Men and decisions

You, yeah you! If you come here regularly (I know you do), please take a sec to vote in my poll and let me know what you come here for.

And now about that brilliant piece of Soviet cinema: if you watched the fragment, you’ve seen this. At a certain point the man says: “As for the decisions in this house, I’ll be making them. For the simple reason that I’m the man here.” A friend said this to me yesterday (he also sent me the link) and I got quite angry with him. Because I am very well capable of making decisions and actually prefer to make decisions myself. I called him macho and got into a discussion with him (actually I was talking and he was not stopping me). And while talking I have discovered that even though I have no problems making decisions, I do like to have a man around who takes responsibility without any discussion and makes all necessary decisions. I seem to contradict myself! Is it because I was raised in a culture where men are supposed to earn the money and make all the decisions? Or is it because I am a woman and every woman (even an emancipated one) needs a man to lean on when difficult decisions have to be made?

A piece of news: 25% of Dutch women think they look nice and sexy. I asked one man how many women on the streets he thinks look nice and sexy. He confessed he liked about one quarter, which is 25%. ;)

By the way, I think “a grown-up man” is a contradictio in terminis.

Timeline: 1980, as Ukrainian as it’s going to get.

Correct behaviour

My parents have finally arrived today – yay!!! They’ve brought sushki, sweets, tea and some nice paintings. Besides the fun of being together their arrival also means I don’t have to cook for a month (!) and that many things in the house and garden will be fixed. ;)

Imagine you are involved with someone who is married (not to you obviously). What would you call a correct behaviour: not getting involved with this person at all or not interfere with their other (married) life? Interfering isn’t correct, of that I’m sure. Not getting involved might be correct, but not always a real option. Besides, I think not getting involved only makes sense if you are trying to protect your own interests. A friend of mine said he would never get involved with a married woman. Me: "Why?" He: "What's the point?" Me: "What if you are in love with her?" He: "Then logic doesn't work and anything can happen. But as long as I can control myself, I will not have a relationship with a married woman." Well, he is very young. He might change his mind as years pass. ;) Where I really see no point is in deciding for another person what’s right and how things are supposed to be.

And here is a piece of Soviet cinema classics - Moskva slezam ne verit (we all LOVE this film, if you don’t catch it: the girl’s name is Sasha): http://you.video.sina.com.cn/b/17404647-1276667783.html And tomorrow – if I feel like it – a discussion about who is supposed to take decisions – men or women.

Timeline: December 25th 1979 Soviet Army has entered Afghanistan starting a war that would last ten years. All that time Afghanistan for me was a country at war. I remember pictures of some deserted villages, empty landscapes and tanks on TV. My parents did not have a TV. Well, they had one, but it didn’t work. It just stood there until I took it apart years later. I watched TV when I was in Saratov with my grandparents. It was a black-and-white TV and when we watched figure skating the commentary would describe the colours of the costumes.

Waiting

Here I am again. Waiting. Waiting for someone to do something tonight. Waiting… Are you good at waiting? When is someone good at waiting: when they are waiting patiently or when they are actually not waiting at all? I cannot wait patiently. At least not for something I want to happen very badly. And especially not for something I’m not sure will happen. Patience is not my strong point in general. And particularly when waiting. I am not even good at keeping myself busy while waiting. The more I want something to happen the more paralysed I get by the waiting process. My life slows down or even stops when I wait. If being good at waiting means being entirely consumed by it then I am certainly very good.

Maastricht was sunny, beautiful and fun. I am The IT-Girl at Versteegh. This basically means people push every device that has buttons into my hands: “Figure this out!” So, naturally, during our GPS puzzle tour through Maastricht I got the PDA. It was fun AND our group has won! We had dinner in a ball room (or at least it looked like that), but unfortunately I had to skip today’s programme because I had to be home on time to help my parents find a hotel in Germany. Luckily, after I sorted things out with my parents, I had enough time to do something outdoors. It was too cloudy for the beach, so we did a two-hour bicycle ride and spent another one and a half hours laying on the pillows of Peukie – a beach café in Scheveningen. ;)

Timeline: 1979

Watermelon

My friends have suggested some more watermelon combinations: watermelon with salt (hmm, I will try, but not sure I will like it) and a traditional Greek combination – watermelon with feta (this one sounds very tasty).

My parents are on their way from Kiev to The Hague. They were supposed to cross the Ukrainian-Polish border today, but my father didn’t feel well and since he is the only driver in the car, they had to make a stop at a hotel some hundred km before the border. I hope tomorrow will go better, otherwise it will take five days before they get here.

