One of the famous novels by Strugatsky brothers has a title "Monday Begins on Saturday." This year, my Thanksgiving (which falls on Monday) began on Saturday. Late afternoon, when I least of all expected it, I was visited by Gina and Suzanne. Gina brought her mother along to meet with me and show her the church. Irina came around six, and then, after work, Dmitri joined us for dinner. He didn't feel well, so we decided that it would be better for him to go back home rather then stay in the church. Irina drove him to Joice station and was back shorty; we spent a nice and quiet evening together.
Sunday morning, after breakfast, I was busy preparing for the service--I was performing with the choir and playing a duet with Jeanette. To my surprise, I saw Bill M.--he accompanied Tomoyo, a Japanese student from the Friday's group, who wanted to attend the service. Everything went really well that day, but Irina had to go home almost right away. For about two hours I stayed in the office, and when the Chinese congregation's service was over, I moved up to my room. Around 6 p.m. it became very quiet, but I was startled by the knock at my door--it turned out that Gina and Suzanne brought a little bit of Thanksgiving dinner from Gina's Mom. That was so sweet, but it wasn't the last visit for that day. Just half an hour later, Olga called and offered to see me with her boyfriend Vincent--they hadn't had dinner yet and were thinking to bring pizza. In about forty minutes, they were in the church. It was a nice treat and, most importantly, Vincent was just back from his native France where he had stayed for more than a month, so there were a lot to talk about.
Monday, on Thanksgiving day, I was able to see Irina only in the evening--she had to stay with Dmitri--and then she came again on Tuesday. That was the first time since June we could see each other four days in a row. Thank you... And a Happy Thanksgiving!
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