Day Fifty-One, Part B

Before I explain how I ended up sitting next to THIS GUY, let me rewind to this morning's visit at the Baby Home. Darryl, Luke, Julia and I had our final "group session" with Loretta and Margie who left Kostanai for Frankfurt shortly after lunch. If there is one, it was the best day to fly "Air Astana" as the weather is gorgeous! Sunny, warm and clear. I decided to spend my afternoon walking with a camera so I headed out by way of "Central Park". Two long blocks from Hotel Medeo, I realized I needed sunglasses for the glare as well as the pervasive dust. Not wanting to go backwards, I turned toward the outdoor market where I knew with relative certainty that I could buy a knock-off pair of Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Gucci or Dior for under ten bucks. I was right. They are BIG, BOLD and really cheap! It was then that I remembered that I needed to buy fruit and that Darryl needed fruit so I proceeded to the produce market and bought LOTS of fruit. I also remembered that I was hungry so for about 20 cents I bought two fresh ground beef perrogies and ate them hot out of a plastic bag while standing on a mound of dirt, juggling my bags of fruit. Still, I had not lost sight of my original objective which, as you recall, was to take pictures on this glorious day! Things were going swimmingly so far.

In closer proximity to Victory Park than to Central Park, I turned right out of the market and headed west toward the Vladimir Ilich Lenin (1870-1924) Memorial which was unfortunately shrouded in blinding sunlight so that you are looking at a blog photo of the grounds and not the monument which is now draped in roses and floral wreaths. And although the landscape is greener and undoubtedly more attractive, I still believe that Kostanai is most charming under snow. But back to my story,,,

I meandered through the park taking pictures when all of a sudden I heard an uproarious commotion and saw people of all ages, hundreds of them, running toward the soccer stadium. Sucked in by curiosity, I joined the swell and soon found myself (clutching three bags of fruit) squashed amidst the crowds on a ticket line for the opening match between the Kostanai "Tobyl" and the Astana "Actaha" (mind you I didn't know this until I was safely escorted to my seat!). By this point I had mounting reservations and NO options. I couldn't move. It hadn't even occurred to me that once I got up to the window, I had no idea WHAT I was asking for or HOW MUCH it would cost me! As fate would have it, I survived. And my greatest accomplishment of the entire day was non-verbally convincing a battalion of armed guards that I could not possibly surrender my produce!

The karmic twist is that MY seat was next to "THIS GUY"! I am not kidding. I can't tell you who won the game. I can't even tell you who I was rooting for! But I can say this for sure; that I figured out how to fit in. Isn't that one of life's lessons we learned in kindergarten?

Well, now night is approaching. The heat of the late afternoon sun has allowed me to throw open my balcony doors while I sit in jeans and a tee shirt, reflecting on the day. My all of your day's adventures be so simple and so sweet. Love from here to there...