MOSCOW’S YOUNG AMERICANS

[Music] this is an abp color presentation where karen actually lives when you build a snowman in the fall it's liable to last until spring a pirouskit tastes almost as good as a hot dog and the big sign on the street in front of your house looks like this we'll find out more of what life is like for karen and her friends today when discovery goes to moscow for a visit with moscow's young americans [Music] discovery 68 the award-winning program for young people with bill owen and virginia gibson hi welcome to discovery we're standing on a street called kropotkinski look down there is a street called over there is a street called those street names may not be familiar to you but not too far from here some landmarks that you may recognize more easily they're saint basil's cathedral sitting like a gingerbread house at the head of red square and the kremlin with its red brick walls ancient towers gold dome churches from the days of bazaars priceless works of art and a huge cannon that never fired a shot and just outside the kremlin walls lenin's tomb where thousands of citizens visit each day to pay tribute to the father of the soviet state that building in back of this is one that's less well-known the tourists and visiting dignitaries it used to be the home of a prince prince peter krapotkin whom the history books describe as a famous russian geographer if you'd like to see what goes on in the prince's front yard today all you have to do is look over the wall [Music] that snowman may well be the most international snowman in the world the raw material of course is russian a small portion of a huge amount that falls in moscow from november to march of each year the architects and designers read like a roster from the united nations there's karen ackley over there from california over there michael fitzgerald from virginia he was born in moscow and is now back for a second time there's joyce mithananga from tanzania and vinnie sokol from zambia there's jericho suzuki from japan and that's holland from oklahoma [Applause] what are children from the united states pakistan zambia and japan chewing in the front yard of the house of a former russian prince who died more than 40 years ago well this house which is considered a national monument by the soviet government is also a school its official name is the anglo-american school but its students come from 20 different countries around the world some like ellen big mustard are accustomed to she's from norway where it snows even more than it does in moscow some of the other children though like sukanya monica lingam from salon have never seen snow before and yet jenny whether they've come from the far east or europe or africa or the united states they all have something very much in common they've all come from someplace else many of them have traveled more in 10 years than most people do in a lifetime their fathers are all diplomats or journalists and being away from home for them is in itself a way of life holland who's only nine now calls norman oklahoma his hometown but he's lived in israel for four years in germany for a year and is now spending his second year in moscow and karen askley who's from banning california is 10 but she's lived three years in hawaii and a year and a half here in moscow which doesn't leave very much time spent back home either [Applause] virginia how different is life in moscow for karen and holland than it would be at home inside these walls it might not seem too different well this doesn't look too different and neither are the sounds here coming out of most of the classrooms and almost the entire northeast miss matthews the teacher is from washington dc but she's taught in greece germany and now moscow so that's why it's called a subcontinent it's very large in size has a huge population and it's partially surrounded by water and mountains what effect does the himalayan mountain system have on the climate of india well when the monsoons come from the indian ocean they they go across the plains of india and then they hit the himalayan mountains when that happens [Applause] sounds pretty familiar doesn't it but across the hall there are some sounds that may seem a bit more unusual [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] me [Music] this is a class in russian everyone in the school from the second through the eighth grade takes a russian lesson every day although for a ten-year-old from california it takes some getting used to karen's teacher though mr kova thinks he's doing very well [Music] [Applause] so here you can begin to see one way that this school is probably different than yours american children african children english children all sitting in what once might have been prince christian's bedroom or study or den all earnestly trying to learn a language which is foreign to them but not at all foreign to the millions of people all around them in this huge city of moscow but there's more to living two years of your life in a distant land than simply learning the language what do you do after school on weekends and in the evening who are your friends who do you play with what do you do for fun and recreation a life for an american child in moscow can be an exciting and eye-opening adventure but it can also be one of the loneliest assignments on earth we'll find out more about how holland and karen spend their days and we'll take a look at some children's activities you might not expect inside the american embassy we'll do all that in just a minute for karen and holland and karen's brother stephen and holland's sister sydney and for all the other diplomatic children here living in moscow offers many new experiences including an opportunity to learn geography and history firsthand this is red square in the heart of moscow and to russians and foreigners alike it's the best known place in the soviet union the russian name for red square is krasnaya prashad krasnaya in old russian used to mean beautiful as well as red so cresnaya prashad really meant beautiful square a name which it had long before the communist or red government came into power in 1917. in the 15 and 1600s red square was the main marketplace in moscow where people came from towns and villages throughout the countryside to sell their wares today there's still a store along one side the huge goom department store but red square is best known now is the place where the communist government of today holds major national celebrations there at one end is the russian historical museum and at the other end the most familiar landmark of all st basil's cathedral with its onion-shaped domes of blue green red and gold built during the reign of ivan the terrible in the 1500s along the kremlin wall itself is the most famous shrine of the soviet union lenin's tomb here thousands of citizens line up each day to file through the red granite monument for a glimpse of russia's greatest national hero lenin the father of the russian revolution and the founder of its communist form of [Music] government inside the walls of the kremlin karen and her brother see many additional historical sites this biscaya tower one of five kremlin towers crowned by red glass stars the sky was built in 1491 the year before columbus discovered america [Music] there are many ancient churches inside the kremlin like the enunciation cathedral with its nine gold domes glistening in the sun it was built in the 1400s and then rebuilt in the 1500s by ivan the terrible and over there is the bell tower of ivan the great another russian czar it was designed not only as a church but also as a place where guards could keep an eye out for possible invaders one of the favorite sites for children inside the kremlin is a huge cannon that never fired a shot it's called the czar's cannon it was made mainly for decorative purposes there's a pile of cannonballs nearby each of which weighs more than thousand