3-14-2010; 11:30 PM ish
Happy Pi Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I forgot to say, last night, that on the new CDs I got from Andrei on Tuesday, I now have salsa versions of:
Beetles songs ("Let It Be," "Hey Jude," "Come Together,"); "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones; and "The Wonder Years" theme song! XD
And, actually, a really pretty song in Russian, which makes for a good American Rumba.
*****************
Re-Cap:
Yesterday: 3-13-2010
I was back at the John Donne again today! I was doing more translating, and got introduced to "Ponchiki" (Пончики) -- which are essentially, little fried bits of dough (with a texture somewhere between a doughnut/a beignet/and funnel cake), in a circular shape, covered in powdered sugar. It's 30 rubles for 100 grams, and they wind up coming double wrapped, in a little blue, plastic bag. It is for this reason that they have also been dubbed by Pete as a, "Bag of Love." =^__^= I must say, I agree!!!
I hit up the Blogspot website, and decided, after much conversing with my friend Ryan (Who's currently adventuring in the Land Down Under!) to make the switch -- so there was no journal work -- just lots of moving things over, and setting up shop all over again!!!!
Thankfully, Pete was also doing some computer work, and I broke up the doldrum of all my repetitive work by chatting with him.
At one point, Dima (one of the bartenders) was over visiting with us. [Pete loves him because he speaks English with an Australian accent (he studied in Australia for a time) -- something Pete finds absolutely hilarious.] Anyway, after having seen me sitting around the bar, and doing some interpreting for the better part of two days, Dima asked me, "Do you work here?" And when I said no, he looked at Pete and told him, "Why not? We need more pretty girls!"
I told him about how I couldn't work, even if I wanted to, unless it was "under the table," because of my visa status.
Following me, Pete answered, "We've already got one "under the table," we don't need two!" He also added on, "[Besides] If I hired her, you'd never get any work done!!"
We all had a laugh about that one, and very shortly afterwards, Dima got up and went off to do something. I leaned over to Pete and said, "He's gone off to prove he can work when I'm around!!" *laughs*
**********
Many hours later, Tatiana (one of my school group's Russian friends), Juan, Andrew (two guys from my school group), and a few other people came in. They wound up sitting around me, and I felt bad for not conversing more with them, but I was really trying to get my work finished while I was there -- and hadn't expected them to come in…
Misha and Will (two more guys from my school group) wound up coming in later -- and they sat on either side of me, watching me do all my blog work -- somewhat in awe.
We were joking around and having fun -- and it was a little nice to laugh and shake things up a little bit, but it was also something of a distraction, too.
They were teasing me saying, "Now we're gonna get to see everything you're saying!" -- And they would read little lines at random here and there that made them laugh.
They also joked, after looking at how much I'd written for my entire journal:
"This is what happens when you don't drink or party… You *BLOG*…."
-- To which I about died laughing at, as it's true that I don't party, etc. -- and I have a MASSIVE journal… Heh, heh…
= O///o = ''
*****
Of course, once many of my acquaintances were around me, Pete broke out his, "Moscow Kissing Kitty" nickname for me, and we somehow got onto the subject of how I have no idea why all these guys just keep getting caught up with me, sometimes after I've only been chatting with them for just a few minutes.
Will actually hit the nail on the head on two separate points:
Firstly, concerning the guys that seem to keep getting tripped up over me, he had this to say:
"I think your innocence just draws guys (here) in [like moths to a flame]."
Which reminded me of when Sasha first met me, and he was just absolutely *floored* to find a person "like you," (as he said, about me) here in Moscow.
Secondly, after Will had said he'd come to the program not expecting anything about anyone who might have been in it, but now, he'd formed opinions about everyone, I looked at him and said, "You know that's just *asking* for people to ask you what your opinion of them is!" He laughed and said, "Fair enough," and started explaining what he thought about a few of the girls in our group, and then, much to Pete's delight, he said of me:
"I think you're the kind of girl who'd maybe kiss a guy [or] be kissed, but you wouldn't do anything more."
We all sat, a bit stunned for just a few seconds, before we broke out laughing, and Pete and I both said, "Yeah, that's pretty fair… !" *laughing* It was pretty funny…
**********
While I was sitting there with Misha and Will, Tatiana, Juan, Andrew, and the other people left; but then Yuri (Pete's friend) and his friends all came in!!
