Law School and Jazz

Professor Troupis introducing himself

We’re up early as Jim is fretting about details for the classes. I wash out some of the weekend’s clothes and hang them. Fortunately, the hot water pipes are purposely configured in the shower room (which doubles as the kitchen sink) to hang towels for warming. I call Jane using the apartment phone and a 200 ruble ($7) calling card I’ve purchased. Amazingly, it again works perfectly. She has called me a few times using Skype. Breakfast is Kellogg’s Miel (honey) Pops in 2.5% milk. The supermarket on Karl Marx Street didn’t have Fiber One, my preference. At 9AM we are in the classroom. Jim’s Power Point presentation appears on the screen after a little work by Aleksandr Alexandreivich Romanov, the technology assistant who proudly shows Jim how the “Smart Board” works. The Smart Board is the screen where the presentation appears. It includes special colored markers which electronically show up on the screen and an electronic eraser. However there is no remote for the presentation. We are told it is not sold in Irkutsk. A laser pointer is located at last and at 10:35 the class begins on schedule with about 30 students, predominantly girls. They range from first year to fourth year and ages 18-23 with most 18-20. They will be able to practice law, but not trial law, after 5 years of University. If they decide they want to teach law, they can get a PhD here in law, one of 4 universities in the country to offer it. Jim tells me this is the third-ranked law school in the country after Moscow and St. Petersburg.

The students introducing themselves

Jim engages the students quickly and has them discussing the American constitution and the limits of the federal powers as well as the structure of the state and federal court systems. After 80 minutes there is a 15 minute break during which the first year students leave for their other classes and the rest return for 80 more minutes.

Gala interpreting in class

Aleksandr and Gala help Jim and I get passwords and logons for the university internet system and we have a late lunch. We are able to use computers in one of the technology rooms crowded with students. I find out the Cubs are 2-4 for the season, the president of Poland has died in a Russian plane crash and Justice Stevens is retiring from the Supreme Court. I also find out the temperature in Venice, FL, but I’d rather not know. Gala reminded us we agreed to go to a jazz concert tonight with the American musician, Frank Lacy. He is unknown to me. Dinner is cold leftovers from the refrigerator. We walk out of our apartment on Gorkiy Street a ½ block to Lenin Street paralleling the Angara River which divides the town. The sky is blue and it may be freezing or above for the first time. Twenty minutes later Jim and I have arrived at the Music Theater, a beautiful Soviet era structure with young, excited people gathering near the entrance. Gala appears with the tickets a few minutes before the performance and the concert begins with a local band consisting of a gifted keyboardist, a lead guitarist who appears to be 6’7” tall, a bass guitarist and drummer. Then Frank Lacy appears carrying a flugelhorn and trombone. Later he sings and plays the conga drums as well. A Russian singer comes out doing scat like Ella Fitzgerald.

The Band on Stage

The experience is quite enjoyable. During one of the breaks, the MC talks from the stage to the audience. Several times I hear the words “Frank Lacy.” Gala translates and tells us he is saying how hard Frank Lacy is to get along with and that is why he has no band of his own, but still is a gifted musician. Frank Lacy, who later tells us “My Russian—no good,” smiles through it. Jim and I take a taxi home.