Hi, Mark!  Recently you wrote in a message to alexander koryagin:   
      
    ak>  Yesterday, a Polish customs station was paralyzed by   
    ak>  a Russian truck loaded with matreshka dolls.   
      
    ml>  one needs to know what matreshka dolls are   
      
      
             ... usually spelled "matryoshka" or "matrioshka" in Canada.  I have   
   also seen it spelled "matrushka".  While it appears to be spelled with an "e"   
   in Russian, their vowel sounds differ from ours at times....  :-)   
      
      
      
    ml>  for this one to make sense and be funny...   
      
      
             I had to think about it for a moment... but our daughter has such a   
   doll.  AFAIC they're classic wooden toys of the sort which can still be found   
   here in Vancouver if you know where to look.  They're quite readily available   
   in Alaska, especially in shops frequented by tourists.  I suppose there could   
   be folks in other parts of North America who have never heard of them.  Okay,   
   so you take the doll apart in the middle & find another doll.  You repeat the   
   same exercise any number of times, depending on how large a bit of tree trunk   
   the wood carver started with & how much you can afford to spend.  Now imagine   
   what reaction this might get at an international border... and how a bunch of   
   grownups might be taking these dolls apart in order to establish to their own   
   satisfaction that there is absolutely nothing hidden inside them except other   
   dolls.  As one who has travelled to the USA, I can certainly relate... [BEG].   
      
             JFTR, I'm not criticizing border guards from other countries.  When   
   we were flying from Whitehorse to Vancouver, a month or two prior to 9/11, we   
   encountered a young man at the airport who insisted on examining my own & our   
   daughter's deodorant bottles in detail... while an older co-worker looked on.   
   Although he'd been introduced to us earlier in our hostess's house it was his   
   duty to ensure we weren't trying to smuggle bear spray... which is illegal in   
   Vancouver... and the size & shape of the containers was roughly similar.  :-)   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)