Russian couple make Ohakune friends

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 13, Issue 631, 9 April 1996, Page 7

Russian couple make Ohakune friends

The Russian city of Yarospavl, 300km north of Moscow, is a long way from Ohakune for two temporary residents. Olga and Vladimar Chirokov arrived in New Zealand a little over a month ago with hopes of being able to change their present 1 2-month working visas for permanent residency. Olga, a primary school English teacher in Russia, has become a familiar face at Ohakune Primary School and in particular to Mrs Bramley's Room 8 children, with whom she is sharing her Russian culture and school life experiences. The children are planning to become pen pals with the children of Olga's old school and Vladimar is making a video tape of them to accompany the letters. There is already much anticipation both in the classroom here and in that of their counterparts half a world away in Russia, with the children hoping to have replies from their letters within a month. Along with children in Miss Bell's class and Korty Wilson, they performed an unofficial welcome at the school last week, performing songs in both Maori and English for the couple, accompanied by Vera Wilson and her musical guitar fingers. Vladimar, a master carver, is presently working with Wayne Gunnell at his Dreadnought Mill in Ohakune producing some breathtaking works in New Zealand native timbers. He has works all over 'European Russia' (the Western region of the country) mainly in churches and official buildings. Unlike Olga, who speaks fluent English, Vladimar currently understands nothing in his hopedfor adopted country' s languages. Although Yarospavl, described by Olga as 'a small town of only around one million people' , is obviously very different from Ohakune, the couple say that they love it here already. The coming winter should not be a problem for them. They say they are used to temperatures of minus 20 to minus 25 degrees Celsius and snow up to one to one-and-a-half metres deep for much of the season.