2-1-10 / 1-2-10 -- I apparently can't figure out how I want to write it -- or maybe it's just the liquor….
11:00 PM
I suppose I'll start at the end and work back to the beginning today -- especially with the little intro I've just given there. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I've had my first drinkS -- please note the *plural* here in Russia. Surprisingly, none of them have been vodka!! How'd'you like them apples? They were French cognac, and something uniquely Russian, made from local grasses, à la vodka -- and it's 40% alcohol. XD So, I've had probably at least a shot of the Cognac, and then a few shots of the Russian bit -- I can't be sure how much I've had, because they do this nifty thing where your glass never gets empty… And as much as the slightly mouthy/loose tone of this journal may sound it, I promise, I'm not drunk. We (Myself, my Host Parents, and their 4 Friends) basically had a friendly understanding about it, that went something like the following:
"You want some?"
"Oh, I don't drink," (Even my host mom mentioned this.)
"Well, just a little bit…" (Even my host mom said this!!)
"No…. *but moving the glass to them*" ("Resistance is futile," as I know, as a good geek.)
"Just to here…" (Well, it doesn't seem like much… [Anywhere from about 1/4-1/2 ish of my glass])
"Well, ok…" (I wonder how much I'm going to regret this later…)
Repeat that for about 5 or 6 toasts (I think, I lost count.). -- Speaking of toasts, it's absolutely necessary to understand, that Russians are amazing "toast givers." In America, we might say, "To so-and-so!" And that is an acceptable toast. That's just lazy here! Not even a toast! Their toasts are beautiful, and involved, and definitely at LEAST a compound sentence. I had a feeling that eventually, they would tell me it was my turn to give a toast, so I was trying hard to be invisible whenever the toasts came around, but eventually, my number was up…. I started with an apology about my lack of vocabulary, and that it wouldn't be nearly as pretty as any of theirs, and then promptly pulled a "Fiddler on the Roof:" "Za zdorove!" (To your health!) By the end of the dinner, however, the only important thing about the toasts was the, "Davai!" that came at the end… Ha ha ha.
In sum, I *know* I had at least 3 shots -- maybe 4, at most 5. I know at the last toast, they finished off the bottle into my shot glass, and I drank the whole thing -- albeit in 2 sips… It was pretty funny, a few toasts before that, they asked what time I had to be up in the morning, and then proceeded to say, "Well, if you're late in the morning, you just tell them that it was your Host Mother's birthday the other day, and it'll all be fine!!!!" And while I started to say, "I don't think my teachers…" It was promptly cut off by, "It was her birthday -- everything is fine!!" (And as soon as I said the, "My teachers part," I myself was thinking, "Well, actually, they probably *would* be ok with that explanation, being Russian… … But my program probably wouldn't buy that excuse if I showed up drunk/hung over by my host family….)
Granted, it was a long dinner! So, it's not as though all of it's still in me -- just the last one, maybe 2. I KNOW we've been sitting at the table for at *least* 3 hrs… Closer to 4, and more likely about 5. I love meals like that though. Tonight has really been a reminder of my time in China -- sitting around the table, and not understanding a word that's being said -- except that this time, I do understand at least *some.* It's not much, currently -- more like a word here and there, but I know I'll get there. It is slightly more stressful, too, because at least, while I was in China, I had a lovely personal interpreter (Love you, Yitian!!!!) It's at least a little bit of a help that Polina speaks English, and one of the friends who was over tonight spoke some too; although, every time someone speaks English to me, I feel as though I am cheating, somehow, and I don't like it.
As all of the little details in the above posts have pointed to, it was my host mother's birthday the day before I arrived, so today, she had a little dinner party, and 4 of their friends come over. There was a 5th earlier in the evening, but she left before the others arrived. The total count was one couple (the wife left), and then another couple and their daughter (27). I actually wasn't sure what to do at the beginning of the evening -- whether I was supposed to be out or not, but I didn't think so. I popped out to check, and I didn't see Polina, and I was pretty sure that my host mum said something akin to "later," so I went back to the homework I had set for myself. (Which was basically to look up a bunch of words I've been trying to think about, and realizing I don't know.) Eventually, it *was* dinner time for us, which was great, because I was STAAAARVING!!!! I was also excited, due to the fact that Olga (host mum) was making pelmeni -- which are basically the Russian form of Chinese Dumplings. (Best comparison that I have.) I also tried something that I think was smoked salmon (because it was definitely cooked, but looked raw, and had a more raw-ish texture) -- which started with a "g," and I tried a cabbage dish, that was a little too sour on its own for me, but with the pelmeni, it was ok. For dessert, there were grapes, and a cake/cream/jello-ed fruit (layered) thing that I think Olga bought, and some Russian candies (chocolate covered apricots, which I didn't eat; and some chocolates with some crispy bits in them, that I did). Along with all that, of course, was a nice cup of black tea. All in all, my stomach is basically very, very happy.
An interesting bit of Americana, as I work backwards through the day -- somewhere in between Dinner and Dessert, Polina and the other girl who came tonight had The Simpsons on, on the TV! I immediately thought of Munky, and wished he could have been there to see it!!!
