Last weekend I was in New York and spent Sunday in Brooklyn, specifically Brighton Beach. This small Brooklyn neighborhood has become quite the Russian enclave over the past 20 years. The story is that Russians settled here because the ocean reminded them of the Black Sea. I had dragged my family on the last day of our New York getaway down to see one of my favorite Russian tutors/friends, Tatiana and to finally meet my comrade from the middle of the country. It was a glorious day. The weather was perfect. We met at the High St. subway station in Brooklyn and then took in the views of New York from the Brooklyn Bridge walkway. After that we took the subway all the way down to Brighton Beach. We had lunch right on the boardwalk and heard Russian everywhere. Towards the end of our meal we were joined by Misha, Tatiana's husband. After lunch we walked off the food and the vodka and visited St. Petersburg Trade House, a large Russian bookstore. (Link added below) I resisted the urge to by a copy of Dostoyevsky in Russian, my daughter was busy looking for cd's of her favorite Russian groups, (yes, my daughter listens to Russian pop music especially the groups Ин-ян, БиС and the Russian-Uzbek singer Sogdiana) my husband wandered around unsure what to do with himself but admiring the chess sets. My comrade was looking for his own books. I ended up buying one book and one Russian film (Иван Васильевич меняет профессию) at the advice of Misha which was seconded by another Russian man who overheard us. I happen to love these old Russian comedies so was glad to add another to my collection.
While my boys were completely bored in the bookstore my youngest had $10.00 burning a hole in his pocket. It was money he had earned doing jobs over the summer and he had one thing he was looking for. Russian chocolate candy. Tatiana was brilliant helping him out and even though it was different than the kinds we get at the little Russian grocery in Brookline, I am happy to report he has a few new favorites. My oldest son and my comrade bonded over some poppy seed filled pastry which mistakenly they thought were filled with chocolate. When we passed another smaller grocery my youngest saw they were selling "Russian melons" and I had to remind him it was about an hour subway ride back to Manhattan and then the bus to New Jersey and it was a pretty good size melon. I was not going to carry it. My youngest can be a little dramatic and answered "FINE! I am going to buy so many melons when I go to Uzbekistan and you can't stop me!" Back on the subway platform and headed home, after last photos, big hugs and bigger thanks I had a small victory. A woman came up to us asking (in Russian) about the train. Without even thinking I answered her in Russian. My comrade complimented me on my accent and yes I have worked very hard on that, but to be fair he has more vocabulary and has been to Russia. So, he wins in my book.
Brighton Beach is not a big area and I think Tatiana and Misha were a little confused as to why we wanted to go. And maybe it's not that big a deal, maybe it would be like Tatiana and Misha coming to my town and taking them on a tour of the Mall. To my comrade and me it was interesting. It was a very safe immersion experience. We could read and speak and listen to Russian but then return to the English speaking world. On the subway on the way back to Manhattan we talked about how interesting it was to hear so much Russian being spoken and seeing Russian people from all over the Russian speaking world. There were children in the playground shouting «Поехали!», women from somewhere in Central Asia wearing beautiful headscarves shopping with round faced children in tow, teens and young people walking up the street to see and be seen, and shopkeepers who spoke only Russian. My comrade and I think that renting an apartment (near the beach of course) and living down there for a summer would really help improve out Russian. Hmmm now there's an idea; a brownstone dacha.
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