These are photos of my Russian friends taken in July 2000.

Rita Croonquist and her guest Olga Kaschina at Underwater World in the Mall of America. Rita and her husband, Willy, contacted me about the visit.

The Loveness' invited us up to their lake. From Left to Right: Nikolai, Yulia, Vladimir, me, Albert. They liked Minnesota, and said that it reminded them of home.

Yulia enjoying a ride on the speedboat.

Yulia acting a little silly. As you can see, Nikolai is enjoying every minute of it!

Nikolai posing for a picture. He told me later that he was so happy to meet me at the airport, because he didn't know that anyone in Minnesota spoke Russian. It made him feel at home.

The Loveness granddaughters with Albert.

Albert enjoying a beer and a beautiful day. He nicknamed me "Prekrasnaya Marina" (Gorgeous Maureen) What a charmer.

This night we all went out to the bar together. We had a blast! Clockwise from right: Sasha from Novosibirsk, Yulia, Peter, Aygul, me, Sasha from St. Petersburg.

Sasha and Peter hamming it up.

Sasha from St. Petersburg. He was wonderful to talk to. It was very easy to practice my Russian with him.

I don't think that Yulia believes whatever Sasha is trying to tell her.

But at least he's making her laugh.

A lot.

They all laughed a lot. I have never met a group of people who laugh so much!

Sasha, Yulia and Peter getting a little silly (and intoxicated for that matter).

The group after a week and a half in America.

Albert at dinner, taking it easy.

The group of us, before everyone left: Nikola, Sasha from St. Petersburg, me, Yulia, Peter, Sasha from Novosibirsk, Mark and an unknown woman.

Nikolai and me. He's such a great guy!

Vladimir and Olga.

Mark, Yulia & Peter.

Nail with the octopus at Underwater World.