Friday, September 23rd was Male B's wedding. Male B is a teacher at the AH, and this is his second year teaching at the AH. His new wife is a Russian woman named Alyona. I have mentioned Russian wedding traditions before on this blog, but in case you missed it, I'll reiterate: First the bride and groom go to some sort of government office where they are legally wed. Then they, and a very small group of close friends and family, drive around the city, getting their photos taken at city landmarks, and visiting other friends and acquaintances. I think that this type of wedding celebration seems like a lot more fun than the ordeals that traditional American weddings tend to be. Anyhow, Male B and Alyona were married a little after 1:00pm. After a few photo stops, they came to the AH, where we had prepared a small celebration. For starters, as they walked through the AH, we had an American big band march playing. It was selected by the Russians, although we Americans thought it was odd. I don't remember the name of the march, but it is the song of the US Army! (It was on a CD that also had "From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli" and "Anchors Away") So, after the rather amusing military march through the house, we all emerged in the backyard, where there was champagne, candy and fruit for everyone. Alexei had written a song (in Russian) about Britt and Alyona, and he played the guitar while we all sang along. (Part of the song included a simulated cannon-salute, performed by G and M popping balloons!) Toasts were given in Spanish (Male B was a Spanish major), English and Russian. There is apparently a Russian tradition where an apple is stuck with many toothpicks. The bride and groom are supposed to take turns pulling toothpicks out of the apple. Each time a person pulls out a toothpick, he/she has to say something nice about his/her lover. According to Russian tradition, whoever pulls the final toothpick will always have the final say in everything in the marriage. Not exactly the sort of tradition I am predisposed to be fond of, but when in Russia… I am not sure if Russians do the whole bouquet tossing thing or not (perhaps Alyona wanted to throw the bouquet to her friends, not Male B's coworkers), but instead of throwing her bouquet, they made a bouquet out of the popped balloons from the song's simulated cannons. All the Americans (male and female) from the AH stood behind Alyona as she tossed the balloon-bouquet. The damn thing came right towards me, and everyone else dove away from it. I instinctively put up my hand and then thought "wait a minute!" It smacked my hand and fell to the ground. Everyone else insisted that it meant I'd caught it. I tend to disagree. If I'd caught it, it wouldn't have ended up on the ground now, would it? Anyhow, we partook of the champagne, fruit and sweets, and then Male B, Alyona and their entourage went on their way. Russians do not have the tradition of trying crap on the back of the bride-n-groom car, so several of the AH people got together and tied a bunch of crap to the bumper. (And we all fervently hoped that they didn't end up with a traffic fine!)
I had been feeling fine all day long. I thought I was finally over my cold. Then, about an hour after Male B and Alyona left the AH, my throat began to ache. I snagged some rather potent cough drops from B, and set off for class. As classes went by, I began to feel less and less like a healthy person. I began sneezing and coughing and my sore throat got worse. I left my last class and went straight home (ahh yes, a fantastically exciting Friday night, that). I arrived home, and Nina M took one look at me and asked me if everything was okay. I had dinner and went straight to bed...
Saturday, I slept until nearly 11:00am (a nice, Nyquil-aided rest) and awoke to feel mostly okay except for the even scarier sore throat. This would not have been a problem, except for the fact that on Saturday at 3pm I was scheduled to give an hour long talk to AH students on the road trip that A and I took this past summer. I had been looking forward to giving this talk, although when I got up, the thought of talking for an hour given the way my throat felt was not pleasant one. But the talk had been scheduled and advertised, so I got dressed and made my way to the AH. The talk (aided by Cepacol and DayQuil) went pretty well, I think. The students all seemed very interested in the trip, and in my photos. Alexei took tons of photos of me giving the speech (inevitably every time the flash went off, my mouth was open, so I am sure they will be ridiculous), and the next time he distributes his photos to the teachers, I will post any that are decent. After my talk, we showed the movie City Slickers, which also seemed to go over well. (There is a lot of physical comedy in the movie, so students with low language skills can still understand the humor.) After the movie, I dragged myself home and returned to bed (mmm, Saturday night, just as exciting as Friday night here….)
I had been feeling fine all day long. I thought I was finally over my cold. Then, about an hour after Male B and Alyona left the AH, my throat began to ache. I snagged some rather potent cough drops from B, and set off for class. As classes went by, I began to feel less and less like a healthy person. I began sneezing and coughing and my sore throat got worse. I left my last class and went straight home (ahh yes, a fantastically exciting Friday night, that). I arrived home, and Nina M took one look at me and asked me if everything was okay. I had dinner and went straight to bed...
Saturday, I slept until nearly 11:00am (a nice, Nyquil-aided rest) and awoke to feel mostly okay except for the even scarier sore throat. This would not have been a problem, except for the fact that on Saturday at 3pm I was scheduled to give an hour long talk to AH students on the road trip that A and I took this past summer. I had been looking forward to giving this talk, although when I got up, the thought of talking for an hour given the way my throat felt was not pleasant one. But the talk had been scheduled and advertised, so I got dressed and made my way to the AH. The talk (aided by Cepacol and DayQuil) went pretty well, I think. The students all seemed very interested in the trip, and in my photos. Alexei took tons of photos of me giving the speech (inevitably every time the flash went off, my mouth was open, so I am sure they will be ridiculous), and the next time he distributes his photos to the teachers, I will post any that are decent. After my talk, we showed the movie City Slickers, which also seemed to go over well. (There is a lot of physical comedy in the movie, so students with low language skills can still understand the humor.) After the movie, I dragged myself home and returned to bed (mmm, Saturday night, just as exciting as Friday night here….)
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