Russian Charades: Or In Other Words, How Well I Understand Russian

How well Shane understands Russian and vice versa.
Scenario: The tire on the truck was low. We stopped at an auto store on the way to do our shopping in Pochep. Shane gets out and goes in the door.
Shane: My tire is low. I need some air in it.
Attendant: Garble, garble, garble, garble. (Runs out, grabs the air hose, runs to our tire, and airs it up).
We leave and go to our next stop. End of story.

How well Star understands Russian and vice versa.
Scenario: The light switch in the girls' bedroom hasn't worked since the first week we arrived in Russia, the first time. We assumed it was just a burnt out bulb and we kept forgetting to request a new one at the farm office. Our bedroom light is also a little finicky. Sometimes it turns on, others times it doesn't. But after a quick little punch on the switch, and voila, it works.

We spotted some new bulbs in a store one day, so we picked up a couple. We replaced the bulb in the entry, which was also burnt out, and now it works great. We replaced the bulb in the girls' room... and still nothing. We deduced it was a faulty connection because if you pound on their wall, the ceiling light flickers.

So, a quick call to maintenance and soon two Russians came to work on my lights and our leaky toilet. (By the way, they are getting very good at knocking and WAITING until I come answer the door). I showed them that the girls' switch won't turn on at all, but with a little force, ours will come on. One of the workers smiled knowingly, and laughingly said, "something something Rusky something." I smiled, nodded, and went back to the kitchen.

A little while later Mesa came running up the hall, crying hysterically, "Mommy, I don't like them tearing our wall down." I told her they were just fixing her light, which she accepted more calmly.

Soon, the two workers motioned me back to the girls' room where I could see a newly-installed switch, which now appeared to be working. This is how our next conversation played out:

Russian 1: "Garble, garble, garble, garble." (Pointing at the new switch on the wall and waving the broken one in his hand) 
Me: "Ah, you fixed it. Thank you very much."
Both Russians: (Shaking their heads) "(No), нет, garble, garble, garble."
Me: "Oh, it's still broken?"
Russian 2: (Reaching in his pocket, pulling out some money, and waving it at me) "Garble, garble, garble, garble."
Me: "Oh, you need some money. Okay, let me just grab my wallet" (Thinking to myself: Wait, duh, what am I thinking? I don't pay maintenance. Really, Star, are you that gullible?!)
Both Russians: (Shaking heads, talking very animatedly): "Garble, garble, garble, garble, garble, garble!"
Me: " OHHHHH, you need to go to town to buy a new light switch. Ahhhh, yes, okay. Sounds like a good plan. Thank you. (Thinking: if you had just taken me to the other room where there was still a hole in the wall where a light switch was missing, instead of standing me in front of the switch you had just fixed, I might have been able to cut our conversation in half, and not look like I'm a few fries short of a Happy Meal).