I forgot to mention that we thought Hard Rock would be the one place that would accept credit cards - especially American ones. Daddy has visited enough of them around the world for us to think this would be possible – BUT signs on the doors stated they do not accept American Express! drat! It might have been a good thing – it kept me from going wild in the gift shop. The check for the 6 of us was 3500 ru – less than I anticipated, but I’m low on cash now.
For all you economic types – I finally got it though my thick head that 100 ru is around 4 dollars – thus 1,000 ru is about $40 – took me long enough, sigh. Gas here is around 21.50 ru for a LITER – you do the math for the price of a gallon. A ride on the Metro (subway) is 17 ru – the bus was 20 ru. The standard tip at restaurants is 10%. The cost of living rate for Mike varies weekly according to the value of the dollar - hard to keep a budget. The school insists they pay by check so they get hit by the bank handling fees adding to the $550+ monthly tuition – Sophia goes 3 half days and Teresa only attends 2. There is a VAT on EVERYTHING at 18.7% and I can’t tell if it is included or added to the prices as I give Lisa all my receipts for the refund.
I’ve been in enough subway stations now to see a pattern in the stalls selling stuff. There might be more but they all had ones dedicated to breads and cakes, cosmetics, newspapers, video rentals, little gifts, stockings and sexy lingerie, and flowers. You see lots of people walking around with flowers. There are also booths selling tickets to various events – not the permanent stalls like the others. Lisa says you can only get tickets for that day - nothing in advance. There are always street sellers on the steps – mostly “mature” ladies offering scarves and gloves incase you just lost them, I guess and I’ve seen some of the usual toys like the mechanical “ferret” chasing the ball. Things are the same all over – I wonder of the umbrella sellers magically appear when it starts to rain like they do in New York.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
PLease don't let go of my hand
We got up too late to make church at the embassy this morning. There was probably another mass at the rectory but Mike and Lisa aren’t sure where it is. We won’t go any where by ourselves. We were on a train the other day and didn’t understand it was being taken out of service until we were the only ones left. Lisa’s didn’t understand the announcement – so we wouldn’t have a chance.
Mike was even confused today. We decided to go downtown and had to transfer two times. There are two blue lines and we picked the wrong shade. Not that big a problem - just had a LONG walk. It was interesting – along a street just for pedestrians with lots of artists, stalls and souvenir shops – most a repeat of yesterday. Lots of signs in English – knew the prices would probably be high. Didn’t dawdle – just passed the Starbucks – we were headed for Hard Rock and the girls were hungry! Luckily it wasn’t crowded so we got a table right away. Looks like this is the place to bring the kids – everyone takes off their boots and start running around. No one objected about the noise and the wait staff just waltzed through them. Food was the usual menu – great when you are homesick for some fries and onion rings.
Found our way home without any problems except my hat is TOO hot! It might be 30’F but I don’t feel cold. I was sweating until I stopped wearing socks in my UGGS and now I’m the only one holding my hat and gloves on the train!
We gave the girls their New Years’ presents – masks. Looks like kids here dress up in costumes so we got them a kitten and a puppy mask. Chaos broke out, of course, as they chased each other around the house on all fours. No one would hold still for a photo – so I’ll try again tomorrow. They were very tired and didn’t object to going to bed. They are very confused. The Russian Santa comes on New Years and Orthodox Christmas is Jan 6 – I’m having trouble keeping it all straight.
Mike was even confused today. We decided to go downtown and had to transfer two times. There are two blue lines and we picked the wrong shade. Not that big a problem - just had a LONG walk. It was interesting – along a street just for pedestrians with lots of artists, stalls and souvenir shops – most a repeat of yesterday. Lots of signs in English – knew the prices would probably be high. Didn’t dawdle – just passed the Starbucks – we were headed for Hard Rock and the girls were hungry! Luckily it wasn’t crowded so we got a table right away. Looks like this is the place to bring the kids – everyone takes off their boots and start running around. No one objected about the noise and the wait staff just waltzed through them. Food was the usual menu – great when you are homesick for some fries and onion rings.
Found our way home without any problems except my hat is TOO hot! It might be 30’F but I don’t feel cold. I was sweating until I stopped wearing socks in my UGGS and now I’m the only one holding my hat and gloves on the train!
We gave the girls their New Years’ presents – masks. Looks like kids here dress up in costumes so we got them a kitten and a puppy mask. Chaos broke out, of course, as they chased each other around the house on all fours. No one would hold still for a photo – so I’ll try again tomorrow. They were very tired and didn’t object to going to bed. They are very confused. The Russian Santa comes on New Years and Orthodox Christmas is Jan 6 – I’m having trouble keeping it all straight.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Things to ponder
Its 4 AM – can’t sleep – was woken by fireworks! We hear a few going off every night, but can’t see any thing. This time it was a long string going off. Have no idea what they were celebrating and anticipate New Year’s will be noisy!
