Stars of the 21st Century

This weekend, an adjudicated multi-city dance festival was held in Zhovti Vody at the Theatre.  There were dance teams ages from 5 to about 17 years from nine cities.  Tanya and I went Sunday from 10:00 to 1:00. We saw at least 30 dance routines in that time and these kids were amazing.  The work that had gone into training, choreography and costumes left us in awe of the teachers and students.

One of the good things to carry over from the Soviet Union is the availability in small cities of professional quality dance and voice instructors.  In Soviet times attention was paid to culture.  There were culture halls in every town and village where kids went to learn performance arts and good instructors for each.

Of the dances we saw, there were traditional dances with traditional costumes; modern dances with modern costumes and fun dances with fun costumes.  Our favourite was about 20 five-year-olds in zebra costumes with a teen age clown and a teen age ring master.

Some performances had four different age groups in four different costume sets doing four different routines all intertwined at high speed.  Fifty kids dancing their hearts out and no collisions. First time I had ever been to such an event and it was interesting for me to see how the difficulty of the movements and of the choreography were adjusted to the ages and abilities of the kids.

Masha had a solo dance - a Turkish belly dance - and was judged best in her age group (she is 9).  Tanya and I had seen a professional at one of the Turkish nights at our hotel when we were on holidays.  Masha had the basic moves down cold.  She had one year of physiotherapy between ages 1 and 2 before she could even walk, so watching her dance is pretty special.  She still doesn't have all the flexibility in her one leg that other kids may have but it doesn't slow her down.  And her dance routine certainly showed the rest of her was flexible. She even made the local paper.

Tanya took her camera which ran out of battery about 45 minutes in so we didn't get many pictures.  Shooting in a large hall with a small camera is a problem any time. The picture of Masha is professionally done and her mother paid for it.

Vase dat you say?

We drove Masha home at 6:00 pm Sunday night. Masha and Tanya made greeting cards all Saturday evening and Sunday morning. In the afternoon they went outside and raked and burned leaves.  Kids seem to love fires.  Tanya sorted the apples we had stored in an outside shed and I hauled them into the summer kitchen where they will stay until it gets really cold.  Three laundry sized baskets will last a while.

Masha went with me to walk the dogs.  For a long while we walked hand-in-hand.  Her idea.  I guess I am a pretty good step-dedushka and it feels good.  We stopped by the river on our way home and the dogs immediately bailed in off the edge of the road and swam out and back.  That water had to be cold!  Then they chased each other through the grass and tall reeds until they dried off while Masha skipped stones in the water. Throwing rocks into water is something else that all kids seem to love.

Tanya was dead beat tired by evening.  One-on-one with a 9 year old for a day and a half can wear you out.  She was too tired to sleep so she watched movies on the internet until 4:00 am and then fell asleep upstairs so she wouldn't wake me coming to bed.

Kuchma had decided not to go prowling at 10 pm as usual.  He was sleeping on his couch blanket (dirty feet) when I went to bed and at 5:00 am, I heard him go upstairs looking for someone to let him out.  He makes more noise going up and down stairs than I do. I blindly stumbled out of bed and bumped the bureau, tipping over an ancient 75 cm red glass decorator vase.  It fell gracefully but landed hard.

When I told Tanya in the morning, she was not impressed.  Said I needed a bedroom with only a bed in it.  Reminds me of an Australia joke about a kangaroo but we won't go there.  And for someone who stubs her foot against the bed as often as she, I didn't think she had much room to talk about me but of course one does not say that.  And she didn't break any vases.

To heir is human; to sleep, divan

Masha is here for the night, so I guess I get the couch again.  I picked her up after her English class.  She was all packed and ready, loaded with hobby stuff.  Two classes in greeting card making turned her into a pretty good little crafty-type.  I've seen some of her cards and they are quite good for a nine year old.

Babushka has caught the bug, being quite artsy in her own right.  We are going to Dnipro next week so she can go to a big craft store there and buy "stuff".  She has been twice to a small shop here in town so the two of them are now scattered knee-deep across the living room.  We had been running short of little pieces of paper but I think we will be OK now.

We'd been in town earlier in the day for groceries.  We got about three blocks from home when Tanya realized she had forgotten her wallet.  She has a lot of things to remember to keep us organized so her wallet or mobile phone or list often get missed.  I just have to remember where I left the car last.  As to the essentials, I simply cross myself (spectacles, testicles, wallet and watch) and away we go.

