hmmmmm

yeahhh...

Le Roux and I are back together....hehe

we couldn't really stay away from each other...It's like that when you love someone a ridiculous amount...
Don't get me wrong, we still have our issues, but for some reason, after a good long talk and an expression of emotion and explanation of feelings, you realize that two different people coming together in any situation is going to be work.
Everyone says this right? making a relationship work is hard work...damn am I reminded of that.
To be honest, I've never had so many issues at the beginning of a relationship...but in the same vein, I've never cared about someone as much as I do my poo bear. It's all balanced out I think.

Regarding my issues, I've found a way to remind me of who I was...who I've become...I think I just needed a break of sorts..a break to remind myself of what made me happy...after a few days of being apart, I was just shockingly miserable and the only thing that made me feel better instantaneously was letting myself walk into his room.
I'm still keeping the resolutions I've made to myself..the yoga and the blog. It's all just a balance, and yes Yasmin; subsequently, all a learning experience.


On a different note, the crazy fun news is that I'm going to Istanbul, Turkey! YEHAW
So damn excited about that...everyone says that people are super nice and everyone who goes there loves it to death.
That'll be march 6th to the 10th....

AND on an earlier note, one of the bestest buds, Bessy is coming next thursday! WHOO! She'll be coming for about a week and I'll be on my vacation so I'll be able to spend some time with her, so that'll be fun.

cultural note:

So I'm in a nightclub (this is before xmas, so maybe you've heard this story, but it should be told to the masses who hopefully are still reading), and it's a stupid hour of the night. The club is packed and the people are dancing...it's loud, smokey and crowded.
ONLY IN MOSCOW: you see a cleaning lady, with her head lowered, slouching with her dustpan and broom, brooming away crap that may be on the floor. My Swedish friend turns to me and says "Only in Moscow"...
I'm standing later with a friend, and I turn around and there's a lady dusting the ground. I say a quick "spaciba" to her and she jumps, stunned, and scurries away quickly...like "OH! Someone saw me!"...
MY GOSH! It's freakin' 3 in the morning and I feel despicable for my generation of careless partiers when there's a woman having to maneuver unseen through crowds of people dancing suggestively.
This is just the way it is.
There are people who are poor and they work where they can to survive.
And here I am complaining that my budget is tight.

That's what I like about Moscow, (and hate really), it's always a reminder (depending on how you want to see it) of what we have, don't have, COULD have, can never have, and for me personally, what I never ever really want.

There's Gulia.
She's my school's cleaning lady. I want to say CUSTODIAN, which is what we say in Canada, but she doesn't even allow herself that dignity. She walks around with her head bowed and takes orders like she serves everyone. I hate that, and just cause she's from Uzbekistan, she's automatically inferior.
I made her supper one day and she told me about her life...lives in moscow with her two brothers making money to send home. Typical story: mother sick, needs operation, needs money. The three of them live in a home that's basically the size of my apartment with 30 OTHER PEOPLE. She sleeps in a space on the floor.
Last week, I got my hair cut; it's this salon that's usually really expensive, but on weekdays between 11-2pm, it's only 300Roubles for a great haircut (that's like 12$) so I went and they did a great job.
Elena and I spoke to Virginie (my great boss), and she okayed me to take Gulia on my afternoon off to get a surprise haircut. I didn't say anything to her until we got to the door of the salon...She was so happy. It was my happy deed for the day, and damn was she happy and did she look good!
I had to convince her not to tie it right back up after she got off the chair! To walk back to school proudly.
There are so many simple things about our world, and we always forget.

That was a nice day for me to walk home to my boyfriend.
Gulia tells me to hang on to him, because it's nothing but wonderful to have a man that loves you and takes care of you. She doesn't have one....like she doesn't have MANY things I do.
I'm thinking, enough pettiness,

I love you very much, all of you and everything,
thank you!
patey:]