4-4-10; 11:32 AM
Happy Easter, to everyone who's celebrating!!!!
… It's sort of a bittersweet affair for me -- this is my first one without any kind of an Easter Basket -- thus, my first without a Solid, Chocolate Bunny OR Cadbury Carmel Eggs! I'm a little bummed out right now…
(At least I have the Mishki I bought… … Actually, I have enough chocolate for a very well-stocked basket, but without the above items, it's just not the same…)
(… And yes, I *do* know that, in spite of my Sweet Teeth, Easter is about MUCH MORE than Chocolate Bunnies and Cadbury Eggs! But I think even Jesus would miss having those around… I mean… It's Chocolate Bunnies and Cadbury Eggs!)
*****
In all truth, I'm also a little bummed out because I appear to be sick again. Sore throat came on on Friday, and in earnest yesterday, along with stuffed sinuses from Hell. (The Resurrection defeats Satan, but not Stuffed Sinuses?! C'mon!!) And my pseudo-insomnia appears to be back. I was in bed by 1 this morning, I was so proud of myself! And so ready to sleep! … But I just tossed and turned (not being able to breathe didn't help). When I did finally sleep… … I woke up at 6:37 AM.
Then, I felt worse because my coughing and nose-blowing woke Olga up… So she came in to see how I was doing, and brought me back the magical nose-clearing stuff. -- Which I had been looking for YESTERDAY, and thought I'd LOST because I couldn't find it, and had felt terrible, thinking I'd lost their medicine!!! Turns out she'd taken it back off my table when she'd gotten sick. =-_-= ''
Neways, Olga worked some Mommy-Magic for me, and brought me the most amazing mug of hot milk, honey, and butter -- and for the first time in a long time, my throat didn't hurt at all, for at least a little while. It was incredible. For a number of reasons:
1. It came from a Mom -- and I really, *really* needed a touch of "Mommy Magic" about then.
2. I have a big problem when it comes to drinking "hot" things -- I get burned very easily. This was somehow magically, "Just right," to steal Goldilocks' phrase. Just at the threshold where it was nice and hot (for me), but didn't burn me!
3. I normally don't like honey. -- That ALL just went out the window. Russian honey has *got* to be what the Bible is talking about when it refers to, "The land of Milk and Honey." (This morning, incidentally, was the first time I ever truly appreciated that phrase. *laughs*) -- It looks different from honey I've always seen in the States -- obviously, it tastes better, too! XD
4. As I mentioned before, there was no, "Owie, my throat!" feeling while I was drinking it, and for a few minutes afterwards.
I am SO buying Olga flowers today.
11:44 AM
**********
11:59 AM
Remind me to start drinking those Milk-Honey-Butter things before bedtime -- I've just had another one, and I think I'm going to go be out like a light for another 20 min.
Then I'll go meet with my tutor -- going to watch my first Russian Movie! (At a Russian Theatre)
12:00 PM
*********************
So, my very first film in a Russian Movie Theatre was an Almost-Horror movie! Oh my Goodness, I was not expecting that!!!
(For Reference: I HATE horror movies!! *laughing* Also, I suppose I should have trusted my "Greek Instinct" more -- because the movie was *titled* "Phobos." (Fear.) )
Truthfully, I'm sure that I spent the brunt of the film being more terrified that it actually was going to turn into a real horror film than I was of the movie! I mean, ALL the signs were there! Group-O-Teenagers (that fit various stereotypes); Haunted Setting; "Let's Split Up!" -- and everybody got into a near-death situation at least once!!
They went the whole movie without killing anyone, until about the last 15 minutes, where they killed everyone in about 3 minutes… …. And then… It was all a dream!! One of the girls wakes up, and sees that all of the people in her dream were people that she is seeing there around the gas station she and her boyfriend stopped at. But, her boyfriend's kind of a jerk (and is flirting with the cashier girl inside), so dreaming-girl gets out of the car, and approaches, "Nice-And-Slightly-Attractive-Guy" from her dream (they were gravitating towards each other the whole movie) -- and I suppose we assume that she leaves with him.
So… It's kind of a happy ending? Ha ha ha… It was an experience, at least!
It's pretty neat -- they do advertisements for their films with little leaflets that you can take with you - and there are synopses of the films on them. They also have trailers, just like we do, that show before the movies. Anya and I saw one for a movie titled, "Поп," ("Pope") -- a WWII era film about a Priest in a Latvian town, during the German occupation -- that we will go see next week. It looks to be a very good film.
