From Russia With Love...

Ok...think I received my first ever proposition for sex from a Russian businessman last week.

I have had a number of interesting exchanges/experiences over the past 6 months in Italy...but this definitely rates at the top of the list.

I was at Matley's (a local bar outside the walls of Soave) with Laura, a close girlfriend of Chiara and I.

I was approached by this Russian man dressed in a suit...He kept repeating the same line over and over again in Russian but noone in the bar could understand a word he was saying. Hand gestures were then utilized, which unfortunately did not help very much.

Having realized the hand gestures weren't working, he then started to pull out a good amount of euros from his wallet (to the utter shock of basically everyone in the bar, who of course had all been watching this exchange with complete amusement). It was pretty obvious based on the amount of cash he pulled out that my Russian was not just offering to pay for drinks.

Now, I am not a smoker but have been known to take a drag or two off of someone else's cigarette after a few drinks.

It was at this point that I decided a drag or two would not do and that I needed at least one whole cigarette all to myself...so Laura and I exited the bar.

We re-entered the bar briefly to pay for our drinks. It appeared that my new Russian friend wanted to escort us home, but Fabio (the bartender) put his foot down...and let's just say that the Russian may not have understood Italian, but he understood Fabio completely and remained inside the bar.

Of course upon arriving at home I attempted to find the Russian translation for "What is your hourly rate?," "How much for the entire night?" and "How do you feel about bondage?" online.

Anyone by any chance familiar with the Cyrillic alphabet?

- Zucca