Journal 21 - Part 1 - Grey Hairs, American Families, and "How Did You Wind Up With Us?"

Journal 21
Saturday - 02-5-11

Yesterday's Cancelled lesson became today's evening lesson -- but I wound up taking it alone, because Roma decided not to come.

We worked on technique for spins (the separation, but unison, of the upper and lower parts of the body), body rolls (and changing our Cha Cha routine a bit), and a few other miscellaneous bits.

Like learning what causes grey hairs.

Seriously, I'm not joking.

Here's what happened:

During part of the lesson, I kept rushing a certain move, and eventually, Vova came up to me, leaned over until the top of his head was down to my eye level, pointed to his hair and asked me, "What color hair do you see???"

I saw a few greys/whites (Something I had never noticed before!!), and thought to myself, "**** -- is this a trick question?!?" Because I obviously didn't want to offend him.

As I stalled, after saying, "Brown...?" He finally pressed me, and I said, "Grey?? …" And he pressed further!!

"What else???"

Finally, feeling absolutely awful, I added, "White…"

I was raised to never point out that people are beginning to get grey or white hairs, and I was always given the impression it's even worse to point it out about younger guys, because they are normally much more sensitive that they are already greying!

Apparently, he was at last satisfied with my list of colors, and he continued, "Do you know WHY I have these?"

I thought he was going to imitate my Mother, and say it was because of me!!

I said as much, laughing, but I don't think he heard me, because he continued: "Because of NERVES!! Nerves are bad!! So, calm down…!!!" (Russian: Spa-koiii-s'ya.)

This caused me to laugh even further, and when I collected myself, I re-explained me joke, and he got an equal kick out of it. Good times.

I almost wanted to ask him, "What could you have nerves about?!"

But I guess you don't get to being one half of the number 2 amateur Latin couple in Russia without a fair share of them. Hmm…

**********

Vova was kind enough to, yet again, give me a ride to the Metro, and we had a pretty interesting conversation going.

We started with a discussion of some of the differences between Russians and Americans.

I forget how it got brought up, but I remember mentioning that I missed seeing people smile or say hello to each other on the streets, and how I always have to control myself from doing that, because I'm such a bright person, but that behavior is not so welcome here. Imagine my surprise when Vova said that that was the exact thing about Americans that he disliked the most!! [That is, how we are always talking to strangers, etc.] I actually found it somewhat interesting, because just the other day, it seemed he was so favorably impressed by my optimism and ability to find joy in small things, and yet, here it was, sounding like if we met on the street, at random, I'd be more likely to bother him than to impress him! I should ask him about that… =^__^=''

His reasoning behind that dislike does make sense though. Essentially, he said that those people who are talking to you are not always sincere; some people often want something from you, some are trying to trick you, or again, if they don't really care about you, why are they trying to interact with you? It's a thought that has crossed my mind before, as well, at times. It's certainly something to think about, at any rate.

*****

Not too far removed from that was Vova's question to me about Americans' habits of visiting with their families during the holidays. Somewhere along the line, he'd heard that Americans don't like getting together with their families on the holidays, and don't visit for long periods of time. I was surprised, again, to hear such a thing -- but the terms of the question were deeper than they appear, and there is some stereotypical basis for the impression.

First, "visit" and "families" are both much larger terms, in context of this question. A visit for the holidays, in Vova's eyes (or in the eyes of many Russians, as he led me to understand) means a stay of no fewer than a few days, for sure! And "family" doesn't just mean grown kids going to see their parents. It means the grandparents, parents, kids, cousins, and even distant relations all getting together at once!!

In America, through the lens of Vova's ideas of visits and family, most of us would seem to confirm his suspicions. I actually have experiences that both confirm and deny his suspicions. Let me elaborate:

Most people I know, know or experience, "visiting the family at holidays" through one meal, often the, "Holiday Dinner."

Think about it. How many of you pile into the car, drive to your relation's house where the family is gathering for Dinner (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Passover, etc.), have said dinner and accompanying celebration, and then pile back in the car and go home?

Hardly an extended affair, right? A few hours together, and then back to your own lives!

Oftentimes, the geographical location, and size of your family, determines just how big your Thanksgiving/Christmas/Whatever dinner will be. If you're lucky enough to have many relatives in the same State, not too far from each other, you may stand a better chance of seeing more of the, "Extended" family at these "get togethers." If everyone lives terribly far apart, odds are, you're going to have a small get-together.

So, take my Mutti's side of the family. It's HUGE. And mostly centered in Indiana. So, while we break Vova's suspicion that extended family doesn't get together in the US, we confirm it, by only seeing each other for a few hours on a given holiday.

