Finally I get to make a trip report of my own. In Moscow and loving it!

[censu]

For real? The beard man!

[Vinnvinny]

For real? The beard man!

Oh, I thought you said she liked it? Anyway(s), props to you (or whatever it is you people say). 

[BelleZeBoob]

as you have discovered, some ladies have skin sufficiently sensitive to make beards and mustaches an issue--especially if you are rather enthusiastic in your kissing style. 

Yes, I remember, in one morning I crawled up to the mirror and saw that the upper layer of my chin skin was practically taken off by goatee that grew up on my friend's face during the night, and my face was bleeding  Love affection works as anesthetic, I haven't felt any pain except some minor itching on my chin

[Donhollio]

We talked about it over dinner the other night and since I have her in love with San Diego already, and her doctor tells her she needs a better climate if she's to stand a chance of staying healthy, she's very keen to move somewhere without harsh winters.
C

 Acually winter air is free of dust and pollens that are found in sunny climes like San Diego. Her health issues may be more to with the horrible mini busses, and apartment stale air loaded with high humidity. germs live in the moist air and if you wish to experience this first hand, I dare you to jump into one of those marshitkas, for a 20 minute ride. No air flow, no open windows or roof vents, just the pure stale breath of the other 15 souls all crammed into the rolling death machine.
 So give it a whirl, time is running out!

[mendeleyev]

Excellent photo work....those night shots of Cathedral of Christ the Saviour are stunning!

[censu]

Thank you, not bad for a $150 camera and not using a flash.

Don, I agree with you, but having spent time in San Diego, some of the higher elevations and ocean breeze will likely be a big difference maker. But truth be told, that's so far down the road we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Ever since moving to Virginia I've had sinus issues and I'm not one that really suffers from allergies. I guess Arizona might be an option in one sense, but I don't care to live in an oven.

C

[Paul]

 

Nat comes up to me at the metro station, almost 30 min late, and I hate that. A pet peeve of mine. She smiles and boom I ain't pissed anymore (not good, she's totally diffusing me without even trying, haha).

Only 30? You've got a keeper 

She immediately notices that I've shaved. She said, why did you do that. I said because you wanted me to. She said “I never said that”, and then “I like it, it suits you” WTF?!

  Get used to it.

I reminded her I used to be a professional photographer and will take a nice picture of her.

It shows, great stuff!

[censu]

Sitting here alone in the quiet waiting for my landlady to show up so I can give her the key.

I can honestly say I feel down having to leave both Moscow and Natalia. I never expected to feel this strongly about a 'strange' city and a new budding friendship/relationship.

Once again I didn't sleep, only got 2 hours again. Nothing better than starting the trip sleep depraved haha

BA says the flight is scheduled today, but no reference to on time or not. Hopefully my next post will be tomorrow from London.

C

[tonton]

Sitting here alone in the quiet waiting for my landlady to show up so I can give her the key.

I can honestly say I feel down having to leave both Moscow and Natalia. I never expected to feel this strongly about a 'strange' city and a new budding friendship/relationship.

Once again I didn't sleep, only got 2 hours again. Nothing better than starting the trip sleep depraved haha

BA says the flight is scheduled today, but no reference to on time or not. Hopefully my next post will be tomorrow from London.

C

Jeez man, a couple of whiskey's always helps with the sleep--I'm in Europe 3 x each year and swear by it (shut-up Manny) 

Good to hear all went well, and you've got the bug. Maintain it mate, go see her as often as possible to consolidate and let the relationship prosper--get as much face time as possible together and maintain as much regular communication as possible while you're apart; both of you need this to learn and understand each other further.

[TomT]

She immediately notices that I've shaved. She said, why did you do that. I said because you wanted me to. She said “I never said that”, and then “I like it, it suits you” WTF?! What, I said, she said yes, you look better with it, it makes you look younger too. But you said you wouldn't like to kiss me when I have a beard. Anyway, this conversation goes on and off for a good 20 min. The long and the short of it (I think, I have no friggin clue) is she likes me with it but would prefer me to not have it when we kiss. So next visit she expects me to have it and if it hurts to kiss, she wants me to shave it while here? I am certain I don't have this right, but that's the best I could get because then she got into this “why you confusing me” pattern. What? I'm the one that's confused. You like it, you don't like it. I don't have a clue. I said you are going to be a lot of work and she wasn't sure what I meant, I said, you are going to be trouble, she smiled and said “120%”.

If you are expecting critical thinking from your partner, you had better marry a Western guy.

[censu]

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you all had a great day.

I'm in London at one my sisters place. Had a few days to think over my trip to Moscow and here are my closing thoughts on the trip.

Moscow completely took me by surprise. I knew I'd have a great adventure regardless of anything else. Natalia, well she exceeded any and all expectations. I tried very hard to go with few or no expectations, but that was basically impossible.

When I left Moscow I was actually over come with emotion, couple that with less than 3 hours sleep a night on average, well the train ride back to Domodedovo was very hard. I could not have predicted things to have gone as well as they did. Natalia is truly a special woman. I'm lucky to have met her. I still don't know if it's her charm or a Russian woman's charm or both. Either way it's very compelling.

