Virtual Home of
Russell Eagling

www.russelleagling.com

People here are generally very pleased to have you in the country.  The effect of this varies a lot.  The most common reaction is for complete strangers to shout of "Hello" in the street - this normally happens just after you've walked past them.  This has obvious problems.  You do need look where you're going - especially in a country where often the road will have massive holes in the road, open manhole covers or electric wires strung across the pavement at neck height.

People will also stop you on the street or in shops and say "May I have your name."  What this means is that they want you to write your signature in their book or on their scrap of paper.  Signatures of westerners here seem very collectable to people outside the university.

A more extreme form of this same phenomenon is the ease with which I have been able to get onto TV and radio.  I've now given my opinion on the UK perspective on Digital TV, Hamlet and Credit cards,  I've played the piano as part of a celebration of cross cultural friendship (which lead to me being booked to play at a children's Christmas party), and I've also given my views on what kind of woman I look for in a wife (A rich, opera singing 6ft blonde with a double doctorate in physics and a good sense of humour if anyone's interested.)

I'm really enjoying the chance to grab the opportunity to get some experience in-front of cameras and microphones.  What the next topic will be, I have no idea, but I think my eagerness to be rent-a-gob is endearing me to the TV producers.

The other effect of all this is that now I've been on several times (and because they tend to repeat the shows quite a lot) I'm beginning to be recognized by people I've never met before.  What all this means - I have no idea.  But I'm enjoying my 15 minutes whilst it lasts!