I am going to Maastricht for the weekend. All employees of Versteegh (+partners) are going. Since I have no partner, I will have to share a room with a colleague. There are eight people without a partner: seven women and one man. I have tried to claim him in public during the lunch a couple of weeks ago. He said “We shall see”. The rest of our co-workers had fun! :D Anyway, a weekend in Maastricht means there will be no post on Saturday. So see you Sunday!

Some eyecandy again: summer night in Paris.

Timeline: 1979 – Because I am called Sasha and most of the time I had short hair and wore trousers, people thought I was a boy. I was used to explaining: “I am not a boy, I am a girl.” I had no problems with this.

Watermelon and onion

It seems I am getting a name at Versteegh. The one who asks an enormous amount of questions after every presentation. Which is not always the case. Today, for example, I only asked eight questions.

I have discovered an amazing taste combination today: watermelon with onion. Just take a piece of watermelon and a piece of onion (approximately the same size) and eat them together. I was shocked to find out how nicely these two go together! I have to experiment around to incorporate this duo in a sauce or a cocktail.

Look at this! Such a great idea!


Today’s swirl: ice-cream - chocolate, fruit - two spoons of cherries and two spoons of strawberry, topping - dark chocolate and mini waffles. Delicious!

Timeline: 1978 – before I went to school I spent my winters in Saratov with my grandparents. The shoes I have on my feet are valenki. And the trousers are a part of a suit my mother made for me. She hand stitched large ladybirds on the jacket and on the trousers. The kids in the kindergarten said: “These are butterflies. They are too big to be ladybirds.” Idiots!

A prize for all potential employers

Summer rocks! I love wearing a singlet, a short skirt and a pair of slippers. I love sitting in the sun getting brown. I love the mood on the streets. Somehow, if it’s warm and sunny enough, everybody gets slower and happier. I love bbq. We had fish today, for a change. And a salad with crème fraîche. And a Banana Sensation! And then we decided to make mojitos because we had all the ingredients.

Mojito – the perfect summer night drink
For one portion you will need: 40 ml White Rum (Bacardi works very well), 30 ml fresh lime juice (one lime is enough for two portions), 3 sprigs of mint (helps if you have it in your garden), 2 teaspoons sugar, sparkling water, crushed ice.

Muddle mint sprigs with sugar and lime juice. Add rum. Add the ice and stir gently. Put the mixture in a glass and top up with sparkling water. Delicious! And very easy.

A friend of mine said it could harm my career if I write about drinking alcohol too often. She is very sweet. This is to all my potential employers: I write about drinking on this blog every time I have a drink. Please go on and count how many times I’ve been drinking in the past three month. Send the results to mirskykh@hotmail.com. If you answer this question correctly, I will send you a good book and a good CD.

Timeline: 1978, well, actually up to the moment I went to school I had very few friends. My problem was that many kids were doing things I could not comprehend. For example running for no particular reason. Or throwing and breaking things, again – for no particular reason. Or not being able to conjugate verbs in the right manner. In the latter case I never assumed they were stupid or haven’t learnt it properly. I thought I was not clever enough to understand!

Mist

I like mist. It transfers the world around you into something different. It hides things, deforms them, forces you into here and now, because there nothing else. It was slightly misty this morning and I watched a cut-out multilayered paper 3-d landscape out of the train window. You can easily make such a landscape yourself:
Take a piece of greyish-white paper to use as a background. Then draw (or find in newspapers and magazines) and cut-out the layers. First layer: very vague, grey. Tall buildings, trees and cranes will do well in this layer. Second layer: slightly sharper and brighter than the first one. Here you can recognise (or rather guess) the colours. Trees, churches and houses are the best objects for this. Third layer: colours are not clear but clearly recognisable, objects are clearly visible. Take a road with cars large and small. Fourth layer: everything looks like a good quality photograph covered by a barely visible film of dust. Horses or cows in a field. Fifth layer: bright, clear, liberating. Grass, flowers, small bushes, poles. Now just stick the layers to the paper in the right order (start from the most distant one and move to the closest one). See? You don’t have to take a train early in the morning to enjoy such a landscape!

Today’s swirl: ice-cream - chocolate and strawberry, fruit - one spoon of cherries and three spoons of watermelon, topping - dark chocolate and mini waffles. Mmmmmmm!

I need to enable mms on my phone somehow… :-|

Timeline: 1978