another Russiagirl letter
Well, since I don't feel like updating on my life, I'll take this opportunity to post another letter from russiagirl that I received quite a few years ago when we were exchange students in Russia.
March 1, 1994
Dear mbwillow,
"Privet fellow Alaskan! How's everything in St. Petersburg? I kept meaning to get your address and write sooner but it took a trip to Krasnodar..."
"Krasnodar was okay. I stayed with this family who lived an hour outside the center and had an unhousebroken dog. It peed everywhere so you had to wear your slippers all the time. Gross. I didn't go to school the whole week. The movie theatre there was showing "Body of Evidence" w/Madonna and "Rising Sun" w/Shawn Connery. Movies that aren't 10 year old pornos! Amazing. Our Stavropol theatre was showing "Sex in Life with Many Different People" when I left. I'm sure it was a blockbuster hit...."
"...We also ate at Sam's Pizza. My God- I came all the way to Russia to eat at "Sam's Pizza?" It had paintings of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the walls. I think they put ground-up mutant SOMETHING in the pizza, too. It wasn't that bad though- in Stavropol we have our choice of potatoes, eggs, or mayonaise and carrots on our pizza. At least Sam's LOOKED like real pizza..."
(Russiagirl goes on to discuss a party with other exchange students) "...We got 4 bottles of champagne to start with and toasted to AFS and our parents- hahaha. Afterwards we decided we needed vodka. That champagne went down like water. We all threw in money and Jeff and Shawn came back with their prize- a bottle of TERMINATOR vodka. Terminator! What a name. So we did shots. I remember one toast for our livers, one for AA in America (Holden says that AA founded the Bradley Bill to send kids to Russia) and after that I don't quite remember...."
"...We had a TV interview while we were there too. They said be natural which was a pretty stupid thing to say. Carston from Germany talked a while about beer and fish together and Maggie told a story about when her Russian brother pretended to be a cockroach. Greg commented that Russian dogs say grf grf and American dogs say bow wow. I said I thought they said woof woof. Exizabeth said they say yoof in Norway. Jessica said they say bark. I wonder if that was what the cameraman had in mind. Then Martin from Sweden, Carston, and Marco all took turns playing the balalaika which I thought was a mandalin. Then they said did we have anything we'd like to say. Marco said he wasn't in the Mafia. Judith said Austria and Australia are not the same. I said Alaska is not a part of Russia anymore and it's not cold there (not in my part anyway.)...What an interview!..."
"...Greg and Holden told me all the time there that Zhirnovsky would take over and I'd go home and Alaska would be part of Russia. NO!!!!
"...Me and Sofia's past-favorite pastime was to tell people we were from other countries. This has gotten us up shit creek a few times. Sofia told a guy at a bar she was from Arizona and ended up giving a presentation on Arizona at the school where his mother was a teacher!!! Sofia is from Sweden if you forgot- she's never been to America! She said she lived next to a BIG LAKE. Are there ANY lakes in Arizona?! I accidentally told someone who spoke German that I was from Germany. He started talking away in German so I had to make up a wild story about how I'd just moved there from Czechoslovokia and I didn't know German yet. (?) Lisa told a guy she was from Latvia and her mother spoke only Russian but she didn't speak any Russian and neither did her father so she was coming to Russia to learn Russian so she could talk to her mother and translate for her father! And the guy believed her!
"...My 17th birthday is coming up on the 8th of March. Without my old friends- well, I'll try not to think about that. We'll eat lots of torte and probably get drunk. Excitement, excitement..."
"...Have you heard about Lorena Bobbit?! SHe's my new hero! He deserved it! But what I want to know is how she did it. Was he sleeping or what?..."
"...That's all from here. Write and tell me what's new there!"
I'm from Alaska,
Russiagirl
REMEMBER: 8 STARS OF GOLD ON A FIELD OF BLUE!
PS. Can you believe River Phoenix died? I'm crushed! I thought he was going to wait for me!