'Abraham Lincoln! Thomas Edison! Michelle Kwan!'

by Bay Fang

ELISTA, Kalmykia -- Kalmykia, for the uninitiated, is the only Buddhist republic in Europe. Tucked into a corner of Russia, by the Caspian Sea, it is normally overshadowed in the news by its more restive neighbors of Dagestan and Chechnya.

Its tourism brochure proudly proclaims, "The bowels of the Earth of republic of Kalmykia contain large perspective-probable resources of carbohydrates and chemical raw materials…"

But on this particular day, there is a leading news item: the visit of Michelle Kwan, Olympic figure-skater and the first public-diplomacy envoy.

Down the lane roars a Shrek-green bus. It stops in front of Secondary School Number Three, where kids in red baseball caps and t-shirts are already waving little American flags in anticipation. Michelle Kwan steps down demurely in a tight-fitting tan skirt and heels, and the kids cheer in excitement.

Her first stop of the day is the first English-language summer camp in Elista, the capital of Kalmykia. The 2-week camp for about 100 children was sponsored by the US government, and many of the counselors were former exchange students.

The Minister of Education of the Republic of Kalmykia takes the stage, behind a sign that proclaims 200 Years of US-Russia Diplomatic Relations, and gives a speech on the importance of sports in diplomacy, and thanking Michelle for her visit. "There are would-be sportsmen, lawyers and diplomats in this hall today," he says. "I hope they will follow your example and achieve their dreams."

Michelle takes the stage after him. "The world is getting smaller. You can travel anywhere in the world in a day," she says. "The people in Kalmykia can reach out to anyone at anytime."

After her speech, the kids dash onto stage in a variety show put together for their guest. To the tune of "We Will Rock You," blasting from a boombox, one group standing in a semicircle yell out the names of their favorite American heroes: "Abraham Lincoln!" "Thomas Edison!" "Michelle Kwan!!!"

Another group performs a skit playing on the riff of "roaming." "Our ancestors were nomads from Mongolia," says a counselor with shaggy hair and perfect delivery, as kids stalk the stage, making pretend yurts with their arms. "They were roaming and roaming… until they got into roaming." With that, the kids pull out their cellphones and begin walking around the stage, phones pressed to their ears.

Aysa Tyumenova, a 23-year-old camp counselor, spent a year on an exchange program at Wabash Valley College in Illinois. With sunglasses perched on wavy black hair, the perky 23-year-old explains proclaims in colloquial English, "The older generation in Russia remembers the Cold War. But now people travel everywhere. I have friends in the US, in Germany, everywhere." She explains that during World War II, the Kalmyks were deported en masse from Kalmykia to Siberia because of their Buddhist beliefs, and didn't return until after Stalin's death.

The entourage stops at the World of Chess, a pet project of the president of Kalmykia, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who is a chess fanatic and president of the World Federation of Chess. Only in Kalmykia is chess part of the curriculum in school, and we are led through classrooms of very young, very focused children being explained chess moves.

The next stop is the brand-new Buddhist temple. Telo Rinpoche, the head monk, also has an American connection: he was actually born and raised in Philadelphia, but came back to his homeland in 1991 when the Dalai Lama visited. He helped to raise money to build the temple, and at the age of 19, was elected the head of the Buddhists of Kalmykia.

"It's wonderful that Michelle came, but people here are more concerned about how the Russian federal government thinks than the US," he says. "We're a small autonomous republic, living under a big country. We never know what that big country will do to us."