Beautiful Day #3

The weather has been so nice here. Dean must have took all the rain and snow back with him to Wyoming! That is fine by me. I spent much of the day outdoors and it was wonderful. I went to church today with the Looman's who have graciously taken me in to their lives while I am here. It has made this whole stay so pleasant and I can't thank them enough. The choir in the church was wonderful. Even though I had no idea what they were singing, it was still great. Iris translated much of the sermon for me and so I was able to follow along. We ate PIZZA ( I know, hard to believe that I had pizza again!) at Mama Roma's. For sure my mind was bigger than my stomach because we had lots of leftovers, but it was yummy. We went back to the plaza afterwards and the boys rode their bikes. They rode and rode and rode. I couldn't believe how long they went. They loved it. It was so beautiful out. I was invited over to the Park apartment but did not get the message in time. I hope to meet up with them tomorrow. Oh and I get to go to basketball game. Apparently there is a professional basketball team here and we are going to watch them on Tuesday. We saw a couple of the players at Mama Roma's. Should be interesting. And just in case you are a die hard basketball fan, you can got to: http://www.eurobasket.com/team.asp?Cntry=RUS&Team=1847 to learn more about them. Tomorrow I am off to see Sy. I can't wait. Enjoy the rain folks. The pictures are of the church, the Looman's, some poor horses with a bad job, and of the toy store!

Pizza

No doubt about it, I have had more pizza in Russia in this short period of time than I would likely get at home, though pizza is something I could eat daily no matter where I am. Today, was spent sleeping in (til 7), working on a project for work, running, and then meeting up with another American family and the Looman's for an afternoon of visiting. The Looman boys are still learning to ride their bikes. Because summer is so short here and the fact that there does not appear to be anywhere to really ride, they never get much of a chance to master bike riding. But they had it down pat after today and it was great to watch them go from wobbling to riding like little maniacs around the plaza area. We went to California Pizza for supper, followed by icecream. Both were good for me. This is sort of a boring post as I didn't see anyone climbing out a manhole, no aqua aerobics, or anything cool like that. The weather has turned beautiful here thank goodness. The whole time Dean was hear it was very drury, so too bad he missed all of this good stuff. I am sure he will be disappointed (yeah right, he is back home, so I doubt he will even blink an eye). Have no fear, I am a far cry from fitting in around here. No matter how I dress, I don't feel that I would be able to fit the dress code. I would have to wear these boots to even have a chance. So just try and picture me in those and know that there is not a chance that I will ever want to make the leap to live here any longer than three weeks! Guaranteed. Dean and I did an informal research study while sitting at a restaurant and determined that nearly 50% of all women who passed by were wearing something similar to this. WHY??? ....The Looman's said that the plaza area turns pretty interesting in the summer. The people may dress like Eskimos in the winter but come summer they turn into California girls. Minimal clothing is the norm. So all you guys, this might be the place to be in the summer! Well one more day of "rest" and then back to see Sy. I can't wait.

Friday Final Post

Well as I mentioned, I spent the afternoon with the Looman's at their wonderful home outside of Krasnoyarsk. We had pork sandwiches, french fries and milkshakes. It doesn't get any better than that folks! And the grand finale...aqua-aerobics. Let's just say, it was not a pretty sight for me and the swim suit, but it was a blast. The gal leading it spoke Russian obviously and was shouting out orders from the deck and counting up and down from 8. I thought I might have those numbers learned by the time I left, but not so much. Although I think I have 3 down because it sounds like "three". That makes it easy. There were only four of us and apparently I was her focus because she was constantly correcting my obviously poor form. Straighten your arms, don't splash, faster, work harder. All I could do was laugh because I had no idea she was talking to me until about the third time she would repeat herself and everyone looked at me and then translated what she said. It was quite an experience. I met another American missionary family that came over to the Looman's. DeDe came with us to aquaaerobics...... Here is a funny thing....the water was very deep, like to my chin deep. I was the tallest one there! The fourth gal that joined us was maybe 5'4, so picture how the water was for her. We were all drowning as she had us moving 100 miles an hour and we were creating a small tsunami with each movement! A memorable occasion for sure. ...... We stopped at the local grocery store where Iris showed me different things I could buy. It is universal...don't eat the hotdogs! I had pretty much figured that and had taken that approach with ALL meat. I think I will stick with that. Tomorrow is another day of rest. I think I will sleep in...6 am if I am lucky. Good night!

