Syria, Iran, and Ulyanovsk to boot

I went to the rinok to buy some lotion on my way home from work a couple of days ago (there's one right by our building where we go buy fruits, veggies, and meat for lunch every day). The woman was so nice! We ended up talking, and I told her I am from Utah, but live in Los Angeles for school. Turns out she has some relatives in LA. Her name is Maya, and she is from Dagastan, Russia--in the Caucusus Region, bordered by the Chechen Republic of Russia, as well as by Georiga, Azerbaijan, and the Caspian Sea--but the rest of her family lives in Syria. She told me to come again to talk, and I told her I definitely would.

So on my way home last night, I stopped by to buy some conditioner. We talked for a long time, and she told me about a trip she had just made to Damascus, Syria and invited me to come along with her in the end of August! I wish I could, but I won't even be in this part of the world, and USC calls! She showed me some pictures, and it looked amazing.

She ended up asking if I was dating someone--the inevitable question here I've decided--and I told her no. So now she is pretty set on lining me up with her brother, "A handsome blond boy who could have any girl he wants, because they are all chasing him, but he refuses to settle down." She had other pictures of Syria she had shown me, but none of him, so she has promised to bring one for the next time I stop by! Oh, my. What's a girl to do? haha She's so sweet, though so I look forward to dropping in again for another chat.

I also met a wonderful woman from Iran after my meeting with the sisters Tuesday. Her name is Yulia, and though she speaks Russian, it is a little halting. I told her some of my friends back in Los Angeles are from Iran, and we chatted for a bit. Talk soon turned to politics, and she talked about how awful the elections results were. In our broken way, we talked about the demonstrations and how sad it is that lives had been taken from innocent people, who are honestly hoping for their voices to be heard. She was pleased to hear that I knew about what was going on in Iran, and that I was following the news reports. She said she hoped we'd meet up again, and I told her we definitely would. She really is a sweet, wonderful woman!

Shortly after this, as I was walking to the metro at Novokuznetskaya, I saw that my favorite band Akuli was about to play! I decided to stop for a minute and listen, and about one song in, the guy next to me turned and commented on some of the people dancing. "It's funny, isn't it?" So we started talking, and he asked if he could get my number. Then he asked how old I am. I told him 25, and it turns out he's 21. I asked how old he had thought I was, and he said 20. We laughed. Then he introduced me to his cousin and one of his friends. Turns out they are all from Ulyanovsk!! They were really surprised to find out that I not only knew where that was, but that I had lived there!! It was great, cuz when I asked where he was from, he answered, "I was born where Lenin was born." "Oh," I said, "you're from Ulyanovsk?!" He totally didn't think that I would know, so his reaction was great! It was fun to sit and talk with them for a bit while we listened to the band play before I took off for home (of course the mandatory Beatle's songs were featured among the Russian hits--man, I love this country!).