Girl Fights & Slippers

I think when I go home I'm going to have a Russian-style (note: I say "Russian" and not "Ukrainian" quite a bit only because that's what THEY say here. Most people in Chernigov seem to think of themselves and their traditions as, at least partly, Russian.) dinner party. This is what it will look like:

First, when everyone arrives they will take off their shoes and I will give them a pair of slippers to wear. This is very important. Shoes are never worn in houses here and it is seriously not okay to be slipper-less. At first this tradition seemed strange to me... I'd spend 15 minutes finding the perfect pair of shoes and end up wearing slippers adorned with a big plush dog... but I've gotten over it and mostly opt for comfortable shoes to navigate the impossible ice-ridden sidewalks and streets of Chernigov.

So, after everyone has their pair of slippers we'll go into the living room where I've put a table and scraped together chairs from all over the house. Some people will be towering over the table, others won't be able to see over it. I will have a water-proof table cloth over the table. When everyone arrives the cold food will already be on the table: beet salad, carrot salad, Russian salad, olives, pickles, pickled tomatoes, bread with butter and salmon or meat, cheeses, deviled eggs, mushrooms and some kind of salami or blood sausage. When everyone sits down I'll bring out the hot dishes: potatoes and perhaps some kind of meat. Then we'll drink wine and vodka and probably some kind of homemade sweet tasteless juice. Between every bite we will toast and (at least the males will) drink another shot of vodka. Then we will sit there for at least a few hours nibbling with cigarette-breaks every ten minutes. Eventually we will have tea or coffee and something sweet and everyone will leave around midnight.

Let's plan this for around... March 5th?

Actually, I enjoy dinner parties here quite a lot although I'm still pretty skeptical about their food. I assume that happens with most cultures though... throw someone into a new eating situation at age 23 (eep almost 24) and you're bound to have some issues.

And now to girl fights. We had dinner at Nastya and Oleg's last night (who I always enjoying hanging out with because Nastya speaks English and I generally really like them and their little girl) and we mentioned that we had been to dinner somewhere the night before and Nastya asked where and when Alex answered she started laughing: "She wanted to beat me up once." And then there was laughing and talk in Russian and eventually I got the story: Once upon a time many years ago Alex dated a girl and then broke up with her. When this happened the girl got pissed and instead of taking it out on Alex, took it out on any girl who was friends with him. (Like, Nastya) and went around school threatening to beat up any girl who dared to speak to him. Eventually he had to intervene because everyone was terrified of her. I'd actually heard this story before but didn't realize that this girl was the same girl who so graciously hosted us last night... the same girl whose baby I held and who gave me socks as we left. I wonder if she thought I knew. Anyway, it was pretty funny and led to a conversation about girl fights... Apparently around here girls fight all the time. (As do guys, trust me there.) It kind of shocked me and I'm a little bit afraid to go anywhere alone now..... What if someone beats me up?????