sour grapes

so tonight i had my first officially terrible night in moscow. my classmate cheryl and i were the envy of the class, having won the lottery for two available tickets to see 'cosmetics of the enemy,' a critically lauded show at the satirikon theatre. the show stars our acting teacher from the summer, roman kozak, who is just about a household name here in russia. i saw him on tv the other day!

we got out of rehearsal late and had to hustle to get to the theatre on time. we took the metro, my first time, and it is virtually indistinguishable from the subway in new york. we got to the theatre after a couple mile walk, about five minutes late. luckily, the show hadn't started. we dropped our coats off at the coat check, and hustled in to two free seats.

the show was virtually impossible to enjoy. it was a wordy, witty play, and, of course, in russian. everyone around me was having a great time, laughing a lot, and all the jokes were beyond me, because i didn't speak the language. there was no set change, no intermission, just 2+ hours of words.

it was fun though, to see my teacher, and he was called out four times for extra curtain calls. on the last one, i was down at the lip of the stage, and managed to hand some flowers to him personally.

the trouble happened out in the lobby. i took cheryl's number and waited in line for our coats. i was pretty quick, and got in the line early. when i got to the desk, the guy spouted something at me in russian and took the number from the person behind me. he ignored me for five minutes. i became more aggressive, getting his attention and saying 'isviniti pazhalsta' which is russian for excuse me, please, AND you're welcome. he laughed at me, and continued to smirk and handle all the people around me. i stood there for twenty+ minutes, while he laughed at me, refused to take my number, and made fun of me to his coworkers and some of the people picking up their coats. the theatre held many hundred people, and most had their coats and were gone by the time he gave our coats to cheryl, who had to physically prevent me from hopping the counter and getting our coats ourselves. it was absolutely humiliating, and there was nothing i could do.

after i missed the bus thanks to the coat check jerk, cheryl and i caught the next one and made it home. i found out once here that the exact same guy had done the exact same thing to my classmate nikki three nights ago. it's only because we're american, and it's absolutely appalling to me!

to russia's credit, everybody here has been amazing with the exception of this coat check bully and one of the cashiers at the MXAT cafeteria who also has a problem with americans. i haven't felt picked on and humiliated like this since i was in middle school and used to be called 'faggot' and beat up because i danced ballet. i'm still boiling inside. i'd like to be more easygoing- the type who doesn't let an idiot like that bother him, but i still have ground to cover before i get there.

meanwhile, tomorrow i'm gonna exploit my connections in moscow to try to get this kid fired! maybe i'll feel better then!

yours in moscow,
neil