Still at the dacha...
After driving around on the river, Julia, her boyfriend and I decided to go to the banya. We wrapped ourselves up in bedsheets and went into the sauna room, which wasn't as hot as it can get, but definitely hot enough. My uncle's friend, Andrey, came in to hit us with a bunch of birch branches, which is first soaked in water or snow, to improve circulation. After a session with Andrey, each of us was running out of the sauna room through the whole banya outside to roll around in the snow. Barefoot and all.
It was AMAZING! The steam from the sauna, the smell of birch trees, the fresh country air, the cold snow.
It was so thoroughly relaxing that after we had dinner, I took a nap on the couch and then when we got home, I went right to sleep at 10:30pm and slept through the night for the first time.
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Walking on water
... which is covered with ice, which is covered with snow :)
Let's rewind back to January the 4rd, which was so much fun that as some of you have pointed out I didn't even have the energy to blog about it until now! You're so demanding!
We got up early that day at 9:30am and went to my aunt and uncle's friend's dacha for the day. It's about 1 and a half hours out of the city. A cute little house, a banya and a big yard that leads right into the river.
Given that there have been two months of freezing weather, the river is completely frozen over. The first thing we did was go out for a one hour walk on the river. The weather was perfect - the sun was shinning, the snow was shimmering - just beautiful! We rolled around in the snow, not forgetting to fill Julia's pants with it :). In huge letter, we stomped out 'Happy New Year!' in the snow for the aliens to see!
Fresh air can be almost intoxicating after the city. Thoroughly aired out, we went inside for lunch (pelmeni - delicious). After lunch, my younger cousin Genya took his quadcycle out so we could ride around on the frozen river (having previously thoroughly tested it on foot). We took turns on the bike, which had some trouble getting through the snow, but was still a ton of fun.
(Before I go on, I just want to make sure everyone realizes there was drinking during lunch.)
So what's the next step for testing the frozen river after the quadcycle? How about driving on it in a car! And that's just what my uncle did. To tell the truth, riding around in the car on the river was much more comfortable than on the quadcycle :).
In conclusion the river is frozen over good and well.
Photos here
Let's rewind back to January the 4rd, which was so much fun that as some of you have pointed out I didn't even have the energy to blog about it until now! You're so demanding!
We got up early that day at 9:30am and went to my aunt and uncle's friend's dacha for the day. It's about 1 and a half hours out of the city. A cute little house, a banya and a big yard that leads right into the river.
Given that there have been two months of freezing weather, the river is completely frozen over. The first thing we did was go out for a one hour walk on the river. The weather was perfect - the sun was shinning, the snow was shimmering - just beautiful! We rolled around in the snow, not forgetting to fill Julia's pants with it :). In huge letter, we stomped out 'Happy New Year!' in the snow for the aliens to see!
Fresh air can be almost intoxicating after the city. Thoroughly aired out, we went inside for lunch (pelmeni - delicious). After lunch, my younger cousin Genya took his quadcycle out so we could ride around on the frozen river (having previously thoroughly tested it on foot). We took turns on the bike, which had some trouble getting through the snow, but was still a ton of fun.
(Before I go on, I just want to make sure everyone realizes there was drinking during lunch.)
So what's the next step for testing the frozen river after the quadcycle? How about driving on it in a car! And that's just what my uncle did. To tell the truth, riding around in the car on the river was much more comfortable than on the quadcycle :).
In conclusion the river is frozen over good and well.
Photos here
Monday, January 05, 2009
Sleepy time
Haven't been around the internet when I wasn't falling asleep lately, so sorry for the silence. I would post more photos, but they can't be posted without a blog post. And now it's 3:47am, I just got home and I need sleep. Will post first thing tomorrow...
Preview of tomorrows blog post:
The title will be "Walking on water".
Preview of tomorrows blog post:
The title will be "Walking on water".
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Real Siberian winter
Fine, I'll show you the real Siberian winter, just stop asking me about it! :)
Thing I love:
Thing I love:
- Pine nuts
- Heated tile floors in bathrooms and kitchens
- Fire places
- Bathrooms the size of my NY apartment
- Tangerines the size of golf balls
- Birch forests
- Snow to my knees
- Ice sculptures and slides
- A city covered in snow
- Opera houses
Friday, January 02, 2009
I hate jetlag
So time for another very appropriate joke from my uncle from this morning around the breakfast table:
Julia: "Papa, can you take us to the cemetery after breakfast?"
My uncle: "One way?"
