ohb

....read the colour supplement, the tv guide

This is what Mesha did as well as 'Woman's Way', 'Bella' and 'Take A Break' amidst our frantic preparations for 'the party'. Well in fairness he played his part. I had invited most of the gang from work, one or two students and all of my other friends (at least 3) to come at 6 o'clock on Sunday, thinking that this was a reasonable time, they always have parties very early in Russia. I was ignoring the fact that this meant we would have to spend all day preparing the food and that I would spend at least an hour stressing-don't worry some things are so deeply ingrained they never change.
So we had arranged to meet Mesha at Bonus (the infamous 24 hour supermarket which does in fact close- whenever it feels like it). The previous day we had met Mesha and Nadya by chance in town. I knew there was something a bit weird going on, but you'll have to wait for the 'presents' section to get the full story. Anyway, Mom managed to convince Mesha to come to the supermarket to carry the bottles and there were more than a few as well as a crate of Baltika 7 which inhabited my bath (Jill if you're looking for recipes, about 2 and a half inches of cold water, having first inserted the stopper and then 24 cans of beer), the fridge being full of Champagne. We did our shopping, debating what food we would make, poor Mom was running out of ideas fast, as every suggestion was beaten down by the fact that at least one essential ingredient was unavailable in Russia or that my kitchen boasted such limited facilities that she would need at least a week to do all of the proposed things by hand. After many stares (at the contents of our trolleys) and the usual few encounters with students we left the supermarket laden down with bags, the added weight making the trek through the snow and ice that bit more exciting. We ended up making a couple of salads and Mom made a lovely moose from what we think was salmon, but we're open to correction.
So, people began to filter in, the food supply was being depleted fast and the toasts began. there had been a 'Sibskana' (ice hockey) match that day and so Artyom and Andrew were not feeling the best. Suffice to say Andrew was as white as my ibook once was, on arrival. Artyom however was in flying form and his showmanship took over. He began a toast and i'm serious it must've lasted at least twenty minutes. He had everyone chanting and everything it was like a mini pantomime- about me. It was really touching though and a lot of kind words were said, i'm going to allow myself to forget that there was alchol involved and pretend that they were all sincere. Then it was Serge's turn, lads he made such a beautiful speech, if I hadn't been so mortified I would've cried.
I don't know how many people came but there were a lot and I, as usual was stress-city for a while, I got over it eventually and began to enjoy myself. Mom had brought over a bottle of whiskey and so Irish coffee time came round. She would not allow anyone to have one without first informing them that we didn't have brown sugar or real cream and so they were not exactly the real thing. It was really funny as at one stage i asked Igor how his coffee was, to which he replied that it was great but he was informed that it would be much better with brown sugar and real cream-perhaps you had to be there.
Just to get the picture:
Amidst me and mom's mammoth window-shopping trip around Irkutsk i bought a new top, which i am sporting in the photos, it's green (of course), crocheted and i wore it with my denim dress which surprisingly is still in one piece, i don't know how much longer it will hold out for though. My hair is still the fastest growing in Ireland (and Tuosist) so i decided to try and stick it up, with a pen, it worked-for a while.

posted by orlagh @ 4:13 am