A DEAR AND CHARMING FRIEND

I met Sana after her Russian language class today. We stood there for some time, saying good bye to David, who returns to Portugal Saturday.

Oz is going back to Turkey for one week to settle some visa business before returning to Moscow.

We talked at length with Mahmoud. He goes back to Sudan a week from Sunday. Upon his return, he will resume work with the Sudanese Defense Ministry. We spoke about yesterday's bombing of the weapons plant there (allegedly by Israel).

He said he knows the facility and has been there many times. He said ordinary ammunition is produced there, but I pointed out that he doesn't know where those munitions are sold and who ends up using them. 

He agreed with me, as we said it is ironic three people as different as we are could easily communicate and enjoy one another's company while politicians built barriers between people, and then send bombs over those fences.

I had invited Sana to lunch, because having attended classes with her over the last month, I came to really like her. I asked if she was hungry. She replied she wasn't yet, and when I suggested we sit in a cafe for a while until her appetite perked up, she suggested we simply go to her house for coffee.

Her house is close to the Gnesin Music Academy. In fact, it is right across the street. But my real surprise was when she showed me the house, and I saw the Chilean Embassy emblem on the side. I knew her husband worked for the Chilean Embassy. I just didn't know that he was the Chilean ambassador!

She lead me through the gates, explaining this was not the embassy, just the official residence of the ambassador. She showed me around the ground floor. The living room is larger than our entire apartment (and probably then some)!

She offered me a coffee, and when I asked if I could help her make it, she just laughed, and told me to stay in the parlor while she had her "girl," Tatiana, bring it in. I was flabbergasted, to say the least. Sana eschews the diplomatic lifestyle. She is such an unaffected, genuine and personable lady.

While it is a generalization on my part, I have seen some of the diplomatic wives around town, and they tend to be somewhat haughty and insular; sticking with one another and putting up their noses at those not in their circle. I saw this behavior at the cafes when the weather was still decent.

But not Sana. She prefers the metro to the embassy's car and driver. (It's more efficient and faster, she says). She prefers taking Russian classes with bedraggled German college students and lowly, wandering Americans than with the wives of the Spanish-speaking diplomatic corps at the Cervantes Club.

Her life story and that of her family is fascinating fodder for a book or movie. We talked at length until she became hungry. We went into the small, family dining room, and there, Tatiana served us a delightful salad of olives, tomatoes, lettuce and buffalo mozzarella.

Of course, she insisted I drink Chilean wine with my meal. When I stated a preference for white wine, she herself got up and went into the sous kitchen to open the bottle. (Apparently, there is a large, professional kitchen in a lower level). 

Our main course was blini filled with sauteed mushrooms, followed by dessert of vanilla and chocolate ice cream with warm chocolate syrup and crunchy cookies.

Unfortunately for me, her husband, Juan Eduardo, and daughter, Susanna, were unable to dine with us -- so more food for me (JK. I behaved with the proper manners with which I was raised)!

We repaired to the parlor (a room that sits on the corner of the house's first floor with three large "bay like" windows giving a wide perspective of the neighborhood and filling the space with light). 

We chatted easily and amiably until nearly 4:30 p.m., at which time I excused myself. My only regret is that I did not think to take a picture of her or of us together.

Farewell, my dear German-reared, Chilean-Syrian friend with your degree in French literature!

I MET ANDREA AT THE PUSHKIN GALLERY OF EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN ART FROM THE 19th AND 20th CENTURIES AT 5:30 P.M. AGAIN, I DIDN'T TAKE MY CAMERA INTO THE MUSEUM. WHAT A SHAME, AS THE MUSEUM HAS VERY GOOD COLLECTIONS, AND I WOULD HAVE LIKED TO PHOTOGRAPH SOME OF THE PIECES, AS WELL AS HAVE MY PHOTO TAKEN ALONGSIDE THE RODIN SCULPTURE, VAN GOGH PRISONERS, PICASSO BLUE PERIOD WORK AND OTHERS. MAYBE TOMORROW AT THE TRETYAKOV?