Third Sunday in Siberia

At times it feels like we've been here forever, at times it doesn't seem that long. I think the more we get out into the city and doing things – even just walking around – makes the time go faster. Yesterday we really didn't get out that much because we wanted to make sure we were here when our lights got fixed so we stuck closer to "home". Today we know there is nothing on the agenda so we'll have to get out an about. We want to stop back to the street vendors and get some wool socks for JJ and Nathan and probably do some other little shopping. We're now the experts at getting rubles off our credit card so no longer have to worry about finding a place to exchange our money… we'll save that for our final settlement with Alex! And the grocery store's credit card machine is working again so that is good!

It snowed lightly last night - barely 1/8" I would say but just enough to make everything brighter again. As with snow anywhere, it's pretty when it's fresh but just a little time with the pollution makes it brown. And with only a little bit it shouldn't hide the icy patches too much. I asked Andrew one day if they get 'big snows' here like we've been experiencing in Wisconsin these past two years. He said "no", once in awhile they get a big snowfall but otherwise it seems to just be a little at a time. And there aren't piles of snow anywhere – probably just a few inches on the ground right now. They do have snowplows and such for when it snows but most of the time they just sweep the snow off the sidewalks.

This morning I'm watching a movie on the TV – it's an American movie called "Avalanche". The dialog is in English with Russian dubbing. I can't hear everything the actors are saying but can make out what's happening for the most part. We like to watch the TV and use it to help us learn Russian a little bit. Sometimes we just pick up a word or two that we hear in everyday conversations.

We did find out yesterday our 10-days starts Tuesday, Feb 3^rd (Sophia, your birthday – right? I keep forgetting if it's the 2^nd or 3^rd! What a bad Aunt!). And I think weekends count toward the days but I got a bit confused when Alex talked yesterday. After the 10-days is up then something gets mailed somewhere and then when that is received then there is some other stuff that has to happen and then we apply for his passport. Once we have his passport then we can leave Irkutsk…but I don't know yet when that will be – there are a lot of things to go through yet. But then once we have the passport we fly to Moscow to do the USA immigration steps – we need to get Nathan Genya a visa to enter the United States. There are some steps for this also but should only take a few days (and this time I hope we get sightseeing, not like last time when we slept our whole evening in Moscow away!) And then, as long as it's on a day the flights happen, we fly directly from Moscow into Chicago. If it's a day the non-stop flight doesn't fly then we'll have to connect in Europe somewhere but hoping that doesn't happen… I did email the US Embassy in Moscow our news and Alex had talked to Philip, our coordinator in Moscow, so everyone should be ready for us!

You know, we bought the calling card so we would have people call us (it's 4c/minute to talk to us and we're paying the bill!). Here again are the directions and I'm posting them publically so maybe a few more of you would call. I KNOW some of Brian's friends need to talk to him – LOL!

So this is how you would reach us:

Dial access #: 1-800-367-9241

Enter your PIN: 150-763-2808

Enter your destination number followed by the pound (#) key. International Calls: Dial 011 + country code + city code + phone number + the pound (#) key 011-7-(3952) 34-36-58#

The best time to call is later afternoon/early evening your time (like Central time zone 4:30pm-10:00pm or early morning Central time like 6:00am-8:00am). And if you want to IM/webcam with us just call first and then we'll go online but we're having spotty results with loading it (we're on dialup) so it might not always work. We usually don't leave the apartment before noon unless we're going somewhere and we're usually back by 5pm or so again, unless we're going somewhere. Tomorrow we'll be setting up the schedule of when we're going to Cheremkhovo so once we know that I'll post… otherwise we'll just be around! Steve and Tami, once we find our schedule we probably will call you to do something together!

I know I had posted previously about our difficulty finding milk like at home. We have found one now that is palatable for on cereal (but not really to drink) but I have found that with a little bit of sugar on the already sweetened cereal it tastes quite good – I can finish it out of the bowl anyway! We're getting our calcium through yogurt & ice cream which are really good here. Also I need to tell about buying a dozen eggs. The eggs come in a container very much like we get at home. So I bought eggs twice and couldn't believe how quickly we were going through them… well this last time buying them I realized that the "dozen eggs" only contained TEN EGGS! So many things here are "smaller" than in the USA J

So now a little more about our Sunday. After a lunch of egg salad sandwiches, chips, pickles and yogurt we went walking. We headed toward the river and walked along it for awhile in a new direction. There we found the "sign of the day". Elena, we think we know what it says but maybe you can translate?!? (as I can never figure how to post pictures orderly I'll be putting it in a separate post of pictures.)

