4-9-10
Today's excursion was to the Gulag Museum… Heavy, heavy, heavy. We watched a movie entitled: "Death Train" -- it was about the train track project in the Arctic Circle. A doomed project to nowhere, in some of the harshest conditions you could possibly imagine… People sentenced to years of hard labor, sometimes for next to nothing -- and when the project was scrapped 20 days after Stalin's death? … They kept the prisoners at work -- tearing up the hard work they'd done, to salvage the metal and other valuable materials that had been used.
The film was so downright depressing that our RD told us, "Umm… There are 3 more parts to this, 15 minutes each -- you don't have to stay for the rest of them," after we made it throughout he first 15 minute part. Some people did leave early. I was sad to see that. Was the topic matter jolly and happy-go-lucky? No, of course not -- but it's our history, and it's important… Just because it's unsavory doesn't mean we should ignore it…
For those of us who remained, once the film was finished, and we left together, we wondered why nobody talks about this [the Gulag situation]… In some ways, what the prisoners experienced was just as bad as some of the experience as prisoners in the Holocaust. Some of the related stories were exactly the same as ones I have heard from the mouths from Holocaust survivors and their testimonials…
Please don't misunderstand me: none of this is to say that the importance of the Holocaust should be diminished in any way at all -- but it's more to say, that if we give so much attention to the Holocaust, why do we not bring the situation of the Gulags more into the open?
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There were a few bright spots for me, however:
1. I did go to the John Donne in the afternoon.
2. I found the song I heard in the diner!!!!! Sooooo happy! I also got a few others I'd been wanting.
3. I ran into Sasha again! Who got me another connection!!! -- This is to say, he has a friend who knows some people at another ballroom studio, and they want me to go get introduced. I already *have* a studio, but I'd hate to snub anyone...
4. I'll be at a BBQ at the Embassy with the Marines tomorrow!!!!
5. I had a dance lesson -- see the following.
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With the Gulag Museum trip, I was pensive for most of the day; so I was really looking forward to dance to perk me up a little bit.
When I got there to start warming up, however, it almost made me a little worse!! --Tthey were playing all of the rumbas I used to dance to at home/were sentimental for me!! Rumbas like, "Angela," "Abrazame," everything! All my favorite versions, all songs I'd danced to a million times before.
Vitaly snuck up on me before he started my lesson -- played to take my legs out from under me -- and asked how I was, in English. I suppose I just reacted instinctually, because I went off, in English, saying, "Well, I'm ok - but I'm a little sentimental right now -- they're playing all these songs from home I used to dance to -- they are my favorite rumbas!"
… … …
…. And there was Vitaly, staring at me like a deer in headlights!!! When I stopped he said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa!! You forget -- I'm a Russian man!" Oh, how I laughed!! =^__^= '' I apologized and tried again in Russian.
*****
So, yes, dance definitely perked me up…. What a lesson it was!
Which is to say... I was AWFUL!!! We were working on turns and spins… Good *GOD* it was bad.
You know when you see someone do something, but they do it so terribly, the only thing for you to do is to smile or laugh? Yeah… That was Vitaly's reaction to me… Funny how "that look" is the same no matter what language you speak!!!
When a Russian, Champion Latin dancer tells you, "Do this!" *back rumba basic; spiral; quick change to spiral again; step to full spin; step out and land, solid!* -- but you've been trying to get the point across that you really don't obviously know how to realize all of this kind of stuff in your body -- well, let's just say you certainly don't look as good as the aforementioned Russian Dancer. Ha ha ha!! Oh, poor Vitaly… It really was bad. And I saw that look, and I just looked right back at him and said, "Yeah, you go ahead and smile -- I know EXACTLY what that look means!! But you have to teach me how to do it right anyway! So go on, smile, laugh!"
Thus, we spent A LOT of time laughing at me. I think he laughed all the more just for my telling him off that I knew *exactly* what the look on his face meant. Bless him, he kept trying to keep things moving, and telling me, "This isn't easy," -- I think he knew how frustrated I was at myself that it was so bad.
*****
Eventually we left the spins, and went to the Rumba choreography -- where he asked, as all of my coaches have, at least once, "Why are you so tense?!"
