Moscowversary III

So life went by and then we came to the realisation that it's our delightful Moscowversary today!

I'm sitting in our cozy little kitchen making dinner before going to my lessons (look at me and my newly acquired time-managing skills) and looking out the window wondering where I might be if I wasn't here which I am finding a bit of a struggle. That must mean that I am where I am supposed to be.
I feel like this is the case with Ree and Jackie too as we've had many conversations about it before. It's a game I'd like to call, where would I be happier right now if I could be anywhere else in the world...I like this game because I win every time. I can honestly say that I wouldn't like to be anywhere else in the world, right now, today, on this day which marks the third month of our living in Moscow.

If we hadn't renewed our visas to stay here for another year in the first week we'd arrived, we would have been shipped off home already.
I would probably be chilling on the couch in my parents house in Jeffrey's Bay driving my poor parents insane.
Maree reckons she would probably be delaying the job hunt for another week still feigning jet lag.
Due to Jackie being hard at work at this time, Ree and I think Jackie might be partying it up at Big Time, the local bar in Barkly East, showing the locals her newly learned Russian drinking skills.

Instead, we are lucky enough to be able to be sitting in our kitchen, drinking English Breakfast tea, while the leaves and blossoms sprout on the trees outside and discussing plans of further travel, improved prospects once money's been saved and joke about our "Russian" lifestyle which we've become accustomed to

.

The bubble-blowing man

When I was in my third year at Rhodes, it rained for about two weeks straight. Rain that hit you from the side, puddles that swallowed your feet and generally, it was weather that allowed for a lot of students to catch up their favourite series. However, it was also a heavily depressing week for most students as gumboots can only stay cute and fun for so long.
I posted this status at the time because this small act had a lasting effect:
There's a guy on campus that, even though its pouring with rain and people are pissed off with life, he's walking around blowing bubbles at them with a smile on his face. Whoever that man is...I wish there were more of him in the world. 
It's been raining here a lot lately too and I sometimes look for that metaphorical bubble-blowing man. I saw him carrying a yellow umbrella the other day and then I saw him once again...he was wearing gumboots with cupcakes on them.

I guess we sometimes give in to the stereotype of Russian people being unfriendly and angry all the time. It's true, there are a couple out there but they obviously have their reasons so we'll just leave them be. But those bubble-blowing people can literally change the course of your day and they just walk by you not even noticing the uplifting effect they have on you.

The girl in the metro who was holding such a huge arrangement of green balloons, it looked like it was a balloon man sitting on his way to somewhere.
The boy who walked down the road singing along to whatever music was playing through his headphones at the top of his voice.
The accordian player in the underground pass, giving it horns, just because he can.
The cashier at the shoe shop who patiently repeats the amount owed because you so badly want to learn how to tell numbers in Russian.
The nanny who plays mime-mime because she really wants to have a conversation with you.
The concierge who looks excited as you walk into the building because they can't wait to be able to say, "hello" and "goodbye" in English.
The student who repeats "Cat in the Hat" phrases to you while you put on your coat to leave.
The landlord who comes into your house to fix things and when unable to, leaves a box of chocolates with a note that reads "Can't fix the toilet, but in the meantime, eat chocs :) "
The people who ask you for directions thinking that you're a local.
The child on overhearing you speak English, looks at you and says, "Wow!" (well, the Russian version of that at least)
The many Russian people who help babushka's carry their trolley bags, guide blind people onto the right escalator and let complete strangers hold onto their arm for support on a bumpy train ride.

I found some more people who like to blow bubbles in the rain.

Where are the Easter Eggs?

I have to report with sadness that chocolate Easter Eggs are not a thing here in Moscow. That was a bit of a shocker for us. For a city that has a sweet tooth in general with all the cakes, pastries and chocolates; it kind of left us in disbelief. Good thing we have connections in that Rosi's mom, good ol' Aunty Rensie, had bubble wrapped mini white eggs and had them sent over in a care package. For a group of people who share absolutely EVERYTHING, we adopted a bit of a each-to-their-own attitude regarding these treasurable (yes, I did just invent this word) eggs. Jackie also attempted to counter this egg situation by melting chocolates and putting them in an egg mould she bought. When this failed, she used our arrow-shaped ice trays which worked perfectly. We had arrow-shaped "easter eggs" for Easter...what did you do?