Velika Kshenia (Big Spoon in Ukrainian) has their Christmas  New Year's stuff out. This year we are going to look for outdoor lights.  Maybe when we are in Dnipro. We have not seen them in previous years.

There are a couple of light arrangements I would like to try but am not sure they would be appreciated.

Gnus and Vous

Tanya went with Andrei to Dnipropetrovs'k today in his Lexus.  He had to go and adjust the seat for her.  The seat adjusts 16 ways to breakfast with a whole collection of buttons.  Too complicated for Tanya, she of the two-button microwave (Make Hot; Open Door).  Tanya would like only one button for seat adjustment "Make Comfortable".

Tomorrow is Tania's birthday.  Masha got some materials from her Babushka and is making her mother a hand-made birthday card. See what you started, Dana, with that lovely card you made? We will be going for ice-cream and cake sometime tomorrow, not sure when yet.

Masha went to school Thursday and Friday and then was home sick Monday and Tuesday.  She told Tanya that she thought she was allergic to school.  Good try. 

Kuchma Kot sits outside the bathroom door in the morning, waiting for Tanya to come out and feed him.  This morning she took too long and he clawed the door open and meowed at her. When we are eating, there is one chair by the table that he jumps up on to wait and hope we feed him something good.  When Masha is here, she sits on that chair.  Kuchma jumps up behind her and tries to push her off the chair. That is HIS chair.

The hounds have been running free for a few hours each day.  However that has ended.  They started collecting girl friends and bringing them home.  Last night, they came home quite cheerfully when I called and I locked them up.  Thirty minutes later they tried to kill each other; serious, no-holds-barred murderous fighting.  This time, I left them to sort it out themselves.  Apparently they did, because a few minutes later they were all best friends again. Their girl friends hang around at night hoping the gate will break or something.  We can hear Bobik and Volk howling pitifully several times during the night.  Tough luck, boys but you can stay home.

More Tanya-isms

Last night Tanya came to bed about mid-night and commented on the size and brilliance of the moon.  I said it would be so romantic if we could sit on the balcony and admire it. She said "And howl at it like your dogs have been doing all evening".

Monday was Tanya's birthday.  We were having the family for shashlik in early afternoon which Roman was to prepare and BBQ.  Tanya had told him she was going into town in the morning and would pick him up on her way home.  In the morning I could hear Tanya chewing him out about something.  He had called a taxi and was on his way, not waiting for her.  When she got off the phone, she stormed, "Why can't everyone just do what I tell them?  The whole world would be better if people just did what I told them and didn't argue". I am trying not to crack up and said "I am not saying anything".  "GOOD!"

Lena's last day of summer vacation was Monday. Andrei dropped Masha off at our place on his way to work and brought flowers for his mother and gave her a hug.  He came back in the evening for warmed over shashlik and whatever other food Tanya could hunt up.  Andrei is always hungry when he comes here.

Maxim and Ivan came over when they saw Masha was here.  They had some cake and then the three of them took off to play.  School is coming soon.  I could hear them racing around the yard, shrieking with laughter.  They had gone and sat on the hammock which was wet from the rain still and soaked through the seats of their jeans.  There is something wonderful about the sounds of kids' genuine laughter.

Pictures from Masha's Birthday Party

Masha's Birthday and Computer Mysteries

Today was Masha's 8th birthday. Tanya picked a bouquet of lilies and of asters (??), we picked up Lena and headed to Andrei and Tanya's for ice cream and cake.  We gave Masha money for school clothes.  She is "growing like a weed" and needs new uniforms; girls wear dark dresses with white blouses, boys wear dark suits.  She used to be such an annoying, picky eater, you wanted to smack her.  the last three times at our place she has inhaled a big plate of real food - including meat potatoes and vegetables.  Suddenly she is hungry.  Which is good.  She can still tire out her Babushka in one day but she is maturing into a young lady, slowly but surely.

Monday is Tanya's birthday.  I will write different things about her than I wrote about Masha.

Internet problems again.  My People.Net contract costs $35 per month for "unlimited" use or 27 GB per month which ever comes first. Tanya's is $25 for 10 GB which is more than she would ever use.  Except last month over 2 days, one of which she was not home, her computer burned up 16 GB of internet.  Which cost her $75 as it gets expensive if you go over quota.  We took her computer into the shop to see if it had a bot virus or whatever it is called. They didn't find anything.  The People.Net rep took all the details and will contact HQ to get them to trace the sources and destination of the high traffic. Something fishy going on.

