Journal 50
10-15-10
Park Pobedy / WWII Museum Excursion
Statue of St. George
Huge Walkway/Area up to the Statue/Museum
Made me think of the "Victory Day" adventure. =O-o=
"Are you a tutor?" (One of the Vladimir kids thought I was Russian. Even after he heard me speak, actually.)
Museum
Personal Testaments - Journals, Etc. - Incredible
Also finally found a lighter. -- It's not that I smoke or anything, but I've seen some cool ones -- and this one is even more awesome! I'll put up a photo later. It was funny though -- I noticed there was a little arrow sticker, pointing to where the flame would issue from, which said, "Attention - Flame." Ha ha ha!
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Found out why I hadn't heard from Vitaly - apparently he got awful sick while he was still in Spain. He said he's hoping to start work again on Monday.
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Talked with Charlie -- that was really nice. =^__^=
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Found, "To Kill A Mockingbird" online -- been reading it. [This was after I found, "Lamb" -- AWESOME!!!]
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Talked with Mum
Little brother was in a fender-bender. Glad he's okay, and the car's not too bad off.
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Party at the Marine House
"It's girls!!!" *shocked face* "EATING!!" *more shocked face* "… *JUNK FOOD*!!!!" *most shocked face of all*
Natasha and I were eating some potato chips that Barry had put out for us. She hadn't eaten anything all day, and I hadn't had anything since breakfast. So we were… Snacking enthusiastically, I suppose. When Barry came back and saw that the chips were gone, he looked at us, surprised, and I said the above. He gave us more chips. Ha ha ha!
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Met one of the new guys; cool guy.
He's from Michigan -- and after 10 seconds, when he didn't show me on his hand (a Michiganer's "map") where he was from, I asked him why he hadn't. He looked at me, surprised for a moment, and said, "I'm surprised you know that. Most people who aren't from Michigan don't know about that."
I explained to him that my ballroom dance partner from college had been from Michigan, and that's where I learned about the habit.
Good times.
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Totally confused an Embassy worker about my Nationality:
I was chatting, in Russian, with Natasha; he came up to order something, and I switched to English, in order to joke with Don Nachos (who was tending bar at that point) and the embassy worker. Embassy guy stopped, looked at me, and said, "Are you Russian??"
"Nope."
"You speak English with NO accent! -- No? But you were just speaking Russian, weren't you?"
"Yes."
"And you sounded [like you were Russian]…!"
"I'm an American!" *big smile* "And I can assure you, I don't sound 'Russian,' to the Russians."
Natasha gave me a look for that, I protested, and then we compromised, "Ok, sometimes I sound alright." =^__^=''
*****
Another employee, in from Washington DC for a few weeks also played the, "Where are you from?" game with me. When it was established that I was an American, he tried to divine where I was from. He ruled out the South on the first go [big mistake!], and then said, "New York."
I've never been to New York!
He said, "California," next -- which is close enough to Washington State, for that kind of game. Then I told him I was, in fact, partially from the South. That was funny.
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Salsa!! Danced with Q and Eric
Merengued with Natasha
Bachata-ed with Q and Christine (a girl I'd never met before -- one of the other guys' friends)
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Chatted with Q - he asked me if I still stayed in touch with Lawson, Williams, and Conard. Told me (Teased me?) I should go to Rome.
Also, related to Q -- he introduced me to his, "Mom" tonight**. She is SO cool!!! She's also a Dragon (Chinese Zodiac) -- so we bonded some. *laughs* We were joking around, about Q/The "son" aspect -- "They grow up so fast!" / "You're introducing me to your Mom!" / "She's [meaning me] the perfect girl!"
[**There is an, "Adopt-A-Marine" program here -- so Marines can have a bit of a family life; go out and do things, have dinners, or what have you. They affectionately refer to one and other as, "This is my "Mom,"", or, "That's my "son.""]
I actually met her twice, but she appeared not to remember the first time. When Q brought me up to her again, she took one look at me, looked at Q, and said, "She's *cute!!!* I love her eyes!!" And reiterated this a few times. [I took it as quite the compliment, 'cause she was gorgeous herself!]
Not too long after, when Q disappeared for something, I almost felt like I was getting the "3rd Degree" from a Mum, because as soon as he left, she looked at me and asked, "So, do you *like* Q?"
I blinked, and responded, "As a friend??"
Though my meaning seemed to be taken as, "Friend," and I said, "Well, I'm friends with all the guys here!!!!"
The shocked look on her face, and her friend's face told me that they didn't think I meant a platonic kind of friendship, and I quickly explained, "OH!!! Oh, no, no, no! As in, "just friends," not… Oh my…"
That cleared up, everything was rosy again.
