yes, these children are mine,

So people have been moving out of our building like rats off a sinking ship. however, yesterday I saw a new man. where did he come from? where does he live?

M played a bit outside while she was waiting for P to come home from boy scouts (she doesnt know what to do with herself when P isnt around!). Anyway, she comes in and right behind her is a man. mid 50s/early 60s maybe. I think he is heading for the elevator and start to shut the door, but no. He apparently wants to chat. So he starts speaking Russian. Says something about the entrance door to our building. It is 2 double doors, most people just open one of each of the double doors to go in or out of the building. The doors are narrow. My stroller is wide. Get what I am saying? I open both sets so I can fit.

Ok, stay with me here - there is a long metal hook which locks the front set of doors to the back. If you are thin and can fit through just one door, no worries. If you have a fat stroller, you need to unlatch the hook to open the second set of doors. The hook is hanging on by 2 screws. barely.

This mysterious new man motions me out of my apartment to show me the door. look - he says - see the door? he talks and talks - like the teacher on charlie brown - wha wha wa wahhh- Ok - I see - but is he blaming me for the unhinging of the screws? is he just pointing it out for fun? what is he getting at? I dont know! Admittedly I am a little defensive. Over the summer an old lady yelled at me for propping the doors open, which I didn't and I told her so. Now our building has a big sign in russian about not propping the doors open. He talks and talks. After a while, he asks if I understand. No, I say, I speak only a little russian. Why! This is terrible! You must speak russian! I reply meekly - I am trying. Can I run back into my apartment now? he says in english - "hello - my name is a(mumble mumble - he almost whispers his name)" "hello", I say my name is katherine" "what?" " I say in russian - "my name is katherine" he seems satisfied though perplexed. He says - I live and points up.

I think I am home free - I say nice to meet you, dasvidanya and head to my door. Wait he says - do you understand about the door? I say no. He rings the old lady in the apartment across from us - this is the lady whose beloved dog, anton, was hit by a car last thanksgiving. She told me, her eyes full of tears - and i replied "извините" - excuse me (like when you want to get someones attention - excuse me, miss, where is the toilet paper? excuse me, I have better things to do than listen to tales of your dog.)- thinking it was the same as I'm sorry - as in I am sorry for your loss.

yeah. sigh.

Anyway - he rings her door, she opens and he turns to me and says in russian - you dont understand me, maybe you will understand her.

uhm. not likely.

you see, sir, it is not YOU I dont understand, it is your LANGUAGE!

God bless babies, N started crying, I mumbled something about needing to go and closed the door.

Weird story, right?

It gets weirder!

So Leo comes home and I tell him how this funny guy thought that since i couldnt understand him, that I would understand the neighbor lady, har har we share a chuckle.

We head out for a walk with the family - it was 50 yesterday! and sunny! I wore a jacket! (not my snow coat!), same guy appears. Introduces himself to Leo - Leo has to ask him 3 or 4 times for his name, then ends up asking if he has a card (everyone has a card here!) because he literally drops to a whisper when he says his name. He shows leo the door, blah blah. He just wanted all the residents to see it, he says something like "we are all residents of this building united, and if we work together, we can overcome this obstacle!" like he used to write propaganda posters or something - Leo says something like - just hire a guy to fix it and we will pay our share.

So we leave, Leo comments the guy was a little drunk. Leo also thought it was funny the guys asked and was surprised to find out Leo speaks english. What a weirdo- Leo says - how does he think I communicate with you?

When we return, maybe 3 hours later - he comes and rings the bell again! I think he sits up one flight of stairs and harasses everyone who comes in!

He brings up the door, once again, and Leo once again tells him that we are on board with whatever repair plan he has, just let us know how much we owe.

As leo is closing the door, the man says - "I will also discuss this matter with your employees"

what? says Leo. "With your employees - I will discuss this with them on Monday" Leo says I dont have any employees. the man says yes, you do - the woman who runs the dyetski sad (preschool) in this apartment. Leo says - there is no dyetski sad here - that is my wife, and those are my children.

The man nods, winks, leans in and half whispers- ok, we can call them that if you want.