10/29 – Thursday - Dvoika

So far I’ve been picking up quite a bit of Russian – though the useful bits that I need around town have been slow to learn. My friends here have been great in teaching me useful phrases, helping me order off menus, and helping me buy fruit off vendors. And lest you think that the learning is all unidirectional, I’ve also taught the group probably the most used phrase nowadays “I need to drop a deuce”. (Mnye nada ahpuskat dvoika). Dvoika (deuce) has entered our everyday vocabulary – and I have to say that I’m pretty proud of contributing to the linguistic knowledge of my fellow students. (I can feel my parents beaming with pride now…that or hurriedly changing the locks and their last names).

The need for this phrase came about one day this week, when they shut all our water off from 9am-9pm – but of course they didn’t tell us this until 9am. So without the ability to flush our toilets – some of us were in a bit of a bind. One of the girls ran across the street and snuck into the bathroom of a restaurant, only to find out a little too late that their water was shut off too, thereby leaving a present of sorts. It was only one step short of just lighting it on fire on their doorstep. We go there quite often and were relieved to hear that no one saw her running away. Hate to be associated as the group that poops and runs.