It was Girls Night Out (me, the big girls and Yana, our babysitter) and Steve stayed home with Brooklyn. We got ourselves all gussied up for our big night of local Cossack singing and dancing. Steve & I attended this choir once the year before and it was excellent. The singing was rich and I have never seen men squat so low and jump so high (my description of Cossack dancing)!
Well, we knew this was a special celebration of some sort, but we really didn't have a lot of details. Needless to say... we should have gotten details!
We sat through two straight hours of a birthday party for the main soloist of the choir. Now, you have to understand Russian birthday parties to understand our particular misery. The soloist turned 60 and EVERYONE who has EVER enjoyed his 40+ years of singing got up to wish him well and give him flowers. He sang a little, maybe one person danced, but primarily they toasted this man until he himself said that it was enough. TWO HOURS WITHOUT AN INTERMISSION!!!!! Aubrie was asleep in the first 15 minutes!
When I could finally see there was a break coming, I snuck out before anyone else so that I could get the kids to the bathroom before everyone else. Here in Krasnodar, most public toilets are just a hole in the ground and no seat, even in the concert halls. So, I asked my friend who had just been there herself what they were. She told me there was a seat...
Well, what she meant to say was that you get yourself into a seated postition... over a hole! That crazy Russian language! (My new favorite word is "sadushka", the word for the toilet you sit on.) So all my rushing was for naught. The kids decided they could wait... that is until the line formed and went out the door and up the stairs. That was when Aubrie decided she wanted to try. I had to tell her to forget about it and think of other things. I bought them candybars and braced them for another two hours of no music.
Well, since I had left early, I failed to realize that the soloist really meant it when he said enough was enough! The concert was over! There was a mixture of relief and dissatisfaction all at the same time. For Maddie it was a mixture of headache and nausea. She actually threw up in the car on the way home.
So, what started out with so much potential ended with tears on the bathroom floor. I don't think I will be going to see that hore ever again... (okay, I heard that snicker!)
Don't ask me what the dog is doing on the table. 
Once again, the girls played and sang...
