摘要："See you in Khabarovsk in 1998," we had promised at the end of the first International Conference organised by TESOL Russia--Far East in Vladivostok two years ago. It had been said more in hope than anything else. The original conference had been a triumph of hope over adversity: organised on one telephone line and a lot of good-will, it had been a great success, bringing together English teachers from throughout the Russian Far East for their first ever conference, an emotional as well as a professional occasion. But who knew what the next two years would bring?Well, they brought a creeping sense of economic recovery and political stability, and then in mid-August, 1998, the dramatic crushing of hope and dreams as the rouble collapsed and banks all over Russia closed their doors. Nevertheless, a month later, we did indeed meet again in Khabarovsk for the second International Conference, organised by the newly re-named Far Eastern English Language Teachers Association (FEELTA).Teachers arrived by train and by plane, 13 hours up the track from Vladivostok, a day and a night by bus and train from Nikolaevsk-on-Amur, 24 hours of flights and departure lounges from Western Siberia. Over 400 in all, hungry for professional contact and new ideas. Many more though, did not make it. Sponsorship money failed to arrive; hotel and travel expenses suddenly became unaffordable; a difficult, hungry winter loomed.We gathered in Khabarovsk, on the banks of the Amur River, within sight of China, on the edge of the taiga (which has burned for most of the summer, sending huge clouds of smoke over the city at times). It is a spacious city with a bustling main street and European-style architecture. The State Pedagogical University and the University of Economics and Law were our hosts.
