A fistful of rubles

We had a busy day today. We first had an early morning visit at the orphanage. It ended up going well given the time and how Baby Boy is tired for these visits. We got there at 8:00, he started to get cranky at 9:00, and we teamed up to hold him until Heather was able to get him to fall asleep in her arms around 9:40. They had the morning sing-along time with other kids which helped a little in keeping him distracted. It is bad, though, that the kids are sometimes distracted about us being there. I hope it doesn't annoy the staff. They might be happy to see us leave on Friday, but we know that they will miss Baby Boy. He is one of the favorites there. 

We left and had a small brunch at Mick's. Other days we took a quick nap first, but it gave us a late start and were very hungry. We tried some new things again. Heather had a pasta with mystery meat in it (maybe chicken). I had meatballs with rice and sauce that were like Swedish meatballs. They were both good, we got lucky again. We took a short nap then headed back to Mick's for Part 2 of brunch. We mixed it up a little and got a slice of their cheese pizza with a 'side' of meatball and mashed potatoes. Sounds like an odd combination, but the potatoes are good. 

We went to the mall place we were at yesterday in search for an umbrella-type stroller. No luck. We then tried another small place closer to the market that we haven't been to. No luck. Heather then noticed a not-so-obvious door to a children's store and we found some. They didn't have anything super cheap, so we looked some and decided to compare to the first children's store closer to the hotel. We went to the closer one and ended up getting one there. 

We then tried to find a coat for him. The weather here is colder than we were expecting so we didn't bring one. It is supposed to be colder on Friday with possible snow, so we really need one now. We were able to find a store on the way back from dinner, down a street that we normally wouldn't have taken, and found one for him. It should be a little big so it will fit him next fall.

Next orphanage visit is Wednesday, then we pick him up on Friday!!! It really is going quickly here, but still look forward to getting home.

It's OK to eat gold snowflakes.

I had a flaky tongue earlier and boy was it good. Well, not that good but tasty still. Before you start thinking that I got overly adventurous and tried some traditional Siberian food, it was just a pastry from the shop around the corner. It is a rectangular puff pastry with sugar crystals on the top. Not tons of flavor, but good and cheap. The name translates to flaky tongue and when I asked for them I asked for 2 tongues basically. The first word in the name was easier to say than both of them. 

The day was rainy and cold so not many people wandering around outside. We met Oxsana at noon and she took us to a shopping mall thing near the California Pizza. We had seen the building but didn't know what it was. It is similar to some 'older' style shopping areas we have seen, where it isn't built as separate stores like a regular shopping center. It was a large 3 story building where there were vendors everywhere in semi-permanent stations. It was laid out well with walkways around the floors, but it was still odd. They had lots of different things so Heather and I will head back there to see if there is anything else. We didn't get to the market because of the rain. She dropped us off at the hotel and we had to figure out what to do for lunch. It was a late lunch so we just went to the patio place again. It was close and the temperature was around 40 degrees outside, we could see our breath. Maybe we need to buy Baby Boy more than just a hat. We'll get one of the big snowsuits that we saw at the kid's store.

We both got the chicken and mashed potatoes again. It really is good and better than getting pizza. We are trying to get different things so we have a little more variety. We got a fresh batch of the mashed potatoes and I tried to tell Heather that it wasn't a pool of butter sitting on top of them. It was just condensation that looked yellow in the light. Yeah, well they tasted good anyway. At dinner I tried the apple perog at the California Pizza place. It had a short crust like a tart or something. The inside was made up of diced apple pie filling, but it tasted too apple-y. Lots of green apple flavor. It was still tasty but maybe a little too much apple. The top crust was kind of neat, made up of lots of circles of the dough layered on and baked. The perog came with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side.

We stopped by the pastry shop and got the tongues and nothing else. I want to get some more donuts. The ones we got yesterday were a peach filling and tasted good - fresh donuts, yum. I want to try and figure out what another one might have for a filling that we would want. I might have to take my dictionary there to translate on the spot.

