28 June 2009

My birthday is just about coming to an end and I’m getting ready to go to sleep. Of course I started getting a cold about halfway through.

Friday, after I slept almost the entire day, I got a message from Olga that she was with Vova and some of their friends across town, and invited me to meet up with them. We sat on the edge of the river for a few hours, and they got, well, I think “obliterated” is about as close of a description as I can get. I don’t know how much they drank before I got there, but they were certainly pounding them back after I arrived. As it was my birthday weekend and my last weekend in Russia, I let them talk me into one drink, but them...wow... they were a sight to see.

Olga wanted to keep practicing her English (even though I didn’t) and kept translating everything for me, even when I wasn’t paying attention. I would be talking to someone else (for example, Vova or Vanya) and she would tap me on the shoulder and start telling me what the person she was talking to was talking about. As a result, all of the new people there thought I didn’t speak Russian, and when Olga went to go answer her phone, I saw one guy point to me and say “look at him trying to understand!” Olga kept calling Vova her “little piggy” and he kept getting redder and redder. It was a good time, but personally, my favorite part of the evening was when Vanya (one of the three Vanyas that was with us that evening) put his arm around Vova’s shoulder and said “Vova! You’re as red as an orange!”

Afterwards, we started walking around a bit, and when we realized it was too late to go to the metro, they offered to let me stay at their apartment. I was willing to, but then they decided to go to another bar first, and as I prepared to walk home Vova walked away and hailed a cab. Olga gave me a really heartfelt goodbye and told me how great it was to see me and that she hopes I leave with good memories of her country and that I can appreciate it as much as she enjoyed her time in America. Vova and I didn’t say goodbye, because we are meeting on Tuesday to go to a museum. As I went to get in the cab, I realized that Vova and two of his friends had already paid for me, and when I tried to give them money they pushed me inside and Olga told me not to argue and sit down.

Yesterday I didn’t really have any plans, and I sat around reading most of the day. Eventually I got a little stir crazy, and went out with a friend for tea just to get some fresh air. On the way back to the metro, we stopped at a McDonald’s to use the bathroom, and while I was waiting two of the guys from the night before showed up and invited me to go out with them. They said they were on what I guess I’ll translate as a “drunken meander”. I asked what that meant because it sounded ridiculous, and Dima put down two fingers on opposite sides of the table. He said “we’re here. We’re going here. But instead of a straight line, we’re going like this” and traced zigzags along the table-top from one side to the other. “And we’re going to drink... A lot.”

I got home a little after midnight, and I sat down to have a cup (another) of tea with Olga (different Olga). Mom and Dad called, and wished me happy birthday and we talked briefly about the logistics of coming home as quickly as possible, because I’m sure calling Russia was very expensive. After I got off the phone, Olga gave me a birthday present. I wasn’t expecting it, and I was really touched. I opened it up and laughed, thinking it was a shot glass…but it wasn’t. A few weeks ago, she had boiled a few eggs and gave me one. She put them in these special dishes for eating hard-boiled eggs with a spoon, and I absolutely couldn’t figure it out. She tried to teach me, and eventually I got frustrated, picked up the egg and ate it with my hands. Well, she bought me a small porcelain egg cup so I can learn on my own. Aside from that, she had also spent a good portion of the day baking me two different kinds of pastries to bring with me on my birthday to go out with my friends.

Today I got up around eight thirty, and went to meet Sasha and Max Levitskii at the south of the city. Max’s birthday was yesterday, and with mine today we had talked about doing some kind of joint celebration. At the metro, they were waiting with Lyocha and a girl I hadn’t met before, Vera. The five of us got in Sasha and Max’s car, stopped at a grocery store, then drove for about forty minutes or so to the lake Ладожская. There Max set up a little grill and we had a small barbecue on the beach with sausages, fruits, vegetables, and pastries (from Olga).

On the way back, Sasha gave me a going away present from her and Max. Along with a very warm handwritten card, they gave me a reprint of a book from 1717 on proper etiquette for a young man in Russian society. I flipped through it, and it covers everything from dinner parties to dancing to grooming. Sasha told me that I should read carefully so that when I come back I won’t have to worry about fitting in.

I had originally made other plans for after the barbecue, but when I got home I was soaked (Max and I ended up in the lake going after a Frisbee) and I immediately tossed my jeans and all of my laundry in the washing machine. As soon as I turned on the water, I realized that the jeans I wore today were my last clean pair of jeans, and even if I wanted to wear another pair they were all in the washing machine already. So…I called and rescheduled and spent the rest of the evening hanging around the apartment reading and sneezing. I have a couple pairs of shorts, but I don’t feel the need to advertise to everyone on the street that I’m a foreigner.

All in all, I’d say it was a good birthday and a great year. Since my last birthday I have: worked two jobs, ran a student organization, learned how to start a fire without a match, learned how to chop wood, graduated college, moved to Russia for a half a year by myself, passed a (Russian) government-issued language exam, spent time in four different countries (and visited all of their capital cities), been to countless museums and historical landmarks, made friends from all over the world and learned about their respective cultures, and I think that I’ve changed a lot as well. I’d say it’s been a very important year for me filled with a lot of adventures, and it’s very strange for me to realize that in a week I’m going home and even more is going to change.