FROM THE OBNINSK GYMNASIUM

Grades 5-12

....Following are letters from students at the Obninsk Gymnasium .

.... e-mail your response to: Victor Latynov, International Relations, Obninsk to be forwarded to the student(s) you correspond with.

.... From: Ira Efimenko, 10 grade:

Dear Friends!

....There are many various civic groups in Obninsk. Christian community is one of them. Most of Christians in Russia belong to the Orthodox Church.

....I would like to tell you about the Orthodox Church, where I like to go. It is in a village Belkino near our city. All people who come there are very friendly. There is such an atmosphere of love and friendship in the church! Our confessor is a kind, wise and well- educated man. It is the present of the Lord to have a good friend, who always understands you and helps you. We all are happy to have father Alexey. We love him so much! You can tell him about everything and he always understands and helps.

....There are many interesting events in our church. The Easter is coming now. But every Sunday is a happy day for us, because it is the day of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and because it is the day, when we can meet, pray, sing together. There are many young people in the church. We are very friendly, too. Father Alexey organizes meetings, where we can read the Bible together. In summer we are often able to visit monasteries.

....I could tell you many other interesting things. But perhaps it is enough to say only this: I am happy to have such friends, such a church!

.... From: Lyuba Popovkina (5 grade) and Eugene Grigor (5 grade): ....

Hello, friends.

....I want to tell about theater groups in Obninsk. There are 6 theater groups in Obninsk. The oldest one is the Peoples City Theater. Just after the city was founded in 1958, a young lady gathered people who wanted to perform plays, so it was the beginning of the theater. Now she is the oldest stage director in the city and thanks to her enthusiasm there are 5-6 amateur theater groups in Obninsk.

.... Most of the stage directors used to be actors and actresses in her theater. Among them the youngest one is Oleg Demidov (35 years old). 6-7 years ago he began to work with children at one of the schools. It was just optional activities for schoolboys and girls. Nowadays these young people are in the middle of their teens and older. Some of them graduated from Moscow State Theater Colleges and are professional actors.

.... Oleg still continues to stage plays with children and youth. His theater called D.E.M.I. is very popular in Obninsk. Many times the group took part in various theater festivals and became laureates. Many times they were awarded. The director's talent was widely recognized by professionals and many people in the city consider the group to be unique and extremely peculiar.

....Oleg's performances differ greatly from traditional productions - he uses a lot of movements in his works, music, mixture of pantomime and words, unusual combinations of different techniques, so that you are impressed by his fantasy and extraordinary imagination. He prefers to stage plays of peculiar choice - Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach, Salome by Oscar Wilde, Poisoned tunic by famous modern philosopher Leo Gumilev and some fairy-tales. Last summer Oleg and his theater was invited to participate in the All-Russia Festival of Children's Theaters and won the first prize.

.... Please, contact us for further details if you are interested in the theater's works.

.... From: Sveta Polpudnikova (10 grade):

My class

....I study in Obninsk gymnasium in the 10th Grade. I consider our class to be very interesting, friendly and kind. In our class there are only 17 students. 5 of them are boys and they are very good. Our class has the relations as if we are one big family. We always help each other, give advice if necessary. We like to have a lot of fun, we like festivals and the school celebrations. When our vacations are over, we come to school with great pleasure, because we are eager to meet each other and we are happy.

.... Now I would like to tell you about some of us. Andrey Egorov took part in the All-Russia Schoolchildren's Scientific Conference (held every year in Obninsk) with his paper on psychology and became a laureate. Nastya Kuznetsova won the first prize in the regional contest on economics. Some other students also participated in this contest. Veronica Hudiakova also was a laureate of the All-Russia Schoolchildren's Scientific Conference with her paper on linguistics. Tanya Lozshinina won the first prize in the regional contest on biology. We are very proud of our class. Julia Prokofieva presented her pictures at the conference. Other students took part in contests of other kinds

....Now all of us face the great problem - which college or university to choose when we finish the school next year? Will we be able to pass the entrance exams? How difficult it is to choose the profession. Tanya Kaiumova would like to be a teacher of Russian language and literature. Anton Akishin and Oleg Savenkov will try to become economists. Katya Zakablutzkyaya and Lena Gorobetz are going to become chemists. Sasha Ryazanov, Olga Kurachenkova, Olesya Popova and Masha Rusanova like literature and history. They would like to have professions connected with these subjects. Olya Rydkaya does not want to tell us what profession she is going to choose, she says she prepares a surprise for us. And I, Sveta Polpudnikova, want to be a psychologist.

.... I have forgotten to tell you a few words about our class supervisor Antonina Nikolaevna - a teacher of Russian language and literature. I think it is she who made us friends, we are devoted to her and love her. So does she. All teachers at the gymnesia respect her. Antonina Nikolaevna is very talented as most of our teachers. They participate in all gymnesia events. But it seems to me that the most active are the 10th grades and their class supervisors - teachers of Russian, French and English.

.... From: Polina Surnina and Yana Galukhina: ....

Hello, dear friends,

.... We would like to tell you about Literary life of our town, about the politics club of the Gymnasium-this is the name of our school in Obninsk. There we compose poems and then tell them at different meetings. But we also make translations from English and French poets. Of course, it's rather difficult, but we try. The leader of our club is Victor Uporov. He is an actor and he helps us to perform different scenes from plays. Most of the people who come to the club are 15 or 16 years old, but now many younger children come here.

.... This year we had a very interesting meeting of poets in Kaluga, which is the capital of our region. It was the first regional competition. The participants arrived in Kaluga from all the corners of Kaluga region, but many first prizes were given to the members of our literary club. The members of the competition were announced by the chair-man of the jury, the member of the Journalist's Union, the member of the Writer's Union, the famous poet A.Struk.

.... Our gymnasia teacher were marked for their talanted children. In fact, without our teachers we weren't be able to win. The collection of literary works of the gifted students will be published.