I was working, so I didn't really notice, but my friends all saw Yuri pointing in my direction about something, and they asked Pete about it when he next came over. Pete told them that it was my boyfriend -- so I had to clear that up! (That's actually where the above mentioned conversation about Russian guys falling a bit quickly for me came up.)
Yuri did stop by to say hi at one point, and I promised that I wouldn't leave without popping in to say hello. He was busy busting my chops for something that had happened, on Friday, I think. I had been at the JD, and we had been chatting online, but Yuri had gone idle. My food that I'd ordered finally came, so I typed in a quick message to the effect of, "Food's here, gotta run! Bye!" -- and he just let me have it (jokingly) about having left so quickly, and over food!
Having been interrupted so much, it took me quite a bit of time to finish what I had started, but I *did* finally get upstairs to visit with Yuri and his friends. (He and another friend had actually come downstairs as I was trying to finish, and he'd busted my chops a little more about still being on my computer! He actually looked surprised when I caught up to them on the stairs, on the way up to the third floor.)
Some of his friends were playing Poker, and Yuri led me around the two tables, introducing me to some new faces, and to some old ones. A few of them, like Yuri's brother and another friend told me, "We speak English," and I'd responded, "But I need to practice my Russian!" They countered that with: "We need to practice our English!" (I'm almost entirely sure that one of them who'd said that was actually British.)
I chatted with Yuri about being a "happy person." I had been smiling, and he asked me why, and I said I was just a happy person. He asked, "Why?" And I told him that I believed there was always something to be happy about. He responded, "Like what?" -- So I laid out a good 8-10 things, right there, that I was happy about. He told me he was a little jealous of how I was always so happy -- I told him that he could do it too, but he didn't quite believe me!
**********
I finally left, to some objections from Yuri and Pete -- but I was already SO late in getting home, I didn't even get to call anyone (back in the US) like I'd intended to do that day!!
When I walked in the door, something smelled *absolutely* delicious, but it was all put away, so I didn't get anything to really eat that night!! = ToT =
*************************************
The Present: 3-14-2010
Today started with Breakfast, and then I set to work re-importing my ENTIRE photo library, and re-categorizing, because somewhere along the line, iPhoto threw a random fit, and decided it couldn't find almost every picture in the library! What a Nightmare!!!!
In the middle of doing that, Sasha finally called me back. I hadn't heard from him in well over a week, and as it turned out, he'd been sick!!! (In the hospital!) I was so happy to hear he was ok -- I'd really been worried! We won't be going to Don Quixote, obviously, but that is ok. It's more important that Sasha heals up and gets better.
**********
I had agreed to meet with my Tutor Anya today -- and as it was the time before, even just meeting up was an adventure!!
I was a little late to our meeting, because I'd fielded the phone call from Sasha, and she told me she was standing at the exit to a certain square -- which I understood her as saying she had *taken* that exit, and was outside already! Apparently, I was mistaken…. I called her, but while we were on the phone, I heard a beep, and just as I'd dreaded, my phone was saying it was about to die!!! I was so mad, because it always happens just like that! One moment, the battery looks fine, like I still have life left, and then, kaput!
A few quick phone calls later, we agreed to meet at a certain corner, and right then -- my phone died!!!
Luckily, about as soon as it died, I hit the corner, and I heard my tutor say my name! She came up and gave me a hug, and once I was finished being relieved that we'd found each other, I realized Misha and his tutor were there as well!
Our tutors told us about an exhibit of drawings for "Alice In Wonderland" (By Jonathan Sutton?) -- so took a walk to that. The two of them are apparently huge fans of the latest film (from Tim Burton) -- they've already seen it twice!
I must say, I don't think I've ever seen the Disney version of "Alice In Wonderland" and I've never read either of the books -- but it was still pretty neat to see the drawings. Each one was like one little snapshot, and there were subtitles, from the book, underneath all of them -- but they were all in Russian, obviously!! (So, I didn't quite understand everything…)
The weather was nice, so we decided to walk to another art/photo exhibit (about Russia, if I understood correctly), and somewhere along the lines, I realized that we were walking on the very same street where Sasha and I had been walking with his friend, after my first show at the Lenkom Theatre!! The street looked so different during the day!
