The Russian Acquaintance

There is a Russian guy I know for the last 9 months. We see each other daily as we commute together.

We met one rainy wet day, if you're in Brussels, you would end up using that phrase "We met one rainy wet day" very often. I had crouched over to look at these slugs crawling across the pavement and he towered over me and said, "What are those", I replied "I think they are called slugs", he went,"Slaags, is that what you call them?" then turned away and kept repeating, "slaags, slaags, slaags.....".

As I already mentioned, I do see him daily, so in his efforts to move from acquaintance to friend, he tried to pick up the conversation thread again, he came real close and shouted "Where are the SLAAGS MAN", it was one of those rare bright and shiny days and I looked at him after a tiring day and said, "hopefully, the slugs atleast know where they are today" and trudged along, I could hear him go, while he nodded his head "Slaags, slaags slaags...".

This continued for a few months, he would ask me, the whereabouts and howabouts of the "Slaags", he asked if I ate "slaags", or if i liked "slaags" and I would give him some answer to quench his thirst for "Slaag" knowledge.

This went on till one day our mode of transport decide to show up late, I fumbled for things in my bag to read, rather to look occupied, to my utter dismay, there was nothing, so I tried to take out my cellphone and pretend I was thumbing a text message to someone. I could feel him creep up close to me. Suddenly, "Dudee!!do you speak french?", I look up say, "un peu"("a bit" in french) just to ward him off, that I am not good to help you with any translation, but good enough to understand any abuses you may want to hurl at me because I don't know the god damn where abouts of the "slaags". He smiled and said, "Good" and then went on to explain how he started to learn french after 2 years of living in Brussels as some passport authority told him it was a shame he had made no efforts to learn the language of a country he lived in. Suddenly, I realized that this Russian had a bit of depth to him, and isn't only interested in the lives of slugs.

I started saying Hi to him more often, and he would respond with a "Dude!!" or a "Hey DudO!!", man I was glad, we had been able to put the slugs behind us.

It would be perfect if I stopped here, but the fact of the matter is that we still commute together and potentially I could be working on the same office floor as his in a week!! Now that calls for some more words on this man!!

After our initial "slugfest" was over, I had decided to open up a bit to his loud enquiries into my past and future. I really don't mind answering questions about myself, while I hate asking people inquisitive questions about their lives - like "why are you not working in your own country?", "do you really like this crappy city?","So you like the west more than the east?"(questions posed to me by you know who!!??!!). Anyway, I found his line of questioning and especially his response to my answers quite ridiculous (maybe it's just my lack of cultural understanding) but I relegated the russian to the acquaintance status, right when he thought he was moving into friend status.

I would say he is a bit of a conversational and social retard, not in the terms that he talks less or doesn't interact much. On the contrary, he overdoes it. I was at an expat bar for an after work drinks thingy, I saw the Russian there and managed to stay at the other end of the bar and engaged myself in animated conversations with people around me. The Russian was with a few other men and was downing vodka in true, for lack of a better term "Russian style". A couple of hours had passed and I hear this very familiar voice, albeit a bit slurry this time, "Heeey, you are sooo beeauoootiful, you are the most beeeauoootiful sing I have seen this naait"(sorry I am trying to communicate the slur and the accent to create the right impact), I really jumped out of my pants there..It was the Russian, but phew.. thankfully, he was saying it to some lady who was standing right behind me. She was making a valiant effort to not spray that sip of her drink she had just taken in, all over my Russian acquaintance. I decided to slip away, before I was in anyway summoned to help him solve this latest situation in his life. I have to confess, I have at times made such statements, but have done so, probably, to women who I have known for a while and who are comfortable to hear it from me and probably under lesser influence of alcohol. But ya my Russian acquaintance had said it to a total stranger, that's real bravado and a glaring example of his social and conversational skills

I respect my "Russian Acquiantance's continued efforts to know more people and become part of the "western decadence" as he likes to call it. Hope there are enough slugs around Brussels for him to make more friends.

Here's till Tuesday morning, when I see him again.