A little background…..
Eric was never an adventurer, but occasionally he would express enthusiasm for going somewhere, and in the summer of 1990 it was Russia, and we took a tour, followed by 2 weeks walking in the Lake country in England. Both were on his (very small) wish list. It was the last year of Gorbachev’s rule and Glaznost was in process. Our tour was with a big company and we were about 160 strong and had no real idea of what was coming. (It was arguably the worst trip ever.) We spent a few days in Moscow, then Leningrad (not yet reverted to St. Petersburg), and then took a 10 day boat ride down the Volga to Stalingrad. I would have loved to go to a wild place (if there wa even a reserve) where there were birds, but Russia had no infrastructure for tourists, with very little in the way of accommodations or special attractions for foreigners, or decent food, altho the vodka was very good! The drabness of the architecture, the dismal clothing, the ugly wares on sale (if any) made it a less than desirable place to spend time, with a few rare exceptions. And our fellow tourists were not of much interest. We had little in common, and did not meet anyone we wanted to see again.
But then came the boat trip and we were piped onto the “Alexander Pushkin” by the ship’s combo and had a decent meal. Next day we landed in Ulyanovsk to go ashore and see the town that raised Lenin, and there we had a notable adventure. I kept a daily log on all big trips and here is what I wrote for that day:
“A small section of the town has been preserved as a national shrine and it was quaint and charming, and satisfying to see architecture other than the ugly Stalin-era garbage that personifies Russia. We visited Lenin’s home and school, both fascinating. But I was very anxious to walk the town, to get away from the bus and from feeling like a sheep. Eric was growing anxious as I grew more insistent, he has NO sense of adventure. (We had an interesting conversation about this and he said, rather reflectively, that the trip was his adventure. For me, tho, the real fun and excitement is exploring, wherever I am.) We were the last ones back to the bus and I told the local Intourist guide we wanted to take off on our own. He was NOT happy, but just as I was saying this a young man walking by stopped and said he would be delighted to be our guide and show us the town. The guide apparently knew him andreluctantly approved, and we were off on a real adventure with Leo Morozov. A tall, animated kid with frizzy hair and a motor brain, he wanted to be with Americans and speak English. He was 20, a sophomore at Moscow State University in Ulyanovsk, an Economics major and ready for the world. Eager to learn, to know, to understand. He asked if we would correct his English if he made mistakes (he didn’t). We never stopped talking from 11AM til we said goodbye around 4PM. He walked us thru the old section where Lenin lived, now an historical area and being restored. Then to his university where we were shown a wonderful Art Deco room on the 2nd floor which had been a bank and had carved wooden chairs all around the walls. Used now as an assembly room. His language teacher was brought in, a woman my age with a poignant history. Her story of how she learned English and became a foreign language instructor was told in excellent, but halting, English. Her father was exiled when she was very young for speaking out at a meeting. Someone had been murdered and he said it was the man’s replacement who was the perp. “They” came for him in the night and he was sent to Siberia, escaped to Finland, then to Switzerland. His family learned all this only when he returned 3 years later. The family changed its name and began moving to evade detection. And he told his children they must learn English and German so they could manage in Europe if they ever had to flee. Then she tried to say that she wished her parents were alive to see ‘Perestroika’ but she choked up and couldn’t finish. What a moving interlude, a window into another life for us. I hugged her. She also said Leo was not only an excellent student but a fine young man, which we were already confident of. He took us to a ratskellar, newly opened, very European, where the food was good, he thought. It was a co-op, one of the new private ventures. Then for coffee at a little standing cafe where a beautiful girl came up to him, a fellow student whose English was far less fluent but who wanted to join us. She did, and we had excellent thick Turkish-style coffee and then walked on together.
I forgot – first we toured a department store; ugly with sullen clerks and dismal merchandise. Linoleum floors, no displays, clothes on racks. Shoes you wouldn’t consider torturing your feet with. But I did get a babushka, red with flowers, pure wool, for 9 rubles ($1.50). I fingered some jeans that looked pretty good but Leo said ‘No’, he had some but wears them to pick onions when he does his required harvesting duty. But when he takes his girl out he wears western jeans. And he was wearing tennies his Dad had brought back from Czechoslovakia. His Dad is a computer software programmer and his mother a clerk in the same company. He also took us home to the drab apartment where he lived with his parents. And to a children’s park to see the marvelous wooden storybook sculptures and there was a small kids’ daycamp they were doing sidewalk chalk drawings. Eric took a photo with our Polaroid and suddenly we were aswarm with kids. Their instructor tried, but couldn’t control them. So Eric snapped away till the roll was finished and gave them all the photos. They were just thrilled watching the photos develop. It gave us a rare insight on their lives.
We walked back to the ship and showed him our cabin and treated him to a coke at the bar – his first! Rita and Violetta (our Russian interpreters) were at the bar and treated him very coldly. He visibley wilted – from a bubbly enthusiastic tour guide to a diffident, hesitant stranger. I didn’t know what ws going on but later learned that guests were not allowed aboard for security reasons. We saw him off and then Rita said some guests wanted to talk with him and could he come back later. So I tore after him and brought him back. But then two ship’s officers wouldn’t let him on, even tho Rita was there. The captain arrived and there was a 3-ay discussion in Russian. The outcome was that he could return at 8PM and bring his International Relations Club pass (or some such). So we went to the gangplank and met him at 8 and found him already talking to several couples from our boat. We all adjourned to the lounge and talked for over an hour. Leo had brought a photo of his family and he charmed everyone. He left around 9:30 and we will send him books, magazines and Nikes. Someday he will visit us.”