People.Net is a Russian/Ukrainian ISP. 3g wireless. I have two email addresses, one with a Saskatchewan carrier and one with a consulting company with which I am "Associated".  A Saskatchewan company with which I do some business uses something called Barracuda to sort spam.  Barracuda uses something called IP reputation, rather than examining the contents of the message for key words.  Apparently People.Net is in their bad books as it refused both my email addresses starting last month.  The email message telling you that you were bounced gives a link to solve the problem.  Right.  You write  nice explanation to accompany your request but it is all machine read so the message is actually ignored.  They pumped out a machine email to me the first time, indicating that they would get back to me.  Right.  It also said that you could reply to the message.  Right.

Fortunately the company's IT people were able to white list my email so communication was restored.  No thanks to Barracuda, who apparently could care less whose emails are blocked - they claim 95% accuracy.  Right.

The Remains of the Day

Worked most of today getting my notes all caught up from my Kazakhstan trip so we can prioritize our follow ups.  Not as easy as it sounds though most of it is already in email form, keeping my team informed.  Yesterday was catching up on expenses accounting, making sure everything was tallied and tabbed.  Cannot for the life of me remember what I did on Saturday.  Catch up on emails and napped most likely.

Took time out to make chili con carne or at least my version of it. Usually make it with a pound of beef and two cans of kidney beans at about $1.25 per can.  We were in Metro a while back and saw a big can (2 or 3 liters??) for $4 so Tanya said I could make a big batch, freeze it and save money.  Five lbs of lean ground, 6 onions and this can of kidney beans filled out biggest cooking pot.  Two 500 ml jars of tomato paste and a dozen fresh tomatoes went in too.  And two heaping soup spoons of all the hot stuff in the house.  Chili powder, chipotle (sp?) powder, cumin, etc etc.  Simmered it for a couple hours and it was awesome. Had a huge bowl of it for lunch. The rest is now boxed in plastic happiness and will go in the freezer tonight.

This was after I had eaten a bowl of it for lunch.  The pot was FULL.

Tanya had a couple of spoons full and inhaled a glass of water.  She figured I would be cleaning the toilet quite a few times before the chili was gone.

Masha has been here the past two days (home at night).  Maxim is next door for the summer and they get on so well.  Water colour painting has taken much of their time as both enjoy it.  Tanya says they will be friends for life but doubts there will even be romance.  (As SOMEONE who shall remain nameless once remarked "It would be like marrying my brother".  OK, so I am a lousy matchmaker.)

Tanya and Lena are out in the garden, which is pretty much finished.  Peas and beans long finished. Tomatoes and cucs still coming in.  Beets and carrots all processed.  Corn came and went while I was away.  Tanya didn't freeze any this year.  Onions are dug, dried and boxed; not sure about the garlic.  Purslain is a terrible weed.  My mother fought it all her life in one of her gardens and it has totally infested our garden.  You can't kill it.  It will set seed hanging on the fence.

There is a family of five kids that we act as food bank for about once a month or so.  Father is in and out of hospital all the time, too sick to work, maybe diabetes which is a real curse as it is not controlled very well - no one can afford the test strips and the free insulin is terrible quality.  Not sure about the mother's problem, could be alcohol. The oldest girl about 15 and a boy about 10 were here today.  Usually it is a 12 year old boy. The mother, in her early 40's, is in hospital.  She is pregnant and having difficulty so the doctor stuck her in hospital. Tanya was furious when she heard the woman was pregnant again.  She wonders if the kids even go to school as they have no money for clothes or books or anything.  Not sure where the state sits on not attending school but expect it is illegal - so what are they going to do about it?  Well, if it costs the state money, nothing.  And another generation falls through the cracks.

When we were filling a bag of food, Tanya suggested some of my chili but I said no, they would not thank us for that.  It is a learned taste.

My Two Artists

Still Life by Masha

Ukrainian Cottage by Tanya

Masha was here for the night last night.  She brought her water colours and she and Babushka sat down to paint.  Masha's picture is pretty "Grade 2" but if you look closely at the carrot detail you see the beginnings of an artist like her grandmother.  Tanya gives Masha lessons (when Masha will listen) and said she "just did her picture in a hurry".  I wish she would do more and take her time.  She never ceases to amaze me.

