

After several encounters with one particular group we were able to set up a meeting with them in the evening to see the city. During this brief sojourn, our conversations ranged the gambit from deaf education in Russia to their social security system. The depth at which we were able to converse after only a short time shows that opportunities like this are truly valuable for the growth on each individual. By interacting on a personal level with people in their own cultural environment, one is better able to understand the target culture.

In an afternote, on two occasions after this trip to Russia, I have encountered individuals from Russia. One such encounter occurred on a cruise ship and I was able to befriend and socialize with this Russian due to the information I gained while visiting Russia. The second such encounter occurred while climbing a mountain at 12,000 feet. An individual from Russia was climbing alone and had encountered several problems with his equipment. Using the knowledge of the Russian language and culture I had, we were able to render assistance to this individual. Ultimately, this brief exposure to the Russian culture has allowed me personally to spread a little bit of peace and well being into the world in some unlikely situations.”