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On the way out the door, I got to have one more, "Nationality" go -- As Mulzoff and I were waiting for everyone who was leaving to exit the House, William and two of his guests came out. (They were slightly older -- maybe in their later 30s?) The woman took one look at me, and exclaimed something to the effect of, "Look at this one!! They're all so beautiful! Isn't she beautiful!?" She asked William, and her husband (?). "The Russian Women, they're all gorgeous!"
Mulzoff and Williams laughed a little to themselves, and William responded to the woman's question, "Yes, she's beautiful -- but she's not Russian."
"She's not?!?! But she looks so -- "
"She's an American."
*look of shock* "NO!" She looked at me again, then said, "Oh, I'm so embarrassed! But you have such a Russian Face!"
It was pretty hilarious. I told her not to worry, "That's been happening a lot, lately."
When Natasha and I were discussing it earlier -- my being mistaken for Russian, and pressed for if I have Russian blood -- she said, "You don't have a very, "American" face. You have a very European face -- could be a Russian face."
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The night wasn't quite over yet, for compliments and surprises -- as Mulzoff and I hit the stairs, we passed Q's "Mom" again, and she immediately told the group she was with how cute I was, and now much she liked me. I'm basically adorable is how it goes. =^///^=
Somehow or other, I think someone suggested that I might be dating someone or involved with someone there, and as Meraz was walking by us at that exact time, he and Mulzoff both came to my "defense," saying, "Oh no, it's not like that." And Meraz continued, "She's our Salsa Instructor!!!"
The group of people looked surprised for a moment -- as in, "The Marines have a *Salsa Instructor??*" -- and I said, "Oh, don't make it sound like that! I just do salsa for fun! It's not even my specialty!"
We continued down the stairs -- and from behind me, once more, I heard a strain of, "Isn't she just so cute?"
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Of course, on a party night, I suppose things can't ever end smoothly -- I went to take my badge off, to turn it in and get my passport -- only to discover… … I had no badge. It had been on me no more than 10 minutes before hand! I called Mulzoff, who'd gone back inside, to try to get everyone else who was going out that night, out the door -- and luckily he found it -- lying outside, not a 2 minute walk from where I was! Funny how that works.
*****
I didn't go out with everybody -- waited for them all to be dropped off, and Mulzoff made sure that Alex took me home. =^__^= So kind of them.
Got home, had my dinner, and then, while I should have gone straight to bed… I started reading, "To Kill A Mockingbird" again… And went to bed at 5 AM. = @_@ =
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Completely aside for a moment, while at the House, I started talking with Natasha, and with Mulzoff a little bit, about birthday celebrations. Not too many people knew that my birthday was coming up (Monday - the 18th) - and there are a few birthdays soon -- so we're all trying to figure out how to celebrate, I suppose.
Mulzoff had a really cool idea of renting a dacha for a weekend - we both excitedly concurred that we could make fires -- which leads to roasting things, and S'mores! Also, Mulzoff brightened suddenly -- as did I, having the same idea -- and he said, "You could make the cookies -- with the -- the thing!!"
This refers to the Christmas Belgian Waffle Cookies that are made with a special iron - they are a family tradition that I thank my lucky stars was passed along to me, through no small act of faith and kindness on my Aunt Becky and Uncle Bob's parts. I'm quite sure my 15-odd years of devotion to their cookies every Christmas helped demonstrate my earnestness in taking part in their tradition. =^__^=
Anyways, I brought one of the irons with me to Moscow (THAT was fun, in airport security…), and totally intend to make the cookies at Christmas, as is Tradition.
The prospect of a fire, plus the iron, however, made us both think about making said cookies.
But Tradition stopped me….
I looked at Mulzoff and said, "But you know… These cookies are only supposed to be made at Christmas… I've NEVER had them at any other time of the year…"
Thinking quickly, Mulzoff countered, "This is Russia! They mess everything up! They don't even celebrate Christmas at the right time!!" (<-- This was a facetious comment based on cultural differences. The Russian Orthodox Christmas holiday occurs on January 7th.)
So, there's a distinct possibility that the Waffle Cookies may get made, as Birthday Celebrations, too. But! Uncle Bob and Aunt Becky, if we *do* make them, I will make sure that the first 12 (in the traditionally numbered stacks) are saved until Christmas. (Or the 12 Days of it, anyway.)
The cookies aside, I do hope that we can celebrate at the Dacha. That would be fun.
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Love,
Moscow Kitty
=^__^=
