>From baikaltour@gin.global-one.ru Thu Oct 2 09:04:45 1997 Subject: Thursday night Hi everyone! Today we had to take care of some business. First of all, Benjamin had to have a blood test in preparation for his complete physical in Moscow a week from today. It was a pretty ugly scene -- hysterics, tears and a near fainting spell. But Julie is okay now. Benjamin didn't have any problems at all... We also stopped by the office of the Russian airline Transaero to petition for a refund. We were booked in business class for our Moscow-to-Irkutsk flight, but were placed in economy instead -- a $400 difference in ticket cost. We would have complained at the time, but we had just spent 9 hours in the airport (including a two-hour flight delay), it was after midnight (which was 8 a.m. to us), and no one spoke English anyway. Needless to say, we didn't get the problem corrected. So now we're trying to tangle with the Russian bureaucracy. Just imagine trying to get a refund from an American company while also having to make yourself understood! (Some of you probably don't have to imagine it!) Fortunately, Valentina has been helping out, so we're keeping our fingers crossed. After that stop we took in the Irkutsk Museum of Regional Studies. This was the best museum yet. One of the main features was a large display of artifacts of the natives who first populated the area. We were struck by how similar the various implements, clothing, etc. were to those of the native Americans that we have seen in U.S. museums. Duh! We finally clued in to the fact that these *were* the same people, to a considerable extent. Many of the original residents of eastern Russia migrated to North America simply by walking over to Alaska, which was once connected by land (where the Bering Strait is now). Another interesting tidbit is that the people of Irkutsk didn't even know about the revolution of 1917 until several weeks after it occured, due to their remote location. Also, Valentina told us that Lenin is suspected to have originally been an agent of the Germans. Is this a well-known fact or hypothesis? We hadn't heard that. Overall, we learned a great deal about the history of Ben's home town, and about its place in Russian history. Interestingly, this particular museum burned down in a fire that destroyed the entire city early this century, so it it is quite impressive that they have been able to re-stock it completely as they have. A "warm" spell graciously returned for us today -- it got up into the low 60s. So we got to get out for another nice long walk. Hopefully it will stay this way! Warm wishes go to all of you! We miss you a great deal, but we're in the home stretch now. In a week we'll be in Moscow, and then it's back home on Saturday the 11th. Class at 8 a.m. on Monday the 13th is going to be an interesting experience! Not only because of the time change, but because the professor's first question is going to be, "What is the subject again?" Much love, Kevin & Julie