We have switched cereals yet again. The honey nut Cheerios got a little old so we tried Gold Snowflakes by Nestle. I guess it is their version of Frosted Flakes but I don't know what the Gold is for. They also have Gold Cornflakes, etc. so maybe everything is Gold. They are a little thicker than Frosted Flakes but taste good and are not as sugary as the Kosmostars. I think the Kosmostars were screwing up our blood sugar or something.

So, orphanage visit tomorrow! Only a few more days until we get him, then less than 2 weeks until we come home. Time is going by pretty quickly. I will miss the city some, walking around everywhere, seeing the pretty fountains and tulips everywhere. The tulips are starting to bloom so hopefully we will get some sun and we can take some pictures of them. I certainly don't mind coming home. We will go out to shop more if it is nice out. The weather is supposed to remain about 40 degrees the rest of the week with a 50% chance of snow on Friday! Great!

I wanna pet the kitty!

Well, today's post will be short. Sorry for the long post yesterday and any other posts that are long (but hopefully not too boring). Sometimes I ramble, and that goes for the blog posts.

Today we took it easy and slept in. We went to a children's store looking for a hat and umbrella stroller. Something inexpensive that we can cart Baby Boy around in. The store had lots of kid's stuff but didn't have any that were in our price range. Not to say they were expensive, just not at the level for our needs. We did find a good hat, though. The temperature here has been going up and down and can get windy at times. We had brought him a jacket with a hood but no hat, but we changed our minds. The store had a few other things in case we need them. Tomorrow or Monday we will head to another area that has a department store and supposedly the umbrella strollers we are looking for. We were going to go there this afternoon but the sky got dark, clouds rolled in, the wind picked up and we made a mad dash for the hotel. It ended up raining and stayed windy for almost 2 hours. We then ventured out once it was over for dinner and some pastries. We ate at the Mick's Patio place again, but we tried some new things. Heather got mashed potatoes and chicken, I got the potatoes and a beef thing which was like beef stew meets pepper steak. Both were very tasty and we will get it again, more choices other than pizza.

We did some laundry in the sink today, mainly skivvies and socks. We had to pack light for the trip, but those are two things we packed a little more of. It is tough to pack for 4 weeks in one suitcase. We put Baby Boy's things in a suitcase of his own, which we fortunately didn't get charged extra for at any point. He has his own ticket for the ride(s) back, so no worries there.

The hotel has a 'house kitty', a mostly black cat that we sometimes see down in the lobby. She is usually sleeping but a few times has been walking around. For those that remember what George looked like, she has a very similar tuxedo kitty look. Mostly black, white paws, a little white on the chin that goes up a little on her nose. Heather has pet the house kitty a few times while we were in the lobby. The cat is sleeping and just wakes up enough to enjoy it then dozes back off. Kind of neat.

Don't breathe in the elevator!

Today turned out to be an interesting day. We started off with an early visit to the orphanage. They brought Baby Boy out and we just hung out a little. He was tired, but we were expecting that. He woke up a little and wanted to play, so we got the little alligator xylophone thing for him. He played with that some, then we went back to the ball pit. We were there for a bit and then he wanted to play with these little blocks. He was starting to get tired though it was only 30 minutes into our visit. It was a little early, but we both took turns trying to make him feel ok and not start crying from being tired. It started working and then they brought some children in for their time.

There were about 10 kids, looking to be form 2-3 years old. They set up a puppet show and it helped to take Baby Boy's attention so he wasn't worried about being tired. Heather was holding him while standing or sitting, letting him watch the puppet show from his comfy spot. After the puppet show they then had some music and singing time, things that Baby Boy was watching pretty well. There were a few times when he got riled up, but he then calmed down. They took those kids away and soon brought back in a slightly younger batch of children. They also did the puppet show with music and we sat there watching it again. It was cute, at one point in the song the kids are supposed to clap. Heather had held Baby Boy's hands during the first puppet show trying to get him to clap. He decided on his own that he wanted to clap during the song for this puppet show. Funny and cute.

We were able to get through the visit without him seriously breaking down. Heather is really good with him, though. Holding him, rocking him, getting him to rest in her arms. It was great to just sit and watch them sit together watching the puppet show, or watch her be able to soothe him and get him to relax. She really is good with kids and will make it easy for Baby Boy to make the big change next week. 

