So I'm sure nobody wants to hear from me twice in one day but I just had to finish the day off with an update.
So it turned out to be one of the best Valentine's Days I've had in a long time. The rumors of a home-cooked meal were, in fact, just rumors because our would-be cooks didn't get back until late. Maksim came over and gave each of the American girls valentines and took us to dinner at a sports bar place not far from our hostel. We got some universal feel-good food (French fries and club sandwiches) accompanied by some classic French wine. We joked that Maksim got to have 5 dates in one night-good even for a Russian! We bowled and ate and danced like fools and were really loud when we got really good or really bad scores. It was a lot of fun and I didn't even mind everyone making fun of my "aggressive bowling style" or the fact that I came in last place. Yeah, bowling's not my thing but that's OK because the night was so much fun. I loved getting to celebrate with my Russian-American-French family!
пока!
Marie,
ReplyDeleteEven though I seem to be the only person commenting, I am sure your followers are enjoying your blog as much as I do. Your posts are very insightful and I can relate to MANY things you are describing. I am glad you are having fun and getting to know your Russian friends better. To comment on your previous post, Valentine's day is a relatively new holiday for Russian consumers. I am sure flower shop/candy shop owners are delighted at this extra opportunity to make money. Growing up in Russia in the 70s-80s, PDA was absolutely not acceptable. Nowadays, it seems like anything goes. O tempora! O mores! One more note about the flowers ... You may know this already, but if you are invited to somebody's house and want to bring flowers for the hostess, there should always be an odd number of flowers in an arrangement. Even numbers are reserved for funerals only. One rose is better than two in this case!