One funny thing I forgot to mention is Teresa keeps asking “Is it Kwanza?” Oh, the power of Sesame Street! We think she knows about it from an Elmo holiday DVD as all they see here is Nickelodeon in Russian. Wonder if Auntie Claire has something to do with it.
Going back to bed – I can’t sleep late as I’m sleeping in the play room.
One funny thing I forgot to mention is Teresa keeps asking “Is it Kwanza?” Oh, the power of Sesame Street! We think she knows about it from an Elmo holiday DVD as all they see here is Nickelodeon in Russian. Wonder if Auntie Claire has something to do with it.
Going back to bed – I can’t sleep late as I’m sleeping in the play room.
Retail therpy time!
Lisa took us to GUM (pronounced goom) yesterday – a HUGE department store in Red Square. This was on my wish list of things I wanted to do. I remember seeing pictures ages ago. It is a gorgeous 3 story, Victorian gingerbread, city block monster. But it’s more like a mall than one store. Very high scale boutiques. There are up escalators, but none going down! The one place we really wanted to look at - the food emporium - was closed – drat. They seemed to be stocking stuff so they might be open if we get a chance to go back next week. I didn’t buy anything as I’m holding off getting my Hermes scarf until I can pick one up in Paris. lol
We had lunch in new mall one subway stop from the house. The restaurant is owned by a German brewery – decent food. There obviously aren't any age restrictions on alcohol or tobacco - a table filled with High school kids were having a great time. We had soup – cream of mushroom and a sausage one from St. Petersburg then chicken schnitzel and stroganov. Stopped in the attached supermarket and headed home. Just missed the shuttle bus so we had to wait an hour for the next one – sigh. It wasn’t THAT bad but at -2’C, it seemed to take longer. We made a pot of split pea soup for dinner and went to bed early to be ready for today.
Mike took us to Ishmalova (Sp?) today – an outdoor craft fair open weekends all year. It was amazing. Booth after booth of anything a tourist could ask for – and they will bargain! I got lots of goodies – but I’m not telling so I don’t ruin any surprises. This is the place to go if you want a medal, a jet pilot helmet or a gas mask – we didn’t get anything military or antique as they can give you a hard time taking it out of the country. The best part was the food stalls – a 2 story cottage structure open on the ground floor with barbeques and enclosed seating upstairs. We had sashleek – marinated chicken, veal or lamb with a great sauce and terrific warm bread. The only thing that could have made it better would have been a bathroom. Sigh.
On our way out, I couldn’t resist anymore. I picked up a shawl for myself – one of those white cobweb wonders that I can’t remember the name as an incentive to make my own. And I got a fur hat! It was hard trying to decide – there are so many styles, types of fur and colors – I picked a hood type in a dyed fox – a mix of lavender and black. It made Mike laugh so it’s probably a good choice. The most important thing, its warm – needed it during the walk to the car as it started to snow.
Tomorrow starts our last week in Moscow – it’s the big holiday so Mike has off so we’ll try to cram in as much as we can.
We had lunch in new mall one subway stop from the house. The restaurant is owned by a German brewery – decent food. There obviously aren't any age restrictions on alcohol or tobacco - a table filled with High school kids were having a great time. We had soup – cream of mushroom and a sausage one from St. Petersburg then chicken schnitzel and stroganov. Stopped in the attached supermarket and headed home. Just missed the shuttle bus so we had to wait an hour for the next one – sigh. It wasn’t THAT bad but at -2’C, it seemed to take longer. We made a pot of split pea soup for dinner and went to bed early to be ready for today.
Mike took us to Ishmalova (Sp?) today – an outdoor craft fair open weekends all year. It was amazing. Booth after booth of anything a tourist could ask for – and they will bargain! I got lots of goodies – but I’m not telling so I don’t ruin any surprises. This is the place to go if you want a medal, a jet pilot helmet or a gas mask – we didn’t get anything military or antique as they can give you a hard time taking it out of the country. The best part was the food stalls – a 2 story cottage structure open on the ground floor with barbeques and enclosed seating upstairs. We had sashleek – marinated chicken, veal or lamb with a great sauce and terrific warm bread. The only thing that could have made it better would have been a bathroom. Sigh.
On our way out, I couldn’t resist anymore. I picked up a shawl for myself – one of those white cobweb wonders that I can’t remember the name as an incentive to make my own. And I got a fur hat! It was hard trying to decide – there are so many styles, types of fur and colors – I picked a hood type in a dyed fox – a mix of lavender and black. It made Mike laugh so it’s probably a good choice. The most important thing, its warm – needed it during the walk to the car as it started to snow.
Tomorrow starts our last week in Moscow – it’s the big holiday so Mike has off so we’ll try to cram in as much as we can.
Friday, December 28, 2007
The Stash After
Ah yes... the joy of an organized stash!
With LOTS of help from the sister, we managed to tame the wild beast that was the laundry basket of half finished squares, tangled yarn and random books and hooks that was my craft basket before. as you can see, it's all laid out nice and organized now, and all with photos in Ravelry... woo! And let me just say - the discovery of the center pull ball is FABULOUS. I think the majority of the stash has been re-balled just so we could practice it :)
Man, I don't know where I got most of it - besides "borrowing" it from mom's stash... I guess all those giveaways from Stitch and Pitch and random fairs added up.
