>From baikaltour@gin.global-one.ru Sat Oct 4 07:46:24 1997 Subject: last weekend in Irkutsk Hi everyone! Here is some very positive news: today we got Benjamin's official birth certificate, naming Julie and Kevin Treu of Greer, South Carolina as his mother and father! Although at this point it was just a formality, it was still a meaningful moment. Well, meaningful in a sense, that is. You see, the entire thing is in Russian! That caused us a moment's pause as we timidly asked if we'd be getting an English version too. Speaking as she would to a pair of small children, Valentina assured us that we would. We could just imagine producing the Russian birth certificate whenever Benjamin needed it throughout his life... ;-) We also received the official statement of adoption today, and will get Ben's passport on Tuesday evening. We can clearly see the light at the end of the tunnel now! At the grocery store this afternoon Julie had a pleasant conversation with a young Russian student who approached her in order to practice his English language skills with a native English-speaking person. (We don't think he was counting on getting a *Southern* English-speaking person, though...) He's only been studying the language since June, and did a remarkably good job. During the conversation, Julie asked him if he ever planned to visit America, to which he responded with an innocent, slightly bewildered "Why?" There go the provincial Americans again, assuming that *everyone* naturally wants to be there! ;-) After the conversation, he ran out of the store to catch Julie and give her a silver Russian coin as a souvenir. That was really kind. We had read before this trip that strangers will often do that after interacting with you, and today we saw that very pleasant aspect of the Russian culture in action. We had a very good experience with the grocery store on this, our third visit. No more were we the buffoons who stopped all of the activity to make our purchases! We were determined to do things properly, and we were very proud of our ingenuity in doing so. Recall that the way it works here is that you report what you want to buy to the check-out person *first*, pay and then take the receipt to the counter to claim your goods. We thought about this for a bit, and decided to take some paper with us to see if just writing down the *price* would work. It did! We calculated the total, went to the cashier and wrote it down, handed her the money and got the receipt. Then we pantomimed the items we wanted to the clerk. It felt great to do it right! The employees were still a little bit amused, we think, but this time it was at our gleeful high-five in the store. ;-) So, did anyone from Greenville take our advice and check out "Eddie From Ohio" at The Handlebar last Saturday? We hope so! We haven't heard any EFO over here, but we *have* heard plenty of American music. The funny thing, though, is that the radio stations here seem to be stuck in the early 80's! Having been college students then, we find that a nice opportunity for reminiscing, but we could do with fewer Michael Jackson and Madonna selections! Early Phil Collins is quite popular too. We think we've also heard just about every one of Queen's greatest hits too, for some reason. Then there are the random oddities, like "Total Eclipse of the Heart," "Endless Love," and even -- believe it or not -- "Feelings!" We've heard each of these more than once, and the latter in both Russian and English! The strangest thing, though, was hearing a Christmas carol over the loudspeaker in the Moscow airport. Both of us hastily checked our calendars. We didn't think the time change was *that* severe! ;-) Strangely enough, we heard the same one in the hotel lobby here in Irkutsk! Perhaps it's an unusual Russian tradition that we need to learn more about... Right now the main theme from "Jesus Christ Superstar" is playing. Russian radio stations are nothing if not eclectic! Every now and then we hear something recent, but unfortunately it is more often than not a Spice Girls song. Some of the Russian language pop songs are actually pretty interesting to listen to, not unlike American pop songs from the 80's. It seems that falsetto female lead singers are quite popular. We've heard that as a feature on a number of songs. We've even watched the Russian equivalent of MTV a couple of times. The videos are very much like American videos for the most part. As Bill Cosby once described them (very astutely): "Nightmares set to music." The original English-language songs performed by Russians are very interesting. They are because of their consistent, explicit sexual suggestiveness. Think of the Beatles' "Why Don't We Do It In The Road" without all of the subtlety of expression. There you have it. We wonder of the Russian-language pop songs are the same way! Of course, we can't claim to have done a survey of all local radio station programming, but these are some of the themes that have emerged. Elevator music is pretty much the same. I (Kevin) embarrassed Julie the other day by belting out a few measures of "Mandy" on the elevator with someone else there. ;-) One of the more pleasant musical experiences has been the serenading that we occasionally receive during breakfast. They have a person there who plays the piano during the meal. Her selections are mostly American show tunes! So it makes us feel at home. Unfortunately, when she isn't on duty they tune in to what must be the raunchiest station on the dial. It's a bit much for breakfast time. We wonder if the person choosing the station understands the lyrics being sung! That pretty much covers music. There was a live concert at a nearby amphitheater last weekend, but it was too late for Benjamin. So we can't report on that aspect. We've talked about TV a bit already. (No Russian version of CHEERS yet!!) That leaves movies. As most of you know we're pretty big movies buffs, so in that area too we're suffering some withdrawal symptoms. We can report one amusing thing, though. Video movies are sold by street vendors all over the city. It seems that many of them are bootlegs too, based on how recent some of them are. (We saw SPEED 2 for sale today. That isn't out on video in the U.S. yet, is it?) But the funny thing is the way the videos are packaged. They clearly cater to, well, shall we say the most base instincts of the buyer. Rare is the video box that doesn't feature a buxom, scantily clad (or outright unclad) woman, whether or not it has anything to do with the movie! Today we saw (in the grocery store) a video box featuring a big picture of Mel Gibson's face. As near as we could tell, it contained one of the LETHAL WEAPON movies. Having seen those, however, we were perplexed by the reclined Playboy model in the background! Oh well. Let the buyer beware, we guess! So much for the entertainment report. Stay tuned for another in our rapidly concluding series from Irkutsk, Siberia... Love, Kevin & Julie