Until a few weeks back the only things I knew about Russia (ns) is what I picked up from television and a few well known stereo types i.e.
· Siberia is deserted and no one lives there, except for polar bears
· Everyone drinks vodka
· All Russians wear felt boots and play balalaikas
· Russia is cold all year round
· Russian women who are married to foreigners (and live in foreign countries) must be mail order brides
· Russian women are tall and beautiful
I’m yet to meet a Russian woman to confirm but I have met at least one man, who loves vodka by the way, coincidence? I think not!
Grigory is a visiting work mate, born and raised in Russia but now living and married in Canada… sadly not to a mail order bride.
Gore, as he likes to be called, is one of the brightest minds I have met this year, especially one with an appreciation for liquor.
Being new to Kenya, and conveniently staying in lavington, I offered to take him out for dinner on Tuesday night; during which I learnt everything about his life history and he learnt how to pronounce my name and to call the waiter “vipi bwana”; sounds like a fair trade to me, I do have a pretty difficult name.
Gore told me a lot about himself, his childhood years in cold Russia, his varsity years in dreadlocks in the Caribbean, his marital life in Canada and his work life travelling all over the world.
He spoke a lot that man, and I listened to most of it, though I must admit I had a few zoned out moments trying to figure out which movie mafia character he reminded me of, with the strong accent, the hand gestures and the husky low tones. Now if only his name was Dmitri and he had a cane.
Anyway Dmitri, I mean Gore, taught me a lot that night. It helped that he had once worked as a taster in one of the refineries back at home. He said that out of all the places and positions he had worked in, that had been the most instrumental time in his life. Then had he learnt to really appreciate life. His training and experience taught him to be aware of all of his senses, not just his taste buds; you had to smell the purity of the liquor, feel its burn, see its clarity; you had to taste it with your whole.
He said something that entirely changed my perspective on a lot of things and answered a few questions I had been gnawing at. Mainly, what is love or rather how do I know that I am in love?
He said,
“Crystal, a day will come when you will meet someone who will have an impact in your life so great that you will barely realize that he has changed you, you will merely blend into his world oblivious that he is the center of it. This is a person whom if you are in a room full of people, you can feel his presence without seeing him. If he walks behind you, you will turn because you can feel his scent around you; if your eyes are closed and he touches you; you automatically recognize the feel of his touch; if he kisses you in the dark, you can undoubtedly recognize the taste of him, if he walks past in a poorly lit room you will recognize his silhouette; you can easily single out his voice in a room full of conversations. That is love.”
It’s not about finishing each other’s sentences, that’s just familiarity… I bet if I had a dog that could talk it could probably finish off all my sentences after years of being around me.
Love is about being so infused into the other person such that every nerve in your body is subconsciously aware of him/her at all times.
Love is when you realize that the entire time you were reading this he/she was on your mind and now you’re either smiling because you know it’s true or you’re hating yourself because you wish it wasn’t true.
After writing this i realise that it doesn't sound quite as profound as it did on tuesday night. The best thing to do is to grab a bottle of vodka, preferebly one that is distilled atleast more than once, take a few shots, then start reading again from the top in a russian accent.
from russia with love,
Crystal.
