A Successful Partnership

Activities
By Javier Moreno

Every week, our class gets an opportunity to experience, first hand, the latest developments in the Russian agricultural industry. As a part of our International Agriculture seminar we visit farms, enterprises, and companies that play a role in the local and international industry. On Wednesday, March 23rd, our class traveled to Naro-Fominsk District located in Moscow Region, two hours north of Moscow City. Just before we got on the European looking bus, we were told that our destination was a Russian poultry processing plant, so we weren’t necessarily looking forward to the experience. Upon our arrival to the plant, all of our fears were finally relieved. Elinar Broiler is a very successful company that prides itself in high quality products and consumer satisfaction. As soon as we arrived to Elinar, we were welcomed at the door by staff members who were eager to share information about their company with us. Mr. George A. Winn, General Director for the company, as well as some of his assistants gave us an official welcome to their facilities, and then proceeded to provide us some background information about their company.

Elinar Broiler was built in the early 90’s as Elinar Holding, a Russian poultry producing and processing company in northern Russia. In the late 1990’s, its facilities were already in terrible conditions and its future was uncertain. Due to the enterprise’s precarious situation, it was finally taken over from Elinar Holding with 200,000 dollars in debts and no profits. A partnership was then created between the Russian poultry industry, the Russian government, the American poultry industry, and the United States Department of Agriculture. This partnership was established to create a nine-year demonstration project for other Russian poultry businesses to learn from. Since

Oksana holds a chick in the nursery at Elinar Broilers.

then, many changes have been made at Elinar Broiler. After six years of mutual support and cooperation, this company has become a leader in the Russian poultry industry. According to Mr. Winn, Elinar is a “fully integrated poultry company,” as it covers all three levels of the marketing channel; meaning they produce, process, and even sell their own products in the market. Employing 1,100 workers and producing over 300,000 broilers every week, Elinar has been successful at addressing the sharp decrease in poultry production that has affected the Russian Federation over the past ten years. Employees at Elinar are trained in the company’s learning/training center and, because of the nature of the project, workers from other companies can also be trained in this facilities.

It is believed that within the next three years, Elinar will be considered self-sufficient, and the partnership will come to an end. According to Mr. Winn one thing is for sure, “even when the partnership comes to an end, mutual support will never fade.”

While in Moscow, I have become accustomed to brisk winds, blood chilling temperatures, short days, and vast amounts of snow everywhere. However, a few days ago I woke up to a wonderful surprise. Sunshine. Not only was the sun shining and the snow melting, but also birds were chirping, and people usually bundled up were now strolling around in light jackets and the latest spring fashions. Spring had arrived over night.

Full of excitement and gitty with the anxiety, from the longer winter, a few of us decided to venture into the new world. Finally able to wear light coats, we braved the once frozen over streets and sidewalks which now glistened in water runoff. However, along with the snow melting there is also the bad news of mud - and lots of it - everywhere. Because there is so much mud and water, pedestrians are sometimes forced to walk close to the street, which makes them a human target to Russian drivers who enjoy soaking innocent victims in a murky shower of cold mud and water.

Springtime in Russia is a rebirth of not only the city, but also of its people and their sense of fashion. People no longer are hiding their faces behind layers of fur and leather, but they are now wearing the latest European fashions and hairstyles. Snow covered streets are now immaculate from the road cleaners who take great consideration in sweeping away all the garbage. Once blanketed in snow, buildings now show off their beautiful architecture from the Novgorod, Yaroslavl and Pskov schools of architecture, which fashioned many of the most distinctive figures in Russia including the onion dome.

Cathy, Halsey, David, and Andrew are enjoying the beautiful sunshine while touring Victory Park.

Moscow offers many springtime activities and attractions. A tourist and local alike can enjoy a leisurely stroll in Gorky Park, visit one of the many spring festivals such as Maslennitsa, light a candle in Savior Our Redeemer Cathedral, or simple adore the beauty of Red Square. The new face of Russia allows anyone to enjoy the simply beauty of such a magnificent city.