On the other hand, some people do make the effort to take longer trips to truly visit with family! Even when people can make those trips happen, however, it is often unlikely that many members of an extended family will all have the same time off, or will choose to visit the same family members all at once.

Let's take my Papa's side now. His parents made their home in Florida; so of course, visiting them truly fit the definition of "visit," as defined by Vova's conditions. [E.g., Multiple Days of staying.] But we "fail" by Vova's standards, because that side of the family, is very spread out, and it is difficult to get everyone together at the same time.

[I feel I should also touch on the fact that most Americans do not get NEAR the amount of "time off" as their European counterparts; and even if they did, the majority of Americans do not use all of their vacation time every year, thanks to our work-a-holic culture. Meaning, taking time off for extended visits to family members who live far away from us is looked upon as difficult or not feasible to do, because we either don't have enough time off, or we believe we should be working.]

-- And briefly, to touch on the "stereotypes" I mentioned, I don't think there's an American alive who hasn't seen at least a handful of, "How to survive Holidays with your in-laws," and "How to deal with family members you don't like," articles/books/t.v. segments in their lifetimes!! With what seems to be a full industry surrounding that topic, it's no surprise to me that Vova might get the idea that none of us like each other or want to spend time with each other!!!

*****

We left that behind, and briefly returned to the topic Vova had started when we'd been at his family's apartment earlier in the week. He said something to the effect of being surprised that my family let me come here all alone, or wondered aloud if it was difficult to be here all alone. Something on that topic, at any rate.

I explained that my parents now joke, "If she says she's going to do something, we realize we don't have a choice, and that she is going to make it happen," so there was never a question of my coming to Russia once I said that it was something I intended to do.

As far as difficulty goes, I told him that, for a normal student in my program, life is truly not too difficult. We're either in the dorm, or living with a family (and in the latter case, someone is cooking for us, doing our laundry, and generally looking out for us) -- then there's class -- and so, unless you're looking for it, there's not much chance of getting into trouble.

*My* problem, however, was that I didn't come here just to study Russian, I had to worry about finding a dance studio, coaches, etc. It wasn't supposed to be a problem, because I was supposed to have the help of a coach who used to live in Moscow, in finding where to go and who to talk to. "But in the end, for some reason, he bailed on me -- without even telling me. I had to find out by having someone else track him down, that he said he couldn't help, didn't know anyone, etc., etc.,etc."

I told Vova that the stress of that whole situation, *that* was the most difficult part about coming here, for me. He asked me who the coach was, who was supposed to help -- and when I told him, he actually remembered seeing him dancing at Russian Club. I don't know that they were very close, but Vova definitely knew who I was talking about. Hearing that the coach who didn't help me had danced at Russian Club, of *all* places both shocked me, and raised my ire a bit. If he had danced at Russian Club, there was *no* way he didn't know where to tell me to go, or that he didn't know anyone who could help me out anymore! Vova agreed with me, and said that it just sounded like laziness on the coach's part -- and I really couldn't help but agree with him. It was a little disappointing. I was thankful, however, that things worked out, I said.

With the conversation touching back on Russian Club, though, Vova took the opportunity to ask just how I'd ended up there. I figured the question would come up eventually. (As I've said before… I'm not exactly the caliber of student that matches the Russian Club standard.)

I bowed my head, in recognition of the fact that I shouldn't even be at that Club, and then explained how I'd come to be there**; how terrified I'd been when I was first brought there, to walk in to see, not a quiet studio with lessons or practices going on, but a competition rehearsal, with almost all of the couples in the studio! -- And on top of being worse than them all anyway, I hadn't danced in three months by that time!

I also talked about the "audition" I'd had to do** in front of Oleg Panin, how I guess I did something right (or maybe they thought I was younger than I was), and my subsequent meeting with another of the Heads of the Studio (Larisa Leonidovna Davydova), where, thank God, she took enough of a shine to me to let me come dance with the club in spite of myself.

Vova laughed at my depreciating recitation, and as we were pulling up to the curb for him to drop me off, I had just enough time to add the most important part, and something I felt he needed to know, too, as a coach and as someone who'd been seeing me there for long enough now:

"I know… That I have no business dancing at Russian Club. But, as I have the opportunity, the gift to do so, and to work with the amazing dancers and coaches in the Club… All I want is just to become a good enough dancer, so that they don't *regret* letting me into the club… So that I can be a dancer they can be proud of… You know?"

And with that, and a smile between us, I hopped out of the car, and rushed to get home, so that I could go to Sophie's Party!!

