By Marie Mulvenna

"I must get a pair of your blue jeans." Natasha Ivanovna Gorina's blue eyes sparkled when she heard a brief stop at Northlake Mall had been added to the delegation's agenda. It was her first time in the U.S., the first time she had been outside her native Russia and she was enjoying every minute of it.

The tall Miss Gorina spent her time in Atlanta acting as interpreter for the Russian delegation, her soft English accented voice almost inaudible at the public gatherings where her translation was most needed. She had studied in Moscow to be an English teacher, studying the theories of the language and its written and spoken form.

But somehow, she wound up working in the office of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church and she loves it. Her duties are ever-changing and center on interpreting and working with diplomatic and church visitors to the Soviet Union.

She browsed through stores with one eye on the racing clock and the other on American fashions. The wide array of blue jeans astonished her and she found a pair exactly suited to her, telling the store owner how thrilled she was to be able to take a pair back to Russia.

In a more serious vein, Natasha spoke on the role of Russian women in the church, describing their active participation in church affairs and their deep devotion to the Blessed Mother. She said Russian women are very religious and give large amounts of time to their church. They are quite traditional, she said, and would never think of aspiring to the priesthood because of their Orthodox heritage. In other denominations however, women do function in roles such as deaconess, Natasha commented.

She concluded her whirlwind shopping by rejoining the delegation awaiting her, all of whom had purchased items to take back to their native Russia.

She was unabashed in her fondness for Atlanta -- "It's so nice here," she said with a smile, that she greatly enjoyed not being crowded as she always is on Russian streets. And, of course, she marveled at Underground, McDonald's and the brief stopover at Stone Mountain.

But her biggest moment was perhaps the acquisition of a pair of genuine American blue jeans, which she clutched with pride and a smile.

"These are wonderful," she said happily as she broke into Russian for her companions to relate her happy tidings.