*****
Random bright bit of the day: While I was waiting for Anya to get to the movie theatre, I saw a young man feeding pigeons out in front of the theatre. Now, I love pigeons in the first place; but there was something awfully touching about this guy. He tossed some of the food to the ground, but was actually keeping most of the feed in his hands, so that the birds would have to land on his fingers to eat. It was interesting, to watch and see which of the birds were smart enough, or fearless enough, to alight on his hands.
I don't know why, but I just had this feeling as I watched that boy -- must he be lonely, if he is trying to get some kind of actual contact with the birds (having them land on him to eat from his hands)? He was so calmly and quietly interacting with the birds -- I don't know, it just stirred something in my heart. There seemed to be a certain feeling of understanding between him and the birds.
Of course, from the birds' perspective, how hungry must they be, to brave landing on a strange animal to try to eat?
This is one of the, "big milestone moments" that my Falconry** Master once taught me. You see, it's a *very* vulnerable position for a bird to be in, with its head bent down [to eat]. When a Falconer has trapped a new bird, it is a defining moment, when the bird finally puts its head down, and begins to eat "from the glove."
(** Falconry/Hawking: The Art, and Sport, of working or hunting with Birds of Prey. )
*****
I was feeling pretty happy, and good when I arrived home -- but that feeling was squished pretty quickly, once I got inside…
I heard the hairdryer running, but there was no one in the bathroom, and as I approached my room, the door was open with the light on -- and the sound was coming from inside…
I entered, and there on the floor were Olga and Polina, with nail polish remover, scrubbing the floor!!!
Welcome to: I Am Ruining My Floor One Part At A Time; and I Don't Know What I'm Doing That Is Doing It!!!
Ever since the first lecture Olga gave me, I've been vigilant to the point of paranoia about not being barefooted on my floor, or even traipsing about in socks, and not getting anything on the ground! But somehow, I've managed to do something that left spots all over the floor -- which I apparently didn't notice, until they scrubbed at them with the acetone, 'cause now those spots of the floor are obviously lighter. =>_<= Definitely not what I needed.
I felt so awful about it; and Olga was understandably upset -- and it's just worse because I really DON'T known what happened. If I'd known, I'd have copped up to it. Shoot, I'd have cleaned things up when it first happened!
So, on top of being sick, having woken Olga up the morning, and having her have been so kind to me with the Milk-and-Honey thing, here I am, ruining her floors again. =>_<=
I about cried on the spot.
Once they finished in my room, I grabbed my homework and my computer, and slinked out to the John Donne....
On the way, I got a hold of Yitian for the first time in a few weeks, so thank God for that. I missed her! It was good to talk to my best friend, especially after the night I'd just had.
**********
My situation didn't really improve once I got off the phone with Yitian, however, as proven by the following conversation I had once I got online in the Pub:
*****
Moscow Kitty
Oh, and I ALMOST summersaulted through a doorway tonight (Emphasis Added Now)
On my way up here to the bar,
I tripped on a step,
Wearing a book bag almost as big as myself, as per normal.
The books all shifted from my lower back up to my shoulder blades
And I about went down.
I managed to bear crawl, literally by the tips of my fingers, and not go down
So embarrassing...
Austin
o.o
I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry right now
xD
Moscow Kitty
Definitely the klutziest thing that's happened to me for a LONG time
Oh my God.
Austin
Though, there is a high probability that I would have payed to see this O.~
*****
Yup, Ruining Floors and nearly Summersaulting through doorways -- that's Moscow Kitty for you… = @_@ = What a night…
I told Austin later, I probably would have paid to see it too. XD
Because I have NEVER in my life seen my tippie-toes or fingertips move SO fast in my life! Also, if there were a sound effect for that moment, it would have been Fred Flinstone's "twinkle-toes" music -- and that should give you the proper set-up of the scene.
*****
Things improved briefly, when I found out that I'm going to be home for Graham's wedding!!! Hooray!!! I'd spent so much time being afraid I was going to miss it!!!! So, that was nice.
Then they went from bad to worse as I was getting ready to leave for the night.
You see, I was explaining to Pete, and our friend Kiril (Who's in his late 30s - early 40s, I think), and Pete started getting mad about the fact that Olga was upset, but she's getting money for my being there, so he was of the opinion that she shouldn't have been upset and should just have dealt with it.
