No3

There was one older Russian man who lived in the next building to my host families that always hung out of his window and watched people. We all shopped at the same small store and I ran into him a few times in the store. Every time he invited me to his house for tea because he realized very quickly that was foreign. On particular occasion both of the ladies who work at the shop were there and heard him invite me. As usual I said I would go if I had time and they both were horrified. They both turned on him and began yelling. It was hilarious. They were telling him that I wasn't going to go and have vodka with him and that "tea" was a poor excuse. He of course was drunk and was trying to say that he just wanted to give me some tea. These women have known him for a long time and told him frankly all sorts of things that I can only guess at. This all happened rather early in my service so my Russian was extra poor and I had to piece together what was going on from only about 20% of the words being said. It is also noteworthy that Russians will talk shit to a drunk's face or talk about the drunk to someone else while the drunk listens. I was a bit blown away when the ladies turned to me in the middle of yelling at him to tell me what a drunk he was, albeit a harmless one. They told me that he was stupid and that I could ignore him. He stood there with a stupid look on his face and didn't say a contrary word. Actually, once they started yelling at him he basically just stood there completely passive. I bought my Fanta and ramen noodles and skipped out as fast as possible while the lovely shop assistants continued to berate him.