Eastern Europe’s Resting Bear Face

Written By Khushi Choudhary
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Petra Havas (ISB 11)

Author Petra Havas (11), is, without a doubt, someone not to be messed with. Outside of her alarming passion for tackling during rugby and tasting her own blood, Petra is, even more frighteningly, a Hungarian— yes, a species of Eastern Europeans famed for their stone-hard faces. In the following article, though, Petra takes up an introspective and inquisitive outlook to examine, why, exactly, RBF (Resting Bear Face) is so common in Eastern Europe.

I remember when I moved to England in 2016 to attend my very first international school, I noticed something extremely strange. It wasn’t unusual that everybody was speaking English around me and I couldn’t understand a single word, unless they talked at the speed of a snail (surprisingly, this never happened). It was something else. As I crossed from hallway to hallway, I constantly encountered a strange phenomenon. I found it in every corner, every classroom, every corridor and it didn’t let my mind rest. It chased me minute by minute and eventually, I had to realize: EVERYBODY WAS SMILING AT ME!

(Courtesy of Today Website)


It was funny because where I come from, we don’t do that in Eastern Europe. If you pass by someone at school, they won’t smile at you unless you tell them something funny, although they might greet you. If you pass by someone in the street that you don’t know and expect a smile from them... well, I will have to break your heart. It will not happen. It’s just not something we do. And if you smile at them, they will genuinely think you are an idiot or a creep. It would be like if Eastern Europeans and Anglo-Saxons both entered the Miss Universe 2018 model competition, stood side by side and appeared as polar opposites. While Miss Anglo-Saxon would be a great model for toothpaste advertisements, Miss Eastern Europe would look more like a hungry bear coming out of its cave in spring. Grumpy, depressed and growling.

“Miss Eastern Europe would look more like a hungry bear coming out of its cave in spring.”


To understand why Eastern Europeans are like this, research was carried out. According to the results, countries with a “long, robust history of immigration have historically relied on more nonverbal communication (Khazan). Therefore, since places like the United States and Canada have had multiple nationalities mingling together from the start, they didn’t all speak the same language and used gestures, including smiles, to communicate with each other. (No matter how hard pioneer Señor Lopez tried to befriend his German neighbor when he arrived in the New World, all he heard was 'gkskwpslspgskgsg' whenever he addressed him.)

“…all he heard was ‘gkskwpslspgskgsg’ whenever he addressed him.”


Moreover, Kuba Kyrs, a professor of psychology at the Polish Academy of Sciences, had another theory about the frequency of smiling in different cultures. He found that that smiling is very much affected by a country’s “uncertainty avoidance”. Uncertainty avoidance is “the extent to which the members of a culture [...] feel threatened by ambiguous and unknown situations” (Geert Hofstede, Dutch social psychologist). In places where social programs, including health care, safety, justice system, pension, etc. are less developed, the future is more unstable and therefore people feel like there is less to smile about, since they worry about what might happen next.

To understand this, let us craft a scene:

Some Ukrainian: Oh my god, my kid has been sick for almost two weeks now and I still can’t get him to the doctors because there are too many patients and the hospital doesn’t have enough employees to set up a section for children. What will I do?? *she touches her heart, anxious*

Some Romanian: Don’t even get me started, Tanya! I got robbed the other day, so I went to the police and they didn’t look to keen to do anything about it. They say it happens all the time. Terrible! *she buries her face in her hands*

Some Hungarian: No, no, I suffered the most! I was supposed to fly to England last month, but there was some confusion with the planes and the security guard made us wait in the lobby area for three whole hours, without telling us anything! No apology, no announcements, nothing! Can you believe that? *she holds her head, incredulous*

Now, why would you smile if your future was so unpredictable?

(Courtesy of Brits and Russkies


The unhappy and crabby behavior that one is often confronted within Eastern Europe can be explained through their communist history as well. Beáta Farkasné Tóth, the founder of a mental health program in Hungary, says that the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989-1991 caused a sharp change in people’s lives at the time and they weren’t able to handle it. If we take Hungary as an example (my home country, the best place in the world), it is believed that “most Hungarians ignore taking preventive steps against stressful life” and neglect learning about methods of stress management. Under the communist government, people were “conditioned to obey, to live a life of shame and fear and anger,” which shaped the country’s mentality in a negative way (Tóth). Although the political regime changed in 1989, Tóth argues that “most Hungarians weren’t prepared for democracy and they carried the mental remains of communism.” Consequently, the later generations inherited this and still bear its mental burden on their shoulders — not only in Hungary but in other post-socialist countries as well.

(Courtesy of Imgflip)


Of course, there are a million other reasons why Eastern Europeans act the way they do. However, it is more important to understand that these cultural attributes only seem strange from the outside and are only considered good or bad in comparison to other cultures. Connecting cultures together requires respect from each one of us, whether or not you agree with certain customs. Thus, if you like good food and beautiful women, I am encouraging you to make a visit to somewhere in Eastern Europe. Where exactly? Maybe Poland? Good chocolate. Russia? Gorgeous architecture. Belarus? Lots to explore. But I heard from someone that Hungary is also very awesome. (Strictly private source.)

Khushi Choudhary
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