Never thought you would ever hear/see those words coming from me did ya? No, me either! Well my friend Laura mentioned that she had been invited by a friend to go and then asked if I would do it too. Normally my answer would be "heck no" but for some reason I agreed to go and even had to almost convince her it was a good idea. I know its crazy but I have no idea why I wanted to go to this thing. Again this is TOTALLY not in my character at all so who knows. I went into the situation like this - I don't anticipate anything relationship-wise coming from this experience but it will definitely be an adventure and something to get me out of my comfort zone (but on purpose).
Anyway as we get up to the gate and we have to get the car inspected since none of us are military connected. The first thing the guard asks is "what brings you ladies to base?" What is the response the driver gives? "We're going to speed dating." OH FANTASTIC!!!! Now I am super embarrassed to be here and would love for you to leave me at the gate; you can pick me up on your way home. So we all laugh hysterically, get back in the car, and are on our way.
We get to the sports bar where the event is being held and now I am completely reconsidering the whole thing but once again I push on through. We get out to the back patio area and are asked to sign in and then sign a waiver claiming we know that the group putting this thing together is not a dating service and are not liable for anything that does or does not happen. Also, that I am not married. Oh awesome.
Now we start off with a kind of mingling game thing. There is a name tag on your back and you have to ask yes or no questions to find out who your person is. Then you have to find out who your "other half" is; examples include Demi Moore - Ashton Kutcher or eggs - bacon or yin - yang etc. My person was Robin and my other half was Batman who actually happened to be a very tall, handsome man from Norway who is on base taking a nine-ish month course here in the US. Oh...and his name is Hans!
Anyway...let the speed dating begin. The girls are all asked to sit down at a table (two girls to a table) and then the guys fill in across the table - pretty much like you see on tv. Each mini date supposedly lasted 3 minutes although many of them seemed to drag on and on and on! Basic questions got asked "what do you do" "tell me about yourself" etc. By like the 15th person I was so tried of hearing my own schpeel that I said "I could tell you all about how I am a 6th grade teacher but I would rather make up an interesting lie and tell you that I am an astronaut." The guy seemed to go with me on it so we talked about how it would be cool to be an astronaut. This has nothing to do with whether or not he was interesting just I was sick of hearing myself say the same thing over and over again.
One tactic that helped out with uninteresting guys was that since we were outside and had to deal with lots of bugs - mosquitoes specifically - if I had nothing to say I would just wave my hand all around my face and say something like "oh goodness these bugs are crazy."
I will say that there were some really good looking and nice men there but alas many of them were younger than me and as suspected, no love connection was made. I could tell you individual interesting stories but I don't feel like it at the moment and really I think you kinda had to be there for some of them to really be funny.
Verdict on this adventure: a fun experience that I would probably do again - with the same expectations/or lack of expectations as this time.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Summer trip
Ok ok I know my posts are getting further and further apart but really the 3 people that read this on a regular basis already know whatever it is that I am posting. But, for those of you that don't know, I am going to Russia in 36 days!
Russia? Yep! Why? Because how many people do I know that can say they have been to Russia? Like 1 - and it was the Soviet Union when she was there. Also, I am teaching 6th grade social studies this year which includes Russia in the curriculum. But really I just love the idea of going somewhere far away - for a visit - and learning about the history and see how other people live.
In order to get ready for this trip I have been teaching my students some Russian to help me learn some Russian. I can now hold a conversation that goes something like this:
"Hello. Good morning (or afternoon). My name is Brandi. What is your name? Pleased to meet you. Goodbye." I can also say "please" and "thank you".
Yep. That's about all I've got at the moment. Not going to get me very far but like I told my students, if you can be polite, it can get you some help. Plus I don't really think that I will be able to hide my American-ness while I am there anyway so whatever I learn will be a miracle.
I have stocked up on travel size necessities, space-safer bag things so I can pack for stuff, luggage locks that are TSA approved so they don't have to cut them off should they need to make sure I don't have a bomb, and a wall outlet adapter. I am still waiting on my visa to come back from DC. I had to send my passport to the Russian Embassy in DC to get the visa. This is super scary because should something happen to that passport during transport or whatever, there is no way I will get another in time for the trip. YIKES!!! And the embassy has been closed for at least 6 weekdays in the last 2 weeks due to different holidays for Russia.
I also was flipping through the channels tonight and found out that I have a Russian Television channel that comes straight from Moscow but is in English. I have been watching for about an hour and they are replaying the same exact footage that I saw when I first tuned in. I think if I watch it a few times a week, I will know more info about the ins and outs of Russia. Like did you know that every year they open up all of the museums all night, for one night for free to anyone that wants to come? Or that Volgograd is powered by a hydroelectric dam on the Volga River that although provides enough power to run the town plus send extra over to Moscow is also cutting down on the sturgeon population responsible for the famous Russia caviar? Or that there are only 1000 days until Sochi hosts the 2014 Winter Olympics? Well, now you do!
I hope to learn more about the wonderful place I will travel to in a few short weeks. Maybe you can learn something too! I will keep you updated on the process of packing, etc and of course supply you with lots of stories and pictures when I get back. Stay tuned.
Russia? Yep! Why? Because how many people do I know that can say they have been to Russia? Like 1 - and it was the Soviet Union when she was there. Also, I am teaching 6th grade social studies this year which includes Russia in the curriculum. But really I just love the idea of going somewhere far away - for a visit - and learning about the history and see how other people live.
In order to get ready for this trip I have been teaching my students some Russian to help me learn some Russian. I can now hold a conversation that goes something like this:
"Hello. Good morning (or afternoon). My name is Brandi. What is your name? Pleased to meet you. Goodbye." I can also say "please" and "thank you".
Yep. That's about all I've got at the moment. Not going to get me very far but like I told my students, if you can be polite, it can get you some help. Plus I don't really think that I will be able to hide my American-ness while I am there anyway so whatever I learn will be a miracle.
I have stocked up on travel size necessities, space-safer bag things so I can pack for stuff, luggage locks that are TSA approved so they don't have to cut them off should they need to make sure I don't have a bomb, and a wall outlet adapter. I am still waiting on my visa to come back from DC. I had to send my passport to the Russian Embassy in DC to get the visa. This is super scary because should something happen to that passport during transport or whatever, there is no way I will get another in time for the trip. YIKES!!! And the embassy has been closed for at least 6 weekdays in the last 2 weeks due to different holidays for Russia.
I also was flipping through the channels tonight and found out that I have a Russian Television channel that comes straight from Moscow but is in English. I have been watching for about an hour and they are replaying the same exact footage that I saw when I first tuned in. I think if I watch it a few times a week, I will know more info about the ins and outs of Russia. Like did you know that every year they open up all of the museums all night, for one night for free to anyone that wants to come? Or that Volgograd is powered by a hydroelectric dam on the Volga River that although provides enough power to run the town plus send extra over to Moscow is also cutting down on the sturgeon population responsible for the famous Russia caviar? Or that there are only 1000 days until Sochi hosts the 2014 Winter Olympics? Well, now you do!
I hope to learn more about the wonderful place I will travel to in a few short weeks. Maybe you can learn something too! I will keep you updated on the process of packing, etc and of course supply you with lots of stories and pictures when I get back. Stay tuned.
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