Russia: The Land

Lovely slide show from the New York Times on agrarian life in Russia, including the influence of the church and the challenges that the villages face.

Letter From Anton

I recently received the above letter from Anton, one of the kids I worked in Russia, via Glenn, who saw him and two more of “our kids” when he visited their orphanage outside Yaroslavl in July. Anton, like the other orphans, thinks all the volunteers he met in Yaroslavl are American and that we all hang out together when we’re not in Russia, so he asked Glenn (who lives in London) to give it to me! Many thanks to Glenn for his trans-Atlantic courier services! Here’s the translation:

Hello, Yulya.

Anton is writing. How are you? I’m OK. I get 4 and 5 at school (good marks). I’ve got friends, their names are Gena and Maxim. Glenn came to visit us, he gave me some gifts: shampoo and body spray. Come to our school, I cannot wait to see you. I haven’t seen you for the whole year. I’m already 15. My birthday’s on 5th of February. I was born in 1993. I’m in the 8th grade now. Some professions are trained in our school. There four of them: tailor, baker, shoemaker, tractor driver. I’ve chosen a tractor driver for me. I live at school. That’s all for now. Lots of hugs and kisses. Write me a letter. Anton.

IT IS SO AWESOME TO HEAR FROM HIM! I wish I could go see Anton, but I think he knows I can’t. I replied with a letter back to him that explains that I can’t visit, but we still can write letters to each other. I included some photographs I took of him, some stickers, and a map highlighting where he lives in Russia, where Glenn lives in England, and where I live in the USA! I’m pretty sure Glenn explained that I would love to visit but it won’t be possible for a long time. I brought some Russian stamps home from Russia with me, so I was able to include an SASE with my letter to him, but we’re dealing with two different mail systems and two different alphabets, so I’m cautiously optimistic but also sadly realistic. I know people sent me letters in Russia that I never received, and I mailed some here from Russia that never arrived, so I’m just hoping that both postal systems do what they’re supposed to do and am keeping my fingers crossed. Glenn has a back-up copy of my letter to take to Anton on his next trip just in case my letter never reaches him via mail.

I also got a short letter from Glenn about his trip, but I forgive him for the lack of detail since he is such a great courier, Russian proofreader and friend! What a dear man he is! Here are the interesting parts of his e-mail to me:

Hello Julie.

It was quite hot when I was there and yes I did get badly bitten by mosquitos despite taking loads of [insect repellant] stuff with me. We went to the river most days to have a swim, and a couple of times we all took our shampoo and soap to have a wash as the water was quite warm. I took my lap top computer with me this time and of course all the boys were itching to to use it every day!!!

As you know, Anton has quite a severe stammer problem, but he is always very keen to learn English words. I gave him an old English/Russian dictionary, but then being a typical boy he went straight to some of the ‘bad words,’ but luckily there were not too many!!

– Glenn

Many thanks to Glenn and to the large community of friends in Atlanta and Russia who helped me translate the letters to and from Anton!!

Anton