The Russians all looking a bit the worse for wear at the course this morning. Apparently they kicked on after I left last night. No surprises there. When the professeur heard this, he mentioned that the first time he was in Moscow, he ended up drinking seven or eight vodkas on a night out with his hosts. The Russians were quite confused by this story. “Bottles?” they asked.
They told us last night that Russian has no single word or even a phrase for “cheers”. Instead it depends on the situation and will be modified accordingly. As an example, the first time we raised our glasses it came with a long and rambling Russian monologue, which was then translated for us as “to all the beautiful ladies at our table, may the Sun always shine on you and you be blessed with success in all your endeavors!” Very nice. They gave up trying to translate them after that but there was plenty more clinking together of glasses and calls for the waiter to bring more wine as the evening progressed.
A couple of men came up and chatted to me on my way to and from the restaurant – the power of makeup – I didn’t understand what they were saying but they seemed harmless enough so I just smiled and nodded and sidled away, although I did have to say “Je ne comprend pas” to one of them. Not sure if the interactions were in the nature of “hey pretty lady, let me show you a good time” or rather “can you tell me how to get to the train station?”, but anyway I’m pretty sure it wasn’t “please help me, I think my wife’s had a stroke”. Not upset enough for that. Plus, wrong age range.