I couldn't read a word of that - are you typing in Russian or something?
KeS
>From: "Kelly, Katie" <kkelly@spss.com>
>To: "'ba-autox@autox.team.net'" <ba-autox@autox.team.net>
>Subject: Greetings Comrades!
>Date: Tue, 1 Aug 2000 16:30:23 -0700
>
>Well, I'm back from behind the Iron Curtain. I am currently in the process
>of writing up my travel logs, including many, many photographs. Then I have
>to figure out a way to broadcast it. Any ideas?
>
>How could I possibly summarize this trip? I visited Poland, Lithuania,
>Latvia, Estonia, Russia, and even Finland, in just two and a half weeks.
>Much of this time was spent on a train. Some trains were very nice. Some
>were not. I do not recommend the night train from Tallinn to St. Petersburg
>(hence the train to Helsinki just to avoid that return trip to Tallinn),
>but
>that was just my personal experience. Nor can I highly recommend Bauska,
>Latvia, but that's another story.
>
>It was probably the most exciting adventure in my whole life, but if I were
>to describe only one thing that made a truly lasting impression on me, it's
>that I am just so GLAD that I speak the native language of this country. By
>the end of four days, I cannot tell you how HAPPY I was when I could
>understand what they told me in restaurants. Even though it was, "That'll
>be
>24 rubles," just the fact that I UNDERSTOOD this was more than enough
>reason
>to rejoice.
>
>Perhaps my biggest challenge was understanding the directions on the back
>of
>this Metrocom phone card. It was some new company, and I asked so many
>people, all gave me conflicting advice, but can you understand that just
>because I understood that they gave me conflicting advice made me really
>happy? And when I asked the customer service clerk (this is a loose
>description) at the metro how the card worked, and when she yelled at me
>because I was supposed to read the instructions on the back, can you
>understand how happy I was that at least I understood what she was yelling
>at me?
>
>Since I was a little girl, I was always mystified by Russia, this land
>behind some big wall. The alphabet looked like this secret code, like
>backwards English. The language sounded like they were speaking backwards.
>It was so hard to find out anything behind it. It always looked like the
>most recent photos from there were at least ten years old (later I found
>out
>they weren't, but anyway...). So, to one day actually BE in Russia, to be
>yelled at by the people, and to comprehend it, well, it was a dream come
>true for me, really.
>
>Plus, from those sometimes painful four days (actually more, as they speak
>Russian in Poland and the Baltics - I only got yelled at more in Russia) I
>just learned to appreciate these incredible little things, things I
>normally
>just never even think about day to day. It's made my trips to the gas
>station, post office, super market, or just asking general directions SO
>much more enjoyable.
>
>So, it was actually quite an expensive trip just to help me appreciate
>Safeway, BUT I did get some nice souvenirs. :)
>
>Cheers,
>Katie
>
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