*** Quoting Nicolay Simonov from a message to Carol Shenkenberger ***

 CS> No problem!  If looking for 'active ones' I can name a few, some lower
 CS> volume Hand some higher.  'MEMORIES' is a good one for chatter like
 CS> this echo.

 CS> Memories is mostly USA/Canada Hfolks but very friendy.

NS>  Yes, I'm receiving it. Are there any restrictions forbidding a foreig
NS> me to write? :)

Naw, they'd love to see you there!  Just remeber most there havent
encountered ¨the dreaded 'H' problem and may have software that makes for
that to happen ¨when you quote them.  Grin, some of them may ask you why
you have all those ¨stray 'H' symbols as they dont know they are the ones
causing it.

 CS> COOKING His a good one if you are into cooking at all.

NS>  Well, I fear I'm not. But it may interest my sister. Oh, by the way,
NS> studies Spanish and Italian. Please, tell me (if you know) how can I g
NS> using these languages for her?

Oh I know several sites.  Who do you connect to?  If you can do a Bink type
ISP ¨based connection, check Docs Place as he has lots of them there. 
Renato Zambon ¨can get you into lots of Spanish echos as well as the main
node in Spain ¨(Albano).

 CS> Yup!  We still have some points in Fidonet in places.  Not out here in
 CS> Japan Hbut there are spots where you can still find them.  It never
 CS> was as popular Houtside Z2 as where you are though.

NS>  Yes, there are lots of points in Russia. I didn't suppose it was a zo
NS> peculiarity..

It's just more 'popular' where you are than elsewhere.  Other places when
¨people see a point number used, they tend to assume it's a personal config
for ¨the sysop and that you are the sysop of a BBS in the nodelist
.

 CS> and Hpeople were friendly.  The second time we had to be in uniform and
 CS> while most Hfolks were friendly, some were not (old cold war era
 CS> thinkers).

NS>  Yes, some of Russian people have thoughts of that. Mostly not young p
NS> They are sure that the cold war still hasn't stopped. I think they are
NS> not right. The world is globalizing..  It's time to visit other countr
NS> learn foreign languages and English first of all. English-speaking cou
NS> plays a big part in the world nowadays. It's not a very good idea to t
NS> they don't.

Well, mostly i had fun there.  English is probably going to get you the
most ¨'bang for the buck' (most value) as a second language now.  It used
to be that ¨it was French one needed but that stopped some 100 years ago.

BTW, you may not know it but your use of english is so good, it's very hard
to ¨tell you didnt grow up speaking it.  Your only 'signal' is that your
grammer is ¨better and you use the ' (apostrophe) in the right places where
most of us on ¨BBSes dont act so carefully.  (Dont I know is actually Don't
but I'll rarely ¨bother to add that ' in there).


NS>  Another thing which makes me think of itself :) What do people in the
NS> countries you've been to say about Russia? About its international act

Umm, cant say as I asked?  I do recall some restraunts had russian
translations ¨in Korea.  Sometimes there you see Korean and Russian but
most of the time you ¨will also find some minimal english as well.  Places
where your sailors go when ¨conducting international trade.


NS>  Yes, there are many ones. You know, at school we had a special subjec
NS> about Moscow. Our teacher was very enthusiastic, she took us on excurs
NS> around Moscow, telling us many interesting things.

NS>  But on another hand, there are very many modern buildings which often
NS> spoil scenes of Old Moscow, if built in historical places or near. Now
NS> the centre of Moscow is a strange architectural mixture.. But it is st
NS> worth-seeing ;))

Ah that's true of any place.  Old buildings come down and new modern ones
come ¨up so you get a 'hodge-podge' (a mix of things).  In the USA it's a
bit less ¨obvious because it's a young land and to see *anything* other
than a tree thats ¨500 years old is a MAJOR WOW there.  You on the other
hand have churches still ¨standing that predate my country being found by
Europeans.

NS>  In the end of November I was in Kostroma. In comparison with Moscow i
NS> a VERY small town. Few people and cars, no 'Shhhhhhh..' from the windo
NS> I liked it very much. The old image of the town is kept with effort -
NS> for tourists. By the way, almost all the signs are in English, too. In
NS> my hotel room there was a TV set receiving English channels, and over
NS> the reception there were different clocks: London, New York, Tokio.. :

Humm!  Must be one of the vacation spots looking for tourists.  Brings good
¨money in and also fosters well being among us all so it's a place I would
like.

I'd like to see Red Square too, just because it's a name of a place I have
¨heard of.  I'd like to see that famous tomb (Stalin?  Lennin?) with the
man ¨under glass, and the palace of the last Tsar.  I'd love to see some of
the ¨siberian mammoth findings of the ancient men with their carvings. 
It's very ¨unlikely i will ever see any of those things, but I have been to
Vladivostok at ¨the least so seen a little of your land.

Most enjoyed thing there:  These little pastry shell things with a small
meat ¨filling that tasted of buttered meat.  Excellent even if i forget
what they ¨were called there.  I learned to make something like them here
in Japan with ¨the local ingredients but you just cant beat them made hot
and delivered to the ¨bar where you are having a beer and trying to talk
with people with a ¨smattering of common language bits .

Least enjoyed thing:  There's this 'tunnel' you have to walk through to get
¨from the dockside to the main town and it not only smells badly of drunk
guys ¨pissing on the walls but had BIG rats over a foot long in the body. 
This is ¨the seedier portion of Vlad but to get from where we were to the
'nice side' ¨you had to transit it.


NS>  I think it's better to have more than one. Even than two.. In our Uni
NS> in the next term we will be able to study second foreign language: Ara
NS> or Chinese - for choise. What would you advise?

Arabic probably as it is more widely spread.  For 'Chinese' you'd need to
check ¨which one of the several languages spoken there and make sure the
one you were ¨learning would be 'common'. There are at least 5 'chinese'
langauges and i'm ¨being very restrictive there as i think there might be
some 10 more not well ¨known outside their local area.  Mandarin might be
the most useful one for a ¨person outside to gain?

Arabic would be much easier for you to learn as it is also a 'western'
pattern ¨language.  I mean, the word 'walk' once understood means exactly
what you think ¨it does whereas in Asiatic Japanese there really isnt such
a word but rather a ¨phrase that indicates 'pushing the world by with your
feet' ( a centric ¨attitude where you are the center and make other things
move around you).

                                       xxcarol

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