Saturday, July 2, 2005 10:48 am

On Tuesday, McKenna brought Turkish delight to class. It wasn't very wonderful, and it was really powdery. I think that Edmund would have been better off asking for chocolate-dipped strawberries or gingerbread.

Wednesday was a rather unsucessful day. I got up early to go see Lenin's Mausoleum with everyone, but the square was blocked off. Plus, everyone was at least 30 minutes late. I couldn't find them, and I didn't care to wait by myself with 50,000 Chinese tourists, so I went to Okhotny Ryad instead. I hadn't brought anything with me because they don't allow anything large in the Mausoleum, so I spent some time just playing games and listening to the music. It was relaxing. Money appeared somehow in my account. Mom must have put some in.

I met Abby, Megan, Kelly, and Erin as I left the internet cafe. Abby was preparing for a speech/discussion at the American Center on the Bill of Rights. She said I could come with her and that they need more volunteers. I helped with the stupide template on Microsoft Word; then we stood in line for 45 minutes at Rostik's. I was really hungry, though.

By the time we finished eating, it was after 3:00, and we set off for the Center. The guard let me in after we called up. The girl in charge seemed very helpful and cheerful. She was glad to have my help.

The discussion was very interesting. I answered a lot of good questions about the government system. There was one man who really annoyed me by constantly asking questions about current events. He just would not believe that Americans trust their government, and that the government doesn't control the media. They seem to the think that the USA is full of gun-toting, right-wing radicals, when in my experience, it's the liberals who cxontrol the media and the important social institutions.

A man came up to me afterwards and talked for more than half an hour. He stood about six inches from my face and whispered, which really made me uncomfortable, but I tried to remember that it was Russia. I understood most of what he said, but had no idea what point he was trying to make. He said that he was a Muslim doctor and sociologist, interested in women's issues. He talked about democracy in Iran and American schools, and how Russian women are romantics and only care about cars and money, and how everyone hates him because he has black hair. He asked if I were Jewish, and of what descent I come, and warned me not to speak English in public, and not to mention democracy. They're always watching and listening, he said. Stay away from people with black hair, because they're eitgher Chechnyans or Armenians. Then he gave me his phone number, in case I wanted to walk around the city.

Finally we escaped.

We rode the metro home. I spent hte evening reading about Russian history, to prepare for the next day's test. I am pretty sure that all of Russia's presidents have been selfish bastards, and that salvation for Russia has nothing to do with economy or crime, but requires sincerely honest leaders and a "system of checks and balances".