Friday - Post #2

Ok, so there are times when you wish you had your camera...that was today. Let me start this off by saying that there are a LOT of manholes in this town. They are everywhere. I am very aware of them because as a child, I once fell in one. Not a pleasant memory but anyway...so two things...first, one of the manholes has a huge hole broke out of it. It is in a very public space and even though I know it is there I fear I am going to fall into it. (I think that might be residual effects of my past experience, just guessing here!) So what I really was going to comment on is that today I saw at least 4 people crawling out of a manhole. At first I thought, "oh they must be workers who were fixing something" BUT then I saw a young women come climbling out wearing her very nice Chartroose (sp) jacket. Very odd I might say. A bit alarming if you are me running by, but odd to say the least! .....Today I used the washing machine...Now that might not seem like a big deal but everything on it is in Russian so it makes it a bit more of a challenge. I had no idea what cycle I was using but the one good thing it did have was the water temperature was in numbers (30) so I errored on the conservative side and went with the coldest water setting. On top of that, there was laundry detergent in the apartment. Again, not as easy as it sounds since it too was in Russian. The real question here was: Is this bleach or is this detergent? I went with the smell test and guessed it to be detergent. A conservative person would have washed their whites first, but not me....I went for it and stuck in the darks...So what do you think happened? ............................I was RIGHT!!! Thank goodness because I would have looked awfully funny wearing my clothes once they were bleached and like I don't already stick out enough, this would have accentuated it. So now I am off to visit Iris and her family, an American familyliving right here in Krasnoyarsk. Very exciting. I will get to practice my English on her! And the highlight might be me attending aqua-aerobics with her and her friends! I am a bit hesitant on this one for two reasons: 1) I don't do aqua-aerobics even in the US 2) I don't have a swim suit and so Iris is planning to loan me one. She is a bit smaller than me, so that could be a challenge! And after two cinnabon rolls this morning, even more of a challenge! I will let you know how that goes.

Friday - Post #1

Well I figured I better try this layout since I may come back to this blog mulitple times now that I am sitting in this apartment by myself. I was sad to see Dean leave, because now truly I am alone, and that is a bit nerve wracking and frankly BORING! I have never been real good at talking to myself but I will likely master it before I leave here. Remember I mentioned Cinnabon? Well I had Dean walk down there with me yesterday so that I could "stock up". BAD IDEA!! I bought four, and they are all gone! Nervous twitch I have is to eat. And they were REALLY good I might add. So I will be taking a bit of a break from them. You see the good thing about Russians is that they, like me, like sweets and pastries. The bad thing about Russians is that they, like me, like sweets and pastries! I have little to no control and nothing is too far from my apartment........ On a separate note, I do not get to go back to the orphanage til Monday. I kind of figured that would be the case, but asked to go Saturday. They said, NYET. So I will travel there Monday, Wednesday and Friday (with Cindy) and then pick Sy up for GOOD on Saturday. They inspected the clothes I brought for him last night and it looks like I will pass...just barely. I did not bring a snow suit, which seems to be an issue most of the time, but I did bring tights (yes tights for my little boy) and lined pants. So we will see their reaction when we take his clothes on Friday. Visiting Sy on Monday will be interesting since I will be by myself with him. He really took to Dean, which is great, but I wonder how he will react when it is just me....... Observation of the day...DOGS. Dogs here in Krasnoyarsk remind me of the stray cats that seems to be abundant in Greybull. Apparently very few of the people have seen the Price is Right, you know, the part where Bob Barker would say, "Help control the pet population, have your pet spay or neutered!"(BTW, I miss that show!) They are everywhere. Heck they have learned how to hang at the cross walks with all the people so that they don't get hit while crossing the streets! Although (and some of you might not want to hear this) we have seen come casualties from dogs who perhaps didn't obey the stop signs...... And finally....to end this on a positive note...one really good thing is that my apartment is just across from the river walk, so I have a quick street crossing and then I get to go for a really nice morning run. That is where I am headed now.

