English Summary
Editor’s Letter
By Igor Garanin
Chats with random fellow travelers are my favorite kind. It’s the Aeroflot flight from Moscow to New York. I get to my seat, and next to me there is already a grown man: an American, not very tall, with short and totally gray hair and a quick, perceptive gaze. We said hello and then each of us fell to our own affairs. For the entire flight we barely exchanged a word. Prior to landing, a stewardess brought us the customs declaration form. Note: only in Russian. Obviously the foreigner began to fidget and squirm, and we began to chat. It turned out that he lives in Philadelphia, rarely travels, and when he does it’s at the expense of the host party (this he particularly emphasized). “And who paid for your trip to Russia?” I inquired. “I did,” he said, “I saw so many news reports about the World Cup that I decided to fly across the ocean.” And I was showered with compliments: Red Square is so enormous, Moscow is so clean, the food in the restaurants so varied and delicious. As a person who at some point long ago made the only decision true to myself — to stay and live and work where my family and friends are, where people around me speak my native Russian tongue — those words are pleasant to hear, I won’t hide it. I myself like the fact that the city where I live is changing. My neighbor didn’t stop: “I was most impressed by the fact that people on the streets walk around without weapons!” In response to my question “And why should we carry pistols?”, the Philadelphia resident began to explain at some length that in the news, they spoke about the dangers of being in Russia, and so that’s why everyone had to be armed, like in the U.S. However, he hadn’t felt any danger and overall was very pleased with his trip. He even met a woman who he liked, and he had continued to correspond with her. That’s quite a twist. But on the other hand, why not? As they sing in the songs: people meet up, people get acquainted, married. And that’s a good enough reason to have World Cups and Olympic Games. It’s a wonderful thing that the new, widened sidewalks in Moscow