Sunday

Rained all night and again all day.  Slow soaking in kind.  I hope it doesn't freeze before the surface dries off a bit or it will be unfun driving the rest of the winter.

Tanya and I went to visit Tanya and Masha.  Andrei was in a billiard tournament.  I think that is one way he supports his family.  He doesn't lose often.  Masha showed us her new room which is quite nice, lacking only a computer which she will get when I get a new notebook.  The kitchen and hall are still to finish but it is home.

Masha brought out her English lessons and did her vocabulary for us.  She sounds the words out silently to herself.  It is cute that she phones every night to get me to say words for her that she has trouble with - purple, hippopotamus, orange are some she has called about.  She and the other students taking English have to go for private lessons as there is no English teacher in the public school she attends.  Given pay and other conditions at the school, it is a wonder there are any teachers at all. The private lesson books are much superior to the ones from the public school, too.

Too wet to walk the dogs today and I don't think they even came out of their room.  Kuchma goes outside only on demand (our demand) and the rest of the time stays curled up on the carpet.  Or chair.  He is towel trained in that if a chair or couch has a towel on it, he knows he can sleep on it.  If there are no towels on the furniture he sleeps where he wants, so it is up to us.  Last night Tanya was doing her nails and had a towel across her lap.  Kuchma is NOT a lap cat but he saw the towel, climbed onto her lap and went to sleep.

We've been doctoring this week.  Tanya's bronchitis finally cleared up but her blood pressure is bad again.  She is supposed to get an IV of something for 10 days once a year but had not bothered as she "felt fine".  So now she has had two infusions and goes again tomorrow for a third etc.  Takes about an hour and already she is feeling better.

If you haven't contributed to The Guy's effort to raise money for Prostate Cancer this November, it isn't too late.  The site is HERE.  I went for two more tests this week - blood test and ultrasound.  All good.  So after three tests if there is a problem with my prostate, no one has been able to put their finger on it.

Masha Begins Second Class

Today was the first day of school here in Zhovti Vody.  The ceremony was pretty much the same as last year, welcoming the First Class, other than it was cut a few minutes short by rain which is still falling as I write.  There were three rooms of First Class and judging from the Preg-os and the Preschoolers, there will be lots of First Classes in the years ahead.  Masha was with her Second Class group over on one side and not nearly as excited as she was last year.

Somebody just shoot us, please.

"Why should I smile", Masha said.

Dad, Mom and Masha

Proud grandparents

Please, Mom, can I go to school too?  Can I, huh?  Please, can I?

First Class Moms

Masha Rides Her Bike

Masha got a brand new hot pink Barbie Bike for her 7th birthday.  And roller blades.

Across the street from her apartment block is a park that runs between two streets like a very wide boulevard.  It has several squares paved with cement sidewalk blocks and a wide paved walk way up the centre.  Perfect for bikes, roller blades, skate boards and pedestrian traffic.

Tanya and I went to see how she was making out learning to ride.  I'd been there a week ago and she was using the training wheels, learning how to peddle and steer.  Masha decided today she would show us her roller blades first, then practice on her bike.  The roller blades come with a backpack to carry them which holds all the protective gear too.

Roller Blade Backpack

 She buckled them on tightly, all by herself, strapped on her knee pads, elbow pads and wrist guards and away she went.  She is not much for speed but works hard at turns, stops, running on the spot and standing jumps.  She circled one way for a while, then turned and circled the other way ensuring her legs and her turning skills got equal workouts.

I'm coming at you!!

Circling the Square

Then it was on to the bike. No training wheels today.  Tania held the bike for a few rounds then let her go on her own.  She was pretty shaky with managing the pedals but kept at it.  Trying to convince her that she needed to KEEP PEDALING was the hard part.  Again, going in circles, working on turning, working on stops, working on not hitting anybody.  But so shaky with the pedaling.

Getting her started

Circling the Square again, on her own steam.

Pretty Shaky but Determined

 Finally to get her headed down the straight away and build some speed, I "raced" beside her.  She laughed so hard she almost piled it up but it got her pedaling and away we went.  Elephant and child.  Three trips up and back and she would go on her own.  My Tanya said to Masha's Mom that she was bringing me to play with Masha every day.