I was trying to say that the families don't really get all THAT much money for having us -- just enough to cover the extra groceries, I think; and that it's not like she expects that if she takes someone in, they are going to cause damage to the home, money or not! (And that she had already told me about the floor.)
Kiril, at this point, started trying to get me to let him "talk to her," as a Russian -- and I was just like, "NO!" Ha ha ha -- I really didn't need that!! Of course, Kiril guessed that I didn't want to cause some kind of incident, and was afraid he might say something not so nice to Olga, because he said, "I can be nice!" Oh, brother!
Somewhere in between trying to diffuse Pete, wave off Kiril, and defend Olga, I said something to the effect of, "I love Olga!" and Pete cut in, "Well, she obviously doesn't like *you.*" -- and I broke down in tears. … Pete was just being facetious, but it was the straw that broke the camel's back for me -- I was sick, upset about the floors, and the thought of Olga being so displeased with me so as not to like me on top of that was just too much.
Now, as I generally hate crying, as a rule, I put my head down, and tried to stop it -- but I was too far gone, and couldn't do anything about it at that point. About 5 seconds later, Pete was looking at me and said, "Are you *crying*?!"
Thinking he might be about to tease me again, I issued a very mumbled, tear-obscured, pathetic, "No…"
At which point, Pete definitely knew I was lying, realized I was crying, and threw aside all pretenses with a heartfelt, "Oh, cupcake! C'mere!" and gave me a big, big, big hug.
I tried to tell Pete and Kiril I needed to catch the Metro and go home -- but Pete wouldn't let me take the Metro; he told me Kiril would give me a ride home. I tried to tell them I didn't need that -- but my protests fell on deaf ears; and 10 minutes later, I was on my way to Kiril's car. (With him holding my book bag, I should mention -- he wouldn't let me carry it!)
**********
Now…. I've mentioned Russian Hospitality before. It's incredible, is really the simplest way to put it.
Tonight, I found out what Russian Hospitality entails when a friend is Sick and Miserable and Upset. Ha ha ha!!!
So, we got to the car, and Kiril asked me, "Are you hungry?" I responded, "Yeah, a little, I guess…" I suppose I thought we might just stop somewhere quickly; but I was wrong!! He took me to a grocery store, and marched me inside, asking, "What do you want? What do you eat?" And he picked up everything from some grapes, to bread and the Ikra iz Kabachkova (Vegetable Spread) that I love, to French Truffles!!!!!
From there, he brought us back to his apartment, where he set me up on the couch, covered me in a blanket, and told me to lie down/rest -- while he heated me up some Borsh' his mum had made, along with one of those Milk and Honey things (which I'd told him about)!!!!!!!!
Along with all of that, he brought me over some bread and the Ikra iz Kabachkova, washed some grapes for me, and opened up one of the packs of truffles.
=@_@= I was a little overwhelmed by the kindness, to tell the truth!
So, with some great Jazz music playing in the background, we chatted, and ate, and I calmed down/rested some.
I realized, however, that the hour was MUCH later than I wanted it to be; and while Kiril was all set to let me stay in his bed, while he slept on the couch, I told him that I hadn't told my host mum I wouldn't be coming home, as well as that I had school in the morning, so I needed to go home.
Kiril, fantastically, packed up the truffles with my stuff, took me back to the John Donne, and hailed (and paid for) a gypsy cab for me -- "Don't worry, it's safe -- I told him that I wrote his number (license plate) down." -- and so, I got home.
**********
So, I was sick, miserable, and upset -- and then I got to have a really nice night of being absolutely, 100% taken care of. I was surprised, and I actually felt a little worse, feeling like an inconvenience -- but my goodness, if I had ever needed some TLC while here in Russia, it was this night -- and lo and behold, it was provided! You can't beat good music, good conversation, chatting with a friend, and Homemade-Soup-From-Mom! (Another touch of Mommy-Magic in my day!! And eating soup, when you're sick -- well, it's almost a requirement, isn't it??)
Oh, and, thanks to all the misery of being sick and upset, I actually *DID* manage to get a Chocolate Easter Bunny…!!! I saw them, and Kiril picked one up for me, while we were at the Grocery Store.
The Lord works in mysterious ways. VERY mysterious ways… = O_o = / =^___^=
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