Ancient architecture

Culture
By Andrew Guenther

Turn around guys! Weston, David and Andrew are searching for St. Basil's Cathedral in Red Square.

Although the United States of America’s land mass has been around for a long time, the buildings that now occupy our land have not been around for more than 300 years. The history of our architecture is like our country, quite young. Russia is quite different. The city of Moscow was established in the 12th century. Where there is a city, there should be buildings. So, it makes sense that there are many buildings here that are older than our country. Some have been around since the times of Christopher Columbus’ famous voyage.

Our crew has visited a number of these older buildings in the recent weeks. We have been in awe of the structures, as we have never seen buildings this old. The architecture is truly amazing, especially if you think about the limited resources and equipment which was used to make them. The two oldest buildings we have seen are St. Basils Cathedral and Palace of the Romanov Warrior. In both of these magnificent buildings we have seen beautiful artwork painted on the walls. We have noticed that the rooms were small. There were, however, many of these small rooms in each building.

I could not help but think of what it would be like to be living in that time period. What was 1500s Russia all about? Then, I tried to think back to where our ancestors were from and what they were doing at this same time period. It made us all realize that our country is truly young. I can’t help but wonder what people 500 years from now will think of the Empire State Building, the White House or the Space Needle. I have realized that as far as culture goes we are but children, well maybe teenagers at least.

When you think of a typical Russian classroom, what comes to your mind? Possibly, fifty students sitting neatly in rows attentively listening to a grey-haired professor lecturing on philosophy? On the other hand, how about ten students anxiously waiting their turn to shout out answers to question asked by a young professor with a comical British accent? Well from what I experienced, the latter of the two occurs more frequently than one might expect.

Leanna, Nina and Natasha relax after a grueling English lesson.

On Tuesday, March 29, 2005, I had the opportunity to visit the Practice of Translation seminar with my group mates Nina, Natasha, and Lena. They had told their instructor about the American students with whom they take classes, and their professor, Andrey Nikolaevich Kuznezov, was happy to allow me to sit-in on their seminar. Little did I know that soon thereafter I would become not only a spectator, but also a participant in the class.
As the students gathered in the hall outside of the classroom, I had the opportunity to meet Olga and Nastya who were quite inquisitive about why I was there. However, they were extremely welcoming and we had some good laughs before we began class. Exactly at 2:30 PM, seminar began and Andrey Nikolaevich, as the Russian students address him, instructed the students to take out their text and begin from where they had left off last session. That day, they were translating an article about the British education system using different methods of translation from English into Russian. Their objective is to do a professional translation by selecting the most suitable words while still maintaining the meaning of the original text.

Before the class had even finished translating the first paragraph of text, Andrey Nikolaevich asked me a question. I was scared to death, as I had been put on the spot in front of the entire class. However, I was able to answer the question correctly, much to the delight of my new classmates. Seminar continued in this manner for the next hour and a half, with the class referring to the “native speaker” in the group a few more times before the class ended.

The seminar exceeded my expectations in many ways. The first being much higher levels of participation and student-teacher interaction that what I had anticipated. Andrey Nikolaevich did an excellent job of prompting and praising his students, and they in turn responded with enthusiasm to his questions and requests. The second aspect of the class that surprised me was the professor himself. He joked with the class, told stories, and even threatened to fail them all if they did not pay attention.

Overall, I enjoyed the experience very much and wish to attend the seminar again if I will have the opportunity to do so. As my group mates all agree, this is their favorite class of all time - they would take this class all day, everyday, rather than attending their other classes. I also agree with them and wish that I could take English seminar with Andrey Nikolaevich and my Russian friends forever. For now though, I will have to be satisfied with 50-minute Biology lectures amongst 1,200 other students. It seems to me that if all my classes were on such a small scale with such an amazing professor, I would benefit so much more from my lessons.

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