We still plan on going next Monday and Wednesday, even though Monday will be a morning trip again. We just don't like him to miss nap time or whatever for it being so early, but he has done well with us just holding him so it isn't too bad for him. It gives us good time to be with him, allowing him to get more comfortable with us. That is one big benefit of staying here during the 10 day period. We will see him 4 times that we otherwise would have missed if we had gone home during it. Now that we are here, I think we are glad to be here for the 10 days. It's not easy to want to do before you've done it, but now that we are here an used to things it is better. We get to see more of the city, we get to see more of him and it would be tough to fly back next week just in time to get him.

We had lunch at the Mixed Patio place again. They didn't have the pizza ready so we were going to get paste, but it wasn't the same kind. It was what they called pesto, but wasn't very pesto-y. It was good, though, and had chicken in it. I also tried on of the bleeni things. A bleeni is like a crepe or thin pancake wrapped around some sort of filling. It kind of looks like a tamale. You can get ones filled with savory things for a meal or dessert ones. I got a dessert one with an apple pie sort of filling and powdered sugar on top. We never did get the pizza as they weren't making any, so we wandered off. 

We ended up going back to the hotel to figure out what to do next. I heard a noise from the plaza and looked out. Yesterday these little 'yurts' had been built, round portable structures built by nomadic tribes. We had recently seen a documentary about some native tribes in Northern Siberia so thought it might be something like that. I see some guy banging a drum outside of one and Heather said we should go check it out. There seemed to be a big to-do happening related to a Russian region just south of Krasnoyarsk called Tuva. It is a little region between Krasnoyarsk (big region) and Mongolia. The people are of Mongolian descent so have customs, etc. of that region that are different from others. There was a man dancing around a fire banging a small drum (click for larger pictures):

He seemed to be also singing, something called 'throat singing' which seems to be something that this group of people is known for. Tough to describe, but the name gets the idea across. He said some things in Russian, so we don't know what it was, but he seemed to be doing a ritualistic dance that had some other parts to it. We then went over to some ladies standing at the front of the opera and ballet theater. They were part of the same Tuvan group, wearing traditional outfits. At first we didn't know what they were for, as it seemed that they were waiting as opposed to actually doing something.

This is a before and after photo of one of them. She had these long sleeves that didn't look so long when she held her hands together. Their outfits were very pretty and detailed. They each had individual designs and colors but the same basic look.

Here is the group of them preparing to do their thing.

We then noticed some commotion back at the spot where the fire dance was. A crowd was gathering so we went to look. We saw people flocking towards one guy, someone who had bodyguards to help. We had already seen several well-dressed and official looking people, some with little ear-pieces like security people wear. We had no idea who it was so I went to get a picture (to figure it out later). 

It ended up being the governor of the Krasnoyarsk region, Alexander Khloponin. Seems this was some cultural exchange between the 2 regions. He and his posse then went into the theater, passing the ladies from above, where they greeted him before going in. We guessed there might have been a show related to the Tuvan people inside. Kind of neat, not something even a Krasnoyarskian gets to see everyday. Good thing Heather wanted to see what was going on outside.

We tried the Baskin Robbins today, each having a scoop of ice cream. Not bad, we'll go back. We also tried this little market next to the hotel which has pastries. We had checked it out earlier but thought we would go back and buy something. We got two eclairs, one with a coffee mousse and one with a strawberry and creme filling. Both very good, but the other thing was a piece of cheesecake, cream souffle. It had a chocolate layer on top with a bottom layer of ladyfingers, but was soooooooo good! It was a good sized piece and only cost $1.25. Yum, yum, yummy! We will definitely go back for more of that, plus whatever else either looks tasty or I can figure out what is in it. We are actually going to try it in the morning to see if they have any breakfast pastries.

So, that was our long day. We finally got to have some of the desserts and were happy we did. Forget gaining weight from pizza (which requires a walk of about 2 miles), we have cheesecake next door.

By the way, the elevators in the hotel are small. Maybe 4 people can fit without becoming friendly with someone. People here also like to pour on the perfume and cologne, especially the cologne. You sometimes go into the elevator just after someone like this has left it, and you almost feel the cologne settling on your skin it is so heavy. 

