The setting: Gori, Georgia (the one in the Caucauses) – the birthplace of none other than Stalin.
Dramatis personæ: Two tall, blonde, adventurous American Peace Corps Volunteers (myself and Linnea), and a taciturn Russian armed guard/soldier.
The story: Two Peace Corps Volunteers are exploring an old fortress. They espy what appears to be a steep (okay, very steep) but intriguing alternative exit at the back of said fortress. As they begin to scramble and slide down the slope, a tall blonde guard with a fairly serious looking gun slung over his shoulder appears on the slope above them.
The following exchange occurs, in Russian:
Me: Can we go here?
Guard: Yes, but it’s dangerous.
Nonplussed, the PCVs continue to scramble down, following what appears to be the path. The guard follows, but doesn’t say a word.
Eventually, the PCVsget to what appears to be the end of all paths. Namely, a wall.
Me: …can we exit here?
Guard: No.
So, then it was time to repeat our rock climbing/rock scramble back up the slope under the blistering Georgian sun.
Lesson: Always clarify your verbs with prefixes. At least if you’re planning to communicate in Russian.
P.S. After we reached the summit once more, the guard offered to show us around the fortress (admittedly there wasn’t much to see) and then helped us to find all of the sites worth viewing through a viewfinder near the guard station. He would locate something, the point emphatically at the viewfinder and use an imperative verb demanding we look. Look we did (even though we honestly couldn’t identify half of what he said we should be able to see.)
