Journal 7 - Practice and Priests; Kisses and Asphalt

Journal 7

9-2-10

Funny, isn't it, how whenever we intend to rise and get some work finished, we….

…. Stay in bed until 1. Whoops.

**********

I had a meeting with Ahsain today, which I was late leaving for, because I was talking with my host mum. We hadn't had the chance to speak for an awfully long time, and I'm leaving soon, so I thought I'd be polite, and chit-chat for a bit, instead of running out like always. She was very complimentary towards me today, regarding the improvement I've made in speaking Russian.

My meeting with Ahsain went just fine, but as I looked at the clock, I realized I needed to go, to get to practice! He offered to make me dinner, and I said ok, instead of saying I needed to go…

By the time I finished dinner, I was definitely late, though I could have made it for an hour of practice… … But my friend Danny had stopped by with his daughter, and he said that they would be leaving soon, too -- so I said, "OK, I'll wait."

Famous last words, eh?

His daughter took longer than he thought she would, and we were all having a good time chatting. I enjoyed the time with my friends, and the time spent just relaxing -- but I was SO looking forward to practicing a full two hours today, in heels… =ToT= Well, tomorrow, nothing will stop me from going to practice.

I left to go home, but while standing on the Metro platform, I decided on a whim, to go visit Pete, at Liga Pap. I thought that I would only be there for an hour or so -- but I was there for three!!!

**********

It was a busy night at Liga, and I didn't lack for any activity: I helped figure out a layered drink with Pete for a girl sitting at the bar, and he invited me to a movie on Sunday (I really hope I can go!!!), and then I started chatting with the Russian girl that Pete had made the layered drink for.

Our conversation took an interesting turn when the girl asked me if it was true that Pete had been a priest before. I told her yes, that he had graduated from Seminary, and could still work as a priest if he wanted to. She was so shocked! As it turns out, it was less shock from a Priest working as a Bartender, and more shock from how different the Church Systems appeared to be, between the US and Russia. When one "rabotaet Tserkvim Otsom" [works as a priest], "They give you a Church, and that's it," as the girl told me. Essentially, it seems that one does not just up and stop being a priest, to go do something else, in Russia.

In the process of that conversation, I learned two new words ( to devote, to leave an institute)

And then, all piousness seemed to leave the building, as I was saying goodbye, as I was apparently being encouraged to give this girl's boyfriend a kiss. I responded, to Pete, more than a bit surprised, "You want me to kiss her boyfriend?!"

Seeing as it was just "bisous" (kisses on the cheek), I obliged out of friendliness. We kissed in the Russian fashion, that is, three kisses on the cheeks (instead of say, 2, in French fashion) -- and he and some of his friends said, "Let's make it 5!!!"

Confused at the joke, I looked to the girl, and she said, "We say that, because we normally do 3 kisses, so we say that, as a joke."

**********

Free from the Kiss-Confusion, I left from Liga, only to find that there was a road crew working on the street, just before the entrance to the Metro. They were spreading asphalt, and common sense told me that I was not supposed to walk through the area. I made to go around, and then one of the workers waved at me, as if to go through. I looked at him, incredulous, thinking that there was no way I was supposed to walk through -- but he waved again, so I started through. Goodness, what a commotion it caused! The rest of the crew apparently started paying attention, and waved me out of the area. Not before my boots got a fresh coat of asphalt on the bottom of them though. Oh, joy.

I made it home without any further incident, which is always nice. And my dinner was good -- I had some really yummy veggies! One thing is for sure, I am going to miss the food at this house!!

It's bedtime now. For SURE, I will have practice tomorrow, and potentially my first night of interning for Ahsain. We'll see.

Love,

Moscow Kitty; 3:29 AM

=^__^=

Journal 6 - Date Changes, High Heels, and Conversation

Journal 6

9-1-10

-- Before I start, I'd just like to share how much I hate it when I realize I need to write two journals, but the clock has already changed over….

Let me explain: I look at the last journal that I've written, and the date says, I wrote it on August 31st; when I look at my calendar, it says the date is now September 3rd!!! This causes me to freak out for a moment… … À la: "I didn't write for three days?!?!?! Oh my Goodness!!" Then I stop, and realize that it's only the 3rd, because it's past midnight -- the day hasn't actually gone by yet. --

**********

My registration drama continued today, as I was unsuccessful, AGAIN with finding anyone in the office. I adopted something of a Russian, "Well? What can you do about it?" attitude -- though I was still worried… Registration and paperwork is serious here.

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending how you look at it, Vika (our Director's Assistant) called me about my registration. 'That should be a fortunate thing!' you might say -- but she called me *right* as I was about to head out for lessons!! Bad timing. She told me, "We have to meet for your registration right away!!!!!!! You have to give me your passport - this is the last day for you to do it." What choice did I have? Thus, I was late to my lesson. I guess Vitaly switched with another student of his, though, so it turned out ok.

**********

The Lesson:

Rumba was up again today -- and we worked quite a bit on Walks. Notably, *Backwards* Walks.

The magic of a Russian, Backwards Rumba walk is that one is expect to simply already have your hip crazy rotated behind you, about as soon as you take the step. (Think, "One Hip Skinny," if someone is looking at you from the front.) Oh, and make sure your upper body is rotated to counter-act your hip! We love stretch, and compression, and contrast!! It's terribly impressive to watch Vitaly do it. It's… Terribly painful, I imagine, to watch me do it. *laughs*

One of the secrets do achieving the desired action, is that one thinks of the foot of the moving leg as moving INTO the floor (to keep your pressure and direction), and then, you have a *quick* straightening action from the knee. E.g. - 'I'm moving my foot there, I'm moving my foot there, NOW I straighten my leg, and I'm already standing on it, and my hip is rotated where it needs to be."

