Be Careful What You Wish For


We had three delightful tablemates during the first half of the cruise, but they left us in Valparaiso. We were curious to see who we’d get in the second half of the cruise and were quite disappointed the first night when no one else showed up at our table. Of the two other tables in our section, only one had a pair of ladies. The other was empty.

The next night we were thrilled to see four other people waiting for us at the table.

“Hallelujah! We have guests. Welcome to our table.”

“dobre den.”

Oh oh.

“Do you speak English?” I asked hopefully.

“Nyet,” replied one of the men, a huge smile splitting his face.

Well then. That made conversation a real challenge. Turned out that the man sitting beside me, Liev (pronounced like Kiev) did speak a little English but he was busy translating the menu to his three companions, who spoke not a word. Not. A. Word.

Last night was a repeat of the same except that the waiters had procured some Russian language copies of the menu so it was easier for the four of them to choose their meals. Despite the linguistic gymnastics we’ve gone through the last two nights we seem to have a good time, but it’s exhausting.

The area of Russia is 17 million sq. km.
The area of Canada is 10 million sq. km.
The cost of this information? One brandy, paid to the Russian team who were correct in bragging that their country was larger.

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