Julia: "Papa, can you take us to the cemetery after breakfast?"
My uncle: "One way?"
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Oranges and lemons from 1984
Just finished 1984, which somehow passed me by in high school.
Digression: I heart Darkness at Noon was that the author's first name is Arthur. Yay for searching for "list of authors". :) Boo for my bad memory of authors, book titles and character names.
"Oranges and lemons", say the bells of St. Clement'sMost everyone I've talked to about 1984 v. Brave New World, seem to favor the latter. And maybe this is just me being stubborn and wanting to like the underdog, but I could relate a lot more to 1984. The tone of the book reminds me of Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon, which I though was great.
"You owe me five farthings", say the bells of St. Martin'
"When will you pay me?" say the bells of Old Bailey
"When I grow rich", say the bells of Shoreditch
"When will that be?" say the bells of Stepney
"I do not know", says the great bell of Bow
Here comes a candle to light you to bed
And here comes a chopper to chop off your head!
Digression: I heart Darkness at Noon was that the author's first name is Arthur. Yay for searching for "list of authors". :) Boo for my bad memory of authors, book titles and character names.
Highlights from last night (part 2)
Our decorated "New Year's tree":
January 1st (continues)
6:00am
I try calling Julia, but the money for the SIM card I have ran out, which means that Julia's ran out as well. Genya calls Julia, but instead of getting through to her Julia's friend, Taya, answers and says that Julia's asleep on the couch, refuses to wake up and answer the phone. Genya tells Taya that we'll be heading over soon.
6:30am
Genya's brother Oleg comes home. Great to see him too! He's really grown up a lot as well (he's 17 now) but has not changed much in his looks or personality.
7:00am
Genya and I start heading back to Julia's friend's.
--around the same time--
Julia wakes up on the couch and starts looking for her boyfriend and I. Luckily she finds the former sleeping on the couch next to her. Remembering that Genya and I'd left earlier, she tries calling Genya as she doesn't have my number, but we don't hear his phone go off. So she calls her brother, her mom and dad and finally gets through to her dad, explains to him that she'd lost me and he gives her Genya's house address. At this point Taya decides to tell Julia that actually Genya and I had just called and are heading over.
7:30am
Taya had managed to find a taxi to take us back to the city from the Academic town.
8:00am
We got back home and went to sleep!
And that's how I started the New Year... AMAZING!
January 1st (continues)
6:00am
I try calling Julia, but the money for the SIM card I have ran out, which means that Julia's ran out as well. Genya calls Julia, but instead of getting through to her Julia's friend, Taya, answers and says that Julia's asleep on the couch, refuses to wake up and answer the phone. Genya tells Taya that we'll be heading over soon.
6:30am
Genya's brother Oleg comes home. Great to see him too! He's really grown up a lot as well (he's 17 now) but has not changed much in his looks or personality.
7:00am
Genya and I start heading back to Julia's friend's.
Julia wakes up on the couch and starts looking for her boyfriend and I. Luckily she finds the former sleeping on the couch next to her. Remembering that Genya and I'd left earlier, she tries calling Genya as she doesn't have my number, but we don't hear his phone go off. So she calls her brother, her mom and dad and finally gets through to her dad, explains to him that she'd lost me and he gives her Genya's house address. At this point Taya decides to tell Julia that actually Genya and I had just called and are heading over.
7:30am
Taya had managed to find a taxi to take us back to the city from the Academic town.
8:00am
We got back home and went to sleep!
And that's how I started the New Year... AMAZING!
Highlights from last night (part 1)
December 31st
11:00pm
We gathered at the dinner table. I was of course the last to sit down, since I was still blow drying and curling my hair at quarter till. Julia's grandma proposed that everyone toasts to the best thing about 2008. When it got to Julia's grandpa's turn he said:
11:55pm
The President of the Russian Federation (that's Medvedev) came on TV. He said a few inspiring words (I assume they were inspiring, but honestly we weren't paying attention), then the Kremlin clocks rang 12 times and it was the New Year. (I thought it was weird without the countdown.) The Russian anthem came next - at which point everyone started singing it, but the older generations was singing the USSR version while the young generation were singing the Russian version (the melody is the same for both). Needless to say, the older generations out sang us. :)
January 1st
12:30am
We went out into the street to set off fireworks. (To go out into the Siberian winter, I put on my Uggs and snow pants under my skirt - it was real classy.) Real fireworks: in the midst of others setting off fireworks in just about every yard in the city. Our fireworks were the most beautiful and loud; they made our dog bark, the parked cars alarms go off and the people driving by honk!
