Passing Time

[Turboguy]

I am just curious what things you have found to do as you pass time with your gal.   For me I am going for visits with my gal up to two weeks at a time and visiting her in N. Novgorod, Russia.   You sorta hit a point where you have seen all the art galleries and museaums,  If you watch tv or go to a movie and it is in Russian you are lost.   If it is in English she is lost.   Yes, you tend to drink a lot of coffee in cafes and go dancing once in a while and fortunatley when I go back in 3 weeks the weather should be warmer (my last trip came right after they had a 6' snowfall)   We will be able to do more outdoor things which will help.   Sure you can spend alll the time in the sack but

This is what I have found so far.  We play cards some.  She knows nothing about cards so it has to be simple games.   I have helped her with her English.   We have played some computer hangman on my electronic translator.   I bought some VHS tapes in Russian with English subtitles and transfered them to the Secam format so they would play there and took those along.  (Amercian VHS tapes are in NTSC format and have  differnet frames per minute than Secam,  for reference, Pal is the third format and is used in most of europe other than France and the FSU.  Pal and Secam are close)

If anyone has found some things to do that I have not thought of I would apprecaite the suggestions.

[KenC]

Wow, Turbo,

I would be a bit worried if I was struggling with what to do with my woman that I can only see occasionally.  What will you do when she comes here and you have 24/7 to fill?  Seriously, your questions seems very odd to me.  This should be a time when just being together is enough.  I don't ever remember playing cards or hangman with my wife in the last 7 years we have been together. On the trips to see her, we were always short on time and never needed to fill any gaps.  How about a trip to Moscow?  Visiting relatives?  The theater?

KenC

[Turboguy]

I am sorry, I did not mean to make it sound like I was struggling.  The time I spend with her goes well and is never uncomfortable.  We have visited relatives and did go to Moscow for 5 days on my last visit.   I was just looking for ideas to keep the time interesting.  We are a little handicapped that she does not speak English.  We write notes, mostly on napkins and sit there and talk for hours but I just think it is nice to mix sitting and talking (with words or paper) with doing a few things.   My last trip was 14 days of 24 hours a day.  

[Todd]

It is funny.  Her mother can't figure out what we can find to talk about.  I call her everyday and we generally talk for about an hour.  Somedays, we IM instead.  Still, her mother doesn't understand why we seem to talk so much.

Kate and I have only been together 3 times: 2 weeks in Belarus, 8 days in Russia, and 8 days in Prague.  I never really felt that we had to look for things to do.  Since I was in a new country, just walking around was an adventure.  Heck, when we were in Prague, we spent 45 minutes in the hypermart.  The important thing was that we enjoyed spending time together talking.  Of course, her English is generally better than mine because I'm only a native speaker, and she actually knows all the rules that I slept through in 8th grade English class.

It may not be earth shattering, but one thing that I found really nice was to go hiking together.

 

[Turboguy]

Thanks for the suggestions Todd.   Hiking sounds like fun to me and hopefully when I am there in 2 1/2 weeks we can try that.   On my last visit a month ago they were hit with 6 feet of snow right before I arrived.  We walked a lot but there were limits when you are walking down an icy sidewalk with snow piled over your head a few feet on each side of you.   I think on my next trip there will be a lot of outside things like picnics and the hikes you talked about and visits to some parks that were not practical during the winter. 

My gal does not speak English real well.   I think she is a real chatterbox but still struggles with the langauge.   We mostly communicate by writing notes to each other.

[Elen]

The question what is it possinle to do and what do chat about doesn't seem for me such odd. Really I can't believe it's possible to fall in love ( and only in that case you dont' mention time at all) after few visits. So to my mind you do need to fill your time with something for to know your girl/boy better, Just wonder how to do that? After reading trip jurnals of some guys I only got an idea their visits were only one big trevel through restorants, bars and bowlings:shock: So I would like to hear about something else activities

[525i]

Sometimes I wonder that people might say the word "love" too early. It's not love when you have just seen each other and liked each other. Falling in love is a longer process and it takes more time, at least for me.

During my meeting with Tanya, we quite often spent time in bed. We talked about many things and I know Tanya now a lot better than before. Photos, e-mails and over 10 hours phone conversations before the meeting were just a surface. There are things that she nor I will not say in phone. They need personal "face-to-face" conversations.

She was very open and I respect her for that. She seems to feel that I am a person who she can tell the most secret things. Maybe she was testing me and my reactions. It looks like I passed the test.

