Ice Age in Astrakhan

Before you read please bear in mind that I'm not a crazy teenager - I'll be 26 in a couple of weeks. I'm a serious (at least am supposed to be) university lecturer and was elected associate professor last week.
Moreover even when I was a teenager I never was anybody's fan - no autograph hunting, no worshipping or anything like that - never.
Why am I telling you all that? Just so that you can understand what this wonderful pair did to me and how outrageous my behavior was.

This week was a hell of a week – and all my plans about banner and everything were ruined. I didn’t have a spare minute and was so tired every day that felt drunk. I asked my friend about a Bulgarian phrase – and I forgot it. And that day, the 8th of May, I was also so busy that I didn’t have time to buy any nice flowers.

So my friend picked me up at 6:30 – and the show was to have begun at 7 – and we went to a flowers shop to buy some flowers. We never made it to the shop because traffic was crazy, so we left the car somewhere near the shop and pretty far away from the sport palace.

We came into the shop – and what did we see? They were sold out! They had some strange purple monstrous flowers, a couple of roses and a lot of cactuses in pots left. We had an animated discussion whether we should buy the cactuses and be the first figure skating fans who give cactuses to their idols. But we missed this wonderful opportunity and found 2 roses which looked all right – I bought a white-and-red one for Albena and my friend bought a yellow one for Kostomarov (yes, she likes Kostomarov, but that’s her only drawback and she is my friend still).

And then we ran to the palace and got into a crowd there and it’s just a miracle that we managed to save the flowers. We got into the palace and I bought the Ice magazine with an article about Maxim and Arntgolz. She bought a magazine with Kostomarov, we danced a happy dance and rushed to our seats. It took us some ten minutes to find them but the good thing was that we sat just near the aisle on the third row and could get out of there easily. Though there was an additional row of chairs under the first row of seats and two more rows on the playground and then there was the artificial ice – so we felt sorry we hadn’t bought the cactuses as the roses were not heavy enough to land on the ice if we threw them )). But it turned out to be a good thing after all.

Averbukh appeared on ice and said something, a local seven-year-old figure skater skated for a couple of minutes, the lights went down and out of a scarlet cloth appeared the skaters!!!

To be continued…

P.S. Hope you're not bored with all the details but I can't help it

Well, I took my brother’s camera which is very good – I really wanted to take a lot of nice pictures. The only good picture I took was a picture of my happy and agitated self, then I decided to experiment and adjust the camera to the light conditions – and after that I could take only strange blurry pictures. So, no pictures as you understand %) well, maybe I’ll try to find a couple of normal pics.

So the show began and the most wonderful thing was that I could see A&M in flesh and could see expression of their faces! Maxim is really in a very good shape – not in the least that “big” he appears on TV.

I don’t remember who were the first to skate but Albena and Timur skated sometime in the beginning of the show. And even that was stunning! I was so impressed (by Albena) that I just paid no attention to Totimianina-Marinin who skated next (though they were beautiful).
When after sometime Albena appeared on ice with Maxim I was just thinking that I couldn’t believe that I was looking at them skating together – you know what I mean – my favorite figure skaters (no one can ever be compared to them – they are always number one and only for me) are just in front of me (for those who don’t know – though I have been totally in love with them since 2003 I had never had a chance to watch them live, in flesh – that was the first time!). I DON”T REMEMBER WHAT THEY WERE DANCING!

So I cried for a minute and then they finished their dance my friend and I began to shout “Bulgaria! Bulgaria!”, my friend stopped but I went on shouting (so now I have a sore throat and I have no idea what I’ll have to do at my classes tomorrow – just nod with a clever face?). Just to show that I’m here for them and because of them (I wish so much I had made a Bulgarian flag or something!). I doubt that they heard me though my friend said Maxim waved in our direction. So maybe they did.

We didn’t manage to give them the roses. Very soon the first part was over. My friend was upset as there was no Kostomarov, I was on the seventh sky – I had seen my darlings! What else can a girl want? (If only I knew then what would happen during the second part of the show!)

cute_n_gorgeous, it`s so nice you had the chance to watch Albena and Max. I`m really curious which dance they danced first ''Ostanus'' or '' Eternal love'' .I`m so eager to see their new dance at show. Only from the training which I saw I can say that it will be one of my favourite dances. I only hope someone will record it

Vala, I'm so happy for you Don't worry, your report isn't boring at all, quite the contrary . Every detail is important I wish you that this wasn't the last time you watch A&M dancing and that you watch them again

Great report really!
I´m so glad for you that after all those years you could manage to watch them dancing live!

And now I´m curious for the next part of your story...

cute_n_gorgeous wrote:

(If only I knew then what would happen during the second part of the show!)

So, what happened? I´m curious...

Cute_n_gorgeous, thanks! I am also interested in what happened in the next part

yep, I liked your detailed report as well, because I remember the show in Mannheim and every little bit of it was important and exciting! By the way, I fell in love with that couple at about the same time as Vala and this year was my first time to see them life... soooo, Vala, I can imagine how you felt ^^ I'm excited to read about the second part :face:

eli_87 wrote:

cute_n_gorgeous, it`s so nice you had the chance to watch Albena and Max. I`m really curious which dance they danced first ''Ostanus'' or '' Eternal love'' .I`m so eager to see their new dance at show. Only from the training which I saw I can say that it will be one of my favourite dances. I only hope someone will record it

Well, I think it was EL, but I am not sure at all. But that was soo good

Vania wrote:

Vala, I'm so happy for you Don't worry, your report isn't boring at all, quite the contrary . Every detail is important I wish you that this wasn't the last time you watch A&M dancing and that you watch them again

Oh, Vanechka! YOU know how much I care for them! That was really SOOO important for me!

