Journal 14
Saturday - 01-29-11
Happy One Year Anniversary to me!!
That's right… One year ago, on this date, I came to Moscow, Russia! Funny how so much (or how so little) can happen and change in a year. I hope that I will be able to remain here, after my schooling is finished, so that I can make it to another anniversary here… We'll see what life has in store for me!!
Slightly funny -- when I mentioned on Facebook that I had been in Moscow for a year now (though yes, I've had a total of maybe a month and a half, or two months at home in that time), an old friend responded, "wow, it's been an year already? time flies…"
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Among today's random musings, which is actually related to something that happened the other day, after Roma and my's first lesson with Vova…
"= O_O = I understand!! I've JUST figured out, a year later, why Russians have a hard time saying my name! It's because I have a "diphthong!" (When one vowel changes/transfers into the next.) They don't exist in Russian. Well, they sort of do, but they don't recognize it as that... Ha ha!"
But I only realized this about my name, after I remembered a conversation I'd had with Yitian about hers...
Me:
I told Roma I was talking with you, and he started trying to say your name.
It's just funny -- I realized why he was having problems!
Russians don't have diphthongs. (The change of one vowel into the next.)
So, "Yi-ti-an -- where that "i" and "a" form a diphthong [Ee - t'yan] -- they can't grasp it.
He he he he he!
Which means that they say something like, "Ee - tee - YAN" -- making the "t'yan" much harder than it needs to be, because they separate the sounds of the two vowels, instead of blending them together.
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I wound up celebrating my anniversary in Moscow by going out with my friend Mashenka, who had moved to London just shortly after I moved to Moscow!!
Funny story, how we wound up getting put together…
When it was confirmed that I was coming to Moscow, a friend of mine told me, "My step-mum is Russian. Maybe she knows some people in Moscow?"
He put me in touch with his step-mum. She calls her friend in Moscow. That friend called another friend who had a daughter who spoke English.
And that daughter was Masha!! *laughs* Oh, the round about world of "Russian Connections," how I love thee!
*****
Now, Masha and I had never actually gotten the chance to meet, face-to-face. As I mentioned, she moved to London shortly after I came to Moscow, and she had been busy with her prep for her move! We did however, message, and chat, and we connected on Facebook.
We spoke mostly in English, as my Russian was not very good at the time.
I found out a few days ago, that she was back in Moscow, and I suggested to her that we meet up! She agreed, and we set a time to meet. She also let me know that she would be bringing some friends, which I said was great!
I didn't know it at the time, but Masha had assumed that maybe my English still wasn't very strong, and so she told her friends that we would be speaking English the whole night. (Also, when we'd been building the plans, I thought that some of my English-speaking friends would be coming along. To my dismay, those invited never really responded, so it was only myself who went.)
Not having to worry about any non-Russian-speakers, I immediately greeted Masha and her friends in Russian automatically, and a look of shock passed over everyone's faces. I asked Masha, "What's the matter?" And she expressed her surprise at the level of my Russian, and how she had told her friends to expect to be speaking English the whole night!!
We spoke almost exclusively in Russian for the rest of the night!
It was such a wonderful time! We shared stories about schooling, "cheating" in the Russian school system (Ex: students swapping passports with friends/relatives who looked similar, but were much better in certain entry exam subjects, so that their friends/relatives would get them passing entrance exam scores; or people "buying" their drivers' licenses!); (old) English colloquialisms (Ex: "The Bees' Knees" = "cool"); and other stories in between!
We also played a German board game called, "Labyrinth," which Masha had encountered during a stay at a German youth hostel, and loved! It is actually a very neat game!
We wound up bouncing between two restaurants, because the first restaurant we went to was going to be having a musical act perform, and there was a cover for it, which we didn't want to pay.
While still at the first restaurant however, I heard a song playing that sounded like a remixed version of an old-time jazz song. I asked the DJ what it was called, and who it was by, because I loved it so much! He said that the song was titled, "Ebony Rhapsody," and was by a person named, ODJBox. (You can hear him here: http://soundcloud.com/odjbox -- And also check out the song, "Sepia Sky!!!")
All in all, I couldn't have asked for a better way to pass my one-year anniversary in Moscow, than to pass it with a wonderful group of girls, and having the chance to walk around the streets of the City that has been home to me for the last year! Thank you Mashenka!!
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When I got back home, I set to work trying to find the ODJBox song that I had heard while at the first restaurant.
Completely by chance, during my search, I found a BEAUTIFUL photo of a woman sitting on a stool (seen from the back, nude) merged with a picture of a Cello. It was SO gorgeous.
Here is the photo. Probably NSFW (not safe for work); in my eyes, it's not pornographic, it's artful -- but sensitive types might find it a bit much. http://flavors.me/swingdelor
So, a happy anniversary, great music, and a beautiful picture that merges the very essence of music and a person -- and knowing that even while I've been here for a year, that hasn't stopped any of my closest friends and family from loving and staying in tough with me, or me loving and staying in touch with them -- what more could I ask for??
Thrilled, and Very Blessed,
Moscow Kitty
=^___^=
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