I am going to quit counting days for a while!

I have quit counting days so as not to dwell on the fact that I am going to be here for a while! We went back to the orphanage today. Sy was a bit less playful but still had the giggles and his favorite part of the visit was us helping him "jump" into the air. Over and over and over again. And when we would try to take a break he would back himself up to our legs for us to do it some more. That went on for quite some time. We tried to draw with him, but he thought eating the crayons sounded like more fun, NYET to that. His attention span was pretty short and he was definitely tired of all the same old same old. He did get to play on the piano for a bit as we were in the music room. He liked that and was displeased when the cover was put down and kept going back hoping to get to play some more. When we first got there today, they were still using the music room so we went into the "sensory room". It was giant bean bag chairs, mats and a very cool fish lamp. It was a large tube filled with water that was circulating with fake fish in it and the lamp would change colors periodically. Sy really liked that. We were glad to leave that room though because it was the size of a small bathroom. Made it difficult to play. It rained and snowed the entire trip but due to a MIRACLE I was able to close my eyes and nap through some of it. So I wont' be able to tell you how bad the trip was this time. I am sure more stories will arise. Did I tell you they have a Cinnabon here? OMG. It is by far the closest thing to home I have come across. I bought two the other day and promptly ate them (the mini variety). I want to go back and tomorrow I just might. I will need to waste some time. Dean leaves in the morning and I will not be going to the orphanage. I am hoping to go Saturday and then a few times next week. We will see tonight when our coordinator comes by. As for cards, well we are all tied up in all categories believe it or not. I won't go into the fact that twice I was this close to winning and choked. Tomorrow if everything goes well I will be visiting with an American family that lives here in Krasnoyarsk. It will be nice to spend some time away from here and with a chance to work on my English, which I am afraid I will forget in the THREE weeks I am here! Oh there I go again, reminding myself of the days. Anyway, that is all for now. Oh did I tell you they have individually wrapped ice cream cones here? I am always attracted to the low cal things, haven't you noticed. That is all for now. Paka Paka (see I am losing my English skills as we speak!)

Day 6 - Is that it, only 6 days?

Well, it seems as if we have been here a bit longer than six days, but officially it is six (but I say eight), so whatever. Today we went back to the orphanage and had a blast tickling Sy, playing catch and with puzzles. If only it were closer because I am telling you, that drive is a killer. Snowy roads coupled with us swirving to miss pot holes, surging and then braking, and passing and being passed at alarmingly close proximity to one another is making each trip seem like eternity. Even our coordinator and interpreter asked us when we got back today "Are you sure you want to go tomorrow?". Well yes we want to go back but No we don't want to drive there ever again! I have never had two hours seem like two days, but it does. On the brighter side, we were able to see Sy's sleeping room which he shares with 15 others, his play room, and his study/dining room, which he also shares with 15 or so others. Oh and the bathroom, which has 16 little potties lined up. Each child has their own. Very interesting. We tried his new shoes on him, which he definitely did not like at all! They fit, but it was a battle because he REALLY covets the shoes he wears right now, but we will not be able to take any of the clothes he has when we leave the orphanage. So, he will have to get by with the new ones. I thought I would post a few new Krasnoyarsk photos. One is of the anomoly known as the U-turn. Very interesting. The other is Dean in awe over the VERY large cans of beer they sell. And then just a few of some interesting places we saw along the way, like the fire hall and the plastic trees that line the streets. So we head back again tomorrow and then Dean leaves the next day. My posts may get longer because I will need to fill my time here and you will all be my audience! How lucky are you? There are a few good things that have come out of this trip besides the obvious. My caffeine consumption is down, one diet pepsi a day. That is an amazing triumph for me. I have also fallen in love with a new food that I found at the grocery store, called a FLARONIS. They are a waffle and they are yumlicious! Oh and I am still up one game in Rummy but have come to a dead heat with Spades and Pitch!