[** I wound up at Russian Club because the Russian Dance class teacher in my program saw that I liked dancing, asked if I'd studied it, and was looking for a studio, and then pulled some strings, or talked to some friends, in order to get me an audition/interview with Larisa Leonidovna Davydova. If it wasn't for that professor, and for Larisa taking a shine to me, I would NEVER have made my way there.]

[2. ** The audition consisted of Oleg asking one of the super awesome Latin boys (who was much taller than me) to come over to us. He then put us together and said, "Dance something. I'll be back in 5 minutes." -- And so we had 5 minutes for that poor boy to put something together that I could follow, in Samba, Cha Cha, and Rumba, in spite of the glaring language and dance level barriers in between us!]

Journal 20 - A "Snowball" Kind Of "Bad Day."

Journal 20

Friday - 02-4-11

Today turned into a "Snowball" kind of "Bad Day." That's really the worst kind, I think. I can handle bad news, unfortunate situations, or negative things -- but I like them to just be upfront; not to start softly and compound, and compound, and compound, until the sum of their unpleasantness becomes worse than the events in their individuality!

Allow me to Explain:

We had our first excursion today, it was supposed to be to the Kremlin, with a bit of a walking tour around central Moscow, to help acclimate the new kids. Not bad, right? And actually, save for an hour or two in the Kremlin Armory, I hadn't yet been inside of the Kremlin, to see the square, the Cathedrals, etc.

The walking tour was pretty fun -- except for the part where I fell on the ice. (Why does it always happen when I'm in flats??)

That of course, is always unpleasant in its own right, and thankfully I didn't hurt myself. (Doubly important, because I was supposed to have lessons with Roma and Vova tonight.)

I was, however, afraid for the state of my white jacket, having fallen on the dirty Moscow street! Fortunately, miraculously, I should say, nothing got on my jacket.

We continued on our way, and at one point, Vika (our assistant director) asked everyone for their student IDs, in order to go buy our entrance tickets to the Kremlin. I handed mine off, and we moved on.

*****

Vika returned a short while later, to hand out tickets, and that is when the second problem reared its head.

You see, at least one person apparently had a problem with their student ID, and another student completely hadn't been paying attention, so they didn't even hand in their ID, so Vika didn't buy her a ticket. Vika told the former student that she bought the normal priced ticket for the girl, and could be paid pack later. But Vika had no idea about the girl who hadn't even turned in her ID.

As everyone started to get those confused looks of, "Oh, gosh, what do we do now?!" on their faces, I just handed my ticket to the girl, and said, "Look, take mine; I can come back some other time, and I have some dance lessons to go to later anyway. So even if I went in, I could only stay for an hour."

And so, everything was settled. Someone else got to take full advantage of the Kremlin excursion, and I was going to have a little more time to get ready for my dance lessons.

**********

Except that my dance lessons were cancelled. And, to add insult to injury, those lessons, which had been moved in the first place, kept me from working with Lena AGAIN!! So I cancelled/couldn't set up lessons with her, thinking I was to have the lessons with Vova, which I didn't get to have -- so in the end, I had no lessons at all!!! How frustrating!!

That really would have been enough to put the seal on the day, but it just kept piling up…

You see, I messed up AGAIN at reading. And it made me an hour late to practice...

I have this thing that I do, and I've done it for as long as I can remember, where every so often, my brain will wax dyslexic, switching letters or whole words in a sentence or between sentences; sometimes I'll even read an entirely different word from what's written, based on seeing a few letters in the word, and my brain deciding to "autofill" a different word in.

It's never been something bad enough or bothersome enough to get checked out; though sometimes it's quite amusing to suddenly read a "new" sentence in a book I've read many times already -- only to realize that's the way it's actually written, and my brain has been switching words *every time I've read the book previously* (and in the *same* fashion)!!!

I digress. The above situations are usually rare -- but they do increase in frequency when I'm sleep deprived.

As you might have gleaned from these journals: I've been really sleep deprived as of late.

This means that for TWO days in a row now, it has completely messed me up, concerning dance times and locations. And now I feel like an absolute and utter idiot. =ToT=

Roma wrote me this afternoon, proposing to practice at a certain studio at a certain time.

He said, "Babushkinskaya." (The Metro)

But I read, "Belorusskaya." (The Metro)

I guess, because I was thinking, since he lived near there, and we weren't going to have lessons with Vova, there was no reason to go all the way out to Babushkinskaya. I looked at the text message for all of 5 seconds anyway, saw a "B" and a "-skaya" and the time, and that was it.

Fast forward to the practice time, and then fast forward another half an hour, and I am wondering where on Earth Roma is.

I walked to my phone, to call him, and just as I picked it up, it started ringing, with Roma on the other end.

