What's+in+my+bag+-+did+you+get+it+right?+2



So - how did you do? This photo is Katya who lives in St. Petersburg. Do you know where that is? Google it. The passport on the top left is her international passport. New - so it isn't even out of the wrapper. The passport next to it is her Russian passport. From Wikipedia:

The Russian internal passport is the primary identity document for citizens of the Russian Federation residing in Russia. It is initially issued at the age of 14 by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, and has to be renewed at the ages of 20 and 45. Every citizen over 14 residing in Russia is required to have a valid internal passport. The passport contains the full name, sex, date and place of birth and a photograph of the bearer. It also contains remarks about the holder's registered home address, military duty, marital status, children under 14, other internal and foreign passports issued by the Russian authorities, blood type (optional) and individual taxpayer identification number (also optional). Any unauthorized remarks render the passport invalid. All the data is filled in Russian. The Russian police will sometimes do random ID checks to look for draft dodgers, illegal immigrants, people who don't have the proper registration, etc.

If you are going to pick up a package at the post office you need your internal passport too....

__ What about the face masks? __ From the Wall Street Journal

Sep. 03, 2010

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**8 Killed In Latest Wave Of Russian Forest Fires ** ======

**(AP)** MOSCOW (AP) - The latest wave of forest fires in Russia has killed eight people and injured 17, authorities said Friday.

 Fires blazed across much of European Russia in August following weeks of drought and record-high temperatures. A thick pall of smoke from the forest and peat-bog fires covered Moscow for several days.

 About 500 houses were set ablaze, the Emergencies Ministry said. Although heavy rains helped quench the fires in much of the country, the southern regions of Volgograd, Saratov and Samara remain hot and dry.

 A ministry statement said the new fires were fanned by high winds and some started when the winds caused power lines to cross, shooting off sparks.

 The fires were most intense in the Volgograd region, where the deaths occurred and 380 houses were burned in 20 populated areas. Within hours, the fires burned down several villages in the Volgograd region.

 Emergencies minister Sergei Shoigu said in televised remarks that by Friday night the fires were "localized and extinguished."

 In the Samara region, traffic on a main highway near the automobile manufacturing city of Togliatti was diverted for hours because of fire.

 The ministry said its tanker planes and helicopters had made about 60 sorties to drop water on the fires by midday.

**The key chain -** a gift from a friend - in Russia you don't get your license until you are 18... Katya got hers at 22. She rides the Metro (the pass is next to the Russian passport - and there is a map on the bottom) - and there is train ticket from when she went home to visit her parents.

 So - how did you do?