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The last few days
The last few days in Kazan are always exhausting. The tasks themselves aren't difficult, but they have to be done now, not later, and one's friends in Kazan also need some attention. Tonight I'll get four hours of sleep if I'm lucky. Add to that the cleaning of the apartment, packing, clear communication with one's colleagues and students... It's tiresome.
I met this afternoon with two of the Institute's vice-presidents. I generally have a bad impression of businessmen, but the president and vice-president of our Kazan partner-institution are people I quite respect. They work hard, and not once have they behaved in a way less than ethical. I could wish American businesses were run by folks like these. We discussed next year's program, which I'm pretty sure will take place unless a) Russian troops openly invade the Ukraine, or b) the US forbids American banks to work with Russian banks, which would make it vastly more difficult to transfer funds, and of course if you can't pay your business partner, then you can't do business. But I currently think that all will go well.
Our trip home has been made a bit more complicated by a change of TSA policy, which now does not allow uncharged electronic devices on aircraft, which policy certain airports in Europe will have to enforce. That announcement was made around 7 July, but I still can't find a list of those airports on the web, so heaven only knows if we will be affected. One of kids has had the screen die on his tablet, and he is worried that it might be confiscated. Wish I could reassure him otherwise, but on the theoretical level I can't. On the practical level I'm also sure that no one is going to look twice at our electronic devices this weekend.
I spent the evening again with the Osipovs. Sometimes one encounters people who are so very kind to you that you know you can never repay them. That's my relationship with the Osipovs. I'm closest to their son, Danila, but the mother, Flyura, has been the heart of family hospitality to me, and between the two of them I find myself asking what can I do for them that could possibly equal their kindness to me. In some ways it's a silly question. Righteous people are kind because they are righteous, and even posing the question of how to repay them misses the point entirely. Still, if I can do something for them, it would make me very happy. The rest of the family I'm not as close to, but this year I brought father Oleg a guitar tuner, and that seemed to please him, which is good, because heaven knows it's hard to choose a gift for someone you don't know well. This year I brought Sasha a t-shirt, but my hope is that next year I can find a book with lots of flashy cars and busty women, which I think would really please the car-fanatic in him. Dasha... she has so much human insight... I have no idea what to bring her next year; worst case scenario... I bring her M&Ms or beef jerky from Costco, both of which she likes. Still, I prefer to bring a gift that better fits her personality, not just her culinary pleasures.
On Wednesday I conducted 15 interviews with our Batumi students via Skype to check their spoken language skills. Although, really, that's a bit dishonest. They had to go through a computer-moderated check of those skills, and really the university is double-checking whether my evaluations match the evaluations of the current American standards. I rather like the process. Today I did the same for our Kazan students. On the whole I'm very proud of their progress. Funny, though, our strongest student did worse on his exit interview than on his intake interview. He must have been having a bad day. Still, he's a super-talented kid... I find myself somewhat envious of him.
Let's see... what did Flyura prepare for dinner? The main dishes were home-made ground-meat patties (she doesn't trust store-bought ground meat) which were tasty beyond words, plus a multi-layered chicken casserole that was simply succulent. Side dishes were spiced spaghetti and beautiful yellow home-grown tomatoes in sour cream. Drinks were home-made fruit punch (компот), tea (because Russia), and she plied me with cognac, and dessert was a home-made double-layered berry pie.
And dammit they are sending me home with a bottle of vodka for Marina and Billy. I so wish they wouldn't send liquids via me. They are very hard to pack, and if God forbid the bottles should break in transit, heaven only knows what the TSA would think. And do I want to arrive home with a suitcase full of clothes that smell like vodka flavored with birch sap? I don't think so.
Last but not least, I gave a TV interview today. Hopefully they will send me a link to the video. If I haven't entirely shamed myself in the Russian language, I'll give it to ASU, and if I'm too embarrassed, well, they'll never see it.
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