So we walked along the river for a long time and then took some streets and we thought we knew where we were heading – it all looked familiar anyway. We walked a long time and even had some interesting paths (as you'll see in the pictures post). So we walked and walked and all of a sudden we were….. on the backside of the mall at the end of the walking street! We walked probably an hour or more to go about 20-minutes! We laughed so hard! But we were in a different part of the city – the Asian area… there were street vendors everywhere and they were more aggressive. There was a babushka selling socks that were so soft – I bought two pair for the boys… Might go back another time and get a scarf. I thought she handmade them but then a few feet later there were other vendors with the same looking scarves so I'm not sure now… Then we walked a little further and got into a street market – selling lots of clothing mainly out of what we'd call storage units. Again, very Asian looking people. That must be where the "everyday people" get their clothing – it seemed to be all imported from China, Taiwan, etc. I didn't feel real comfortable there so we left after looking around a little. So we continued walking then and found a Second Hand store (almost all the 2^nd hand stores are called it in English). This one had almost no organization – all the clothing was in baby playpens. Check out eh shirt we saw in the store (green T-shirt). Must be the discount 2^nd Hand Store… Some nice stuff but I really don't "need" anything so we just warmed up a bit then left. We continued on our walk and got to the end of the street. We made a turn and walked awhile and knew we'd come to Karl Marx soon (all roads seem to lead there). We were in a pretty upscale part of town and then we saw the "Golden Lion" and "Senator Restaurant" in English so decided to go there. Didn't know what it was but we needed a snack and to warm up and rest a bit. This place was really a highpoint of our day!

We walked in and found the coat check. Asked about restaurant and they pointed either to the left or right. We started to the left but that place was FANCY! So we headed right. It turned out to be a sushi restaurant. Now Brian and I have never eaten sushi but in our new adventurous spirit we decided to give it a try. The waitress, Maria, spoke a little English and helped us to order. (picture of her and I to follow). We decided on a cucumber sushi and a chicken/cheese sushi. She was trying to ask us if we wanted chopsticks and made it easy when she brought both over – fork and chopstick. Asked me to say in English what both were called. So as we're waiting for our food to come the General Manager of the complex came to see us! His name is Sean Hennessey and he's from Ireland originally. Has lived in IRK for 5 ½ years tho and married to a Russian. He told us a little about his work there and the building and how he's upgrading the restaurants to more Western Style service. He said the building until recently was owned by Chechens and was a casino so no one really went there! They have the sushi restaurant, a German restaurant and the upscale Senator Restaurant in the building. In a few months they're having a "grand opening" where celebrities from Moscow are coming in for it! He left us to eat our meal then. It was ok – the Chicken Sushi was better than the cucumber in my opinion. They both came with soy sauce and a green sauce that was hotter than Horseradish! Oh boy, it opened the nasal passages! Brian can breathe again – LOL.

During the meal Brian kept watching the restaurant entrance – he said people kept coming to "see us"! They'd look in the door, look at us, and leave. Now we were almost the only people in the place but we were minor celebrities! Then after we were done Sean came back and gave us a tour of the place – definitely "behind the scenes" as he took us into the kitchen of the Senator Restaurant! His goal is to get that to be "THE" place to have a special dinner again – very upscale. The German place serves food every day and we're going to try and head back there one day for lunch. There are quite a few German restaurants in this town actually (two right up the street from us, but I digress). So he takes us on a tour of the floors and shows us what he has planned for some other rooms – including meeting and banquets, etc. He was also interested in our adoption journey and why we were here. It was an interesting hour or so! We told him we'd tell others about the place!

So we continued down Karl Marx St. and we found a military display… not sure why it is where it is but you'll see those pictures too. Then we took a picture of one of the car dealerships we found – the Honda and VW place. Next we stopped at the drug store for some toothpaste (every little detail, Carleen!)

Lastly we stopped at the market under the Stadium. I got some Cabbage Rolls for dinner and some salad. Going to fry up some potatoes to go with it and have a good Russian meal tonight! We've been tending to eat dinner about 7:30-8:00pm due to our later afternoon snacks and to make the evening not last so long! Even with our 4 ½ hour walk today we're still a little full from the Sushi!

Also a few more "car pictures" for Brian's friends! And JJ, a Sonic picture for you!