City Museum – Expect the Unexpected

“Squirrel File”

And so,

on a beautiful day of October 24, Amanda and Daniel decided to join their lives together in holy matrimony. They chose to do this sacred deed in the presence of close family and friends. They decided on their favorite bar -The Cabin Inn - the City Museum to host the joyous event. And that is exactly how we met, as with their decision to rent out the Cabin Inn, I, Tatyana became their host, barkeeper and helper.

The Cabin and the City Museum are possibly the strangest, most unique Museum and Bar in the world. Slides, ball pits, marble statues, ancient gargoyles, walls made of baking pans or print, brought to life by thousands of people, wedding parties, christian meetings, and much more.

So, back to my story. All was going well. The music was playing, and people were hugging and exchanging hellos. The bride was nervous but happy, her mother was very nervous and not so happy, the groom was pleasantly socializing and taking advantage of the open bar with his brother.... and out of nowhere it came. The squirrel. It did not really come, rather flew into the Cabin. It was absolutely terrified, flying over the bar it smashed several times into the closed window in an effort to escape. As I rushed to open the window, the squirrel continued flashing around the bar with the speed of light, its whereabouts were mostly apparent by people's screams. As I finally got the window open, all the people in the bar- wedding party and City Museum staff were motioning the poor trapped animal toward the open escape route.

Unable to find the way out, the terrified squirrel launched itself in the opposite direction, ran up the bride's mom's leg, causing the poor woman to nearly faint. Chaos was in the air. The squirrel then bounced off the support beam in the middle of the bar and as it flew over the groom's brother, a liquid spilled right from the squirrel and onto the grooms man's shirt.
The squirrel disappeared into the Museum followed by a trail of screams; while the groom's man was left in the middle of the Cabin bar, standing there, with his arms and mouth wide open and his gaze glued to a rather large stain on his nice shirt.

Thankfully, the City Museum is a place full of wonder, and I have been here long enough to familiarize myself with it all. Not waisting a second, I grabbed the grooms man's hand and with the words “Sir, you are coming with me” started him up the stairs and into the infamous Store Four, our very own second hand shop. As we were picking out his shirt, I tried to amuse him with stories and said that in my culture (Russia) getting attacked by a squirrel is a sign of great luck and fortune just short of a blessing, and that if anything else, he'll now have a great story to tell, will never forget this wedding, and is walking away with a sassy new shirt.

The ceremony went on as planned. The Cabin proudly hosted its very first wedding ceremony, the bride was stunning, the groom happy, and everyone ha a great time. The City Museum once again lived up to it's tag line - Expect the Unexpected. As for the squirrel... we have reason to believe it is still roaming the Museum and feeding of Bit-o-Honeys.

Snap Shot!

Anyway. So here I am now. I live in St. Louis , Missouri, which may be very difficult for me to relate to you, living in another world, you'd just have to come see it. Very different from Wien, from Moscow. Nevertheless I am enjoying my time most of the time and definitely have a job if not a purpose.

I feel I have grown and matured, yet sometimes I still get very worried and confused about my future. My memories of life in Europe and Russia haunt me, and though I smile when they come, they also stir me. I fell I can never be certain about what place in the world is right for me... I always think of other possibilities. What if I stayed in Wien? What if I did actually go back to live there a year after as I planned?

And then the realistic side comes in- "Well you are doing really well here. You have experience, you have a business. You know people. You have opportunities. Here. Not there."

Do you feel this way too? Or do you have it figured out? Do you feel that people in Europe have a different mentality? Because sometimes I feel that I am running in a hamster wheel trying to do better for myself.

You see, I was raised in a very capitalistically inclined family and society. With no rules at the time. I was told what I cost and that I need to do better. You must accomplish to live well and proud. Otherwise you are a loser.

And then just a few days ago, as I am asking myself questions I run into this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/8347409.stm
And this
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.69105fc6eae7b98bc224a2a77ee79cd8.4c1&show_article=1

So how do you feel? What do you think about it all... the meaning?

Things that make me happy - my friends, my work, good drinks and music and as always dreaming of possibilities.

I did learn this about myself - I am a dreamer. That's what I live by. Always thinking of the "what could be's". Some say it's silly. And yet, that's the only way I know how to be, and the only thing that really keeps me going.