Shopping like a local

Brian's a night owl – I'm a morning person. So when Nathan Genya wakes up before the sun even is out guess who is out watching cartoons with him?!? Yep, me… (I do get first look at the blog comments then though!) This morning I found "Fox Kids" cartoons on the TV at 7am – otherwise I hadn't been finding cartoons before 7:30am. My current strategy is that Russian cartoons/DVDs are fine during the day (well, it's also all we find on TV!) but just before bed we play an English DVD – so usually it's "Cars" – because then maybe the English works via osmosis while he sleeps.

This morning I weighed him at the start of the day and he was 45.4 lbs – so we didn't miss the "cubing"! 45" tall, 45lbs at 5-2/3 years old.

Genya had his "usual breakfast" – banana, yogurt and a hardboiled egg – but now not the yolk…apparently doesn't like that anymore! Meanwhile I made up so more hardboiled eggs and peeled them right away – I had my BEST PEELING eggs EVER! I might have found the reason for our long stay in Russia – I can now have good looking eggs to make deviled eggs! LOL I made up a batch of Krupsea (oven pancake) for us all but Genya only ate a little (he had had breakfast before and had some apple slices also). He and Brian then did some drawing and cutting. Genya cut out some shapes and then he and I went around the apartment looking for examples of those shapes – circle, rectangle, square and triangle… we found all but the triangles easily.

Next I made a batch of the play-dough that Rosie sent the recipe for – it worked very well! We don't have food coloring so it's just white but still was entertaining. I made different things with it but Genya liked to just roll it out and make balls and other things like that. It passed the time for almost an hour! During this time Brian's niece Sarah C (Genya's godmother) called so that was a nice break! She starts her student teaching at St. John's, Wauwatosa next Monday (my Cousin Ginger & family go to this church/school). I said Monday is the day we're HOPING the passport comes in on but at least we should be able to find some information about it on that day so a big day for us both!

We hadn't had let Genya vacuum for a few days and the play dough and paper scraps were building up under the table so he was excited when we said "Genya, get the vacuum!" – he did his usual thorough job!

He had quite the busy morning so we put in a DVD (Russian wall-e) into the little DVD player – he just is happy sitting with that on his lap with his headset on chewing the bubble gum he and Brian like while we're able to go online and check email and do our own things for awhile!

I think I've mentioned this, but if you want to call us (which you can!) do it after 6pm central time as we're always here in the morning and everyone is up at 8am our time at the latest!! (14-hours time difference from Central Time)

I had an email from someone at home the other day asking what we are calling Nathan Genya – well, there is no good answer to that. Most of the time we call him Genya – that's what he responds to best – but he knows his name is Nathan and will respond to that also. Generally when scolding it becomes "Genya" but when trying to get him to do things it's "Nathan Genya". He refers to himself as Genya. When I sing "I am Jesus' Little Lamb" to him at night and say "even calls me by my name… Nathan Genya Ninmann" he says the complete name along with me. I did want to keep his birth name as his middle name, as we had done with JJ, but give him an American name for first name. As he grows up he can have some choices then on what he wants to be called. We're not opposed to him liking "Genya" as we use nicknames as you know! (reference: JJ) So my suggestion would be to either call him "Nathan Genya" or "Genya" when you first meet him!

