Lyrical digression:

On March 8, at the Embassy of the Kingdom of Thailand, sometime around… hmm… 2011.

The speech was delivered by Ms. Passporn Sangasubana, who was Head of the Chancery at the time. I worked in the same office as her o_0, while my own desk was occupied by a student intern training to be an assistant in the Consular Section. Vasily, the Thai interpreter on the video, was shocked that I was given such an honor)) Like, for diplomats, local staff are just… little piggies and pawns))

But it gets better — out of all the staff and the members of the Advance Team for the visit of HRH Princess Chulabhorn Mahidol of Thailand, I alone was invited to greet Her Royal Highness in the lobby of the Baltschug Kempinski hotel (which, according to a Thai colleague, was then partly owned by the Adulyadej royal family). The emotions when the cortege arrived, escorted by security service cars with sirens (not the “little blue buckets” on the roof), were indescribable. It took my breath away! I still remember how the princess, who had difficulty moving due to an injury, carefully looked over everyone making a curtsy (the hotel staff refused, saying — we’re Russian, she’s not our princess and it’s not our tradition), and me among them.

And also, two hours before the princess’s meeting with V.V. Putin, Consul Najsiri (I can’t even remember her surname now), gushing, declared: “Khun Yulia, why don’t you go with us to Mr. Putin? You won’t need an interpreter, our diplomat will be acting in the capacity of an interpreter. You’ll just sit and watch!”

My jaw dropped. I wasn’t expecting an offer like that. But, of course, and to my regret, the Protocol Service of the Kremlin Administration laughed at the consul’s suggestion — like, such matters aren’t arranged two hours before a meeting (understandably, they require a thorough vetting)))

But when the cortege arrived at the Kremlin for the tour of the Diamond Fund and the Armoury Chamber, my documents passed the security service check. So I’m on the Kremlin’s radar, or, at least, I guess so…

If only you knew what stress I went through when I was asked to change the cortege cars a day before the tour and to coordinate it with the Kremlin Protocol Service. Their staff member snapped at me, yelling that such things are coordinated MONTHS in advance, not a couple of days. To which I replied: “Well, you do understand, this isn’t my initiative, I’m just calling at the diplomats’ request…”

Okay, it was coordinated. I burst into tears… Ms. Sangasubana comforted me, saying, you’re doing everything right, you work for the government of Thailand, not for the Kremlin. Made my day!)))

#ThaiWaiSmile