Naomi and I took the stroller out for a very brief walk to play ground that is near by the apartments. See how bundled up she was? That is still not good enough; I was running the risk of getting in trouble with the local Babushkas. Right after I took that picture of her on the marry-go-round a Russian school aged girl walked over and seemed to want to get on. I slowed it down and said (in English, of course) “would you like to get on?” Her eyes got wide, her mouth dropped it was like she was having a close encounter with an alien. She ran to her girl friends and was pointing at me, telling her tale. They ran over and all started talking at once with big smiles on their faces (in Russian, of course). I didn’t know what to say, so slowly I said, “Do you speak English?” They all nodded to each other and I heard”angliski, then something about “Ruski”. Maybe they were telling me they are Russian? I then motioned to take their picture, see the nice pose. They kept talking on and on in Russian, with their little smiling faces .I even tried saying,” ya Nye pa-ni-ma-yu’’ Russian for I don’t understand, but that didn’t discourage them. Then I said “good bye” and they said”good bye” and Naomi and I headed it back to the apartment.
Tonight we did something fun. Ken, Cathy and William had us over for pizza, they had it delivered! Why didn’t I think of that? Naomi and William had fun playing together. William really likes to look out the window and talk about what he sees. The view is pretty interesting; you see children playing, a busy road, dogs running around barking, a frozen river with cars driving on it, smoke stacks with black smoke coming out, mountains and a beautiful sunset every night. You see, there is a lot to look at. Kathy and Nick stopped by; he is out of quarantine for chicken pox. I guess it was not chicken pox after all, just some kind of rash. Little ones pictured left to right, Naomi 21 mos, Nick 16 mos and William will be 3 next month.
2 comments:
Kitty,
Love your pictures today!
It reminds me when we were in China, the kids would gather around us at the park too, because they were fascinated with our English! Looks cold there!! I am glad you have others to hang around with during your stay! What was Russian pizza like? Hmmmm....
Love,
Barb and Alby
Kitty,
Post a few pictures of that view out the window. You'll look back in a few years and think you were on the moon. Trust me, we know.
Faina loved your earlier description of the bundling up process. She told me of living there and being out in the winter and seeing Japanese businessmen walking around without a hat. They'd get the same 'alien' looks you'd get. Russians, despite living in the Siberian cold for many months of the year, seem to either never get used to the cold or find it a status symbol to be dressed. I guess maybe if you're not dressed, this indicates that you don't have enough to keep yourself warm.
Being Russians, the concept of simply being uncomfortable never enters into the equation.
Louie told us Craig is home, but still, no siting of him yet.
Gary
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