As we walked, my Tutor and I talked about the places I'd traveled in the world, and she asked me if I knew where I wanted to wind up when I was finished with my studies. I told her that my involvement in ballroom/my love of a good night life made it a little hard to answer that one… Ideally, I said, I'd love to live where my Nana lives (in Florida) -- because that's like my "Dacha*" in all of the world. I told Anya, "Half of me would be *completely* content to live there, with my Nana, and my Ocean… But the other half of me also needs a little more of a night life/city scene than is found around there… So it's tough to say…"
(* "Dacha" = A Russian [summer] cottage, located out in the countryside.)
We stopped into Mu-Mu (a Russian, cafeteria-style restaurant) for lunch, where I had the weirdest looking Schnitzel I've ever seen… Thankfully, it was still good!
The four of us chatted about movies -- Misha was thrilled that we three girls were quite "Anti-Twilight," and he, and the other girls, were surprised to hear that I was vehemently Anti - "Jane Austen." Misha said, "I thought *all* girls loved Jane Austen!" I told him, "Maybe it's because I had to read "Emma," I don't know." (A book I still thoroughly despise to this day… And, for better or worse, the only piece of Ms. Austen's literature I've ever read. It completely killed my desire to seek out anymore. -- Somewhat back to her credit though, I'm completely in love with the Bollywood, movie version of "Pride and Prejudice," entitled, "Bride and Prejudice." Ha ha ha!)
We touched on the movies we did like, and when it came to Musicals, I was delighted to hear that, "The Sound Of Music," was the first English film they had seen! (At least it was, for my tutor.) I also had to laugh, when I mentioned I loved Meryl Streep, Misha's tutor mentioned she loved the movie, "The Devil Wears Prada," and I do too!
It was a really fun afternoon -- unfortunately, by the time we finished lunch, it was already 2:30, and I had to get going to the John Donne to start working, so I didn't get to go to the second exhibition.
The street we were walking on, which was on my way to the Turgeneskaya Metro, had quite a few pretty buildings on it! I kept saying to Misha, "Oh, look at that one! Look at that one! I want to live *there!*" and the like. Ha ha ha. Misha said, "Well, when you're a world famous ballroom dancer -- or when you seduce all the rich men in the world…" Oh, brother!
**********
So, I bid adieu to Misha, his tutor, and Anya, and I set out for the John Donne….
I bought some Ponchiki on the way (as the shop that sells them is not even a block away from the JD), to share -- and that was a hit with Pete!!!
I did some more interpreting, and I wound up asking Pete, "Do you have some t-shirts, or tank tops, so I can at least be a walking advertisement or something for you!?" (Because I spend so much time there on the weekends, and the internet is such a help to me.)
I was trying to work on my journals, but instead, there was just quite a bit of chatting with friends!! Whoops… … Oh, and reading the news, to be fair!
I did, however, get at least a *little* bit of work taken care of -- 2 new journals got put up; I posted new photos (… But I also discovered that the original links I posted weren't working! Oh no!!!); and I posted up the Fulbright Article I had written for ACTR.
**********
One of the biggest highlights of my night, and maybe even the week happened as I was chatting with my friend, Dave.
He told me, "Not to sound sappy," but that he realized this morning/was thinking about it this morning, that he missed me. It was a very touching moment for me. You only miss the people who actually mean something to you. And the bit of, "Not to sound sappy," told me that it really was heartfelt. I really appreciated him actually telling me, instead of keeping it to himself. =^__^= I felt loved.
**********
In funny, random bits:
* I actually had a few people ask me how long I'd been sitting in the pub today. Ha ha ha. Yup -- am turning into a regular bump on the log there!
* Something Interesting: one of the above people, whom I'd also chatted with quite a bit, in relation to my laptop, was really a native Muscovite, but his English was flawless, spoken with a definite British (slightly Cockney-ish) accent! You'd have thought he truly was a British expat. Interesting. It just goes to show, sometimes, you never can tell!
**********
As far as plans for tomorrow go, I have my classes, and then I'll call Vitalii, and get things going for dance! Maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll have my first lesson tomorrow, eh? Maybe I should be packing my dance stuff, just in case?
In any case, it's time for some homework, and then bedtime! I have school in the morning!
Love,
Moscow Kitty; 11:47 PM
=^__^=
No comments:
Post a Comment