"Are you coming to practice tonight??" He asked first.

"I was just about to ask you that!" I said. "Where are you??"

He responded with the name of the studio at Babushkinskaya. My heart dropped out of me.

"Oh, no…" I moaned. In that moment, I realized exactly what had happened.

I copped to my guilt, and said that I could get to him in 45 minutes or so, if he wanted to wait for me. To my surprise, he said he would, and I rushed to half-change and, "get the heck outta Dodge."

[Note: "[Let's / To] Get the Heck Outta [Out Of] Dodge" = To leave, very, *very* quickly [from a place]. Older slang, from American Westerns.]

Oh, and of course, because I'd never walked there myself, and I'm awful with directions above ground the first time or two I go to a place alone, and because I was too stressed out to listen to my instincts, I walked the wrong way first, adding about 15 minutes to my walking time to the studio. AND I stepped in a large puddle of COLD water, and got my feet soaked up to my ankles.

I really needed a hug today. Totally wasn't happening. People don't really hug here...

See what I mean about snowballing?

**********

The evening wasn't quite finished with me yet, either.

Yes, after all of the misfortunes of the day, there was one final discourtesy awaiting me.

As Roma and I were "practicing," we'll call it, as usual, I had the water supply, and he was taking advantage of it. At one point, after he'd already taken a drink from my water bottle, he said something to the effect that his throat hurt.

… … …

We kept working, though it seemed like he was not as up to par as usual (and I kept thinking back to him saying his throat hurt, and how there is apparently some kind of crazy flu going around Moscow right now), and eventually, we stopped.

Sitting down, he took another drink of my water, and handed it back to me, where I took it, but looked at him and said, "Roma… You drank out of my water, but you said your throat hurts. If you're sick, I can't drink after you now!"

He looked surprised, and tried to cover, saying, "I'm not sick."

"If you're not sick, why would your throat hurt?"

"It doesn't hurt."

"If it doesn't hurt, why did you say it did earlier?"

I was quite cross inside -- because either way, he was lying to me at one point, but more than that, how discourteous, to be sick and to drink from someone's water, making it so that they, nor anybody else, can no longer have any!!!!

Thus, I spent the rest of the evening thirsty as could be, staring down a Litre of now-useless to me water, and the refrain: "Water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink!" resounding through my brain.**

Maybe it was just Karma for my being late?

[**Note: This is a corruption of the following line from, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," by Samuel Taylor Coleridge:

Water, water, everywhere,

And all the boards did shrink;

Water, water, everywhere,

Nor any drop to drink.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rime_of_the_Ancient_Mariner ]

**********

The mood lightened just a little bit as we were changing to go home.

I talked with Roma about how, even if things don't go the way I want [i.e. - I don't get to return to Moscow to keep dancing, or I don't become the level of dancer I want to], it will still have been worth it to come to Moscow, based on the sheer miracle of being allowed to work with the people I am allowed to work with.

My saying as much reminded Roma that before he had come to Moscow to live, he had attended a competition with some of his trainers from Krasnodar. He said that they saw Masha in a competition, and his trainer pointed her out to him, saying how great of a dancer she was; and the same goes for Vova. Reminiscing about that, he said, "I can't believe I'm working with them now!"

It truly is the gift of a lifetime.

**********

I got home and signed online, and saw my friend Sofi (from Russian Club) online, so I shot her a message, because I hadn't seen her in so long!!

I told her about the downs of the day, and she brought a (shocked) smile to my face with her usual bluntness of character. ["Sh*t happens!" :) " -- And of course, I know things could always be worse than my little complaints today…]

She wanted to hang out, and said she was trying to get a party together that night, but I just wasn't going to make it. (I was actually already in my pajamas!!) So, we agreed to have our get together tomorrow! I'm so excited, I can't wait!!

I'm happy, that at least today ended on a bright note… … But I still wish I could have a hug...

Love,

Moscow Kitty

Journal 19 - Lame Excuses And Shiny Crustaceans!

Journal 19

Thursday - 02-3-11

Happy Chinese New Year!!

Happy Chinese New Year, to all my loved ones and friends who are celebrating! Be with me in spirit -- I lack hot pot and dumplings!! But Happy Year of the Rabbit anyway!! =^__^=

**********

This evening has been… A rather frustrating one. Half of it is my own fault… The other half, I'm irked at Roma.

Let's start with the part that's my fault:

I cancelled my last school lesson today, because I thought that Roma and I had a lesson… But no… It seems that I misread the text message, and Roma said that we could practice ourselves at such and such a time, not that we would be studying *with* someone. I really am very angry at myself for making such a stupid mistake.

