Strange Brew
So today, we rolled into Providenya, a small town that used to be a Soviet Military base, but is now occupied by a motley mix of Eskimos and Russian. They used to have a population of over 4,000 and now are down to 2,000. We disembarked, and had our passports stamped and headed off to see this little town. We were greeted by two young Eskimo girls performing traditional dances, as well as a girl dressed in traditional Russian dress, with a loaf of bread and a bowl of salt. You eat the bread with salt for health and prosperity. Well, we were quite conspicuous being a film crew in a city that gets NO visitors, and I guess I stood out more than the others. As soon as we turned the corner from leaving the dock area, and into the tiny town there was a playground nearby and the local kids were hovering all about us. We filmed me walking though the streets, and playing on the playground. One of them stood out as her English was better than the others. She introduced herself to us, and said a few phrases in English, then we played on the playground a bit, and she kept following us. Next thing you know as we were walking down the street, two more locals come up to me and introduce themselves, and try to talk to me completely incoherently. They were bombed! It was Sunday afternoon and these two native looking locals were three sheets to the wind! They were older, although being that the conditions there are quite harsh it’s hard to say if they were 40 or 70. They were definitely missing a few teeth, and only a few drops shy of being pickled. I talked to them for a short time, before encouraging them to continue on their way. The guy insisted that I get a picture of the two of us together, before I walked away so I obliged
Then another woman, who seemed to be related in someway to the young girl that I was now friends with, came along and told me about her daughter who lived in Alaska. And she was also bombed. Her English was much better than anyone else’s although she was still hard to understand. She took my hand in hers, commented on how cold I was and then tried to bum a cigarette off of me. I don’t smoke, so she asked if I could buy cigarettes, and I informed her flippantly that smoking kills.
She then asked me for money and I lied saying I have no money to give you. Well, with that statement, the young girl eyed me up and down, paying special note to my expensive camera, grabbed onto my other arm and began to cry. Oh why no money, and I turned to look at her, crying there on my arm. I stopped walking for a moment, and said “you need to truly improve your acting skills if you think your gonna roll me!” “you’re not even really crying! Go find another mark.” She stopped her crocodile tears, which were more fake sobs then any moisture at all, and then she let go of my arm and skipped off to annoy another passenger approaching the dock area, yes she really skipped away.
The older lady was not about to give up on me yet, probably because the amazing amount of booze pouring out of her pores had overtaken the little sense that she had. She saw that I was in front of a TV camera earlier, therefore I must have something for her. She decided to take the gift approach, I have something for you, here. And she pulls some lint, a few coins and a broken necklace out of her pocket. She picks the necklace up and offers it to me, at this point I am feeling really bad for her. Mostly because she was entertaining me quite a bit, and I told her to put it away. I asked what her daughter in Alaska did, to change the conversation. She said, in a drunken slur that her daughter had sent her money and it was waiting for her at the post office. I told her, well, go to the post office, it‘s right down the street! It was hard not to give these guys my remaining rubles, because I only had about $3 worth, but I couldn’t really allow myself to be the one that teaches them that their really bad gypsy act, had worked.
So today, we rolled into Providenya, a small town that used to be a Soviet Military base, but is now occupied by a motley mix of Eskimos and Russian. They used to have a population of over 4,000 and now are down to 2,000. We disembarked, and had our passports stamped and headed off to see this little town. We were greeted by two young Eskimo girls performing traditional dances, as well as a girl dressed in traditional Russian dress, with a loaf of bread and a bowl of salt. You eat the bread with salt for health and prosperity. Well, we were quite conspicuous being a film crew in a city that gets NO visitors, and I guess I stood out more than the others. As soon as we turned the corner from leaving the dock area, and into the tiny town there was a playground nearby and the local kids were hovering all about us. We filmed me walking though the streets, and playing on the playground. One of them stood out as her English was better than the others. She introduced herself to us, and said a few phrases in English, then we played on the playground a bit, and she kept following us. Next thing you know as we were walking down the street, two more locals come up to me and introduce themselves, and try to talk to me completely incoherently. They were bombed! It was Sunday afternoon and these two native looking locals were three sheets to the wind! They were older, although being that the conditions there are quite harsh it’s hard to say if they were 40 or 70. They were definitely missing a few teeth, and only a few drops shy of being pickled. I talked to them for a short time, before encouraging them to continue on their way. The guy insisted that I get a picture of the two of us together, before I walked away so I obliged
Then another woman, who seemed to be related in someway to the young girl that I was now friends with, came along and told me about her daughter who lived in Alaska. And she was also bombed. Her English was much better than anyone else’s although she was still hard to understand. She took my hand in hers, commented on how cold I was and then tried to bum a cigarette off of me. I don’t smoke, so she asked if I could buy cigarettes, and I informed her flippantly that smoking kills.
She then asked me for money and I lied saying I have no money to give you. Well, with that statement, the young girl eyed me up and down, paying special note to my expensive camera, grabbed onto my other arm and began to cry. Oh why no money, and I turned to look at her, crying there on my arm. I stopped walking for a moment, and said “you need to truly improve your acting skills if you think your gonna roll me!” “you’re not even really crying! Go find another mark.” She stopped her crocodile tears, which were more fake sobs then any moisture at all, and then she let go of my arm and skipped off to annoy another passenger approaching the dock area, yes she really skipped away.
The older lady was not about to give up on me yet, probably because the amazing amount of booze pouring out of her pores had overtaken the little sense that she had. She saw that I was in front of a TV camera earlier, therefore I must have something for her. She decided to take the gift approach, I have something for you, here. And she pulls some lint, a few coins and a broken necklace out of her pocket. She picks the necklace up and offers it to me, at this point I am feeling really bad for her. Mostly because she was entertaining me quite a bit, and I told her to put it away. I asked what her daughter in Alaska did, to change the conversation. She said, in a drunken slur that her daughter had sent her money and it was waiting for her at the post office. I told her, well, go to the post office, it‘s right down the street! It was hard not to give these guys my remaining rubles, because I only had about $3 worth, but I couldn’t really allow myself to be the one that teaches them that their really bad gypsy act, had worked.
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