That darn Kopeek!

Well, we took a tour of the city today with Oksana. She is a student of our translator's who went with us to one orphanage visit. She had a car so drove us around to various places, a photo album of this is here: <click me!>

Also, a Wikipedia page about Krasnoyarsk: <click me!>

We first stopped by the statue and fountain/park area of the founder of Krasnoyarsk. It was more towards the 'new' part of the city and higher up a hill. There is a hill behind the city center, away from the river. We then stopped at the WWII memorial. It was relatively simple but very thought provoking. Russia really played a large role in WWII, stopping the German forces that invaded Russia and helping cause a 2 front war that greatly helped the Allied invasion in Normandy. 

We then made our way to Karaulnaya hill where there is a chapel and the cannon that fires each day at noon. The chapel is an iconic piece of Krasnoyarsk, a picture of it is on the 10 ruble note. Next we drove to a newer part of the city. There were lots of apartment buildings and even a new mall. We went inside the mall and it was almost like home. Heather wants to go back, maybe she can ask Oksana to take her. It even smelled like a mall, odd but it seemed like home a little. There were lots of new buildings going up, mainly tall apartment buildings. It is the place to be if you want to live there, I guess.

We then made our way back to the city center, the old part of the city where we are. We went to the train station, but their fountains were not on today. We stopped at the Revolutionary Park where the Lenin statue was and walked to the clock. Oksana explained what it was for, a pretty neat clock. We had just missed the most recent chime, but we can always go back. Next was the city gate and the Rezanov statue. The foot bridge that is in the picture form the hill at the Dubenskoy statue, it starts here. It is for bikes and walking, going over the river to an island devoted to bike trails and walking trails. We didn't go there as it was a windy day and a long walk (plus we were getting hungry). We then went back to our hotel and Oksana left, then we went to lunch.

It was a chilly day today, very different form yesterday. When we left for our excursion it was snowing small flakes and was windy. It got better later on, but then around 4:30 it was snowing again. Very odd weather. We ate at the pizza place, Mixed Patio. We actually at there this time instead of getting a pizza to go. We did have a few slices of pizza, but tried the pasta, a slice of cheesecake and a small pastry. The cheesecake was good, but more spongy than creamy with a cake-like crust. It was all tasty, though. We did eat dinner at California Pizza, but we tried the 'California' pizza which was the BBQ, also good.

A quick primer on Russian currency. They have paper notes in denominations of 10, 50, 100, 500, 1000, 5000 and coins of 1,2,5 rubles. There are also coins that are partial rubles like our coins called kopeeks, 100 kopeeks in a ruble. The coins are kind of a pain because you start to collect lots of them and the ruble coins are heavy. It's not fun to get change and have more coins to carry around. I had gotten some 10 kopeek coins and thought that they were mostly worthless, but when I got change at the market today I was surprised to get a 5 kopeek coin! Great, more of them, but at least the kopeek coins are small and light. To put it in perspective, 1 US dollar is about 32 rubles (it fluctuates). That means that 1 ruble is about 3 cents or .03 dollars. That would put the 10 kopeek, at 1/10 of a ruble, at about .003 dollars (a third of a penny). Now the 5 kopeek coin is half of that, .0015 dollars or 15/100 of a penny! Scary math, but the kopeek really isn't good for much. I try to pay with lots of coins to get rid of them.

Anyway, enough of that. We are actually going to be going to the orphanage tomorrow. We will still go Monday and Wednesday of next week. At first we weren't going tomorrow as we were worried about Baby Boy and being tired during the early visits. Ludmila talked with the head doctor and things will be fine, so it will become a visit to hang out with him more than lots of play time. Now that he is comfortable with us, we don't need to play time to 'bond' so much, so we can sit and have cuddle time like Wednesday. Sounds god to us.

If the light is blinking, RUN!

A little bit about the traffic here. It's crazy. I wouldn't want to drive here. We are surprised to see nice newer cars, even some expensive cars like Mercedes and BMW. Most of the cars are smaller and a few years old. Some are unusual makes like a Russian one or European one. Some are variations of things like Toyota, some are imported from Asia and are right-hand drive models. 

