In Which I Take it All Back

Alright, I admit. I am a baby. I need to grow up. Complaining about not getting out of Moscow when I am going to the US for almost 2 months! Sheesh! Feel free to smack me upside the head and tell me to grow up. I need it sometimes.

So in the midst of my complaining, Leo went and made reservations for us at a little I Don't Know What - resort? outside moscow. Not far - I think about an hour drive out of town depending on traffic. I am not even sure where it is. The webesite states "the hotel, according to experts, it is near Moscow" - I LOVE google translate! An old college friend of Leo's and his family are going and invited us along for the weekend. I am looking forward to it. I looked at their site and they offer swimming pools, massages, paintball, horses, a discoteque, and "deep intestinal cleansing". Hmmm interesting mix, I think I will pass on the last one though.

Hey- it is getting out of the city! Furthest out of town I have been so far is Ikea! ha!

AND later - towards the end of the school year, Ms little girl scout troop is going on an overnight camp out at a dacha. I am really looking forward to some time just me and M. I need to figure something special to do with P - Leo is taking him on his camp out. Maybe a date night with my boy is in order.

Metallica concert was great! We almost had to cancel because our regular sitter couldnt make it. But a friend gave me hooked us up with her nanny. I was really worried about natash, she cries with strangers- but I worried all for naught. Kids said the sitter was great - natash barely cried- all turned out well.

The concert itself was great. It was in a stadium- we had seats - no mosh pit for us this time! :-) Metallica puts on a really good show. James Hetfield interacts well with the audience - really gets people rocking. He talked a bit this concert too, but I told Leo it sounded condescending for some reason. Then Leo reminded me that he was speaking to an audience who, he suspects, doesn't understand him. Oh yeah, ok, makes sense. He was doing a bit of the cave-man way some people speak to foreigners. Very clear, simple, articulate sentences with lots of hand motions. Cute in a way how hard he was trying to make sure people understood him! The audience was great. Metallica has been around for a while so there was a good mix of old and young. The woman next to Leo looked to be early 60s, and the boys behind us looked to be 12 or 13. Only obnoxious guy in the crowd around us was an american guy! ha! We thought if the nanny didnt show up then Leo would take P with him and honestly, after seeing the concert, I think it would have been ok - maybe too loud and late for him to be up. But - they didnt swear (ok some of the song lyrics have bad words, but when talking to the audience there was no swearing - it was all very positive), the crowd was good - we had seats so while everyone stood the whole concert, there wasnt any pushing and shoving, stamping on toes, etc (although the boys behind me kept tapping me on the shoulder and giggling).

I can't imagine writing music (period) and having people all over the world know the lyrics and sing along. Must be an unbelievable feeling.

A friend dropped us off - well Leo told him the wrong stadium, so we took a gypsy cab to the right one. When it was over we took the metro home. As we left the concert, there were crowds of OMOH - . In the perihod (underground crosswalk) they were literally standing shoulder to shoulder. It was weird walking by them. In the metro station (Prospect Mira) they were swarming- crowds of them everywhere. When we changed trains a few stations down we only saw a few security guys.

Not sure if they were protecting me from terrorists, or preventing an unruly heavy metal crowd.

SO - all in all , the experience was very similar to a US concert, but here I smelled less pot - and left surrounded by special forces trained in urban hand to hand combat whose motto is "show no mercy". yikes!