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Dinner

In lieu of a reception, they had a big family dinner both nights. The guy in the gray suit is Oleg; he had come a hundred miles for the wedding. He wrote an emotional letter for me to take back to Igor, figuring that he would never see him again.

In the later part of the evening, people sang folk songs at the table. Including one of my favorites which I rarely hear. I had one of the women write me out the words to it; it's still in my journal somewhere.

Russians are much quicker to dance than Americans or Brits. They don't have to wait for a club to fill up and everybody else to go first, they just start doing it in the living room. (Granted, nobody I met had a separate living room; all rooms were somebody's bedroom except the kitchen.) Ol'ga also told me about how Russians view western music (rock) and Russian music (folk music) differently. It's not a question of some people liking one and other people liking the other. Rather, Russian music is for when you want to acknowledge your ties to your family and traditions; it means you're in a different mood than if you put on western music.

Podol'sk, Russia -- September 1995

Copyright © 1999-2004 by Mike (Sluggo) Orr
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