All in all, the driving is crazy. There aren't really lanes marked like we know, maybe suggestions at times. Drivers are not so much aggressive, but try to 'butt' in line so to speak. If a lane is a right turn lane, then you get 2 cars side by side trying to get through. If the light is about to turn red, you see cars (especially at the end of the work day) push through the intersection (and possibly block it).  The drivers don't normally like to yield the right of way to pedestrians. Even when the light changes and they are turning your way, even though the pedestrians have the right of way, the cars get as close as they can until they have to stop. Even worse if the light is about to change and you are still crossing.

Their traffic lights make the situation a little worse. They are green, then the green blinks when about to change, then yellow then red. If you have a red light and it is soon to go green, both the yellow and red light up. This lets the drivers prepare to go like it is a drag race or something. They roll forward and try to get a jump on the traffic, or the pedestrians if they are 'in the way'. It leads to a situation where you sometimes need to really watch out for yourself, as some drivers can get close to you as they go by.

We ended up eating at the Italian place, Mama Roma's, which was very good. I had spaghetti bolognese and Heather had a grilled pork chop. Both were very good and we will surely go back for more items and dessert. We tried their lemon sorbet (server in a hollowed out lemon) which was good. We then went to another little market next to it and bought some Dove soap, a little more of home with us. Simple things, but god nevertheless. 

A few pics now for your enjoyment ...

This is our 'after court' photo. The far left is Galena, the head doctor at the orphanage. She was very nice and we saw several times at the orphanage. Heather next, then me, then the rep from the Ministry of Education. Far right is our translator/coordinator Ludmila. (Click picture for a larger one)

Here is a shot in the morning from our hotel. The theater is to the right, the other half of Krasnoyarsk in the background and then the mountains. 

Here is an electric train we drove by on the way to the orphanage. We follow train tracks for a portion of the trip, but didn't realize until today that the two lines were for electric trains. I don't believe I have ever seen one of those before, and this shot makes it look like a little model train.

Tomorrow is our excursion so more pictures then. We will first be going to a famous church I believe, somewhere that they fire of a cannon at noon each day. We have heard it from our hotel but didn't know what it was until recently. It sounded like someone closing a door down the hall. It is near the California Pizza, so maybe we can suggest that we should eat at California Pizza! We actually might try their California 'flavor' which is a BBQ pizza and then get some dessert. Maybe we can get her to suggest a more Russian place that we wouldn't normally go since we don't speak Russian. More on all of that tomorrow.

Orphanage visit with our son

We had an early morning visit with our son. Although we haven't gotten custody of him I think it is ok to call him that. At first we were the only ones in the playroom and he seemed a little tired. Not really wanting to play, just being more cuddly. Not really a problem, though. He has been active so a little cuddle time is good. A little later they brought in some 3 or so year old kids to have music and fun time. Baby Boy was interested in that, so he would sit on Heather's lap and watch some. He is just so curious about what goes on, it's cute.

They left but a little later 2 visitors came in, one guy and one girl, the guy with a (real) video camera. We didn't know what it was, but then realized as they laid out a blanket and baby toys that it must be for some new babies. To explain a little, when new children (or babies) come into the orphanage, the staff tries to find a Russian family. The first 8 or 9 months are reserved for domestic adoption, then if there are no families the child is opened to international adoption. They have a website of pictures and information, have adoption listings in magazines and also have some televised information. This must have been the televised portion of it for the babies. There ended up being 4 that they brought in, all no more than 2 months old. Baby Boy was 2 months when he went to the orphanage, so it is about as early as they can be. They were cute and hopefully they will find a family soon. It reminded us that there are still children here without families and more that arrive, though this is the first time we had seen new children.

We had lunch (again) at the California Pizza. Hawaiian pizza again, but we will try a dessert next time. An apple perog (pastry with apples inside) and a scoop of ice cream for 60 rubles, just under $2. There are several places we have eaten that have good looking desserts we haven't tried. The other pizza place had various cheesecakes that looked good, plus we found a dessert shop on the way to one of the markets