Never too old to paint your face with a Easter egg

 So how things work here on Easter is kind of like this:
Adults and children decorate and paint hard boiled eggs and bake a special type of cake that reminded me of the Italian Christmas cake. They then take these eggs and cake to church with them, where they are blessed by the priest with Holy Water. He also blesses the people with Holy Water, apparently until they are soaked. The people then at this cake and the eggs on the Sunday lunch where they congratulate each other and share a meal together.
I experienced this lunch first hand. I tutor for a family on a Sunday where I do a lesson with the younger son and then the older brother. In between these two, I was asked to join them for lunch. I was unaware of all the family members arriving at the house while I was playing playdough and snap with my first student so as I turned the corner into the dining area, I was met with a rather large group of Russian people who stared at me just as much as I was staring at them by this point. I tried to put my Russian lessons to good use and greet them in the politest way I know. This was met with a chuckle around the table so I sat in my place and tried to keep quiet. The father of the family continued to talk to me and explain all the customs and traditions, all the while trying to ward off his family members from overloading my plate with food. Everytime I spoke I was met with Russian versions of "oooo"s and "aaaaa"s which had me giggling internally. The people would hold up their egg sideways and then crack it, by bashing it against their neighbour's egg...the person whose egg cracked more, lands with worse luck, but it's more of a fun game really. I also found myself being extremely self conscious of how I was eating and knowing that the family was examining it too, me being from Africa and all, I ended up eating a piece of bread/cake with a knife and fork. Way to represent Ali... :/

Eventually I found my way home to the comfort of my own home where waiting for me was a wonderfully prepared roast by Matt, arrow-shaped Easter Eggs, a glass of wine and people who still laugh when you say the word "kak" (Sorry mom). As in kak deela (how are you, in Russian). We were later joined by our Englishmen and spent the rest of the day playing Catch Phrase, much to Jackie's delight, eating good food and being able to have sundowners with no coats on.
It seems rather fitting that Spring should arrive on Easter somehow

To our friends, on your graduation.

Dear friends back home,

We're so proud of you. Congratulations on what you've achieved. It's kind of a big deal.

It's no lie that our hearts have certainly been with you on this very special weekend where you took that walk across the stage, ate many sweet treats at the garden party, danced the night away at the ball but mostly got a taste of the life we shared together at Rhodes. We are so sorry to have missed it.

Although we've already had one graduation, I think it's very true to say that once you have been included into a little family that you built up over the years of university, it's very difficult to forget those memories and the days you shared. You start to think about the wonderful days that you once lived in a student land where you didn't think about what you would be doing when they came to an end.
Let's agree to be outright honest and say that what we learnt (or didn't learn) in those lecture theaters throughout the years had little to do with the content of what the lecturer was saying and everything to do with who you were sitting next to and who you would be seeing for a drink later.

Your university years are made up of your friends. Of you, our friends.

While the piece of paper is awesome to have and we should always be grateful for being able to attain it, its really the experience-the laughs, the late nights and early mornings, the dawnies, the mares, the Friars jugs, Rat pizza, BP runs, Mama Pams, The Kaif but most importantly...the essence which all of us lived by at Rhodes.  Graduation allows us to reminisce about those silly days and it allows us to look back and see how the people who have entered our lives, have a big hand in who we are today.

Did we ever think that after we graduated, we would be living in Moscow celebrating our next graduation in a Mexican restaurant with other Rhodents and Russian friends?
It goes to show just what a sense of humour life sometimes has.

We wish only the greatest things for you because you have given us many of the greatest things we could have ever asked for.
We are so proud of you, we love you and we miss you so very much! Happy Graduation.

To put it Bluntly

To be honest, I'm probably not going to be putting anything bluntly, I just wanted to say that because I thought of it on the metro and thought it was a fantastic play on words. To clear things up...we totally went to go see James Blunt on Friday night...casually. If you don't believe me, here's some really bad photos to prove it:

This is the beauty of living where we do. On Wednesday night, Tomas (the other British guy) mentioned James Blunt was having a concert here on Friday. On Thursday night, we decided we'd actually like to go. On Friday night, we went.
It was so much fun being able to sing along in English and be at an advantage. He did comment that with the one song, this Russian crowd actually sang it better than the British crowd. I was wondering where those people were when we needed directions or someone to tell us which can contained Tuna.
At one point James shouted привет to the crowd, which is "Hi!" in Russian and everyone went wild. Jackie made a comment that it was super cool being able to understand that and almost laugh, oh how cool of you, Mr James Blunt, being able to say Hi...haha. (We're rather proud of our growing Russian vocabulary you see).

In addition to a very fun night out at a concert, one of the highlights was the metro ride  home. On the grey line home, we encountered something very rare. The first very rare thing was that a woman tried to speak to Tomas. Metro rides are rather silent sometimes. Then because I'm the one who goes to Russian lessons, I attempted to try and understand what she was saying which I didn't...because I've only had like four lessons. So, for some reason, I turned to the girl sitting next to me and just asked, "Is this woman being rude?" To which I received the answer,"No, she's saying your friend is handsome." What are the chances that this girl would speak English?? Rare thing number two! This girl, who is now our new friend, then acted as a translator between us and the woman (who was pretty much in love with Tomas). Other people in the cart got involved in our discussion and pretty soon, our area of the cart were all friends and having a fat chat. This is EXTREMELY rare in Moscow. Our friend even said so. We covered a variety of topics in this discussion...were judged for not being able to understand Russian, asked how much we had earned and eventually: we were even talking about Twilight. It was a surreal and uplifting experience in general.

The conversation ended when we had to get off at our stop (where our new friend also lives) and with the woman wishing us well in our lives and thanking us for being so warm, smiley and lovely to speak to. Bless.