A Grand Goodbye
Ah. The honeymoon has been over in my host family for some time now, and that is a good thing. I am no longer expected to eat tons and am welcome to do things like the dishes. I can stay out late and have them not worry, etc. etc. Simply put, we have developed a routine.
That Sunday before we left for our training and site announcement in some old time Soivet sanatorium my family decided to have a shashlik party out in the woods and wanted me to invte the other young American lasses too. Only 1 could make it, so we enjoyed the unusually fair and beautiful weather and ate some tasty food and hung out with Koom's and Kooma's. It was great.
After the party was over, my host mother and another kooma asekd us to go out for tea. the other American protested because she had her own family to go home to and say goodbye before o7ur trip. My host mother insisted, saying that we would go and get some tea and then be off to her parents so that she and I could get showers (this is a 1 a week treat that I never turn down). Surprisingly, for this "tea" they take us to the sketchy bar called "Texas" (yep, that's rgiht) and instead of tea we get fruit and chocolate and cognac that tastes like cough syrup. (Upon further investigation we find out that it is flavored with holly berries). Then a group of men come in who know my host mother (this is par thru the course, as the other 2 American women have grown to detest my family's 'connectedness' as it means that I am known in town and therefore by proxy, so are they --> drinks ensue and invitations to toher bars, clubs, and towns.)
So anyway, these men suggest putting our trables together and get anotyher bottle for us to share. Thankfully they bring over some tasty "zyitz" that this man, who my host mother has told me was her nanny, has killed and cooked. It was really tasty and hit the spot after every toast that ensued and "required" me to "drink to the bottom" which they indicated by a motion of their wrists upwards, like emptying a glass. One such toasts involved me having to stand and link arms with the Nanny drinking to the bottom, which was then followed by a kiss. I was quite surprised at that part-but tradtion is tradition, I suppose and later I made the other American do the same thing.
While in the beginning this appears to be a good time, I notice that my little host mom is drunk. Flat out. The kooma and I make various pleas to go, but occassionally the kooma would also make comments like "everything will be okay." At some point in time the other American is taken home so she can dine with her host family and I am left with a drunken mommy and her very elegant friend who is just as perplexed as me in regards to what to do.
Eventually the three of us leave, but do not go to the parents house for a shower. We go to some couples apartment where a certain member of our party rings the doorbell about 2 or 3 times and knocks impatiently on the door. It's now past 10:30pm and these are (from what I've been informed) social no-no's. We are allowed inside where someone falls off a chair and explains to me (in English) the relationship of the visit and who the people are. While I will not mention such info, needless to say it was all kinda crazy and stupid. And I was all but hopeless--> I had forgotten to take my key--I mean, here I thought we'd just have some tea and get a shower!
Finally the kooma takes me out of the apartment and outside. I tell her that I don't want to leave my host mother upstairs and she just tells me that I can shower at her place. (She speaks little English, I little Russian). I tell her, "R HE XACHO DOZHT CECHAC, R XACHO DOMA C MAR Mommy" (please keep in mind this is not real Russian, I can't get the board to go to Cyrillic) . This seems to work and she goes back and gets her. From there though, we do not go home. We pass a black cat and must change our path. We then go to the other place that is even more sketchy than Texas to retreive their husbands. I'm thinking my host father will flip his lid when he sees how drunk his wife is and that he'll be none too happy with me for being the "reason" why she's so drunk.
She plunked herself down on some bench and tried to introduce me to every available gentlemen. Thankfully, she did this in English, so perhaps they just didn't understand, although some dude, I think named Sergei, seemd to be wanting to take her up on the offer of a greencard. I went down the stairs and asked Sasha to come home with us, but he came up, looked at his wife, talked to her, looked at me, shrugged his shoulders and went back downstairs to play computer games. Oh well. Soon after I was able to get her home and helped her into bed. It wasw around 11:30pm and I had not packed for my travels or taken a shower, which meant that I'd have to get up exceedingly early to do both. And, oh, did I mention that the 5 year old was at home all alone during this time?
The next morning I got up, and while I was doing my bucket bath, I heard the all too familiar sounds of someone throwing up. I only had one exchange with her before I left where she told me she was "ploha" (bad) and some other stuff I didn't understand. She went back to bed and I said "paka" as I shut the door behind me.
