Tuesday, March 22, 2011

When It Rains (Part III)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMF4B3wDO_E

Which brings me to the part of the story that the title references. Yesterday (Monday) I was depressed. Nothing really important. I am actually so much happier in Russia than I have ever been. Back home, I deal with depression really frequently. I was worried that I would have serious issues when I got to Moscow, because the Russian way of dealing with depression seems to be "take a shot and get the fuck over it." But between the newness of Moscow, and the amazing people I keep meeting, and the being too confused to have time to be sad, I hadn't actually gotten depressed yet. But yesterday, I said goodbye to my wonderful boyfriend, and got home and... the world seemed a little grey. I went to class. Eh. I walked to and from class with Chris, which is like walking to and from class with your own personal black cloud.

(This is the part of the blog where I bitch about Chris. If you are uninterested, skip ahead to the next blog entry)

Because it was Monday, and thus Papa's Place night, we decided to meet at 5:30 to go there. This was Chris' idea, as the deals at the bar don't start until 7pm. But his theory seemed to be that it we got there at 6 and ordered a pizza, they couldn't put a reserved sign on our table. I tried to tell him that they likely stop seating people a few hours before seven to prevent people from doing that, and just don't open for dinner until the reserved signs were out, but he didn't listen to me.

We were supposed to meet at 530, but my friend Nikita was late, and then Tara forgot her paperwork, and took 20 minutes to retrieve it, so we left at 550. So Chris began to bitch. Bitch about how we wouldn't be able to find a table. About how he didn't want to go barring. He kept snapping at Tara, who, granted, is a little off, but we deal. I wanted. to. hit. him. He has gotten a reputation for bitching. and bitching. and bitching. I was honestly not in the mood to go drinking, but I went because of the possibility of getting out of my room, and they have good pizza.

So, after we take the metro (Chris bitching loudly about how crowded it is) and walked to Papa's Place, we saw the reserved signs on the table, and didn't bother going in. Insert ore bitching/wet blanketness. I really needed to eat something by then, so we walked into an Irish Pub across the way to look at the menu. The second I open it Chris starts bitching to me about the prices being way too high. Once again, I wanted to hit him. What if I want to splurge on Irish food in the future? Can't I look at a goddamn menu without a... never mind.

We went to MacDonalds. It was difficult to find a seat (bitch bitch bitch). Then, Chris wanted to find a liquor store. He wanted to go down side streets, and go into the little shops near the metro, looking for Jack Daniels (which they don't sell at Ashan). It was cold, but I got dragged around looking for a liquor store near Chistie Prudie, even though I told him I know where there is one by universitet.

So, we go back to universitet. Where I get to listen to Chris bitch about how there are no vending machines for soda here, but there are for newspapers. (Note: nikita had left us before we left because some of his friends called). And he bitched about how Russians are racist. And he bitched about how they don't run enough metro trains. I honestly can't figure out why he is here/staying an extra semester. Maybe he wants to learn the language, but he has made no Russian friends to speak to him. He cares nothing about the culture, and more or less seems to be miserable, and just makes us miserable as a result. We went to the liquor store, where they did not have Jack Daniels. So I got bitched at because Russian doesn't import Jack Daniels, despite it being cheaper then Jim Beam ("Maybe, as a result, it is more profitable to import Jim Beam?" got me a glare) But I bought a little thing of pear cider I wanted to try, and we went home. Chris bought Jameson, and the entire way home he bitched about how he spent $40 for a bottle of Scotch (which is not expensive for a bottle of Scotch) and how he wasn't sharing it.

Back at the university, I ran to my room to fetch some bread, pesto, cheese, and salami. I fetched Chris some Pepsi to drink with his whisky, before he realized Jameson was for sipping. I just wanted to drink my one little bottle of cider in peace, maybe over nice conversation or music. But apparently Chris doesn't do that. He doesn't like to drink and listen to music. Or talk. Or dance. He just likes to drink and play cards. The one good thing is that he and Tara bickered like crazy. It was comforting, not being the one who is responsible for bickering with Chris constantly. After a little while (2 card games, during which I wanted to kill myself) Will joined us. We were going to watch Paranormal Activity 2 (because the crappy, low-budget horror films I recommended he download weren't good enough, bitch bitch bitch) when we were invited to the room of two of the other boys.

Thank. Fucking. God.

Grisha showed up, drunk and amusing. He is a great guy to talk to when he is drunk and not around strangers he might threaten to fight. Most of the American crowd was there, just bullshitting and drinking. Chris tried getting everyone to play cards, but everyone got him to STFU. He yelled at me for suggesting we play Never Have I Ever because "nobody wants to play" (truth: everyone wanted to play except him). I was largely suggesting it because they would start a conversation about Russian/American military stories/tactics/history/weaponry, and when he drunkenly went on a tangent, they would ignore him, leaving us girls to listen to his story. But... eh. Learned some interesting things. Tara talked about he low self-esteem, so Grisha toasted the "beautiful ladies... inside and out." I learned Grisha secretly just wants to fuck shit up with an ax, and is hoping for Apocalypse, zombie or otherwise, to try out his skills. I learned Will served in Iraq with an Ethiopian prince who enlisted in the Marines to learn military tactics to bring back to his country. And Grisha went on a speech about how I would be an amazing mother to, he estimated, three children. Oh, and Grisha and Tara discussed how to survive after the fall of civilization... she seemed to think everyone's children would grow up stunted and retarded because all of the world's vitamin supplements would expire after 2 years...

Everyone started teasing Will because he accidentally got himself a Russian girlfriend, who will not be told about his girlfriend back home. He is referring to himself as the "second Rachel" and they all joked about our upcoming joint wedding (fml). At which point Griha, drunk and excited, started planning a joint wedding for us at a resort on the Volga. I think I found it less funny than everyone else.

When Will and Grisha stepped out for a smoke around 3am, I crawled into Will's bed and passed out. They decided to walk us girls home shortly after that.

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