Now I'm working on finishing scarf #2 to match the hats, and a pair of fingerless gloves in the beautiful silk/merino that I got on on Purl Adventure earlier. I made a really pretty skinny scarf with it before, but skinny/pretty does not equal warm/functional. Might have to see if I will have enough yarn after the gloves to make a thicker,, more functional scarf. Perhaps a muff/neck warmer thing. Hmmm....
Other than that, just chillin', waiting for Amy and the BF... i have had all week off, and don't have to go back untill the second, so I'm enjoying the sitting around the house and watching marathons on discovery channel. Can't wait for the Mamajama and the Poppy to come home so we can see all the pictures and hear all the stories!
With LOTS of help from the sister, we managed to tame the wild beast that was the laundry basket of half finished squares, tangled yarn and random books and hooks that was my craft basket before. as you can see, it's all laid out nice and organized now, and all with photos in Ravelry... woo! And let me just say - the discovery of the center pull ball is FABULOUS. I think the majority of the stash has been re-balled just so we could practice it :)
Man, I don't know where I got most of it - besides "borrowing" it from mom's stash... I guess all those giveaways from Stitch and Pitch and random fairs added up.
Now I'm working on finishing scarf #2 to match the hats, and a pair of fingerless gloves in the beautiful silk/merino that I got on on Purl Adventure earlier. I made a really pretty skinny scarf with it before, but skinny/pretty does not equal warm/functional. Might have to see if I will have enough yarn after the gloves to make a thicker,, more functional scarf. Perhaps a muff/neck warmer thing. Hmmm....
Other than that, just chillin', waiting for Amy and the BF... i have had all week off, and don't have to go back untill the second, so I'm enjoying the sitting around the house and watching marathons on discovery channel. Can't wait for the Mamajama and the Poppy to come home so we can see all the pictures and hear all the stories!
Thursday, December 27, 2007
LeeLuu Likes to Knit
While at Claire's for the holidays, we organized her stash. LeeLuu enjoyed that very much. Yarn is her favorite toy. Then we got down to some serious crafting. Claire finished a crocheted hat for a gift and I somehow got roped into knitting a matching scarf. No worries tho, LeeLuu was there to help. She's very helpful in kjeeping the tension on the yarn.
The Mitten Saga continues...
I am beginning to regret having the idea of knitting the dgds sweater sets. My stranding skills are rusty and the effects of the stroke are probably not helping – but I’m determined to get it right. Luckily, I decided to start with the mittens – I would be in a real funk if these problems had to be corrected in a sweater.
I made the first one at home and coped with the usual problem with Dale patterns. I copied the graph for the correct size and started with my trusty dpns. Thought four mittens would provide empirical testing grounds for dpns vs. magic loop and switching hands with the colors. It came out OK but I should have been wary that it was just slightly smaller than the ones I made for myself. Lisa had said the girls had grown – but found out when we got here it wasn’t THAT much. No problem – decided to just make a new one in the smaller size – just needed to mark off my graph. Knitted up a new cuff but the number of stitches in the graph is less than what the directions state – do over. I chugged along but noticed it felt kind of stiff. Tried the finished body on Teresa but she immediately ripped it off –“too scratchy”! sigh. Undaunted I did the second one with magic loop. My gauge was different by a half stitch, so the second one is slightly larger. Noticed I’m getting inconsistent stitches where I loop the needle – presume this is like ladders in dpns that I will eventually learn to control.
Just had a new try on and should have anticipated it would yield conflicting results. Teresa definitely likes the magic loop one but she didn’t complain about them being scratchy. Sophia liked them both, “pretty”, but picked the dpn one for comfort – sigh!
Think I need a cup of coffee before deciding what to do next.
I made the first one at home and coped with the usual problem with Dale patterns. I copied the graph for the correct size and started with my trusty dpns. Thought four mittens would provide empirical testing grounds for dpns vs. magic loop and switching hands with the colors. It came out OK but I should have been wary that it was just slightly smaller than the ones I made for myself. Lisa had said the girls had grown – but found out when we got here it wasn’t THAT much. No problem – decided to just make a new one in the smaller size – just needed to mark off my graph. Knitted up a new cuff but the number of stitches in the graph is less than what the directions state – do over. I chugged along but noticed it felt kind of stiff. Tried the finished body on Teresa but she immediately ripped it off –“too scratchy”! sigh. Undaunted I did the second one with magic loop. My gauge was different by a half stitch, so the second one is slightly larger. Noticed I’m getting inconsistent stitches where I loop the needle – presume this is like ladders in dpns that I will eventually learn to control.
Just had a new try on and should have anticipated it would yield conflicting results. Teresa definitely likes the magic loop one but she didn’t complain about them being scratchy. Sophia liked them both, “pretty”, but picked the dpn one for comfort – sigh!
Think I need a cup of coffee before deciding what to do next.
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