TELEVISION
Alexey set sail from the port of Saint Petersburg today aboard the research vessel "Akademik Fyodorov" on an expedition to Antarctica! Hooray! LET'S WISH OUR GUYS A GOOD VOYAGE! And we'll be waiting for them to visit in a month. Lyoshka wrote that in December, TV crews from one of the leading Russian channels will also be in Cape Town. He says he gave them my and Katya's phone numbers and that they might contact us. However, he didn't say what their purpose for visiting South Africa is. Perhaps it's the ship, but I didn't draw that conclusion from his last letter.
TONYA
I met a girl at "Mavericks" who I liked. After we talked, I started liking her even more. My intuition doesn't fail me after all. She's an interesting girl.
Obviously, she has a boyfriend. It's always like that. But that's normal! You'd have to be surprised if she didn't, right?!
Her name is Tonya (Antonina). It's a cool name. She's from Ukraine (which, given her beauty, is not surprising), from Zaporizhzhia.
She is 24 years old. Her first degree is related to music. The second, which she didn't finish, is in medicine.
She says she really likes South Africa, especially the weather and nature. But not the Black people.
Before, when I liked a girl and found out she had someone, I would "step aside." I won't do that anymore.
My friend and I had several memorable conversations in Moscow before I left for here. In particular, we talked about the fact that if you like someone, you need to communicate with them. Don't look for or build barriers yourself. And so what if she/he has someone? If you like a person, don't be a fool, don't give up on them! And it doesn't matter if they are taken or not. Maybe there is a place in their heart for you too?! And they themselves will be glad that you appeared in their life.
"A person won't leave another just like that, without a reason," Zhenya expressed a wise thought back then. "And if it happened, it means they were missing something in those relationships. And they are getting something in new relationships that they need and with which they are happier, more comfortable, and so on. And, therefore, the previous relationships weren't that wonderful."
By the way, I asked Tonya if a woman stops believing that normal men exist after working in "a place like this" for a while.
— Well, normal ones almost never come here! You know, there's one in two hundred who came just to look at beautiful girls and enjoy it. But, in general, creeps come here. For me, they are just a wallet with money, — Tonya replied.
"And for these men, the girls are living, seductive dolls," I thought. — "Neither the girls treat these men, nor the men treat the girls here as living, feeling people."
Meanwhile, Tonya continued:
— I have a boy. He is for my soul. And somewhere deep down, I still believe in love.
This news pleased me.
I want to give Tonya a small souvenir one of these days. When you like someone, they should know about it. Why deprive them of this sensual information?
November 05, 2008
THE TASTE OF LIFE
Whether I'm driving into town, along the ocean shore, or on a road by the mountain slopes... I keep thinking: how can I tell about all this without losing the nuances?! So that the person reading these lines could breathe in the scent of the ocean; be fanned by a light breeze while I'm riding my bike (in Cape Town, this light, and sometimes strong, wind is almost always present). Or just walk under the warming spring sun in November. How can I tell you about this and how can I convey it to you? Only as I know how — in words.
This is South Africa! Cape Town. November 2008. On one hand, there is so much impressive stuff! And on the other, it's all just business as usual. It's just... LIFE!
Someone will ask, how do people live there? What is the situation in the country? What, and how? I will never even set a goal to answer all these questions directly.
I arrived — I saw everything with one set of eyes. A week later, the picture changed. Now, more than a month and a half later, I see everything differently again. It's just that the level of understanding changes, deepens, and... it is subjective! You see, I lived for a month, it seemed to me that I understood and felt something. Three months later, it's a different, deeper level, five years later — even more so. And so on to infinity. And it's impossible to understand everything! So I will write as it is, as I see it and... without lying, but as I... learned and felt.
I came here to live for that very reason, because when you are a tourist, you can explain very, very little to yourself and others in the time allotted to you, and even then, only superficially. But by living, working, and seeing all sides of life that, whether you want to or not, affect you (housing issues, salary, all sorts of other difficulties, and joys too!), you can already learn and understand something. And talk about it. Even if sometimes it's naive and silly, it's something experienced on your own skin.
For example, the Black people don't seem so nice to me anymore. They often smile at you because they want money. They are often jerks. Thieves. Beggars. Fools and idlers. And, besides, what is often called crime — also, mainly, comes here precisely from the Black mass of the population.
I'm not painting everyone with the same brush, I'm talking about what is expressed and catches the eye of a person who has lived here for a month and a half. Of course, they — Black people — are all different. There are smart and decent ones. And there are educated ones too. But still, a nation has a face. It does!
But otherwise, I have good relationships with three or four Black bartenders and one waitress at work, and they seem quite alright to me. And good people work in the kitchen. So I'm not labeling anyone! No-no-no-no-no-no! ?
November 07, 2008
