The Press Conference

The press conference was really the highlight. It's always tough because the basic questions always start off with: 1) Do you like the politics of George W.? 2) What do you think of Russian girls? 3) What American music do you like? 4) And w hat do you like about Russia?

Here are my basic responses. I do like being able to share who I am in this format, because I tend to TANGENT and talk all over the place.

1) Honestly, I don't like politics at all and I know very little about it. It seems to me that discussing politics always ends up dividing people and it's just plain something that's never been my interest. It's kind of a lame answer, but I really don't like politics (this all started in high school). So I usually share something like this. And I also ask them what they think of their own president? They usually don't want to answer.

2) I don't need to think about Russian girls, because I have a really smart, beautiful, and incredible American girl I'm going to marry in July! I really don't look, don't desire to look and am dedicated to her. And almost always, they say… you're not married yet. So you can look or do whatever you want now! To that, I answer that the B!ble teaches about being faithful even before you're married. I've been faithful to her for 34 years already and we've only got 3.5 more months… I'm (L0rd willing) not going to mess it up now!) They want me to say that they're prettier than American girls. They really do.

This time around it ended up a twenty minute talk about purity and dressing in ways that are appropriate to how you want to portray yourself. I like to ask them if they've seen the Julia Roberts film "Pretty Woman." It's so funny to me that she plays a hooker in that movie and she's wearing more clothes than half the kids in high school now-a-days. I really don't think of myself as a prude, but I just don't think that mean trying to live their lives in purity need to see all that flesh! Okay, stepping off the soapbox. - yike.

3) Well, the music I listen to mostly, you probably have never heard, because I don't listen to much American pop music (which is almost the entire radio here in Russia). So I name a few popular bands that I know something about and they get excited. Then I tell them that I listen to mostly Chr!stian music, old music from my childhood or showtunes. They don't know what any of these are… So I promised to get them some so they could here what I listen to.

4) What I like about Russia is so hard to cover. There's so much. I like the people (hospitality, traditions, history, once you're in as a friend - don't mess around). I like the language, even though it boggles the mind. I like the food (it's useful for health, you know? (a really common Russian phrase)). I also enjoy learning about their culture because it helps me to better understand my own. And I especially like their thirst for knowledge. But the flipside to this is that I've really learned about some things that are VERY VERY hard for me to deal with. Like cheating. It's very common here.

So that launched me into another HUGE conversation about what does cheating mean and where does it end. Because it starts on your second grade spelling test, but it ends when you give someone the wrong shot in the hospital and their muscle control starts deteriorating! (I know someone this happened too.)

Does cheating stop when you leave the school? Or do you cheat on your friends, and in the market and on your wife. You should have seen the looks. They were shocked and almost all agreed with me that such a simple thing has really become a cultural problem. Man.