Today was a very fun day, but it didn't start out too well. Both my parents were sick as dogs and we had to visit the cemetery to say hello to our loved ones that had passed away. My dad was sick to his stomach and my mom had a headache. She checked her blood pressure but it was 127/74, pretty normal. I and my sister, on the other hand, were feeling pretty awesome, ready to meet the day.
The cemetery was outside of the city. We drove maybe 15 minutes to get to it. There were many people buried there, both young and old, but mostly old I'm sure. We have buried there my Grandfather Rachik, my great grandmother Esqui, and my second Aunt Karina. The cemeteries in Russia allow you to buy plots of land, gate it off, and decorate it however you wish. My uncle took care of the arrangements and there is space for other members of our immediate family. It is an inevitable truth that the old will pass on and they can rest assured that they will rest in peace. My uncle visits the cemetery every week to clean the land and wash the gravestones. He replaces the flowers and has the grass around the area mowed as well. It is a duty that is passed on from generation to generation. I haven't had any experience with death in America, but from what I know Americans don't visit the graves of dead relatives every week. Perhaps it's because the cemetery actually takes care of the area itself. If we didn't take care of the area here in Russia, it would get overgrown with weeds and would be swallowed up in a forgotten mess. Also, if you forget where the person lies, you have to petition the government for the files that say where the person is. I guess it is illegal to just give out that information to whoever asks.
Following that little trip, we came and ate at my Uncle's place. Finally my nephew was awake and I got to play with him. He is one and a half and is super awesome to interact with. Child development is a beautiful thing. He understand what you are saying and can babble words in Russian back to you when you ask him or tell him. Of course there is the usual "net" and "da." He laughs so freely and enjoys every little bit of attention he can get. Destroying things is his specialty though, and he knows you don't want him to do it, but he gives you this evil smile and then slowly does it anyway. He likes to fight and push and horse around just like baby boy should. I could imagine myself with a babe like that. I wouldn't want to do any work whatsoever, just play with him and teach him stuff. I should marry rich and just hang out with my kid all day. Bahaha. marriage. Like I said before, I am years away from that.
Next we went to the billiards club where they had both 9 footers and 12 foot tables, for traditional and Russian billiards. Since I play on a regular, I thoroughly schooled them at 8 ball, we didn't play 9. They serve alcohol and lots of food. It is a smoke friendly place too. Russians are smokers lol. We switched over to Russian billiards after an hour. The point of the game is to hit any ball off any other ball and make it into any hole. You break with a yellow ball and all the other ones are white. If you make it you keep going, until you made a majority of the balls in, then you win. The catch is that the balls are practically the same size and the holes, so the chances of making a ball in at random are nil, and you have to be super accurate to even stand a chance. I quickly made 5 balls in and then started to falter as the table cleared and the distance between the balls increased. My cousin Sergey beat me by 1 ball. I'll get better though. I plan on coming back.
Later that night we went back and talked tech with my uncle. He is quite tech savvy with a small computer devoted to the living room that is hooked up to the internet and his 120 hz 42 inch LG television. The internet here is so good. They get download speeds of 500 kbps during the day and 1,100 kbps during the night. They have a city wide local intranet where they can transfer files between each other in different buildings. The internet provider Beeline has different types of media available for download. Pretty sweet stuff.
Allright dudes and dudettes, till tomorrow, dosvedanya.
Pics here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150327030530041.388135.507325040
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