BULLETIN FROM TH KOTLAS CONNECTION CHAIRS

Issue #39 October 2012

NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING

The annual meeting of the Kotlas-Waterville Area Sister City Connection will be held on Wednesday,

November 14, 2012, from 7 to 9 p.m. at The Forum at The Center, 93 Main Street, Waterville. We will hear short presentations from our current guests, have a question-and-answer session with Martha Patterson and Mark Fisher about their trip to Kotlas in June, and elect officers for the coming year. All members of the Kotlas Connection and anyone interested in our organization are invited to attend.

RUSSIAN CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS AND REM RAFFLE BASKET

We have a new supply of ornaments that will be on sale at the Temple Academy Craft Fair on Saturday, December 1 and at the Waterville High School Craft Fair on Saturday, December 8. The Kotlas Connection is also contributing a basket filled with Russian craft items for REM’s annual basket raffle. Baskets will be displayed in the front window of The Center in November and December.

CURRENT VISITORS

Shukur Sadikhov, Gil Roy, Roman Filipov and Anton Eltsov

Two students are staying with Gil Roy while they attend Messalonskee High School. They are exchange students from FLEX/PAX, based out of Port Chester, New York, and the local coordinator for over 15 years is Bunny Giesler. This is Gil’s fourth year as a host parent. Gil says, “I think hosting a student is a great opportunity for two countries to get together and learn about each other’s culture and way of life. I have learned so much about the Russian lifestyle. I was invited to Russia by my last year’s student Vasya Chernov’s father. What an experience, I’ll never forget it. I’ll be going back in July.”

A native of St. Petersburg, 16-year-old Roman Filipov lives there with his parents. His father is a lawyer and his mother works in a company that deals with passenger transfers. An older brother is taking his degree at a university in Moscow. Roman is a student at School No. 171, a college-prep school. Pupils there are divided into areas of study: humanitarians (in-depth study of French, Russian, literature and history) and economists. He is in the humanitarian section. Roman has practiced tae kwon do for six years and has a black belt.

Shukur Sadikhov, also 16, is from Baku, Azerbaijan. His father is a teacher at the medical university and his mother is also a teacher. His 20-year-old sister is studying accounting and bookkeeping at the State Economical University. Shukur’s placement in Maine was selected by the exchange program, and he says he’s glad that was the choice. He is enjoying his experience and having a great time.

Anton Eltsov first came to visit Mark Fisher in January 2012, accompanied by Martha Patterson’s long-time Kotlas friend Arina Pavlova. While touring New York City, Anton took a photo of a sea gull on Liberty Island. Mark later submitted the photo, on Anton’s behalf, to the Alfond Youth Center’s 4th Annual Kids With Cameras Photography Contest. Anton’s pictures later came in 1st place for the digital photography group, ages 16 to 18 and Best of Show for the event. Anton was very surprised to hear this news and even more surprised with the $75 prize money. During his stay in Oakland, Anton became convinced that Messalonskee High School was in his future.

Mark says, “I also was very curious about our sister city, Kotlas. It has always been a dream for me to host a high-school student from Kotlas. And it was a dream for me to tour Kotlas in June with Martha Patterson. In Kotlas I met many interesting people. I have Kontakte (Russian Facebook), and at this time I had about 150 friends, most either former exchange students or friends from Kotlas. I was able to meet about 40 of these friends in Kotlas, most for the first time. Some of my friends only knew a few words of English. During my trip I spent much time with Anton’s parents, Anna and Nikolai, and little brother, Stepan. We worked out the details of Anton’s year at Messalonskee High School. I had the most incredible adventures in Kotlas, but I will save this for a future story. I picked Anton up in Boston on August 20. So far we have toured Acadia National Park, had an incredible lobster dinner at Ken and Eva Green’s house, climbed Mt. Blue, attended the Maine Municipal Association Convention, and been to a couple of drive-in movies. A highlight was having dinner and a nice conversation with ABC Nightline’s Cynthia McFadden. Cynthia actually asked Anton to spell Messalonskee. Of course Anton spelled it correctly. Anton maintains straight A’s at school. He is also an affiliate of the Colby College Entrepreneurial Alliance and plans to play tennis for the high school in the spring. If all goes well, Anton’s best friend Ivan Reshetnikov and my previous student Alexey Sokolov will be visiting this November-December. As usual, my house will be full of good cheer and Russian students. In the past 18 months Anton is the third high-school student from Kotlas to visit me on a private exchange and the second student from Kotlas to visit me twice.

Date: 2015-01-11; view: 993