Thursday, May 22, 2014

L'viv Surprise

We've escaped the war zone in Ukraine for the less dramatic Poland. Brandt and I rolled in on the midnight train last night. Actually, maybe that's misleading. The train left L'viv at midnight, traveled the twelve or so feet it takes to get to Krakow, but took four centuries to do so. This was because the people at border crossing from Ukraine to Poland acted like we were trying to go to Afghanistan to sell drugs.

Not that I know what those are, Cathie.

We were alone on the train with the exception of an older couple (age 70 or so) who had also been wandering around Ukraine for the last few weeks and were royally FREAKED OUT to be taking an all-night train anywhere. The woman could be heard from time-to-time screaming at her husband, "at least put some underwear on!"

We loved them.

I would love to share exactly 200,000 pictures of L'viv with you so you can be bombarded with the same images I've forced upon my dear friends over at what the kids are calling "the Instagrams," but I'm not exactly sure how to do that on this computer in this Internet cafe. So I may have to wait to do that until next week. And now you have another reason to live.

So for now, I'll just share with you one quick video Brandt and I took in L'viv during our three wonderful days there.

You guys. L'viv is the most wonderful city on the planet. We wandered the streets and underground caverns for three days, eating borsch, chatting with bobs, meeting up with old friends, jamming with street performers, and trying to find jobs so we could stay forever and never have to come back to the country that is STILL producing Glee.

Anyway, we were sitting in a cafe for a while, reading, when two girls sat down near us and began talking. They spoke in Ukrainian and obviously assumed that we couldn't understand them because Brandt and I were speaking English to one another.

For one full hour they talked about us. Loudly. Making comments you shouldn't say in front of mixed company. Nothing unkind. But definitely VERY embarrassing. And if you can believe it, in all of that, not one single mention of our hair.

Finally we decided it was time to let them know that we knew what they had been saying. So I picked up my phone and pretended to make a phone call. Brandt recorded a video of their reaction as they quickly discover that we caught every word.

This might be my new favorite video of all time. Enjoy.

 ~It Just Gets Stranger

31 comments:

  1. You HAVE to tell us what they were saying! What did they say after Brandt filmed them??? I'm so intrigued!

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    1. Their comments were sexual in nature (although not crass). Let's just leave it at that.

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    2. Aw booo...we want to know. We're all adults here...nosy, intrusive, prying adults... :)

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    3. Fine. I'll give you one example. When I went to plug in my phone to charge on a wall opposite of them, one of the girls said, "Why don't you come on over here and bend over a little closer to us . . ." And then they giggled.

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    4. YES! Being a pest worked again. My powers of annoying people into telling me what I want to know is growing. :)

      Ok I'm satisfied now, thanks Eli. All I needed was a sampling. :D

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  2. So what were they saying about you?!?! And yes...that was hilarious.

    ...and your hair is perfect.

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  3. Haha! That was great!

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  4. Oh my heck...more details please. That movie was hilarious.

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  5. Yes! More info please!!

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  6. At first I thought "L'viv Surprise" was going to be some nasty cabbage dish. Also, chatting with "bobs"...that makes me miss Russia!

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  7. That was excellent, but what was with your ear?

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  8. Hi.lar.ious.

    Do they speak more Ukrainian than Russian in western Ukraine? I'm learning bits of Russian through video chats with my friend who is still in Donetsk for her adoptions. It's a complicated process using a voice translator over Skype but I've managed to communicate with her soon-to-be American boys. :-) I'm gathering that Ukrainian is known but not spoken nearly as much as Russian. Maybe there is a lot of crossover with words?

    I hope you made your 'fake' phone call very mysterious so they will always wonder..."who WERE those guys?!?" So sad they had no idea you are a famous triathlete blogger. They could have asked for your autograph. Then you could have refused because they had the nerve to not admire your fabulous hair.

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    1. In far western Ukraine you don't hear much Russian at all. In Kyiv there is a good mix. I've never visited the east but I understand that you hear little Ukrainian.

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  9. This was so incredibly fantastic! Oh my goodness.

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  10. Ok, I really want to know what you said in your fake phone call...please?

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  11. Yes! Please tell us what they said, well as much as you CAN say.... and tell us what happened after they knew they were caught!

    P.S. I was having a horrible day and this made me smile. So thank you for that. Also, you look super hot in this video!

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  12. This has won the awesomeness award for today!

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  13. Thank you. What a smile that gave me!

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  14. That is absolutely the best video!! And the way the girl puts her hand out at the end when she sees the camera.... Priceless

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  15. omg, PLEASE tell us what they said about you! That was SO AWESOME.

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  16. I love this. When we traveled to St. Petersburg to pick up our son from his mission we had a similar experience with some teenage girls on the train. They of course were shocked when my son started to talk to them in Russian. Then they were stuck on the train with us for 2 hours! They couldn't escape us! They were very cute girls and I don't know if they complimented my son on his hair. I'll have to ask him if he remembers!

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  17. Tell us what they were saying!

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  18. We really must know what they were saying about you guys! You're keeping us on the edge of our seats!

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  19. Good news! This is the last season Glee will ever exist!

    Also, that video is hilarious!

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  20. Yes, yes, like everyone else I'd love to hear what the girls were saying, but what I REALLY want to know is why some old guy was wandering around the Ukraine without underwear!

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  21. I desperately want to know what they were saying. Have others requested this? No doubt. I didn't even pretend to read other comments, I apologize. Your hair is fabulous today.

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  22. This was so funny, I could not stop laughing. The girls were so mortified but I liked that they started laughing themselves when they saw they had been caught-good sports clearly.

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    1. Totally. Their reaction made me really like them. I like to think that if they spoke English, they would totally fit in around here.

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  23. I just pieced together that you are the same Eli in the video Brandt posted with you and the Ukranian girls. Blows my mind that I've been following your blog for years...

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  24. One would think that your hair would not put up with any so-called "friend" taking vertical video. This can be remedied, and hopefully the friendship salvaged; but it starts with Brandt rotating his phone 90 degrees while recording video. I wish you well in this matter of great import.

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