After about an hour she had it mastered.  Could start and go, turn in a smaller radius, build speed, not hit anyone and slam on her brakes, screeching to a halt.  She is a determined little imp.  Like her Babushka!

Considering it took a year of intensive physiotherapy beginning when she was a year old before she could do anything but drag her left arm and left leg, she has come a long way.  I am so proud of her!!!

Saturday Night Supper

Tonight Andrei, Tania and Masha went with Tanya and I to Krivii Rih to McDonalds for supper.  Just for something to do.  We had a good three hour visit; Masha got a new pair of shoes to start school and I had my fix of recognizable food.

I like McDonalds.  I realize that the Chardonnay Socialist crowd look down on it but to them I say "Pffft".  The food is good, the restaurant is clean, even the washrooms are spotless.  The staff are friendly, even to each other, they are well organized and they hustle.

While Masha nibbled at her McHappy Meal (she only wants the "free" plastic happiness ) the four adults inhaled 8 Royal Cheeseburgers, two large fries, two large and two regular drinks and we all had McSundae's to go.  For $35.00.  Oh, and $15 for gasoline.

As to the high fat content, one does not eat there every day so what is the big problem? I can go to "Chez Garcon's Bistro", pay three prices and get just as much fat but everyone thinks it is OK (because it is a higher class of fat?).

In other news, the romance seems to be over. Hot weather makes for short tempers.  After several lovers' spats, Masha is spending her time in the house and Maxim has a new squeeze.  Yulichka, the little girl who rode her bike up and down our street all summer, snagged him on the first bounce and threw for home. 

Bobik decided to take a round out of Volk again and got well bloodied for his efforts.  Maybe he will learn.  He has also decided Kuchma is a cat and should be chased up a tree.  This morning Kuchma was up our big apple tree and Bobik was perched about five feet off the ground in the first set of branches.  No one had a camera of course.

It would have been funny except the dogs broke three of Tanya's flowers.

Pupdate

Last night when we started on our dog walk, Lucia's old dog and the young dog, now named Ronald, came running to their gate to greet us.  It is obvious that the old dog loves the pup and they get along famously.  Dogs are gregarious critters and need company - so long as they can figure out who is top dog and in this case yet, there is no problem.

Lucia says the pup follows her everywhere.  Tonight he came over to see Masha so I grabbed my camera.  You can see how tall he is getting; all legs.  Like Masha.

The cucs are done and tomatoes coming on fast, large and small varieties.  Tonight for supper we had a real corn feed; the good kind, with butter dripping off chins and elbows and salt enough to put blood pressure over the moon.  Monday the corn starts coming off for the freezer. 

 

The hollyhocks are done.  Another new lily bloomed yesterday and Tanya's "100" gladiolas are beginning to bloom.

Masha's cat enters the sex trade

Masha has a big male kot named Kouray.  He is a purebred gray Scottish Fold, for which Andrei and Tanya paid good money, for Masha's birthday a year and a half ago.  There is another Scottish Fold in town, a gray female.

A batch of kittens (or two) would help both owners recoup their investment.

So today I drove Tanya, Masha and Kouray over to meet his new paramour, taking cat, kennel, food and litter box for a possible extended stay.

Apparently it was not love at first site sight.  Kouray meowed to go home and the koshka,  less than impressed, hissed at him and made threatening claw moves, Tanya said. 

Give them time.

Please Wait While I Reload

Got my computer back by 11:00 this morning and have been loading and downloading ever since.  Starting over with older software meansre downloading all the updates, patches and Service Packs at painfully slow speeds. 

And of course there is always HewlettPackard.  Their hardware is excellent.  I bought an HP laser printer when I first started on my own in 1997 and it ground away at 8 pages per minute for 10 years.  I have a big 5590 Scanjet and a little photo scanner.  They work well IF you can get the software to install properly.  HP software has given me nothing but headaches.  First off, their internet registration and updating has NEVER worked on any software I ever installed as it "Cannot contact the internet.  Be sure you are connected".  I owned a 5550 scanjet and one of the program files was a *.tmp, which disappeared every time you did a computer clean up as it searches for tmp files to delete.  That took a while to figure out.  Then the 5590 software would not work properly on my desktop but would on my laptop.  The nice lady in Mumbai had no clues about that. 