The dancing is terribly important to me, and I need all the practice time I can get these days (what with it being quite scarce as of late) -- but I don't ever want to cancel my school lessons for the dancing. It shouldn't work that way. I usually don't, only in extreme cases -- and so I'm mad that I wound up canceling when I shouldn't have.

It wasn't even truly worth it.

That's what brings us to Roma's hand in this.

As far as I'm concerned, tonight's practice was just terrible. We didn't work well at all. And what's worse, is that most of that, "not working well at all," was Roma being up to his usual "bad tricks": standing around, staring off into space/at other couples, but saying he wasn't looking at anything, etc., etc., etc.

It was so bad, that Vova -- who was in the middle of teaching a lesson to another couple -- shouted over to Roma, "What are you standing around for, man?!"

Back to me feeling embarrassed on behalf of my partnership. But I guess I was happy to have a more weighty voice than my own to snap Roma back to working.

When I asked Roma about it later, what was wrong, he said that he wasn't/couldn't get in the mood to work, because we can't practice like we used to.

=>_<= What a lame excuse!! To me, if we have less opportunities to work and practice together, that should only make us *more* focused when we are given a chance to work!!

I was still fuming about the evening, and that "excuse," until I found this:

Swarovski Crystal Hermit Crab | Shop REEDS Jewelers

And had the following reaction: "Okay, *that* is just freaking adorable. Lookit the little, shiny crabby!! Lookit'im!!"

Funny how shiny, cute, little things can take the edge off of a bad evening, isn't it?

Love,

Moscow Kitty

Mostly: =>_<=

But for the saving grace of that little crab: =^___^=!!!!

Journal 18 - Dresses, Samba, and Chocolates

Journal 18

Wednesday - 02-2-11

Well... The process has begun for getting my first, real Latin dress!!

The other day, Vova had told Roma about a few places to get his costume (and mine) taken care of. [The really awesome part about this is that Vova specifically told Roma to drop his name, so that the people would take better care of us. How nice is that?]

One place didn't call Roma back, but the second one did. It's a costume shop named, "Art Master." Vova and Masha get their costumes made there, too!!

Roma had a meeting with them today, so I came by to, to start the discussion on what kind of dress I'd be having made.

Apparently that process works less with discussion than it does just trying on bunches of dresses!! They were being handed to me right and left, in all sorts of different styles!!

I went into it wanting a Fringe dress. I have wanted a Fringe dress for well over 5 years now, but for various and sundry reasons, I never managed to get one. … I still didn't manage to get one!!

I found a style of Fringe dress I really liked, and it really did seem like, even after all of the dresses, that was the style I was going to choose; but on a whim, either the dress master or my partner found a dress in the stylings of, "elegant," that they thought I ought to try on. It was a dress with one long sleeve, a diagonal cut across the chest/back, an open side, and a long, thin skirt, with an open leg, on the same side as the open side.

As soon as I stepped out in it, from the looks on their faces, I understood that I had lost my Fringe dress yet again… Ha ha ha.

Also, I've never heard the word, "elegant," tossed around in relation to myself so many times, in such short period of time, as I did while I was wearing that dress:

"You're such an elegant girl, like a real lady -- you should have an elegant dress!"

"She has such an elegant neckline/shoulder line, we want to accent that!"

And so on, and so forth.

*****

So, we discussed a few more specifics about the design/color (It's going to be a dark, dark blue!), and about the kinds of stones we'll put on it**, price range, and then we took my measurements, and that was it! My initial fit will be on Tuesday.

[** When we were discussing stones, my partner, for God knows what reason, said he thought it would be better to have red stones on the blue fabric. I was less than pleased about this, and I said that I thought it would be better in all blue. The Dress Master said they had used red stones on blue before, for contrast, and showed me an example. In the end I just said that I would trust the Dress Master and the Stone Master. We'll see what they decide to do…]

**********

We hurried on from the meeting at the costume shop to our lessons with Vova!

(Pre-Lesson, I gave Vova back his CD, along with some chocolates I'd brought back from the US (Reese's Peanut Butter Cups were among the goodies. Ha ha ha! An American treat, if there ever was one!!) -- just as a way to say thanks for his effort the day before, and his and his Papa's hospitality. He seemed taken aback, but accepted. This led to fun later on.)

*****

The most lasting impression from tonight's lessons is that I think I pulled a muscle in my bum during samba tonight... Still, I had fun.

The aforementioned injury (Which isn't too serious, I don't think.) happened while we were working on a specific move in Samba.

I guess I just stressed my "important leg" too much, and tweaked the muscle. The move in question can be found in the following video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hX59v-gt-M&feature=related

[The move starts at 1:10, and lasts until about 1:14.