pounds not too far from the cannon that never fired is a bell that never rang this is a czar's bell also known as the king of bells and like our own liberty bell it's cracked according to russian historians this bell was to have been hung in the ivan bell tower but as it was being raised the wooden scaffolding caught fire and the bell plunged to the ground it's been there ever since but you don't spend all of your leisure time here in moscow looking at historical sites any more than he lived in london or rome or washington for karen and holland there are also times for window shopping or trying out a fur hat looking at fur shoes looking at russian dolls or eating peroski biscuits filled with meat or jelly which you buy from a street vendor or occasionally playing hockey with russian children in the neighborhood but still in spite of informal volleyball games or hockey or an occasional exchange of chewing gum or posting stance or souvenirs contact with other children with russian children is limited ordinarily the american and russian children don't go over each other's houses in the afternoon ordinarily they wouldn't make a date to go to the movies together or to go fishing or swimming or just spend a day with each other in this respect the reason may not be so much the major international differences that divide our two nations although being the child of an american diplomat in moscow does indeed set you apart but perhaps the major reason lies in the nature of the diplomatic life itself in the fact that you're living for a relatively short period of time in a foreign country where the language the customs and many of the attitudes are quite unlike what you've been accustomed to at home or what you might have experienced in the last country to which you were assigned so like diplomatic children everywhere the american children of moscow don't feel completely alone but they don't feel they're completely a part of the life around them either [Music] this is the american embassy in moscow both karen's and holland's fathers work here holland's father as a second secretary in the economic section karen's father as assistant naval attache many important and far-reaching international decisions are carried out here but to karen and holland and the other american children in moscow the embassy is more than a vital link between the governments of our two nations to them it's also a welcome and familiar haven a symbol of home and the focal point of much of their lives here in moscow it's also the only place in moscow where you can get a hamburger a cheeseburger or an american hot dog this snack bar is on the first floor of the embassy and it's the closest thing to the corner drugstore that you can find here in moscow there are normally about 125 american children living in moscow and in the course of a saturday morning you'll find a goodly number of them right here [Music] miss katrina smith and there's elaine akolovsky she's from bethesda maryland and her father is first secretary of the embassy there's martha zuck and there's alex akolovsky and ned chasman there's karen and there's marion smith katrina's sister [Music] the embassy is also a place where you can look at the latest american magazines coming forward [Music] skating in the interior courtyard which is flooded with water every winter so while the important affairs of state go on upstairs down here the emphasis is on how to create a tiny corner of home for children who must of necessity spend much of their young lives away from home we'll find out more about the life of an american child in moscow and will attend a new year's party inside the kremlin and we'll do all that in just a minute [Music] every afternoon about four o'clock a car pulls up to this large apartment building at number 93 leninsky prospect and lets out a load of youngsters from the anglo-american school this is one of several apartment buildings to which foreigners are assigned holland lives here at number 93. karen lives in a similar building down the street at number 45. as soon as they get home from school they go up change clothes and come down to play in the backyard it's here that the american children most often come into contact with russian children some of whom live in nearby buildings but in the wintertime it gets dark early in moscow so by late afternoon most of the youngsters have gone back up to their apartments with the possibility at least that they might get some of their homework done before dinner there's shortwave radio too where you can find out what's going on back home by listening to the voice of america entirely once in a while on saturday or sunday the children go with their parents to some of moscow's better known attractions for outdoor entertainment there's no better place than sokolniki park where skiing and sleigh rides take full advantage of the russian winter it's cold out there but the horse doesn't mind it at all neither do the children [Music] the big event of the year for young muscovites who are fortunate enough to be invited is the annual new year's party in the kremlin the party is sponsored by comsomol the official teenage communist organization for the outstanding members of the young pioneers the organization of the younger children in some years the children of the american embassy along with the children of other foreign delegations have been invited as guests the festivities remind you very much of christmas although christmas isn't officially recognized in the soviet union there's a grandfather frost who looks a good bit like santa claus there's a lovely snow maiden out of russian fairy tales and always there's a new year's tree decorated with many lights and with a red star at the top there's also entertainment [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] wow [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the annual kremlin new year's party is one of the few times that children like karen holland and sydney come into contact with large groups of russian children the entertainment has a universal appeal and you discover that you laugh at pretty much the same thing [Music] but you don't go to a party every day and new year's comes but once a year so for the most part you have to build your life around the routine of your daily activities without the comfortable anchor of familiar faces of well-known places of really being at home still in a world of cold wars and atomic bombs karen holland and their friends have done remarkably well and like their parents whose job it is to help bridge the delicate gap between two worlds they too by simply being here have helped open the lines of communication and understanding that could bring our two nations and perhaps the rest of the world as well much closer together in the years to come we'll be back in just a minute [Music] we hope you've enjoyed today's visit with moscow's young americans if you'd like to find out more about the city of moscow and the soviet union then ask your librarian for any of these books you can learn russian by margarita rudolph young russia by rita van devert and this book a picture history of russia by e m l medigan next week discovery goes to downey california with abc science editor jules bergman to meet some of the astronauts and take a look at some of the equipment that will take us on our next step in outer space it'll be an exciting program so be with us then bye bye well bill since we're here in moscow maybe we ought to say that on youtube past medina and goodbye from moscow the discovery production units foreign transportation and promotional consideration provided by air canada [Music] this has been a jewels power production in association with abc news and public affairs for uncensored news and music millions of east europeans switch on radio for europe the in sound from outside for facts about rfe in east europe write radio free europe fox 1969 mount vernon new york you