Petra wrote:

Great report really!
I´m so glad for you that after all those years you could manage to watch them dancing live!

And now I´m curious for the next part of your story...

cute_n_gorgeous wrote:

(If only I knew then what would happen during the second part of the show!)

So, what happened? I´m curious...

well it's hard to write - I get so overwhelmed with emotions!

Wondergirl wrote:

Cute_n_gorgeous, thanks! I am also interested in what happened in the next part

thanks for reading ))

tanuki wrote:

yep, I liked your detailed report as well, because I remember the show in Mannheim and every little bit of it was important and exciting! By the way, I fell in love with that couple at about the same time as Vala and this year was my first time to see them life... soooo, Vala, I can imagine how you felt ^^ I'm excited to read about the second part :face:

It's hard to imagine how I feel - I mean, I really lost any hope to see them life especially when they retired.

And as to the show I remember only the moments with A&M. Most of the time I either was watching them on ice or waiting for them and checking if they are going to skate.

I met some friends during the entr’acte and they thought I was drunk or something – no, it’s just figure skating that drives me crazy

So the second part of the show began and we suddenly noticed that many people were going to the part of the hall from there the skaters went to the ice. Very soon Albena and Timur appeared on ice, I took a deep breath and we ran to that place with – for some reason – Kostomarov’s flower . They finished their dance and came up to the entrance.

So I called Albena and gave the flower to her and said “thank you”, and she hugged me! I could have never expected the hug and was very touched (I mean that was very strange of her to give a hug to some unknown girl with crazy eyes )). Well, what can I say? She IS real (in case somebody has any doubts )!

Everybody was giving the programmes for her to sign, my friend had a pen, but we had left everything to write on at our seats, but anyway Albena signed only one programme, said that she really must run and get changed and promised to give her autographs when she is back with Maxim.

Anyway I was happy and thought that was enough for me and just went back to my seat. But that was not the end!

cute_n_gorgeous thank you for your detailed report

Thank you for your report. I'm waiting for the next part.

cute_n_gorgeous wrote:

She IS real (in case somebody has any doubts )!

Albena is one of the most adorable people I've met and I'm not surpised at all that she gave you a hug, Vala She is soooo sweet and nice

I'm waiting for the next part... more interesting things to come?!?

cute_n_gorgeous, thank you so much for your report, I'm glad for you, and waiting for continuing

I'm waiting for the last part too ^0^ Albena is definetely such an adorable little sunshine Some so called stars don't ever care about their fans, but Albena and Max always appreciated their support, they're the greatest ever

Yes, Albie really is a sunshine ! She always is ! I´m so happy for you, really!

So I was happy and more than satisfied. We returned to our seats and watched somebody dancing something. I had never taken anybody’s autograph and never cared about them. I didn’t actually care about them at the moment either.

I could not perceive the reality but suddenly my friend told me: “You should have come up to them skating together and not with Rodriges”. And I began thinking about that.

“Come on! – I said to myself, – all these people seem to come up to them because they are just random celebrities. Don’t they deserve to be taken autographs by somebody who really cares? Who is here for them and only for them (though this who have not prepared properly and even haven’t managed to buy some nicer flowers – originally I was thinking about 7 white roses, but you remember in what a rush I was)! Who is their greatest and most devoted fan in the city and maybe in the whole south of Russia! (yes, I was very pathetic )”

So my friend gave me the rose which was originally bought for Albena, I took the magazine, opened it on the page with A&M’s picture (I think it’s the absinth drinker) and went to the entrance.

Some ladies from the staff recognized me, were quite surprised and asked if there was some place where flowers were given for free. I made sure they understood that Albena deserved hundreds of flowers and made my way to the entrance.

I was really sorry for the people who sat near this place because they were bothered by autograph hunters. So Albena and Max finished their dance (that was cry me a river) and came up to the place.

I must be running now so I’ll finish the report later.

hahahaha, it will be like 1001 night, I suppose ^^ However, thank you for finding time to tell the long story with such a lot of details ^^

Thank you for the report Vala.

Vania wrote:

cute_n_gorgeous wrote:

She IS real (in case somebody has any doubts )!

Albena is one of the most adorable people I've met and I'm not surpised at all that she gave you a hug, Vala She is soooo sweet and nice

I'm waiting for the next part... more interesting things to come?!?

And, you know I normally don't like hugging people if they are not my closest friends or relatives - but I liked that with Albena

tanuki wrote:

I'm waiting for the last part too ^0^ Albena is definetely such an adorable little sunshine Some so called stars don't ever care about their fans, but Albena and Max always appreciated their support, they're the greatest ever

Well, yes, I never had any doubts that Albi is a very nice person but even my friend said she is really NICE.

tanuki wrote:

hahahaha, it will be like 1001 night, I suppose ^^ However, thank you for finding time to tell the long story with such a lot of details ^^

I warned you - I can't help that!!!

But the next part will be the last one, I promise.