Fast Fact: I once had the pleasure of hopping onto a table to avoid these guys once, while they were in town, training at Russian Club, some odd months ago. During Samba, too! Ha ha ha!!]

It's also the same move that Vova used to give us a very important lesson on the following thought:

'If you keep dancing the way you're dancing, you're going to get crushed in competition.'

He wasn't saying that to be mean -- it's just the truth. You see, when Roma and I go to compete, whenever that happens, we'll be competing in the same category as all of the people we know at Russian Club -- up to and including all of our trainers.

Let me rephrase: We'll be competing against Vova and Masha. Who are the #2 amateur Latin couple in the Russian Federation.

So, what Vova was saying, is that there's no dynamic in our dancing. We don't make our "pictures" where there need to be pictures, and we don't have contrast between the different parts of our routines. It just all flows together. And when we need to move, say, we're not really "moving" anywhere.

Much as he did in the last lesson, Vova took me, and led me through the move I pointed out in the above video.

First, he did it how Roma leads me. Which is to say, without much power, dynamic, or direction.

Then, he led me how he'd lead Masha… … And I got to do my best not to get completely run over!!!

Once he'd gotten me across the floor in no time flat, Vova let go of me, and apologized (just like he did last time), if it'd seemed like he'd been running me over, "… But that's how it should be. That's how you should be dancing it."

I told him there was no sense in apologizing for how it was supposed to be done!!

*****

Now, as we kept working, Masha called over to us -- she'd found the bag of chocolates and Vova's CD!!

I realized that she was talking to me -- she asked, "Whose is this?? Is it yours? Can I have some??"

Vova quickly wheeled around and shouted, "It's MINE! No!!"

But of course, from behind Vova's back, I was making faces to Masha, and encouraging her, "Yes, yes!!!"

What a wonderful time!!! Soooo funny. I love watching Masha and Vova interact! I get such a kick out of it, and definite, "warm and fuzzy" feelings.

**********

I got back home, and at some point in the evening, Lena sent me a text message, offering to do lessons in the afternoon, but I have classes tomorrow, so I can't!!! I was so disappointed… I really wanted to work with her… Especially because I'd had to cancel with her on Tuesday, in order to have lessons with Roma and Vova. (The lessons which were moved to today.)

I had another, "Up past 4 AM" night, staying up with a friend who needed a shoulder, and then I collapsed into bed!

Journal 17 - Expect The Unexpected? Wild Night!

Journal 17

Tuesday - 02-1-11

Before I get to the regularly scheduled Journal, I have to say this:

I keep hearing about (from friends), or seeing reports online, about the MASSIVE Winter Storm hitting the US (and my current State of residence, Indiana)…. I know it's serious, and I shouldn't be doing the following, but I am having so much fun telling people that the weather is worse in the US than it is in Moscow. People are hard-pressed to believe it!!

When they CLOSE the highways in the US, you KNOW it's bad.

For fun, and for Star Wars fans out there, please enjoy this doctored photo, "stolen" from my friend Maggie:

And now, back to your regularly scheduled Journal…

********************

Well, it's back to the scholastic grindstone… Today was the first day of class!

I have to say, it started on a… Well, not an ominous note, but not the best note, either.

I'm to be working with my favorite Grammar professor again: Lilia Leonidovna. *That* is amazing news! I had missed working with her SO much; and really regretted that I wasn't able to work with her for my whole time here. I imagine my Russian would be even better if I'd been allowed to work with her during the summer and last semester.

But I wasn't. And I didn't receive the kind of instruction I wanted/needed, in my opinion, for my grammar. The proof of this is in having Lilia Leonidovna say to me:

"They [the other teachers] told me you've gotten worse; and I was surprised. I see what they are talking about -- let's fix things."

It of course hurt to hear that the consensus was that I'd gotten worse, or that my progress has slowed to a noticeable degree -- and that it hadn't been brought to my attention earlier; knowing the teachers' high expectations of me, however, lessened the sting.

I didn't have all of my classes today; just Grammar and Razvitie Rechi (Conversation Building), but the idea was more to formulate a "game plan" than anything else. E.g., what do we want to work on this semester?

**********

Speaking of work… I was *supposed* to have lessons tonight, but… … Wound up having a wildly crazy, rather enjoyable night instead!!!

This all started when we scheduled lessons early enough, that I could get there from the University, have lessons, and still make it to my weekly Hustle party.

Vova called me, as I was waiting for Roma on the Metro platform. When I got outside to call him back, Vova said that he needed to change our time. If I understood the situation correctly, it seemed his partner needed to go out of town, at the last minute, and he needed to give her a lift.