The other thing we did in bed was reading Finnish-Russian-Finnish dictionary. She said a Finnish word and I repeated it and she tried to say it right. The word "yö" (night) was the most difficult for her Russian tongue. Of course, I would try to say Russian words and she helped me. While we were walking around, I read signs and sometimes I said them, but of course mostly I didn't know what they meant. I was practising Cyrillics.

Many days, when with my lady we play word games.  She will point and say in Parusski; then I say in Paengliski..  Is very productive, so we do this at shops, resturants, on trains and metro..

  Btw, she speaks fair english, my russian is limited to about 200 words..

We both like to walk and ski.  So we typically have breakfast and are out of house by 10:00.  We have our shopping list.  We also have plan of visits to her and my friends in her town, or to go skiing..   Always on the go...  Sometimes, I go out by myself to buy cigarettes, wine or cognac..   Or go to bank for currency exchange...

  We do not do night clubs, usually home by 21:00 for dinner.  Then conversation about day and plans for next day...

 

[ConnerVT]

When you have a six year old boy, you don't worry about what you will do with your time.  You plan for your time alone...

Conner,

  Point taken, however my children and her son are adults..  So we look to opportunities that are of joy for her and I..

[Jack]

Turbo, it seems there is always something to do. I enjoy just going out and watching people, life. Sitting at an outside cafe and watching the world go bye. It should not be  a struggle or problem to find something interesting to do. I suppose if you are in a small villiage it might be a little more difficult but in the mid-size to big cities there is always something interesting to do.

Jack, 

  For some of us, sitting around at cafe is not lifestyle that we want...

  Prefer to be activie, on the go.     Can always observe persons and places as moving about..  

  Far removed from couch potatoe..    Is that how Quail spells?

  Ron

[Turboguy]

Thanks for the comments Ron and Jack.   Jack, I have to agree with Ron, one of the things that prompted my question is I was a little tired of sitting around in cafes'.   The last time I was there they had just been hit with 6 feet of snow and the trip before was in January so the outdoor cafe has not been too practical yet.   Pehaps when I am there in two weeks.

We have usually gone bowling, we go shoot pool.  We probably like being active for both of us.   This time when I go we will finally have some good weather, at least I hope.   I have to say I liked her suggestion in one of todays messages about how we should spend the whole time together but I don't think we should talk about that.

Thanks to everyone for the comments so far.  Again, I have never been bored for a second.  I don't think boredom will ever be a problem with my gal.

Tguy,

  So when there is new snow,  get out the skis...  Wax them and go to favorite hill or forest...   Depending on how you ski.

   I prefer downhill, also do xcountry...  Most of my travel to Russia is in winter.

  Do you know that Russians feel good about sharing outdoor winter activities with Americans....   I show them that we are not all soft..  We are competive in winter or any climate and they like.

 

  Ron

[Turboguy]

Hi Ron,

I have never tried cross country.  I hear it is a lot of fun.  I have done some downhill skiing but not for a while.  Luda has never tried skiing.   I have the intention of teaching her many new things when I get her here as long as she is interested.  Skiiing is one, tennis biking and golf are a couple more.   She seems reasonably athletic.  She had never bowled and broke 100 on her third game. 

I think by the time Ski season comes back she should be here.   I feel more comfortable skiing here.  I can be a little reckless (the other word that might be appropraite is stupid)  sometimes and would not want an injury over there.   I think health care is better than it used to be.   Luda seems game to try anything.  That is one of the many things I like about her because I like to be active.  That was a great suggestion though. 

[Turboguy]

I have a series of photos I took of Luda that I thought were cute.   There are 4 taken about 5 seconds apart.   In the first, she is giving me the evil eye because I am going to take her photo.   In the second she his holding her hand up to hide from the camera's eye.   In the third she is holding up the center peice from the table and trying to hide behind it.  In the forth she has crawled under the table to hide. 

[2tallbill]

I am just curious what things you have found to do as you pass time with your gal.   For me I am going for visits with my gal up to two weeks at a time and visiting her in N. Novgorod, Russia.   You sorta hit a point where you have seen all the art galleries and museums,

If anyone has found some things to do that I have not thought of I would appreciate the suggestions.

Meet somewhere else, with a nice sandy beach. Nothing in my experience is better than getting an
FSUW on a beach to frolic around in the ocean in her bikini. Make sure she promises in advance to
put on sunscreen whenever you suggest it. You don't want a burned to a crisp FSUW on day one.

Udachi!

Bill

[ML]

One FSU gal that I took to Turkey ignored my advice to put on sunscreen.  She turned beet red.
(I was OK because I sat under the umbrella while she was on a towel in the sand.)
I thought our trip had just ended in a disaster and I would have to get her to a hospital . . . but amazingly the red disappeared in a couple of days after using a lot of regular hand lotion.