13 June 2008: Вечеринка!

Oh my goodness, I can’t believe I forgot to relate this story from yesterday. So funny.

So, birthdays came up in conversation on our walk in the woods, and I happened to mention that mine was on the nineteenth. Well, last Thursday, the 12th, I sat down to breakfast and in comes Irina with a picture book of St. Petersburg and a coffee mug with pictures of important sights on it. "Happy Birthday!" she says and then, in good Russian fashion, wishes me good health, good future, love, happiness, and all that. I thought that was such a sweet gesture, so I didn’t correct her, but I was kind of confused. I thought I had a good idea of when my own birthday was . . .

Later, Dan Bi and I headed to class together, and she shook my hand, saying "Happy Birthday" too. Well, goodness, Irina must have spread the word. And spread the word she did! Dan Bi's whole family knew about it, and decided to give me a present too, along with a heaping helpful of good health, long life, etc, etc. Then, at school, some girl I don't even know came up and asked whether it was my birthday. "No, it's actually next week, but don't tell my family; I don't want them to feel bad."

It didn't take too long after all of this had happened to realize what went wrong. In Russian, the words for twelve and nineteen (and twenty, as it happens) are remarkably similar, and it is most likely the case that Irina heard twelve when I said nineteen. Or rather, when I tried to say nineteen.

So today after class, I asked Dan-Bi if she wanted to go for a walk. She said that would be great, since Katya was going to invite me over anyway, so we could go to their apartment afterwards. Dan-Bi and I headed over to the children’s park where Irina and I went.

When we got to Katya’s place, Katya said “Happy Birthday” and gave me a birthday present, too! It was super sweet. I didn’t tell her it wasn’t my birthday, either, but Dan Bi and I smiled knowingly. So, this was to be my first вечеринка (“vecherinka”) or party. Katya was there with Boris, of course, and there was Dan Bi. There was also a girl named Sasha, I think, but she hardly spoke a word the entire time we were there. I was offered green tea, which was delicious. The bottle of apricot wine came out shortly after that. It was supposedly very good, but I contented myself with my tea. We went into Katya’s room (I think) where Boris had set up his X-Box and Grand Theft Auto IV. Good heavens, what a terrible game. I admit, though, the graphics are very impressive, and the range of freedom within the game is astounding. (Just for kicks, I rolled a garbage can down the road.) Dan-Bi played for a little while, and managed to blow up her car several times by running it into buildings or over highway overpasses. I was offered a try, too. My performance was only a minutely better, as in I didn’t blow anything up. I guess I was avoiding the point of the game, but I tried my best not to kill anyone, with limited success. It was kind of fun, though, when Boris stole a helicopter for me.

Katya asked a lot of questions about my life, hobbies, interests, and what not. I’m afraid my life must seem kind of boring, since I don’t go clubbing, I don’t drink, and I do truly enjoy the peace and quiet. Meanwhile, Boris was having quite the time using his newly-learned word “tipsy” which he was quickly becoming.

I had to leave at midnight, since that was when I told Irina that I’d be back. This picture was taken on my way back to the apartment shortly after midnight.