Today I toured a new sports facility in town. They have built an astroturf soccer field with a basketball court at one end, a volleyball court at the other end and a running track around the perimeter. It is covered by a heavy tent like dome and lighted. It is still cold in there, but protected from weather and open until 9 at night. Really, I just took a picture of it because I was fascinated by the hat our tour guide was wearing. It just cracked me up. The coat was quite a statement as well. My only entertainment today since the internet was down and the cable TV as well. Now I just wish we had a supermarket. Life would be complete.

This is my new friend Elena. She lived in the US for five years and speaks great English. She is my main link to the orphanages. I think she is a reincarnated angel. We are going to visit a family on Saturday that is fostering eleven children. This is their third set of children that they have fostered. They did not receive any funds from the state this month to assist them because of the financial crisis and are looking for help to get through the month. Elena introduced me to some of her friends at her birthday party. (One of her friends just recieved a 30 percent cut in his wages because of the financial crisis. That drops his wages to about 700 dollars a month, and we thought we had it bad) It is the tradition here for the birthday person to bring a cake to work and to sponsor and do all the cooking and preparations for their own party if they have one at home. Elena had to have been cooking for three days for this party. She made several very good russian salads. Very different from anything I have tasted before, but delicious. One ws a pickled carrot salad with mushrooms in it, the other was a potato salad with pickles and apples in it. She also made something that looked like an empanada but is stuffed with either cabbage or fish. We also had some pink caviar on toast. Gary very politely took the caviar and after I had finished eating mine he slipped his on my plate. What a guy. We also had homemade chocolate chip cookies. Wow. and I thought I was the only one here that knew how to make them. We also had a delicious desert that tasted a bit like Mom's grasshopper pie. I am back on my diet now for a few hours until the next party. We are having a superbowl party here tonight. They are showing it delayed by 14 hours so I am not allowed to turn on CNN until after we have watched it. Ra Ra Arizona.

Death of a housemate

Hi, So it has been -27F this week so we haven't been out and about much. The air is so cold that it actually takes your breath away when you step out from the shock of it and makes you realize just how many nose hairs you have because you can feel them freezing from the air. We finally caught the mouse. We had to fatten him up a bit before he would spring the trap. We would put peanut butter on the trap and he would just lick it off without actually getting caught. This week though I put some russian 70 proof vinegar behind the fridge where he hangs out. That stuff is so powerful it nearly knocks me flat when I open the lid. It must have disoriented him enough that he stumbled into the trap. Either that or the smell of it just made him want to commit suicide. I am enclosing a picture Gary took. He put a blindfold on him to protect his identity. Don't ask me why?

Back in Russia

Well we have been thrown back into the realities of life quickly now that we are home. We arrived on Thursday to a freezing cold house, no internet service, a mouse, no hot water, and a request to visit Karpinsk disabled children's home on Saturday. Karpinsk is a town about 4 hours from us where all children born with severe imperfections from our area are kept. There are 275 children there in a crumbling overcrowded structure that is slowly being restored with limited funds from the government. Several local people had donated gifts to the school in Nizhni Tagil and they needed someone to transport the items. We had also gathered 160 cloth diapers for the home that we were delivering. It was minus 20 degrees. We couldn't fit all the things in the car and had to put them on the roof. It took way to long to get them situated and Gary and Alexi were nearly frozen by the time we had that sorted out. After a long drive with more roof issues along the way we arrived and unloaded. We visited most of the children in the home and picked up as many as we could to give them some extra attention. In one of the last rooms, the CP unit, I saw a child who was crying who was so amaciated that he looked like he came from war torn Congo. I went to him and picked him up and held him for about 10 minutes trying to calm him down. I lost my poker face on him. I always try to look cheerful and hopeful, but it was not possible. I was so haunted by him after we arrived home that night that I couldn't sleep. I could smell death on my arms. I took a shower about 3 am and decided I needed to investigate the possibility of becoming a foster parent for him. I called Elena, the woman who always arranges for us to visit the home, and approached the subject. She investigated the situation and told me he had been sick with an intestinal flu and was recovering. She could not see any way we could foster him as foreigners. We then tried two other government agencies and they said there was no law in place for such a situation. We could either adopt, or drop it. I tried to adopt a cat in England once and was told I was not a good candidate because we move too much and are too unstable so I hardly think I am going to be able to adopt a child, particularly at age 51. I contacted my church and asked them if they could get me a case of admit... a food formulated specifically for critically ill starving children of Africa, no word yet as to where that is going.
In the mean time life goes on. The internet is back up and running after two weeks of steady frustration. The heat it on, the water is hot most of the time, the mouse is still at large, and we have been out and about. We recieved a Christmas card from the security department at Gary's office. It made me laugh. I will show you a picture. We also visited the local children's orphanage and delivered some Nat. Geo. science puzzles we bought for them with some money that was donated to us by Gary's Mom. They invited us to a recipe competition they were having. 5 children were competing for a prize to see who could make the most delicious salad. We tried them all. My favorite was one with Mayo, beets, figs and nuts. It was great fun. One of the older girls gave me a necklace to thank me for the gifts. It is humbling to see someone with so little be so grateful.
We also had one of our little friends from church Sieva show up with 3 stitches in his chin. We took a picture because we have never seen such large stitches before. Poor little dud, he goes through a lot! I miss my kids, but I am glad to be in a place where we can make a tiny difference and learn to love a people with so many struggles in their lives. It is rewarding inspite of the frustrations. Happy New Year, Christine

Christmas in London

We have had a respite from the winter cold of Russia. We have traded it for the wet cold of London. Instead of having the snot in our nose freeze from the cold, we have the bones in our knees and back screaming from arthritis from the humid cold. We are fortunate to have been offered a house to stay in with our brood of grown children in exchange for cuddling by our friends puppies while they are on vacation. Lucky us.
We have spent the holiday reconnecting with old friends, family, shopping the after Christmas sales on Oxford Street,visiting our favorite restaurants and museums, and going to the musical Oliver.
It has been wonderful to turn on the shower and be greeted by instant hot water with pressure instead of turning on the water and doing three chores in the house while we wait to see if any hot water is ever going to show up in the morning, and waiting to see if there is enough pressure to get the soap out of our hair once we are in the shower. It is also lovely to be able to just drink out of the tap and have a nice salad with real lettuce. We enjoy many things about Russia, but these are a few of the frustrations that still get to us.
London still has a heavy hold on our hearts and on the hearts of all of our children. The architecture is interesting on every corner and in every neighborhood. The antiques still lure us into the shops. The exhibits still lure us into the museums. Yesterday we came down the escalator into the tube and listened to the most amazing busker singing an Italian aria that was so beautiful it brought tears to my eyes. We just stopped and listened to him for about 5 minutes. He definately earned the pound I dropped in his hat. He could have been singing professionally anywhere, he was that good.
We look forward to returning to our Rusian adventure but are sorry to say goodbye to our children, our friends and beautiful London.