Thinking of the action coming from the knee, instead of trying to think about the whole hip area, reminds me of something one of my favorite coaches in the US once told me, "You can never be fast, if you are thinking of moving all your big muscles. [Glutes, Quads, Hamstrings, etc.] If you want to be fast, think about the little muscles." -- So, instead of thinking about moving all of these large muscle groups, I just think about that little area of my knee, and everything falls into place.

*****

After we had that little session on the walks, we added to the Rumba choreography Vitaly started going for me. There's some interesting stuff in it now, for sure. Mostly, it's pretty straight forward, but there are one of two elements that make me wonder just how I'm supposed to execute them "properly." Yay, learning.

Cha Cha was next on the block. We danced together a bit -- and the main lesson for today is that I need to keep my upper body *calm* and *even.* Vitaly emphasized to me, again, that it is the *legs* that must be strong, and take the brunt of the work, leaving the upper body free and easy. I have to think about "separating" my upper body from my legs.

After that little tidbit, we also re-worked the Cha Cha routine. The good news from this is that we *finally* have a consensus on the NY-er part!!!!! Vitaly went through it a few times, and once he decided that he finally had it how he wanted it, he looked at me and said, "Don't forget it!" -- And that was the end of my lesson. (Fast forward 5-10 minutes, and I almost forgot the part again!!)

Notes:

1. For anyone who doesn't know what a "New Yorker" is, in ballroom dance, it simple refers to a move where both partners open to a side, and then return. There are many variations that can be done with this pattern.

2. Because of this variation, Vitaly and I kept mixing this part of my routine up, because he had made it a little bit complicated! So, one of us would always, "get it right," but the other would try to do another part or something different entirely!

Vitaly actually cut my lesson short tonight, but I'm thankful I got to dance at all -- he outright cancelled the next couple. He is flying out for LA tomorrow, and he'd only just gotten back from the other trip -- so he was pretty tired himself.

*****

Slightly randomly, but it's funny -- as we were working, I learned either a Russian saying, or one that Vitaly uses. (I will write it phonetically in English, not in proper Latin transcription, for those who don't have any idea how to read Russian transcription.)

I asked him, "Ee patohm?" ["И потом?" -- And then?]

He replied, "Soop s katohm!" ["Суп с катом!!!" -- Soup with Cats! / Cat Soup!]

I stared at him, shocked for a moment; whereupon he began to laugh at the look on my face, and I began to laugh about, "Cat soup." I tried to explain to him how one of the professors for our school group tells us not to eat Schwarma (a street-sold meat/sandwich), because it's made from Cat -- but I don't think I did a very good job [explaining the joke].

*****

With all that we worked on, or talked about, tonight, I have to say, the best part of the evening was the following, which happened just before Vitaly and I parted ways for the evening:

HE FINALLY TOLD ME I COULD DANCE IN HEELS AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!

Related more faithfully, he said, "The next time I see you, I want you to be in heels." And also, "Go ahead and start practicing in them while I am gone."

I was overjoyed!!! I have been working my ASS off for for the last few months, just to hear him say that. Vitaly saying I can dance in heels again means more than just saying, "You can wear different shoes." How to explain…

… When I came here, Vitaly took me out of heels, in order to teach me the basics, from square one; to teach me how I should be moving, how I should be in alignment, where my balance should be, etc. Being told that I'm allowed to get back into heels means that he feels I've made enough progress with applying those basics, that he feels it's ok to let me start working in heels again. It's like a ballerina getting pointe shoes for the first time. That's really how I feel about it. When Vitaly took me out of heels, my first milestone/goal for myself was, "Learn EVERYTHING well enough to get back into heels as quickly as possible!" (Like a little ballerina dreaming of dancing en pointe.) So, I've attained my first goal.

It doesn't hurt that wearing heels is way sexier than wearing jazz sneakers -- and wearing heels means I can wear prettier practice things. (It looks better!) He he he…

*****

I stuck around to practice; and while I was resting, I chatted with Lisa's partner for a bit. He was telling me how they'd wanted to go to a competition in the US during the summer, but he was denied a visa, and he couldn't go… I felt so badly for him! I wondered what possible reason there could be to deny a good kid a visa, to go to a dance competition for a weekend -- and it made me sad.

He actually wound up giving me a lift to a Metro stop slightly closer to home -- as he was driving his partner and himself home. It was really nice of him. =^__^= While we were in the car, they asked me about what it was like to come to Russia, and what kinds of reactions my friends and family had when I said I was coming here, or how they felt now. They, as most everyone does, asked me if my family and friends missed me -- and the answer was, as it always is, "Yes!! They all want me to hurry up and come back!!" I also told them that, "Everyone was more or less scared or nervous that I would be coming here -- but as I began to tell them how happy I was here, and about all the good people I was meeting, they started to feel better about me being here."

We also touched on the effects of Cold War propaganda, in the current generation, briefly -- and before long, I was getting dropped off at my Metro stop.

**********

Tonight was a great night, because I got home in time for shower, and I had dinner at a decent hour!! Whoo-hoo!!

Love,

Moscow Kitty

=^__^=