Of course, the irony here is, is that I'm either too tense +/ or too heavy, or I'm far too light!
= @_@ =
I also have no rotation. XD
*****
And so we left Rumba and moved on to start giving me choreography with him for Cha Cha. I'm pretty sure Vitaly loves Cha Cha, because he was having a Hell of a time making stuff up, and having me follow by the skin of my teeth.
He said something to the effect of, "You're going to have to be faster!" or "We need to work on your speed!" or "By the time this is finished, you'll be faster!" -- because he was giving me lots of things that I feel are typically reserved for your typical Move-At-Lightning-Speed-Latin-Kids. And he was smiling the whole time. XD
The choreography is fun, don't get me wrong; but when he threw me into it at full speed after just having gone through it a few times -- oh, dear, sweet God in Heaven! I *know* he had fun with that. We need to improve my speed stat, it's no joke!!!
*****
I didn't stay to practice tonight -- and so I asked Vitaly if we could walk to the Metro together again. He obliged, and we set off together after I'd changed and gotten my stuff together.
One of his friends' wife just had a baby, and so he was telling me that he was going to be going to a little get-together tonight to celebrate that. =^__^= Always nice to hear about get-togethers like that.
Also, hooray for Divinely-Placed Answers-To-Questions-You've-Wondered-Aloud-About!!!!! I've been wondering if Vitaly liked to read, ever since the day I had him hold my Oscar Wilde book (and he asked about it) -- and lo and behold when we were walking out together, he had a book in his hands!!! I asked the obvious question, "Do you like to read?" just to negate the possibility of a false-positive, and he told me that he did! So, he was telling me about the book he was reading, and that was fun.
In the middle of chatting about the books, I explained to him that my "to read" list weighs a good 15 lb. (6.5 kilograms), and he was certainly surprised! I told him it was sad, I only had room to bring two books here - and he teased me, "I have two books here -- one is red, one is blue." I laughed and told him, "… one of them really is blue!!! (And it's in French!)" -- and then we were both just dying of laughter.
That little blue book, "Le Petit Prince" (The Little Prince) led into my telling him (badly) about the book -- hopefully he'll read it some time. =^__^=
-- Of course, the fact that I have it in French and English (and maybe Spanish?), and that I need to buy a Russian version of it, brought up all of the languages I've studied, and Vitaly told me something to the effect of, "You're very smart!" (In Russian) -- "Maladetz" -- gotta love those Russian "well-done!" words!
*****
We spent the time on the Metro continuing getting to know each other, just chit-chatting about things here and there and everywhere.
I mentioned the movies -- he saw one of the movie leaflets I had on me, and he said that it sounded interesting. (It was for, "Поп" -- the WWII film I'm going to see tomorrow with my tutor.) We also got onto the topic of Video Games somehow, too! Whoo-hoo!! *loves on video games*
We were talking about hustle just before I got off of the train. I never did manage to figure out if he liked it or not -- he was asking me if I go alone, and I told him normally I do, yes. But last week four of the girls from my program came with me, and they really enjoyed it (even though they don't' dance themselves). That got us into a discussion of how in English, we just say "friends," we don't really make a distinction between "boy" friends and "girl" friends -- unless we painfully put it into the conversation.
That led into Vitaly saying something about how, if it's a guy friend with me/one, it could be a "close" friend -- so I was saying that we have a word for that ("boyfriend") -- but that no guys came with me, and I had no boyfriend. = O-o= '' I don't know if that's what he was looking for, but that's the info he has now.
I invited him to come to hustle too, if he was interested. He did ask when it was, etc. So, who knows?
*****
Eventually, my stop came up, and I got myself the rest of the way home without incident.
I had my dinner, followed by lots of chatting with friends and family back in the States -- I called my little brother at 12:00, midnight, here, so I could say, "You're 16 in Moscow now!!!!" Ha ha ha ha… I just got a kick out of calling him from, "the future." =^__^=
I told him about how my dance lesson had been pretty bad, in that "so-awful-it's-great" kind of way, and he sympathized at first. Then he added, "Learn to do it right!" -- which I am going to have to tell Vitaly. *laughing* Oh my Goodness, from the mouths of babes....
Of course, I knew it had been a great night when I realized I went to bed at 3 AM!!!!
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