In Which Lessons are Learned

Last night, went to Central Station. Biggest club I have EVER seen -- Three floors, two dance floors, three bars, four little sit-down couch cafe areas, and a restaurant. It was insane. Fairly nice place, too, and very clean.

Next to no one was there when I got there. It was a maze at first -- I had no idea what was where and so forth. I checked in my coat, which was free, and wandered around... Wandered into the restaurant area, and a waiter gave me an expectant look. I just glanced at my watch like I was waiting for someone then wandered off. Finally found a (very dark..) set of stairs which led the second floor -- A dance floor and two bars in three rooms of varying levels connected by small sets of stairs. Dance floor had blacklights, of course, plus a wall of screens with strange colors and dancing figures on them. I went into this small bar area and sat down at a couch, and they had this really nasty porn playing on the screen. I just sat down, looked through the drink menu and started texting people.

These two guys came and asked if they could sit down. Then they introduced themselves, and I too, and I told them I was a student, etc etc. Their names were Yura and Andrei, and NEITHER OF THEM KNEW ENGLISH!! AIEE. Anyway, Andrei was pretty shy, but Yura talked with me, and he was very friendly and I could understand pretty much everything that he said. We all exchanged numbers, and when I said I was leaving before the metro closes, he said I should stay and wait the night out. Since ... well, no one was there. So .... I hadn't had the chance to do much. So basically I spent most of the night with them, and it was an interesting night indeed.

Andrei wanted to dance, but Yura apparently doesn't dance, so Andrei and I went off to dance. That's a sentence from hell. In any case, after that we all converged again and shared a bottle of champagne over conversation. (And this is where I learn that I am a TRUE lightweight -- I'm not sure why, but the shot of absinthe I took a couple days ago did next to nothing other than give me a nasty aftertaste; the first shot of abinsthe I did was neat, but didn't do THAT much. Two glasses of champagne? I was on the HEAVY side of tipsy). Eventually Andrei and I dance again, then when we return to the table, Yura is gone, so we're talking, and he says he likes the guy at the table behind me... I glanced behind me, and the guy kind of looked like a creeper, so whatever. When I turned back around, the guy stood up, came over, and started making out with Andrei. I was like, "wtf?" When they finished, Andrei asked me if Yura had come by, because Yura was Andrei's boyfriend ....

At this point I was like "fantastic." But I wasn't going to get in the middle of it -- I don't yet know the cultural standards on this topic. Eventually this creeper guy and his friend came over, creeper guy being named Kostya, and his dumb friend being named Dima. Dima talked with me while Kostya and Andrei were making out, and he tried to talk politics. I didn't entirely understand what he was saying ... well, I understood WHAT he was saying, but not quite the purpose. He started talking about Bush, and he was like "We have a president, too!" and I was like "...yes....?" And then he said something about choices. I don't know. Then he said he didn't like Condoleeza Rice. Which made me giggle.

So, Yura came back as Andrei and Kostya were making out, and he didn't seem entirely comfortable, but he didn't make any big deal out of it. I got up and left to go to the bathroom, and when I came back they were all gone, so I wandered around a bit, and saw Kostya and Andrei making out on the dance floor, then ran into Yura walking around aimlessly looking kind of sad, carrying Andrei's bag... Again, didn't want to get in the middle of it, so I sat with Yura for a while and we just people watched.

And then I met a Sasha, but I think I'm going to save that story for another time. It's not that interesting. Just another instance of a guy pushing themselves on me, and not wanting to go away.

So, at about 5:30am I left for the metro, everything fine. Got to Primorskaya, started my walk home. Figured since it was ... well ... "night time" and I was alone I'd take a different direction back to the dorms -- A lot of people were walking on that side of the street and it was well lit, so I started my walk back. About halfway down the street I see two guys come onto the sidewalk, both dressed neatly, wearing all black, one of them had combat boots, the other had a nice leather jacket (not a motorcycle jacket, just a normal leather jacket). They were both clearly Russian, about my age. I was thinking "Oh, great, so these are the skinheads the handbook warned me about." So I figured I'd just outwalk them before they got any ideas, since I can walk fairly quickly and the dorms weren't much farther.

When I turned left on Korbalestroiteley street, I thought they had turned off, so I was just continuing on my way, when I suddenly hear heavy footsteps right behind me, and one of the guys tackles me to the ground. He grabbed my throat and dragged me off of the sidewalk into the bushes, and they both started yelling at me in Russian. At this point, I thought they were going to just pull out a knife and slit my throat, and then as the guy who was NOT holding me raised his foot to stomp on my abdomen, I recognised the words "GDE DEN'GI," which is "WHERE IS THE MONEY." Despite the situation, I was relieved that this was not a hate crime, but a simple mugging! So, I started digging through my bag, and they got impatient and tore through it, but couldn't find my wallet because I hid it THAT well.. so I pulled it out and they grabbed it and took all the money. But left everything else alone. Which was convenient. Then they started yelling something else, and I didn't understand what they were saying, so I said I didn't understand, and they just stopped... and in perfect English, "You're not Russian?" to which I glaringly replied, "No." And the one who asked the question says, "Shit." The other one says "Mobile telephone!" so I'm like, "Oh, you want my piece of shit cell phone? You can have my piece of shit cell phone. Do you want some cigarettes, too?" and while I'm looking for my phone, "No, we don't smoke." I throw my phone at them, and they look at it for a second, then they're like "Uh, nevermind" and drop it on me. Then they start to walk off, saying "You shouldn't walk alone at night. Welcome to Russia!"

Basically, it was my fault. I should have taken the way I normally do. That would've avoided the situation. I should not have gone alone. I should have trusted myself when I thought these guys were trouble. I'm just lucky it wasn't worse.

All in all, I'm just glad I escaped it with only a few scratches, and a loss of 500 rubles. Well, they also seem to have ruined my favorite outfit, so I'll see if I can salvage that.

At least I don't feel as bad for spending 100 rubles on a tiny bottle of water earlier in the evening. It would've gotten jacked anyway.