1:20am
Julia, her boyfriend and I changed into warmer street clothes and filed into a taxi to go into the Academic town to see their friends.
2:00am
We arrive by the shopping center in Academic town where there's a slide made of ice and a Santa Clause made of snow! (Yes, I went down the slide and yes, my butt is OK!)
2:30am
We're off to one of Julia's friend apartment. It's quite tricky to walk around on the snow because it's all padded down and very slippery.
4:30am
Genya S. shows up at Julia's friend's! His hair is longer and he shaved off his mustache, so it took some staring to fully accept that it was really him. Genya's family and my family lived in the same 2 room (2 bedrooms and 1 kitchen) apartment when I was 2 yrs old. This is the boy that I saw being brought home from the hospital on the day he was born; the boy I used to take baths with! Genya's family are the type of friends that are really like family to us.
5:00am
Genya and I head out to meet up with his parents at their friend's apartment. It was amazing to see them. We reminisced about our favorite stories from when we lived together. The classic being that Genya and I and our dads used to run around the apartment pretend shooting at each other from wooden guns. Yes, I grew up playing war! :)
11:00pm
We gathered at the dinner table. I was of course the last to sit down, since I was still blow drying and curling my hair at quarter till. Julia's grandma proposed that everyone toasts to the best thing about 2008. When it got to Julia's grandpa's turn he said:
I don't know about everyone else, but I am very happy that both of our granddaughters are still single!
11:55pmThe President of the Russian Federation (that's Medvedev) came on TV. He said a few inspiring words (I assume they were inspiring, but honestly we weren't paying attention), then the Kremlin clocks rang 12 times and it was the New Year. (I thought it was weird without the countdown.) The Russian anthem came next - at which point everyone started singing it, but the older generations was singing the USSR version while the young generation were singing the Russian version (the melody is the same for both). Needless to say, the older generations out sang us. :)
January 1st
12:30am
We went out into the street to set off fireworks. (To go out into the Siberian winter, I put on my Uggs and snow pants under my skirt - it was real classy.) Real fireworks: in the midst of others setting off fireworks in just about every yard in the city. Our fireworks were the most beautiful and loud; they made our dog bark, the parked cars alarms go off and the people driving by honk!
1:20am
Julia, her boyfriend and I changed into warmer street clothes and filed into a taxi to go into the Academic town to see their friends.
2:00am
We arrive by the shopping center in Academic town where there's a slide made of ice and a Santa Clause made of snow! (Yes, I went down the slide and yes, my butt is OK!)
2:30am
We're off to one of Julia's friend apartment. It's quite tricky to walk around on the snow because it's all padded down and very slippery.
4:30am
Genya S. shows up at Julia's friend's! His hair is longer and he shaved off his mustache, so it took some staring to fully accept that it was really him. Genya's family and my family lived in the same 2 room (2 bedrooms and 1 kitchen) apartment when I was 2 yrs old. This is the boy that I saw being brought home from the hospital on the day he was born; the boy I used to take baths with! Genya's family are the type of friends that are really like family to us.
5:00am
Genya and I head out to meet up with his parents at their friend's apartment. It was amazing to see them. We reminisced about our favorite stories from when we lived together. The classic being that Genya and I and our dads used to run around the apartment pretend shooting at each other from wooden guns. Yes, I grew up playing war! :)
Back in the stroller
This isn't really relevant to how I spent last night, but I figure it sets the tone :).
On the ride home from the airport we were telling Julia's boyfriend some childhood stories about us. Here's a classic:
Julia and I are only a few months old. My parents take us out for a walk in one stroller. My dad pushing the stroller along tips it over and drops us both on our heads!
(Mama can you confirm that this was papa and not you?!)
After telling the story and arguing about who was responsible and when this happened:
Julia: "There's no way the two of us would fit into the same stroller now."
My uncle: "Well, it really depends on how small of pieces we chop you up into!"
On the ride home from the airport we were telling Julia's boyfriend some childhood stories about us. Here's a classic:
Julia and I are only a few months old. My parents take us out for a walk in one stroller. My dad pushing the stroller along tips it over and drops us both on our heads!
(Mama can you confirm that this was papa and not you?!)
After telling the story and arguing about who was responsible and when this happened:
Julia: "There's no way the two of us would fit into the same stroller now."
My uncle: "Well, it really depends on how small of pieces we chop you up into!"
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