Then, Vova remembered that I had my hustle party I wanted to go to. I told him not to worry about the party -- I'd skip it, if I had to -- because the lessons were more important. Roma and I really need to get back to work!

Vova said he'd call me back in a few minutes -- I assume, after he had time to figure out what was going on with his partner, as well as to see if there was a later time that still worked.

When he called back, he asked where my partner was, and I said he was supposed to be arriving soon. (He was running a little late.) Vova told me the plan would be as follows: he would come pick my partner and I up (from the metro stop), and we would have our lesson elsewhere, just a little bit later in the evening!

*****

So, Roma and I finally rendezvous with Vova and Masha, and some crazy driving later, Vova got Masha where she needed to go. But I guess Vova still needed to get her some music -- so THEN, we had to go to Vova's apartment!!

As we all walked in, someone who I could only assume was related to Vova walked out, in shorts, and no shirt (turns out, it was his Papa) -- and while I didn't catch all of the conversation, I realized he was asking what the strangers (Roma and I) were doing in the apartment!

Vova quickly explained the situation, and ushered us in -- asking if we wanted tea, like a good Russian -- and set about getting whatever music he needed, while Roma and I talked about video games and I tried to explain Mah Jong to both of them.

When Vova had gotten whatever it was he was after, we began to collect ourselves to leave, but then Vova remembered we hadn't had our tea!! As good Russians (and the tag-along [me]), we all shuffled into the kitchen to have our tea.

Of course, this is Russia, and you can't *just* have a cup of tea. Soon, sushki (Think, like bite-sized, dry bagels. Can be sweet, or savory), candies, and a few pieces of a lemon log cake covered the table!! Vova told me to make sure that I tried a specific candy, and I said that I would, but I was more in the mood for the sushki, so I never actually took one...

Looking at the table, glancing at the good company I was in, and being gleeful from having my first sushki in MONTHS, I sighed happily and said, "Now I *know* I am back in Russia… Tea, and sushki, and candy!"

Everyone, to my relief, got a good laugh out of the joke.

We had a lovely conversation, which included the following amusing tidbit:

Vova: "So… You came here to study dance??"

Me: "Yeah, pretty much…"

Vova: "You're crazy!!" (<-- Meant in the best of ways.) "That's cool!"

[Remember that I'd never worked with, or spoken to Vova much before, so I guess he still hadn't gotten the story yet.]

Eventually, we finished our tea, and agreed that it was time to go. As we were putting on our coats, however, Vova looked at me and said, "You never tried one of the candies. How come?"

Imagine how surprised I was that he even noticed!!!!! I couldn't believe it!

I said something to the effect of, "I was too busy eating the sushki!" and he asked me, "Do you want to take some [of the candies] with you??"

For some unknown reason, because I never deny candy, I uttered some kind of a weak no -- but Vova pressed, "Are you suuure?"

So I relented, saying, "Oh, alright!"

He sent his Papa to grab some of the candies, and before I knew it, I had to put out *both* of my hands to catch how many were being given to me!!

[I tried one on the way down to the car - oh my *gosh* it was soooooo tasty!!!!!!!!!! It was also the closest I think I've come to anything remotely, "peanut butter" flavored in Russian candy.]

*****

So, we're in the car, driving to this other studio where we are supposed to have our lesson, and Vova had a CD playing. I thought I recognized the singer's voice, and asked, "Hey… Is this the singer from 5'nizza**?"

[** 5'nizza is pronounced "P'yaht" - "Neat-sa."

When written as "5'nizza" the first word is a play off of the Russian word for the number 5.

If it's written together as, "Pyatnitsa" it means "Friday." (The 5th day of the week.)

They are my favorite Russian-Language band, though they are Ukranian.]

Vova responded in the affirmative, seemingly surprised that I either had picked out the guy's voice, or that I knew the band, "5'nizza." It seemed to excite him a little though, and he began to skip through the CD to find different songs to show me. There were some absolutely *beautiful* ones, and even a cover of Bob Marley's "Jammin'." (Sung in English; and Vova asked me how to translate, "Jammin'." *That* was a doozy of a question, let me tell you!)

But the HIGHLIGHT, and the song Vova was most excited to show me, was this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DESWV8rR33A

That's right. The National Anthem of the Soviet Union, Reggae Style, with the, "La," stylings of Elton John's, "Crocodile Rock."

[And for those of you who would like to know just what they're saying, here are the lyrics, with translation [Look at the 1977 Version; scroll down the page for the English translation.]:

http://www.marxists.org/history/ussr/sounds/lyrics/anthem.htm ]

Actually, the version Vova had was a proper studio version, which I can't find -- but that link gives you the right idea. But I found the orchestration they composed to be quite beautiful, and I certainly fell in love with the song!!

