The day started fairly early yesterday. Not too early because it's not day until around ten o'clock in the morning anyway, but we were all very active already when the sun finally decided to show his face.
When I say 'we', I mean Sergey, Lubov and myself. Yulia and Alina usually are up at 7:30 because school starts at 8:00.
Sergey asked me (Oh, yeah! We can communicate even though he does not speak English) if I wanted to follow him while he prepared a mounting support for the Xmas Tree he intended to buy. I followed.
We went to a small garage, converted into a storage room, where his father keeps tools like saws and welding machines. Once there I helped (not too much, I'm afraid) measuring and sawing three metal bars he intended to weld to a cylinder he found. The cylinder was hallow and would be great to out the trunk of the tree in. The bars, once welded should keep the cylinder upright. Sawing the bars ended up being more work than he expected so he decided to have someone else do the welding.
We went to Slava's Car Repair Shop. I was very much surprised to see such a big modern shop in a small town like Tchaikovsky. Slave proudly shows pictures of the work done at his shop. Cars that had turned over we repaired to the smallest details. The painting job was incredibly good. He even has a computer to mix Pantone colours to mach specific colours from specific brands and years of cars. Quite amazing, really.
While his employees worked on the welding of our Xmas Tree Base, we talked. I realized that the more I hear the language the easier it becomes to pick up words or even entire conversations, though I do not speak.
For example, Slava asked Sergey if he could speak English and Sergey said no. Then he asked how do you talk to each other then? Sergey explained we managed and mentioned he was very surprised to see I could read Russian. Well, it's not like I can get a book and devour it in a couple of hours but I have been here for three days and I am picking up the language. Let's say I have the reading skills of a 7-year-old. I stumble into difficult words, stress the wrong syllable but I am reading. Slava, then, told Sergey about a guy he met in France. The guy could not speak any French at first but not long time later he was able to find his way around. He mentioned, wisely I would say, that this happens when you speak more than a language. Things start making more sense. It is true. So many words in Russian are similar to their English, Portuguese, Spanish or whatever.
For example, shops are 'magazines'. In English a magazine is a totally different thing but in Portuguese (old Portuguese, anyway) it is a place where you can buy goods.
I was surprised I could understand the entire conversation. By the time I live Russia I will be speaking at least a bit. Won't that be cool?
With the welding of the tree base done, we went to buy the tree itself. Unfortunately all places we tried were closed. You see, their Xmas Trees are real, not plastic ones. So we had to go to the periphery of Tchaikovsky to buy the tree. A very rural area, with small farms. The farmers don't really sit there waiting for customers. They have better things to do, I figure. As a result, we got home with no Xmas Tree.
Yulia and Alina were waiting for us for lunch, poor girls. It was already past 3 in the afternoon when we arrived. After lunch, Sergey and Alina went out to find a tree. Yulia and I stayed behind. Mom was at the 'magazine'... Well... It was a wonderful afternoon.
When Sergey returned, shortly after Mom called to say she was on her way home (may God bless this woman; gotta love her!).
When he arrived he had this big, natural Xmas tree he went into the woods to get. Alina mentioned they were knee deep in snow and that it had been fun. To that Yulia whispered in English so they could not understand even if they had heard "we had fun too"... She's just too cute!
When Mom arrived we put the Xmas Tree on its base and started decorating it. It was he first time in my life I did that. First time also I really put presents under the tree. I was very happy.
Little did I know things would not be so nice later in the evening.
We went for dinner with Igor, Yulia's cousin, and Olga, his girlfriend. Very nice folks that I met before. I wanted to go some place nice but Tchaikovsky is too small and the options are limited. We ended up in the Butterfly Cafe, again, where Yulia had her usual ice-cream and I had, just for lack of option, an instant coffee.
I took the opportunity to call my parents and wish them a Merry Xmas. Yulia was a bit embarrassed to talk to them. Even to talk to my cousin, Soraya, who happens to speak a little Russian, being married to a Russian man. I was a bit disappointed but it was ok. I understand him being shy and all.
What happened was, we left the Butterfly Cafe and went to a restaurant. There, for the first time I was sad with Yulia.
I usually say that "What I do not know, the Devil will whisper in my ears". I can't explain why - maybe I am just too susceptible to signs - but I can sense things. And suddenly I sensed Yulia was talking about me to Igor and Olga.
She does all the time, I know, but this was different. It was not regular conversation, small talk or anything alike. How can I explain it? Let's put it like this: if I was recording all the conversation she had with people about me, that specific bit would be the one she would be embarrassed to have translated. Do you get the idea? That was the very first time she was using the language barrier against me. Specifically happy I could not understand what she was saying.
Well, we talked and she swore I was wrong. She explained she was actually complaining about her mom and since she was not using 'nice' words, her body language might have led me to believe she was trying to hide from me. Which she was, but not what l thought. I'm willing to give her the benefit of doubt. Besides, between us, true or not her explanation was quite convincing.
All's well when it ends well.
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