I spoke to Nat today, first time since I arrived in London. Nat expressed how she missed me, as i did for her. I told her how hard the train ride was and how I had so many emotions going thru me. So she said in her cute way "what emotions" DOH!, wasn't expecting that. so I did my best to tell her what was going thru my mind at that time and she simply said "good!"

Of course I can't predict the future, but have to admit that things look very positive at the moment. If things continue like this, wow, she might just be the one!

Thank you all for listening and giving your input. I'm happy you liked my pics. Once I get back to the US I will start planning my next trip. She's very much looking forward to my next visit. I feel some times I have to pinch myself.

Be good to yourselves and your loved ones!

C

[dbneeley]

Censu,

I'm glad for you that you feel the trip was beyond your expectations in such a positive way, and I do hope that things continue to develop for you both. Beneath it all, I am quite an old-fashioned romantic myself, and I always feel very good when others find themselves happily surprised with a new relationship.

It sounds like your Nat has quite a personality.

Please let us know how things are progressing from time to time--and you may be sure that a number of us will be rooting for your success in this venture.

David

[ptgarner1]

  Any man who has ever found or ever hopes to find a FSU bride  has enjoyed your
story.  Such an enchanting combination of beauty and charm is hard to resist. I especially smiled at her sense of humor.....yes I am a smartass...))))))....You probaby catch yourself trying to remember when if ever your emotions have ever been so alive.  If I had to guess you are still looking at your watch and thinking Moscow time...wondering what  she doing right now and how you miss her.
   Skype all you can...emails when you cant skype...and as soon as you can, give yourself both a return date to look forward to.

[mendeleyev]

As others have said, we're cheering for your success! If she is truly the one and it sounds very promising, you'll both continue to confirm it as you move forward. 

[censu]

Yes she does have a great sense of humor and thankfully being in person really helped. I suspect she understands about 75% of what I say the first time around. I believe I understand marginally more of what she says to me. But so many things are missed over the phone.

For instance, when we were on the metro and she was a smartass, I gently pinched the back of her neck. She started giggling and naturally tried to pull away. There's no way to convey my playfulness like that over the phone.

She often says to me "do not be offend", meaning she's only joking and doesn't want to offend me. I think after the last time she said that in person, she now knows how I feel about that and she'll be even more comfortable. I simply looked her in the eyes and said "it's OK, I know it's not in your nature to offend, I know you are joking" and she just smiled and thanked me.

Unfortunately Internet at her apartment is terrible. So much so that she doesn't even try most times. I did upgrade her laptop for her so maybe it's the laptop and not the internet. When I get state side I'll push her again to try skype. That would really help.

C

[dbneeley]

Unfortunately Internet at her apartment is terrible. So much so that she doesn't even try most times. I did upgrade her laptop for her so maybe it's the laptop and not the internet. When I get state side I'll push her again to try skype. That would really help.

C

Internet service in the FSU varies widely. Here in Donetsk, there is presently a price war between a handful of providers. Our present service has gone from a 5 mb/second connection for 99 griven a little over a year and a half ago, to 10, 30, and now 60 megabits for the same 100 griven. There is a fiber optic line to the building, then a conversion box to run Ethernet into our apartment. The down side, unfortunately, is that their DNS is somewhat flaky so the initial connection can take a while--but once connected, it is very fast (as you might imagine).

I would be surprised if there aren't some pretty good providers in Moscow. Thus, if the service is still bad with the new laptop, that would be the thing to check. It could be that she could get much better service for fairly little cash.

David

[2tallbill]

Thank you for sharing your TR

Udachi

Bill

[leeholsen]

Don, I agree with you, but having spent time in San Diego, some of the higher elevations and ocean breeze will likely be a big difference maker. But truth be told, that's so far down the road we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Ever since moving to Virginia I've had sinus issues and I'm not one that really suffers from allergies. I guess Arizona might be an option in one sense, but I don't care to live in an oven.

C

just throwing in my 2 cents.

my step-dad always had severe allergies and living in Houston gave him real problems and sometimes migraines, but thats where he worked. anyways, he and my mom moved to galveston after he retired and the constant breeze off the water has made things a lot easier for him. he says he can tell when the wind is changed and is coming from Houston as his allergies will kick up almost immediately.

now, they are literally the first row of beachhouses on the beach, so i'm not sure how that translates to living in a suburb 15 miles from the beach in san diego; but having allergies myself; i can assure you that anywhere near the beach will typically give a person less problems than living almost anywhere else thats not a desert.

[2tallbill]

If you are expecting critical thinking from your partner, you had better marry a Western guy.

+1

Bill's analysis,
She doesn't like your beard, but doesn't want to reject you if
you have one.

Udachi

Bill

[censu]

Just wanted to share this with you since it's sort of related to my trip report.

I spoke to Nat a few days ago and she asked me if I had grown my beard back. I told her I had and she said "how does it look". I said, "great, very sexy", and without skipping a beat she says "who told you that?!" with a sarcastic tone and a laugh. Gotta love that sense of humor. I told her I did and then she laughed some more and said "I approve" which once again puts me into a happy state of confusion! haha

Happy new year all.

C