Saturday, June 22, 2013

Return to Vodkaberg, Part Six: The Ones I Didn't See

So if I said I never saw them again, in the book VODKABERG, I never did.

The Beauty Queen? Saw her for the last time in 2002 and that was that. Don't even have any pictures of her, don't know her last name so no chance to find her anywhere on line. Hope she's not locked in some Shiekh's basement.

Crazy Angel? Saw her last in 2005 at that motorcycle show, and as I said, somebody sent me a link in 2010 to a website about some reality show she was in. Didn't quite understand the rules, and I think she was only in a few episodes. It was something like, they put a bunch of girls together in a house with some guys, and you have to guess which ones have boyfriends already, and they get voted out according to their faithfulness. According to the reality show's website, she lives in Moscow with a boyfriend and works as a doctor.

I considered whether it was ethical to use this picture, but then I thought, well, what's she done for me lately ...

Brunetka and Willowy were both on Facebook for a while, posting the usual happy-face pictures, but both have disappeared from it. Both were still married and living in Turkey, last I saw them.

Skinny? Last time I saw her was as I mentioned in VODKABERG. Also don't know her last name, but Red tells me that she doesn't like computers and social networks anyway.

Landlady's Daughter? Married with children, working in a bank, last time I talked to her was as described in Vodkaberg. Buh-bye.

The Kazakh? She's well, I talk to her fairly often on Vkontakte, she works part time as an English teacher and translator, and often wants to know the finer points of something.

She got married in early 2010, to husband number 2, and had her second child, a son, in 2010, also.

"2 kids at age 26, it's no joke!" she said, when I asked her if that was pretty stressful.

The one I referred to as Boobies? The last time mentioned in Vodkaberg was the last time I saw her. Here's a picture of her, anyway.



Young Marilyn friended me on Facebook and is still married to a football player, with a son who is now about 8 or 9 -- she's sort of the Vodkaberg version of Victoria Beckham and posts all sorts of goofy glam pics of their exotic holidays and nightclubbing.

The only problem? Most of her friends have duck lips, and I'm afraid that's the next big thing with those chicks. Yeek. Real Housewives of Vodkaberg.

Red, also known as the Cat Food Girl? Saw her in Moscow in 2010. She was working in a restaurant then. We're friends on Facebook, and she went back to university and has achieved whatever level of success allows you to at least post a lot of happy vacation pictures of yourself on Facebook. I wrote her the other day, and she replied:

Hi, darling)) I'm very well)
Waisting my summer in Moscow. Nothing interesting: work, university, home.


when I asked if she was married yet, she replied:

))) nice joke! I'm "forever alone", you probably forgot about it...)

Natasha Nevada is the girl mentioned in this entry, MOSCOW IS BURNING (and Red is the girl I met on the second day.)



Natasha Nevada is as always, difficult; we had a lot of online sex the first year I was in Saudi but then one day she just stopped answering emails. That's just how she rolled, she did that back in Vodkaberg, also. I know she was having all kinds of adventures with online dating, taking holidays to Europe to see various guys who would usually then threaten to kill her afterwards.

She's sent me a few emails since then, but usually not answered my responses, and been vague about her situation. She broke my no-response rule of three several times, but occasionally commented on pictures I posted on Facebook or whatever, so I wasn't sure what to do.

I sent her a text when I was in Vodkaberg this year, asking if she would be in town for the May holiday, and she said, yes, and that she would call me, but I gave her my number and she never called or wrote a message.

Yesterday, she posted something on Vkontakte about how she'd chosen a path that led to loneliness, so I think she just had a breakup.

I posted this song on there, saying "If you're having a bad day, here's a sad song for you."



She replied, "You're my soulmate, X."

"Except for the times you don't answer me," I said, and she never responded.

She's not married, anyway. Maybe we are soulmates -- Lost Soulmates.



Ballroom Dancer? I haven't seen her since 2009, but I talked to her for quite a while on Facebok the other day, so next week:

RETURN TO VODKABERG, SPECIAL BONUS FEATURE: BALLROOM DANCER AND ETX DISCUSS RELATIONSHIPS AND MARRIAGE


9 comments:

Eccentric Expat said...

Thanks for the updates on everyone. That's quite a few people to keep track of, even for 9 years.

Anonymous said...

Grim. Or depressing. I can't decide.

Do I have to make a choice?

Twenty said...

Sometimes, ETX, you make the dissolute and feckless life sound less than entirely fulfilling.

English Teacher X said...

Well, I like to think so.

Anonymous said...

On a positive note, the earlier comment about bad oral hygiene and the resulting halitosis - did make me feel good about my strict adherence to semi-annual trips to the dental hygienist. No plaque for me, no sir!

English Teacher X said...

They're getting better about all that stuff, it must be said.

Anonymous said...

From the descriptions is seems as if Russia's becoming Americanized: plenty of girls who've ridden the carousel find themselves single and without many marriage prospects, and others who became wags.

Are you sensing these girls are becoming desperate?

Glad the Kazakh girl seems to be in a good place. She still in Kstan?

Hope you'll include plenty of pics of Ballroom Dancer and her rockets. I know you got em.

English Teacher X said...

None of them are desperate yet; none of them are even 30. And there's plenty of Russian guys to marry. Pterodactyl Girl said she feels like there are a lot fewer single moms around then there were a few years ago; guys are sobering up and staying with the girls they knocked up more often.

Anonymous said...

ETX I absolutely loved your book about Vodkaberg. I moved to Moscow in August of 2006 and still live here today in 2017. Married to a Russian (from Semagonkaberg .... okay, Volzhskiy) and have 3 beautiful kids. "gloppy mayonaise salads" is one of my favorite quotes. What about all Russians having soup for lunch - with mayonaise-soaked black break for lunch even in the heat of the summer?! Went to the Hungry Duck in 2006, there were rumors that it was a gay club - got hit on by two different men, then got the hell out. Had I read your book (impossible without time-travel but anyways....), I might have stayed until the early mornings.

Great fun, your book! well done.