Now… We're driving along, driving along, driving along, on our way to a dance lesson, and listening to this fantastic music, after having a great time at Vova's apartment (however unexpected going there may have been). Life could hardly have gotten much better for me!

… Until Life decided it had been too good already, and threw us a bump.

Vova got a phone call, when we were maybe *minutes* from arriving at the studio, and was told that there wasn't going to be any room for us after all, and we couldn't have our lesson!!!

Poor Vova! After *everything* that evening, with the confusion with his partner and trying to get us our lesson (and it seemed like he'd already had a long day before that, from what I'd gleaned earlier), he was just so frustrated!!

He apologized to us profusely, for not being able to give us our lesson, and I sat there stunned that he was apologizing, after he'd been so welcoming, and had tried so hard to get us our lesson, when it would have just been so much easier to cancel on us!

I essentially told him as much (how appreciative of his efforts and hospitality I was), and that even though we weren't going to have a lesson, the night was still a fantastic one. Still flustered from everything, however, he flat out said, "Tell me THREE good things, right now!"

With no hesitation, I named at least three, and then kept going. (Something to the effect of, great company, tea and sushki, amazing music, having a teacher who would try so hard to work with us and not just cancel, and, "And it's snowing outside, which is beautiful!")

He sat in stunned silence for a moment, before laughing loudly and saying, "You're quite the optimist, aren't you??"

It was as if he couldn't believe someone could be so positive!

Bright and shiny. It's a fun way to be! =^_~=

[Note: As I found out a little over a week later, however, my partner was equally shocked by my ability to find so many positives in a negative situation. But he said it was a very good thing, and he was impressed.

It's not the first time I've heard Russians express surprise at my bright outlook. I've even had a handful tell me, "I'm jealous of you." Always shocked to hear this, I ask, "Why??" And they always respond, "You are so happy… You find all of these positive things in life -- I wish I could do that." -- Nobody ever believes me that it's not that difficult to do!!]

*****

Given that we were no longer going to have a lesson, Vova offered to drop Roma and I off a little closer to our destinations, at the very least. But when we saw that a long line of traffic was forming already, coming from the center, Vova asked if it would be alright to instead drop us off at the closest Metro, so that he wouldn't get stuck in traffic, and not be able to get home for a much longer amount of time.

Of course, Roma and I were ok with this, happy for any courtesy of a ride versus none at all.

We jammed to Michael Jackson on the way to the Metro -- and I couldn't help but laugh at this, thanks to an event from our first lesson with Vova.

As we were working on Samba, he had turned on, "They Don't Really Care About Us," and just as soon as I heard the first downbeat of the drums, I said, "Oh, Michael jackson!!"

Roma looked at me oddly, and said, "Really?? How do you know? Are you sure?"

Vova just smiled at the fact that I knew exactly what he was playing right away, and didn't question my genius. -- So he obviously figured out quickly that I was also a fan.

When we got to the Metro, I was thinking about all the wonderful 5'nizza songs on Vova's CD, and I asked him, "Could I borrow your CD sometime, to get those songs you played for us?" I really had fallen in love with them!

Imagine my surprise, when Vova simply ejected the CD and handed it right over to me then and there!!! I couldn't believe my luck!!

With assurances of lessons tomorrow, the treasure of music in my hands, and laughter from a good evening in my heart, I skedaddled for the Hustle Party!!

**********

Currently, the group I dance hustle with is no longer dancing at the old Rhythm and Blues restaurant. They're undergoing some kind of renovation right now, so we've moved to a new place. It's a dance studio near the Tret'yakov Art Gallery.

As it was my first time going there, I took the walk a bit more slowly, and stopped to take tons of pictures! (I am still loving my new camera.)

Among the highlights were an Orthodox Church, and a "Big, Scary, White Van" which had an advertisement for the Soviet Arcade Games Museum on its side.

[Not For Blog: As I said on my Facebook, "They have gone from baiting with candy, to baiting with arcade games... = O_o =

Big, white Vans just got that much more clever/scarier!!!"]

I made it to the new place alright, and had a great time dancing!

***********

I came back and wound up with another late, late night… (Past 4 AM)

... Which led to this priceless Bait and Switch:

Mark:

Have you ever seen The Fifth Element?

Me:

Yes!

Mark:

You know what my favorite part is?

Me:

*shakes her head*

Mark:

The part where you GO TO BED IT'S EARLY.

I couldn't stop laughing!!! I *totally* didn't see the admonishment coming.

**********************

Love,

Moscow Kitty