Valentine's Day

This Valentine's Day, William and I actually got to spend together, unlike the past 2 years. We went out for lunch to Pronto Pizza. We got two pizzas and they were both really good. The restaurant even gave us little heart shaped cookies, which were also delicious. It was a nice afternoon.

In the evening we had plans to learn to play Russian Billiards (also known as Russian Pyramid) with a few other people from UOP. But before that, we were able to video chat with my mom for a little while, even with our bad internet.
The billiards table is a bit larger, we played on a 9 ft table, as opposed to 7 ft. The pockets are also smaller and yet, the balls are larger and heavier. It makes it more of a precision game, no going with lucky shots and sloppy playing.
We played Free Pyramid which is played with 15 white balls and 1 dark red ball. The red ball is used to break, but after that acts as if it is white, the color doesn't matter. Simply, at any point any ball may be used as the cue ball. Players can even pocket the cue ball. First player to get eight balls in, wins.

There were enough of us that we decided to eventually play on two teams of three, just so we all could play. The Chiefs vs The NOT Chiefs. The NOT Chiefs won (aka me and not William) We then decided to play American billiards and did teams of East vs West; Americans vs Russians. It was weird to switch between the games because of the table size and ball weight. But the Americans won all the games.

We all then sat down for some more beers and played some card games in the restaurant area. William had struck up a conversation earlier with some Canadians and Americans who played hockey for the KHL Croatia team, here to play the Torpedoes. And the few that were left, had joined us. These guys had actually played a few games in the NHL. So technically we were hanging out with a former Blackhawk, Marty St. Pierre and former Blues, Mike Glumac, who are both Canadian. It was fun to also talk to a fellow American, Cal Heeter even if he is from St. Louis, giving us a hard time about our hockey and baseball preferences. As we were getting ready to leave, Cal had told us he could get us tickets to Sunday's game against the Torpedoes. We couldn't pass us another hockey game!

We felt like VIP going to the players entrance to get our tickets the next day. Again, it was a great game in the Torpedo stadium. Although Croatia lost, the Torpedoes won their last home game of the regular season and it was quite the celebration in the stadium.

It was a great weekend, and another great weekend is to come. We are going to Moscow for a long weekend. Leaving Friday night and coming back Monday, since Monday is a holiday here. It is Defender of the Fatherland Day. Many Russians observe this as men's day because military service is obligatory for most men in Russia. But don't worry ladies, International Women's Day is March 8th.