So after a lunch of leftovers for me and hot dogs, chips, yogurt and banana for Genya (Brian just ate some chips!) we got ready to head out for the afternoon. We had a medium sized shopping list – the basics like TP, yogurt, eggs, milk, bread, butter, bananas… So we headed to the people's market… I feel like I'm shopping like a local now. I think we get what maybe is a "tax" when shopping at the SuperMarket (have I mentioned this before?) Anyway, where we do the most of our shopping now you usually have to provide your own bags and there is the same selection as at the supermarket but the prices are either the same or a bit less. I have found my favorite place for bread there – a big loaf and it's fresh for 17r (but still like the French bread at the supermarket too for 31r!) My friendly vegetable seller was back today – when I asked for "4" potatoes she wanted to know if 4-KILO? I said no, 1-2-3-4 – easy transaction. I bought TP and napkins from a small booth and even bought myself a genuine Russian shopping bag for 7r – I had forgotten to bring a few bigger ones along today! Also went back to the place I've been buying butter and she remembered and got me the one I've been buying. It is nice when you're recognized and don't have to start over from scratch each time! Then I got bananas for Genya – tried another vendor for those as the last ones were good but didn't look as fresh on the stand this time… went to a different one around the corner and they look great and she was friendly – and didn't even grumble when having to break a bigger bill!

We stopped to get more internet cards – can't find a 500-minute one so got two 300-minutes. That should carry us through and if not they go on to the family behind us! Then I sent Brian and Genya on ahead (Genya walks slower now) and I went to the supermarket for yogurt, eggs and milk. They have a bigger selection of yogurt for about the same price… found eggs today in a paper carton (rather than plastic) so didn't have to pay the extra 5-rubles for whatever I usually do…but they were out of milk! Tuesday must be milk day so we'll have to look again tomorrow. I caught up with the boys shortly before Lenin St – Genya ran back by me and gave me a big hug! Once at home Brian put the groceries into the house while Genya and I played in the backyard for awhile. There is one working teeter-totter (out of three originally there) and we played "up" and "down" – he had to say it correctly in English and then I'd do the command. He did get quite good at it for awhile and it was good thigh exercise! Then once Brian was out by us we brought out a glider and they played with that a LONG time – Genya got good at it after awhile! We have two more left (this one got pretty banged up so I disposed of it when he wasn't watching) so we'll spread those out over the coming days! It was so nice today – probably about 35F – that we went for another walk. However by now Genya must have had it so he wasn't listening well so he and Brian went back to the apt and I ran to the nearby deli/meat market and picked up some pieriskes (bread with potatoes for me and Genya and one with meat for Brian). We're becoming addicted to this cheap and good snack! Next time I am getting the cabbage one again – I think it has more flavor than the potato ones. This cut our hunger until supper time. We watched some cartoons and then Genya and I played a hand of War. Then I had to start dinner (Auto Parts Chicken aka "Borsch" per Genya) so Brian and Genya played some DS games – Genya is getting good at those too and is much gentler with the DS than he was originally.

Two things to comment on for the memory book – first, Genya gets the biggest kick out of people parking on the sidewalks here. When he and Brian are walking he always points it out and laughs and then scolds about it (well we think he scolds anyways, has that face!) Second, I have to tell about when we got the pizza Saturday night – I had bought a bottle of beer also so when we were eating Genya asked if it was soda (like Brian) and I said "no, peeve" – Oh my goodness, that set him off – "Peeva?? Peeva??" he said and launched into what sounded like a lecture – including tisk-tisking noises and shaking of his head. Even when we tossed the bottle into the trash the next day he was still talking about it. So we're not sure where that comes from but apparently Russian children aren't taught both these things are "good" but yet seem to do them when they grow up! LOL

Judy H. called this evening and said Harry is settling in at home very well. Nice to talk with her since they've been gone from here over a week! Genya was a putzy eater tonight – finally after realizing we were serious about "no bath" if he didn't eat he finally finished his dinner! Took a nice bath tonight and listened and then another short game of War (where he referred to himself at Nathan tonight – so maybe disregard my whole paragraph above LOL!) and it was to bed for him. They were removing the snow from the street across from us so he did get to watch that for a bit.

Alex called tonight to check on how we were doing. He brought up checking passport status at the end of the week. I said to him I was wondering if they could check Wednesday just to find out a timeframe so we can start making travel plans. I told him even tho we are enjoying our visit here, we want to leave! He said yes, it's gotten long – you want to get home! So maybe we'll at least find out something this week (but not counting on it!)