A year later we got a call from Leo that he was coming to the US to attend Washington and Lee in Virginia on full scholarship. Here is a photo taken at that time. The upheaval in Russia had taken place, Gorbachev was out and the country was in chaos, but he got out! And as soon as we heard from him after his arrival we invited him to come for Christmas, and he did. We had our usual family gathering at our beloved Rancho sin Nombre with the entire Schenker family, but Lolly was in France and Jenny and family at home in Tucson. So Leo’s introduction to California was a week in the Anza-Borrego Desert followed by stays in Long Beach and San Francisco. I don’t remember all the details but do remember taking him on a Universal Studios tour which he loved and I hated. (On this current trip in 2018 he took his 9-year old daughter there and she loved it and he hated it!)
His next visit was after graduation and with his father, who spoke no English. But Leo was so gifted in language it was not problem and we all had a good time. His Dad was a techie and there was an Apple Expo in L.A. and he loved it. Leo was a business major and already had a job waiting in a Wall Street brokerage and had his first credit card. He was spending freely and happily and ready for the next phase in life. I was afraid he would find himself in deep debt before he even got to NY! He lasted only a year in the big city and was off to London. Our next reunion was years later in Portland and soon after he married Joy and was working in Switzerland. We were invited to their wedding but Eric was past being able to travel overseas. We loved Joy instantly. She was born in Lebanon, raised in London, was charming and gorgeous, spoke fluent English as well as Arabic, and was ready for adventure. We all stayed at the new Ace hotel and they had a suite with giant murals (one a huge tiger) on the wall and were enthralled, and delighted that we old-folks were so hip. Another visit followed in Ashland a few years later, where one highlight was watching a butterfly hatch on a walk on Mt. Ashland. Joy was enthralled, Leo not so much. During the long patches between visits we kept in touch. and last March I got a call from Leo who said they were coming again in the summer. It was 15 years since their last visit and they have a 14 year old son Jan and 9-year old daughter Lilly. Leo and Lilly were coming, while Joy attended a medical spa in Switzerland and Jan visited his maternal grandparents in London.
They arrived to a smoke-filled and searingly hot valley, which is becoming the norm in the Rogue Valley in summer. Eric’s absence was much regretted as he was a special mentor to Leo, but we still had a marvelous time together. With Lilly it was love-at-first-sight, just as it had been with her mother. She speaks impeccable American English plus German (the language of her school), Russian (the language of her Dad and his parents, who live in Vienna), and Arabic, the native language of her mother and spoken a lot by her relatives in London, and in the fall she starts French in school. A cosmopolitan kid already.
We piled in lots of activities, many oriented towards Lilly. She loves doing crafts and was thrilled to plunge right into making glass flowers for a project I am working on. It’s a mosaic mural for an outdoor performance stage in Talent which Karen Rycheck is doing. Lilly learned to use my ring-saw with ease and cut glass and cemented pieces onto a mesh backing. The ring-saw is not a saw but a round, rough-edged agitating blade, totally safealtho it looks rather formidable.
Lilly loved Science Works and especially creating fluid curtains of plastic. But for her a big highlight was a trip to Target, on her wish list because of their large array of ‘slime’ products. and Leo took her shopping in Medford one afternoon while I took a respite. She brought back a bunch of glues and a happy face. I was ignorant as to what slime was, but learned a lot, fast.
We attended a Britt rehearsal and lunched with Jenny afterwards. Jenny bonded with both immediately – somehow she had never met them. And the upshot was that she and Lolly are planning to go to Vienna in December to visit them. we three went to a very good movie – Leave No Trace, and Lilly was entirely engaged by it, but disappointed that there was no story-book ending. On their last hot and smoky day we had the best outing – to Crater Lake. I had watched the webcam all week and the lake was smoked in, but the prediction for Thursday was good. So we went and IT WAS GOOD. Their first visit to a National Park and what a glorious one. We didn’t have a whole lot of time and the rim road was closed, but Lilly got to play a game with a bunch of kids and a ranger, and then go to a Junior Ranger talk in the woods. She was thrilled to take home two badges to sew on jackets. We had a late lunch at Beckie’s and they appreciated the quantity and quality of the burgers and fries. I love Beckie’s and so did they.
They took me home and left immediately for the Medford airport to fly to San Francisco and then take a night plane to Washington, D.C. Their schedule was like that for the whole trip. No longer possible for me. After saying goodbye I crashed for a long nap, and the following day took at least 3 more!
SLIME
A few days later I was in the Northwest Nature Shop buying gifts for great grandchildren and asked Maria (who has young kids) if she knew what ‘Slime’ was. Not only did she know but said they were having a work session in the shop in a few days, and I could observe if I wanted. I did, and now am a master of both the making of slime and its uses!
