Vodka -- Connecting People Everywhere
The other day as I was walking I noticed a shirt that said "Vodka - Connecting People Everywhere" or something similar, I couldn't help but laugh. I have seen the shirt a few more times and I definitely have to agree with it. Some of the best times I have had, okay let's be honest, all of the best times I have had with my roommates (both of whom are from Vietnam) have been while drinking vodka. For example; the other night I was sitting on my bed reading my homework. I heard Zung yawn and start stretching so I looked up at him and what do you think he said to me? "Vodka?" and that was all. We ended up eating and drinking together and got a pretty good conversation going. I must have been pretty charming because he even gave me his number and email and said that I had to call him if I ever go to Vietnam. So there it is, a prime example of vodka connecting people.
Cleaning Lady/Grandma
Living in the big city is amazingly dirty. I'm amazed at how much dirt a couple people can track into the entryway every day. Well, as a result of all the dirt it is actually really nice having a cleaning lady that comes to clean. However, there are a few things that are really nice to have if you have a cleaning lady, actually there's just one that I can think of at the moment: a working lock on the bathroom door.
I hadn't really thought of it before. Honestly, I had hardly even noticed the cleaning lady. That all changed in an instant.
I usually shower quite early in the morning so that I am able to get to class on time, but on this particular day I didn't have class and had decided to wait until after my roommates and neighbors had left. That meant that I needed to wait until around 10:30 to shower. As I was finishing my shower I heard the door from outside open and wondered to myself what my roommate could have forgotten and why he would wait so long to come back for it. I didn't have much time to think about it because as soon as I had opened the shower curtain my cleaning lady burst through the door. There was a split second where we both just sat there stunned and then there came a flurry of Russian as she quickly left.
I don't think she had ever said anything to me but the next day she said "hello". Go figure.
Foreigners Don't Understand Anything
The other day my friend Sini and I decided to go to the Pushkin museum. She was leaving that night and we had time to kill so we decided to go. We got our tickets and that is when we made our first mistake. They asked us whether we wanted the audio guide, obviously not thinking, we said no. Before going further it is important to know that in Russian museums there are old ladies in every room whose sole purpose is to watch you like a hawk and make sure that you feel uncomfortable. Ok, so the second we enter the second room of the museum the old lady of the room confronts Sini and I. She wanted to know why we weren't with our group. We tried to explain that we didn't have a group, we had simply bought the student ticket. She proceeded to talk really quickly (and angrily) then ask where our group was. Well unfortunately we couldn't understand the most important part of what she was telling us. Well, after realizing that we didn't understand her she let us stay in the room without our group, but she wouldn't let us continue on into the next room. Then two more people came into the room and unfortunately they were dumb foreigners as well (the guy had the biggest nose you have ever seen. They hadn't taken their coats off and I think it made the old ladies even angrier than when Sini and I didn't have our group. Another one of the angry grandmas then came into the room and they proceeded to talk about how us dumb foreigners don't know anything and don't understand anything. Of course we were able to understand all the bad stuff just not what they were trying to tell us to do earlier. About halfway through the museum we realized that you needed to either have the audio guide or a tour guide, oops! Anyway, our little experience proved that Russians really don't like tourists and that we are stupid and don't understand anything. As if I didn't already know that.
