Gosha's Woes and the Vladimir City Day

Part I: Gosha's Woes

Gosha, the AH cat, has been having some trouble of late with an adorable feral who seems to have decided that the AH property is a safe place where food appears on a regular basis. I first saw the feral near the beginning of last week. I think I have commented before on the fact that while there are so, so many stray kitties here, most are not afraid of people. This one, however, is; he will not let anyone approach him. He is adorable: part Siamese with beautiful chocolate points and incredible blue eyes. Unfortunately for the feral, Gosha is highly territorial. He has a good spot and he knows it; he is not about to give up his rightful spot as Chairman and CEO of the AH to some random alley cat. Unfortunately for Gosha, the feral is one big, tough alley cat. The other day, Galya was looking for Gosha. She was worried because the box he sometimes sleeps in had fresh blood in it. Eventually Gosha turned up, and he did not have any visible signs of having been in a struggle. At some point last week one of my fellow teachers told me that the AH staff was worried because Gosha was not eating. The other evening, as I sat in the Teachers’ Office, working on lesson plans and such, I heard that unmistakable sound of a catfight. I ran to the window and poked my head out. The feral was calmly sitting in the grass as though nothing unusual had happened; Gosha was nowhere in sight. Then one of my coworkers came running around the corner (scaring the feral) shouting: That cat just attacked Gosha! Apparently, Gosha did not do too well defending himself. Later that evening, I saw the feral stretched out full length on the picnic table in the back yard (one of Gosha’s favorite spots). I tried to go and talk to it, but it fled as soon as I opened the back door. Poor Gosha has been spending a lot more time inside than usual. And he has being friendlier than usual. I shall keep you apprised of any developments in this feline drama.

Part II: Sunday, Day of the City of Vladimir

Today was the Vladimir City Day (I believe today was also Moscow’s City Day celebration as well), and in Vladimir at least this made for rather a huge festival. I got off to a late start (intentionally, having decided to sleep until I awoke of my own accord, which was wonderful). I first went to the AH in order to check and send some emails, and (of course) to play with and comfort poor Gosha. I was the only one at the AH at that time (other than V, our security guard, who was out back mowing the grass. As far as I can tell, mowing the grass is simply what he does when he gets bored; it certainly did not need to be mowed!), so I decided to head out and check out the festivities by myself.

The normally sleepy town of Vladimir was quite transformed for this City Day celebration. Bolshaya Moscovskaya, the main street of the town, home to a multitude of high speed cars that seem to aim themselves at pedestrians without restraint, was closed to traffic and now a pedestrian thoroughfare. There were booths everywhere, all along Bolshaya Moscovskaya, Theater Square and Cathedral Square, selling all sorts of cheap festival type souvenirs and fair/festival type food. People were dressed in all sorts of costumes: ancient Russian warriors, Tsarist era maidens, clowns, jesters, even some dressed rather inexplicably as vegetables. (Seriously, there were tomatoes, carrots and potatoes!) Along Bolshaya Moscovskaya between Theater Square and Cathedral Square were several stages, featuring musicians, modeling contests, talent shows, etc. And the entire area was packed with people. (Vladimir has the same quiet atmosphere as a small town in the US, and I often forget that it has somewhere around 350,000 residents.)

I left the AH (which is near Theater Square) and decided to make my way towards Cathedral Square to see what I could see. I made it as far as the Golden Gates when I ran into G and J. They had planned to meet up with Nina (the daughter of the couple who own the dacha we visited last weekend) and some of her friends, and they invited me to join them. Thus began a day of gulyat. The Russian verb gulyat means to stroll, but in Russia, gulyat is a serious pastime. When you ask a typical Russian what he or she likes to do in his or her free time, a typical answer is gulyat. Essentially, you meet up with some friends, and walk around the city. Sometimes you wait absurd amounts of time for people who may or may not show up. Once your group has gathered, you essentially wander about the city without much of a plan. You might stop off at a cafe for some food or booze, or you might buy something like ice cream to snack on as you walk. If you smoke, you might stop occasionally for a smoke break. As you walk, you will probably lose members of your group, but you will undoubtedly pick up others to replace them. The whole day can be spent in this aimless walking.

Once our group had gathered (we were joined by M, one of the Americans at the AH, as well as Nastya and her sister Katya and another of their friends, whose name I have forgotten, who were Nina’s friends), we gulyali for many hours. We wandered up and down Bolshaya Moscovskaya, observing all the various goings on of the City Day celebration, and chatting. Nina and her friends all speak English very, very well, and they all seemed to want to practice their English with us. I know that they would have been perfectly willing to help me practice my Russian, but I felt quite intimidated by how well they spoke English. Did I really want to butcher their language in return?

At one point we stopped at a cafe, and we spent at least an hour and a half there. I decided to order a beer. Those of you who went to Sewanee (which, during my years of study always came in the top five booze consuming schools), will probably think nothing of Annie ordering a beer. Much less considering that Annie the Sewanee grad spent seven months in Russia. And all that time in Korea, land of Soju. But (as some of you know) I started taking some medicine last April which drastically affects the way my body processes alcohol. I have to be very careful with it, because I get drunk very, very quickly. On the surface, this sounds like a good thing (less money to have to spend on booze), but it is not simply that I get happy-boozy very quickly; I also get sleepy very quickly and very hungover feeling too. But, as I learned the last time I was in Russia (and every where else where English is not the main language), one speaks a foreign language much better when one is drunk. In other words, Annie stops worrying about whether or not she is going to butcher someone else’s native language. So, I decided to order a beer. Not only was my one beer more than twice as alcoholic as the Average American Beer (the one I had was 11% alcohol by volume), but it was also twice as big as the Average American Bottle of Beer.

While at the cafe, Katya said (in perfect English): I feel like a condom. Well, that is simply not something I have ever heard anyone say before. Surely I had misheard her. You feel like a what? Yep, that was what she had said. Anyhow, we had pushed two tables together so that our group could dine together, and she was seated along the crack between the two. She said that this phrase is very common to use (at least among Russian youth in Vladimir) when you feel like you are stuck between two things. Hum. Apt description.

Anyhow, while the beer did make the remainder of our time at the cafe very enjoyable, it kind of killed the rest of the day for me. We walked around some more, although I simply felt tired and uninterested. At around 5:30, the other Americans (we had picked up B and Y along the way) decided to go to the AH for a few hours of last minute lesson planning. I accompanied them, checked my email, and seriously debated drunk-dialing A. I decided against it, as dialing WA, drunk or sober, is expensive, and as it was a little after 6am there, I doubted the ringing of his phone would do much to rouse him. (No one should leave drunk-dialed voicemails. That is just a bad idea.) So, after sending him an email instead, I headed home, where I promptly took a two hour nap. Now I feel fine (no more boozy side-effects, although I think I am going to have to revert to my original teetotaling plan), although I am feeling somewhat nervous about the start of classes tomorrow (Monday).

Tomorrow I will only have one class, the one at VEMZ. I am not too worried about it, as I have already given my day one lecture in practice to my fellow teachers. And the VEMZ class will be full of adults who are learning English to further their careers, and as such will most likely be highly motivated. On Tuesdays and Fridays I will be teaching a full load of three classes, each 90 minutes in length. The first one contains a mix of ages, from 14 to 49. I am not too worried about it, as there are enough older students whose presence will probably help keep the class in line. The second class (which is also the lowest level I teach) is the one I am worried about. Most of the students are 14, which is a hellish age. There is only one out of place adult in this class, and she is only 23. My last class of the day will be all adults in their 20s and 30s. That should be a good class, and a nice way to end the day. I hope. I will keep you posted on how classes turn out!