The 5590 software was working fine on my desktop computer until I sent it for Dusting and Cleaning; now it won't reinstall properly.  From the CD or from the download.  GGGRRRRR!!! 

Took a couple of hours away from the desk to get the snow tires put on.  Remove wheels, remove and replace tires, balance, replace wheels.  Took an hour and cost $16, including Nitrogen gas in the tires.  I picked up Masha on the way home.  She was allowed to come visit without her mother today.  My Tanya remarked that "It will snow tomorrow".  Much gentler than "Hell must have frozen over".

Babushka and Masha decorated the upstairs tree.  In a few days I will post pictures of our decorations but "WE" are a long way from finished.

Masha in the Box

Masha and Tanya came for the afternoon.  So my Tanya dug out all the Christmas stuff in preparation for decorating next week.  Masha duly admired all the decorations. She decided the storage plastic tub was a good hiding place.  So she climbed in and I put the lid on it and carried her to another room.  She would hop out, bring the tub back and we'd do it over again.  Apparently putting her out on the balcony was a no-no.

In other news, Tanya went on a cooking spree yesterday and today. Ground liver and onions meat balls (I love them, sorry), Bliny with mushrroms and onions, smothered in butter, Roast pork and Plove.  She kept calling me downstairs every couple of hours to eat something new she had cooked.  Finally I begged off and kept the Plov for supper at 6:00 instead of 3:00 pm snack.

She also made some delicious soup from the juice of a very cheap beef roast.  She is my dollar bouillon baby!

Under Masha's Spell

Masha was here this afternoon with her mom for a visit. We picked them up after grocery shopping and made a late lunch for the four of us. Then Masha and her Babushka played hide and seek for a while and did crafty things with oak leaves and acorns.


Masha is learning to spell. She has a set of interlocking blocks with letters on four sides. She spelled Bobik and Volk and Kuchma for us. Then she spelled out the name of the neighbour's cat (Moorka) by which time I had my camera ready.



At 6:00 I drove them home and en route was flagged over by the local traffic police on a routine check. Here they can stop anyone at any time for any reason. I hauled out my driver's licences (Saskatchewan and International). While I was rooting through the glove box for the registration card, Tanya explained that I was Canadian (and harmless) so he gave my licence a cursory glance and sent us on our way. Masha was asleep by the time we got to their apartment.


In daylight, I have to find that registration card. I know it is in there.

Another Day

Tanya was talking to Masha yesterday on the phone.
"Please give the phone to your mother; I need to ask her something."
"Ask me."
"No, I need to talk to your mother. You won't know the answer."
"Ask me. I can try."
Her mother takes the phone, Masha bursts into tears because her beloved Babushka won't ask her whatever question. Kids.

Oh, by the way, Tanya, Masha's mom, can wear Masha's clothes. The white dress and the winter coat that we bought her both "fit" Tanya. Her arms stick way out of the sleeves and of course they are too short but the body fits. Masha is a very slender six year old. I guess that means Tanya is a VERY slender 32 year old.

When they were out for their run today, one of my dogs stole one of my Tanya's good running shoes . I thought the dogs were over stealing shoes as it had not happened for a year. They don't steal them to chew, just to carry until they get bored and we have to look for it. Took a while but we found it. Saved two lives. Mine and likely Volk's.

Wisdom of all Ages

Our neighbour 's biggest problem is alcohol. Today he came to Tanya and said he wanted to quit drinking, could she give him some work. She could and she did and she gave his pay to Lucia who will go to the store with him when we are away and pay for food purchases so he cannot buy vodka. He was quite in agreement with that. Tanya also made up a small bag of food for him from our pantry.

Tanya has been bothered by a sore throat and cough these last couple of weeks. This morning she tried gargling with warm water, salt and honey. If you swallow it, surprise surprise, it has the same effect as warm water, salt and mustard. Tanya said (my best translation) "A fool can be taught to bow but he will bang his head".

Andrei, his Tanya and Masha went to Krivii Rih yesterday. They were having lunch in a restaurant and Masha was fooling around, not eating (as usual). Her father said "You cannot go to the park if you don't eat as you will have a tummy ache. You promised to be good. Why can't you be good?" Masha, serious as a judge, replied "I don't know why. I want to be good but I cannot". Anrei's friend must have laughed, as Masha turned on him, VERY serious, and said "It's NOT funny".