That Sunday before we left for our training and site announcement in some old time Soivet sanatorium my family decided to have a shashlik party out in the woods and wanted me to invte the other young American lasses too. Only 1 could make it, so we enjoyed the unusually fair and beautiful weather and ate some tasty food and hung out with Koom's and Kooma's. It was great.
After the party was over, my host mother and another kooma asekd us to go out for tea. the other American protested because she had her own family to go home to and say goodbye before o7ur trip. My host mother insisted, saying that we would go and get some tea and then be off to her parents so that she and I could get showers (this is a 1 a week treat that I never turn down). Surprisingly, for this "tea" they take us to the sketchy bar called "Texas" (yep, that's rgiht) and instead of tea we get fruit and chocolate and cognac that tastes like cough syrup. (Upon further investigation we find out that it is flavored with holly berries). Then a group of men come in who know my host mother (this is par thru the course, as the other 2 American women have grown to detest my family's 'connectedness' as it means that I am known in town and therefore by proxy, so are they --> drinks ensue and invitations to toher bars, clubs, and towns.)
So anyway, these men suggest putting our trables together and get anotyher bottle for us to share. Thankfully they bring over some tasty "zyitz" that this man, who my host mother has told me was her nanny, has killed and cooked. It was really tasty and hit the spot after every toast that ensued and "required" me to "drink to the bottom" which they indicated by a motion of their wrists upwards, like emptying a glass. One such toasts involved me having to stand and link arms with the Nanny drinking to the bottom, which was then followed by a kiss. I was quite surprised at that part-but tradtion is tradition, I suppose and later I made the other American do the same thing.
While in the beginning this appears to be a good time, I notice that my little host mom is drunk. Flat out. The kooma and I make various pleas to go, but occassionally the kooma would also make comments like "everything will be okay." At some point in time the other American is taken home so she can dine with her host family and I am left with a drunken mommy and her very elegant friend who is just as perplexed as me in regards to what to do.
Eventually the three of us leave, but do not go to the parents house for a shower. We go to some couples apartment where a certain member of our party rings the doorbell about 2 or 3 times and knocks impatiently on the door. It's now past 10:30pm and these are (from what I've been informed) social no-no's. We are allowed inside where someone falls off a chair and explains to me (in English) the relationship of the visit and who the people are. While I will not mention such info, needless to say it was all kinda crazy and stupid. And I was all but hopeless--> I had forgotten to take my key--I mean, here I thought we'd just have some tea and get a shower!
Finally the kooma takes me out of the apartment and outside. I tell her that I don't want to leave my host mother upstairs and she just tells me that I can shower at her place. (She speaks little English, I little Russian). I tell her, "R HE XACHO DOZHT CECHAC, R XACHO DOMA C MAR Mommy" (please keep in mind this is not real Russian, I can't get the board to go to Cyrillic) . This seems to work and she goes back and gets her. From there though, we do not go home. We pass a black cat and must change our path. We then go to the other place that is even more sketchy than Texas to retreive their husbands. I'm thinking my host father will flip his lid when he sees how drunk his wife is and that he'll be none too happy with me for being the "reason" why she's so drunk.
She plunked herself down on some bench and tried to introduce me to every available gentlemen. Thankfully, she did this in English, so perhaps they just didn't understand, although some dude, I think named Sergei, seemd to be wanting to take her up on the offer of a greencard. I went down the stairs and asked Sasha to come home with us, but he came up, looked at his wife, talked to her, looked at me, shrugged his shoulders and went back downstairs to play computer games. Oh well. Soon after I was able to get her home and helped her into bed. It wasw around 11:30pm and I had not packed for my travels or taken a shower, which meant that I'd have to get up exceedingly early to do both. And, oh, did I mention that the 5 year old was at home all alone during this time?
The next morning I got up, and while I was doing my bucket bath, I heard the all too familiar sounds of someone throwing up. I only had one exchange with her before I left where she told me she was "ploha" (bad) and some other stuff I didn't understand. She went back to bed and I said "paka" as I shut the door behind me.
posted by Molly | 1:05 PM
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