kirill

okay so this is actually a good one. this dude invented...well okay we're not sure if it was cyrillic or just cyrillic type. I think it was just the movable type. But anyway this dude and his brother were very important in making Russian readable and deeply involved in printmaking. And guess what his name was? Kirill, which is the male version of my name. Cool eh? Also, he has a killer beard. Also, we think cyrillic is a derivation of his name. I'm not putting this in certain terms because it is first of all hearsay and second of all filtered through a slight language barrier. This is жена, I think was his name. Not sure on the spelling. But I just really liked the foto. He was a funny guy, he had a very soft voice and really animated manner, but all pent up. So he would speak very quietly and tenderly but with lots of enthusiasm. And he would lean close to you and whatever you said he'd be like "клас, это клас, очен класная" "Cool, that's cool, really cool" about whatever. We all also watched the new version of Hairspray and it was pretty good.
This below is Daksh dancing. He is a great dancer. He also is a model, self proclaimed. And a great cook. He comes into Anya's room all the time to use the mirror. Like every 5 minutes. And to ask how she would rate him on a scale of one to ten. Twelve, right? And he has a fiance in Canada and he can lay on his back on the floor and jump to his feet. All the indians are also very talented at wearing shiny great looking shirts and studying to be doctors.

This, my friends is the улица of киiв and very beautiful artwork. Well, pretty okay anyway. And then the very beautiful church complex that now houses things like a monk cafeteria, the museum of soviet miniatures and the silver and gold museum.

P.S. did you know that here they have holidays like Women's Day, The Parade of Humor and Health and Fitness day? I like this soviet remnants, which is what I'm assuming they are.

Fur Coats

Started reading The Master and Margarita ---->Tables, chairs and oaken chests would have suited Jesus best.

ALSO:

1. insouciant - carefree

2. polyglot - one who speaks many languages

Today walking down street:

a. Police convention/picnic/training of how to elicit bribes? The police cars were lined up for like a block and there was a huge crowd of them in blue and reflective yellow or orange in front of yevshenko's statue.

b. a black cat and a white cat yowling at each other in a tree and a man throwing rocks at them BUT _______ on the other side of the spectrum a woman with a big old sausage cutting pieces off and distributing them among the street dogs.

I went to Kiev recently. Saw the miniature museum and sweet couple and ate way too much sweet and danced a lot AND AND AND learned how to pour sambuca. You know, you light it on fire and twist it aroundandpouralongstreamoffireintotheotherglass and it's super fancy looking.

We kicked things off with a suprise birthday party in the planetarium, with a trumpet player accompaniment. And then a trumpet was given as a gift and was accompaniment to the activities of the rest of the weekend. Elevator rides, bus rides, walking down the street, laying in bed.

things continued with a party at Andre's house that he and his brother are building. Three stories! Huge. There was no proper bathroom and no heating but tons of good food and dancing. Fur coat salad, I forget how to say it in russian it's called that because of the plethora of grated roots that are smothered in mayonnaise in it. That was kind of gross. I ended up just eating a lot of cheese and chocolate but, really, that's nothing to complain about. Not that I am.

Okay, let me describe these pictures, although they are worth thousands of words already.

1. Old babushka with street dogs: this is very common. These dogs are everywhere, and adorable. There is one that lays outside our door and it is dusty and black and very cute. I gave him cereal one day but he ignored it.

2. Someone's window

3. The sign that I made for Shekhar and Sandeep's birthday. It was beautiful and so so are they. Wait, here I will add more fotos from that party. No, I take it back. I'll make a new post for that.

4. Anya in the snow on our way to выход, or exit, a club that played amazing music. People here are really fond of that, what's it called? Spanish Flea or something? I wanted every song they played. Speaking of which, I just have to mention this youtube video because I love it and the singer kind of reminds me of Beck. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYU7oG2V7uc&feature=popular Anyway this was awhile ago because now it is more sunny and there hasn't been snow for at least a week. Except in Kiev, which was covered with snow.

5. These last four are not really in order but go like this, the first one was the after dinner walk at Andre's second birthday party, the one at his house

6. These are my feet and an old man on the train. Sleeping on the train was great! I have never done that before and I liked it. I found the motion very relaxing. Anya talked my ear off on the way back which was not as relaxing, but then we read Agatha Cristie out loud which was good. A Poirot one that takes place in a hostel, fitting.

7. Birthday breakfast of champagne and cherry log cake. Andre is on phone, Nika is the other one.

8. Model at the planetarium

9. Climbing the stairs to the party at the party house. The girl in magenta is Maya, who does graphic design and is in love with Ollie from England. She is cool and we are hoping to make some t-shirts this summer