Advertisement
Published: October 8th 2008
Edit Blog Post
I told you it would be a little while before I did any traveling. That does not mean I am sitting at home bored to death, but I just have not been "hopping" around the world here lately. Last weekend Freddie hosted a house warming party at his new flat. He has been working on it for some time, but finally had it finished enough to invite everyone over for his first official party. I think I have posted a few of the gathers, but they were not official parties.
I do not remember how many people were there on Friday, but I would get guess 8-10. It was the usual Obninsk Gang(sters) and then some other friends and coworkers of Freddie's. Somehow they all decided to go to the local dance club at 2 AM and I told them, "This old man did not get his nap in today so I am going home", which I did while they all stayed out and danced the night away. The amazing part, or the part that tells you how old I am as compared to the rest of the group. They got up and did it all again on Saturday.
I did stop by on Saturday for an hour or so to say hello and meet a few of Freddie's friends from Moscow who came down. From what I heard, it was a much larger and wilder party on Saturday so I guess I am glad I had a much calmer evening with some other friends and was home and in bed by midnight.
It is amazing, when you buy a flat here, it is nothing like what you would expect. Freddie bought it and he got just that a wide open room, but NOTHING was completed. He had the main water pipe in and one sewage pipe out - that was it. Everything else he was on his own. I can understand no window coverings, maybe unfinished walls, but how about no walls, no electrical outlets, no lights or switches, NOTHING so it has not been cheap as Freddie has been moving along getting it ready.
I had not posted any pictures or stories, but a week or so ago, I was invited to the Ambassador's residence for a contribute to US Whiskeys. When I was originally invited, I thought it was just one that was trying
Friday Night Party
Then Freddie did this all over again with a bigger group on Saturday. I stopped by but did not stay long for the Saturday party. to get their foot in the Russia market but I told Alan it sounded like fun and I was going to go if he did not disagree. He said it did sound like fun, but he thought he might pass since he was going to be out of town until that weekend before. Although there would be plenty of people that spoke English, I thought it might be fun to invite Dasha and also a good way for her to meet some people. On Monday around noon before I have to leave at 1, Alan calls me and said he has decided he is going to go but we need to stop by and get a coat and tie for him at his apartment. That is when I tell him I had invited Dasha which did not make him very happy.
I already had a game plan in the event he did decide to go because this is typical, so I sent Misha to go get Dasha and then meet us there while I rode with Alan to "keep peace in the family" sort of thing. Once we were all there and telling stories, it was fine, but it
Lava Lamp
I love this picture; we turned the lights out and Freddie was holding the lamp and I took the picture. just was not part of his plan at the time. The other nice thing, it was not just this one brand but all US whiskeys so of course my Jack was on display and ready for tasting.
I got to know Misha the bartender pretty well as I sampled all of the whiskeys, but kept going back to my Jack Daniels. Even though Dasha is "taken", I made sure I introduce those two to each other, which Dasha found so funny. She kept telling me he was too young, short and Russian for her...lol
I found a few whiskeys of the 12 that I liked but none better than Jack. The few I thought were as good as Jack, I have never seen here before but are supposedly in Russia. I also did not realize how sweet Jack was compared to some of them, but is obvious when you are comparing one to another in taste comparison. I knew I could pick Jack out when I was served the wrong kind, but did not realize how sweet it was compared to many of them there.
It was also a great honor to meet the new US Ambassador
Listening to the Ambassador
As most of you know, this fine lady in the foreground is Dasha; next to her is Erik Hansen, second in command for the Agricultural part of the Embassy and also my Buckeye source to go watch the football games; and next to him is Alan, my boss. to Russia. Actually Alan and I stood and talk to him for awhile, along with those in the Agricultural section of the embassy. My fellow Buckeye fan, Erik was there, and I stood and talk to him for awhile as well. It was also fun talking to the guys from Brown & Forman who are the distributors for Jack Daniels all over the world. Of course these guys were from here in Russia, but I was telling them about my story that won and the trip I took with Jimmy. We talked about Jimmy, the past Master Distiller as well as Jeff, the present one. It was almost like old times in the Squire's room at the distillery!
Depending on our experience, I may have another posting here after this weekend. Several of us are going to go downhill snow skiing on Friday. Moscow has an indoor skiing arena/hill so there are about five us going to see how it is. If it is any good, I will post some pictures and stories and if you do not hear anything from me, you will know it was nothing too exciting.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.441s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 13; qc: 58; dbt: 0.1538s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Margaret
non-member comment
Egor
Glad to see that Gang(ster) Egor made it home and is back to his partying. I enjoyed his humor for the past couple of months. Why isn't he back at the university? Get back to school Egor!