In the scheme of the long dinner, there were a few smoke breaks for Igor (host dad), and one of the friends, whose name I cannot think of right now, I'm so embarrassed! In the middle of those smoke breaks, however, I was thinking at one point, "My, he's been gone an awful long time," and lo and behold, he came back with the bottle of Russian liquor, because we'd finished the Cognac!
Skele-notes!
** Polina likes anime -- hooray! (And we both LOVE "Cowboy Bebop")
**Almost cried a bunch
**This is not as bad as it sounds… I'm the kind of person who, when I get really stressed out, or really angry, I cry. Of course, here's the fun party -- I HATE crying, and especially in public. So, normally I'm pretty good about keeping all that stuff from happening. *However* if I'm stressed out, it can sneak up on me… And, as it turns out, whether I'd like to acknowledge it or not, my *body* has been put under quite a bit of stress in the last few weeks, let alone the last few days!!! Think about it…. I have:
**In the last few weeks:
**Gone from IN to FL for 2 weeks
**Been back in IN for about 60 hours, not even all of those "at home"
**Tried to pack all of my worldly belongings that I might need for the next year and a half -- while being conservative and downsizing as much as possible.
**Left for Washington DC
**RE-PACKED
**Orientation
**In the last few days:
**Moved halfway around the world!! (8 hr time difference.)
**Been trying not to get lost, been getting in over my head when it comes to buying needed services, and getting stressed out over electronics stuff. (Which, as of this point, still aren't working correctly!!!)
**Moved *again* into my host family's house -- which, as amazing as they are, are still strangers, and I still don't speak the language fluently enough to help move along the, "Getting-To-Know-You" process… (I don't even think Julie Andrews could help me here!! Ha ha ha….)
**Gotten involved in a party the DAY AFTER I moved to this house.
So, take all of that stress, put it in a little ball somewhere -- because when you're me, you don't think about it -- until all these new people -- whom you can't *talk* to -- start showing up, and you *realize* that you can't talk to them, and wonder how in the Sam Hell you're going to get through the evening without either: a. being a mute fool, or b. being a fool; and then that ball of stress comes back and hits you like a brick-wall of a boomerang, out of NOWHERE!!!!!
I can admit it -- I had to fight to keep from crying. All that stress was bound to hit me sometime. *shrugs* I'm an honest person; and this is an honest look at what moving overseas is like. Considering the fact that, as I said before, I typically just jump into everything, and make it through somehow (And enjoy it all along the way, for the most part!!), I imagine all of this might be much worse for some people. Obviously, I stuck around for dinner -- so I'm ok. =^_~=
Back to the Skele-notes:
**Got info on the Beeline wi-if from one of the friends who came over for dinner: *apparently,* the walls in this city were built to interfere with radio signals/other kinds of wave-related stuff? --Thanks a lot, Cold War…. Geeze.
**Got lost-ish for the first time on Metro --
**Also not like it sounds!!!! 2 trains service one of my connecting stations, and I took the 1st one that came up, without even thinking about it. I *was* on the correct platform, though…. Fixed it all easily enough. If I hadn't, I wouldn't be typing this now!
**I'm pretty sure I saw the same guy who gave up his seat to me the other day -- as in, I'm pretty sure that I sat right beside him, and now I'm really sorry I didn't say something.
**My favorite BCBG Boots got *soaked* today when I stopped at the Beeline store, at the Maiyakovskaya Metro stop!!
**Not sure why I'm in the group I'm in -- I don't think any of them really want to speak entirely in Russian on this trip, or feel all that comfortable with the language [Not that I'm all that comfortable with it myself, but at least I'm trying.], or with the whole, "I'm not halfway around the world," thing, in general -- maybe it's that we're the worst at vocabulary? XD I think that this is one of those, "Have some "Blind Faith" in the System," sorts of things that John told us. *laughs* Granted, he did say that there are no "dumb" groups, etc. And I certainly know that while I need work, I'm not a dunce for languages. So, here goes my Blind Faith!
**THERE IS NO WI-FI, *ANYWHERE!!!!!* Not at the University, not in the Dorm Café, and not at my host family's house!!!!!
**We did our Oral Interviews -- ((uchennie)) after the nightmare of a Written Test -- All in all, I think it went pretty well! I know I need to know more words, but I answered all the questions they asked of me well-enough, and they got to known an little more about why I will be in Moscow for a year and a half. I think they seemed happy about the amount of time I'm going to be there -- and the dancing is interesting enough to them.
**We took the Written Test -- ((pismennie)) -- UGH!!!! What a horrible, awful thing! *laughs* It was *baaaaad.* = o_o =
**Had an OK trip to school this morning. I was happy, though -- I was wearing one of my pencil skirts and my favorite BCBG girl boots! The boots made me feel like a real Muscovite Woman -- you know, in heels, even in the snow and ice? I think I slid *once* and that was it. Ha ha ha.
**Got up for school -- had a quick breakfast of oatmeal and yogurt. (Interesting: the oatmeal here is a little thinner. Still good!)
Off to bed -- hope the "Day, in Rewind" wasn't too confusing for you!
2-2-10 (Sometime in the early morning hours. -- Forgot to write it -- 2-4-10 Edits before going online.)
Ciao,
Moscow Kitty
=^__^=
No comments:
Post a Comment