I'm Miss California

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well, today we went to a palace. i have to say that i was getting so sick of museums and palaces that i was bored out of my mind. dad and tanya toured at their own pace while i kept up with a group of school children (of course the guide spoke russian, so i didnt understand it). i went into one room and there was a little babushka (old lady) who started smiling and speaking russian to me. she kept saying 'krasivaya' which means beautiful, and pointing around the room. i assumed she meant the room was beautiful, so i said 'da'. she looked at me a little strange and continuesd speaking russian. i told her to wait while i ran back to tanya to be my translator. the lady was telling me that i was beautiful and had a sweet smile! she was speaking to me because she thought i was russian! i told her spasibo (thanks) and went on my way with the kids. as i walked up to the group, several of the girls looked at me shyly and said to each other 'english! english? english!' the teacher started talking to me. apparently, they are a small group from a school about 2 days south of st petersburg by train sho came here for spring break. it was her english class of 13-14 year old kids. they live in a very small village and had never met a 'real live american' before, so they asked if they could take a picture with me! i was like a celebrity to them! so the english teacher walked with me and asked me so many questions about american life etc. which kept me very entertained for the rest of the tour! at the end, i exchanged mailing addresses with the teacher! maybe some day i can visit the small village in the south of russia! it would be quite an experience! Tanya and my father teased me because i was making it my mission to see how many russians i could get to smile. you see, russians are very nice when they know you, but they are very shy especially with foreigners. they do not smile, and rarely make eye contact. i tried to use my energy to make the locals smile (this is an extremely difficult task- think new york city). we ate at an adorable russian resturant that was very cossak style. i got 3 of the boys who worked there to smile- that was not easy. on the train, we sat with a young lady who looked about as cold as they come. very serrious and locked in her own mental space. tanya looked at me and hinted that she wanted me to 'work my cali magic' on this very serrious girl. i didnt think i could do it but my dad kept saying 'well, u have a whole train ride- go ahead and try'. about 3 stops later, i got her to crack the smallest smile you could imagine (but still it worked!) then i kept trying- focusing all my energy on her untiil finally she said 'could you please tell me where you are from? my english is not so good or else i would speak to you more.' WHEEEWW!! i did it!! you cant imagine how tired i was!! she drained me of most of my energy cuz it was all focused on sending her good vibes. it was really funny- we laughed so hard when she left! on the metro, tanya said 'you have to try to get 10 by the end of today' i was at 7 by then so i had a lot of work and not a lot of time before i was at the hotel. you might not believe me, but trust me- NOBODY smiles on the metro! they are sleeping, reading, or listening to music but nobody looks at anybody! russians also have this thing that they are affraid of foreigners and especially shy of english. i tried to move away from tanya and my dad so i looked as local as possible. finally, i saw two teenage boys (believe me, up to today, no boys smiled at me at all) and i worked very hard no not look directly at them but send my energy to them. finally i saw it- both boys shyly looking and giggling together and speaking in russian. they are not used to girls smiling at them, at least not in public places. Tanya laughed so hard when we were off the train! "one more!!" she laughs. so i went off on my journey trying to crack a smile on a russian. it didnt matter who it was but it had to happen. boy, this took a long time! i finally did it when i almost reached the hotel. i smiled at a man on the sidewalk, and you would not believe how much he blushed! he couldnt keep from smiling! i dont quite understand why they are so suspicious on the streets, but it is now my mission to get as many russians to smile as possible. i think they need it!

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Comments

[strange]

hey
hey ill bet u cant get 300 russian smiles by the end of the trip 10 bux well tlk to ya lata luv ya and im glad ur having so much fun