Not As Good As You Think I Am: Babushka Edition

Long before we moved here, long before I even met Kevin, I came to NOLA during spring break with one of my besties, Jules. I had been to the city to visit my brother and sister (in law) a few times before, but this was a trip dedicated purely to the debauchery of being a college student, hanging out in the French Quarter, and drinking one too many daiquiris.


I learned to love Eggs Benedict on this trip. I also remember eating pop tarts with cake frosting. Oh, the joys of dancing 12 hours a day and eating junk food like it was our job....


Jules wearing a lovely hat...the South suits her.

Prior to this trip, Jules and I were graced with the presence of Galina Panova as our new dance instructor at our University. (Here is Galina dancing with Rudolf Nureyev...yeah, she is bananas!!) Anyway, Galina is Russian. From Russia and has this fabulous accent and attitude about life, and is truly a character. Enamored of our new teacher, Jules and I spoke with Russian accents pretty much all the time. Jules actually speaks Russian - me, I am a big, fat faker.

So, anyway, we end up going down to New Orleans for spring break. We spent many a night trolling the Quarter and continued drinking daiquiris like it was our job.

Then, Babushka showed up.

Ok, so I promise. We weren't hitting the hard liquor (at least not out of the mini bar).

Once Babushka showed up, well, things got a little nutty. We decided, "Hey, we are on spring break and can be anyone we want to be...these folks are strangers to us, so tonight WE ARE RUSSIAN BALLERINAS!!!!!" Katia and Dasha...out for a night of fun in New Orleans. Did I mention we were from Russia?

So, out come the accents. I start asking Jules for some things I can say in Russian that would be convincing. Except, the only words I could really remember were Babushka, Dah, and Nyet.

We ended up meeting these two guys from Purdue...at least I think it was Purdue. So we gave each other a little wink and Katia and Dasha were on.

Basically, we spent about four hours with these guys, running around the Quarter and doing things like eat beignets at Cafe Du Monde...all the while, keeping up the charade of being from Russia. "Dah - oh, how do you say...." Basically, I was just rambling. Jules, she did much better.

At some point in the evening, Jules agreed to walk her companion back to his hotel. We were to meet up back at our hotel later. (Probably a dumb move now that I look back at it, but we were young and trusting.)

I ended up taking a walk down to the river with my companion. The whole time, keeping up this charade of life and how difficult it was in Russia and how much better we have it in America and how we love going to an American university, Dah, Dah, Dah, Moscow, Nyet.

So, we are walking down by the river, and he kept on going on, and on, and on about how nice I was. "Oooh, you are so nice...blah blah blah", said my companion. "Nice, blah, blah, blah." He was trying to be charming. I was becoming bored of the charade. "Such a nice, nice, blah, nice." There was my out! "I'm not as nice as you think I am....." said in my liltiest, Russian accent.

Companion: Oh, but you are!

Katia (me): Oh, no, not really...

Companion: Oh, seriously, I haven't blah blah blah, nice, blah blah.

Katia (me): Oh, but I REALLY am not as nice as you think I am.

Companion: What could be so bad about you?

*POOF! Turn back into Kelly*

Kelly: BECAUSE I'm NOT FROM RUSSIA (spoken in my true, I'm from West Texas accent)

*Poof!*

The mystique of Katia - gone!

The look on his face was priceless! I thought it was hilarious.

He did not.

He ended up walking away from me, back to his hotel. Deservedly. I think I would have been angry if someone had punked me that hard! But, still. Hilarious.

I believe this was the trip that I declared to Jules and the world that I would live in New Orleans one day. I am now proud to say I made it! And if needed, Dasha and Katia are available for parties.

Happy Wednesday!

xoxo