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Posts Tagged "Baikal"

Yura: Engineer-Turned-Blacksmith

Yura: Engineer-Turned-Blacksmith

LAKE BAIKAL: Yura, 51, was surrounded by several machines as he studied sketchings of church crosses in a ‘blacksmith shop’ near Lake Baikal. He and his father-in-law are helping restore several churches in Irkutsk region, including one dating from 1691. Yura, who loved repairing radios as a boy, said he prefers doing the metal work, while his father-in-law specializes more in the wood work. He showed several wooden icons waiting to be painted. The icons will eventually be sold in the church next to Lake Baikal that Yura and his father-in-law are also repairing. That church, dating back to 1844, will take three to five years to fully repair, Yura said. They have recently put new wooden frames around two of the three windows. Yura said he grew up in the Urals region, was a thermal power engineer for many years, including serving a brief stint in Mongolia. He then worked in Baikal's hotel industry before turning full-time to metal and wood work. "I was tired of the [hotel] work. My heart lies in this," he said, pointing the sketchings that will eventually be turned into metal crosses. I asked how he got into metal work considering his engineering background. "It probably came from my father," he said, adding his dad studied metal work.

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Polina: Pearl Jam Fan, Traveler

Polina: Pearl Jam Fan, Traveler

Polina, 25, was wearing the type of leather boots - black greenish with writing and laces - that immediately gave away her musical tastes. The Pearl Jam fan said the boots were actually her mothers. Polina said her mom got ill as a young girl in the 1970s and spent some time in a hospital. The patient sharing the room was a rock fan and 'infected' her mom with his music taste though it was banned in the Soviet Union. A freelance translator, Polina has inherited her mom's love of rock and alternative music, and attends outdoor concerts. Polina also loves traveling and dreams of hitchhiking several thousand kilometers to Baikal in Siberia. ''You don't have the moral right to emigrate unless you know your country well,'' she said when I asked why she wants to travel halfway across her country. ''Russia is a big and beautiful country. I will hopefully do this trip ... and then I will see what I will decided to do next.''

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