Music Recital... Again!

It may seem like just yesterday that you saw pictures of a music recital... (if it really was yesterday, surely you have something better to do than read all my old posts!) but that was because I was so late in getting the last pictures to you. Actually, their last recital was with their former teacher in September.

Their new teacher, Anya, held a recital for my girls, as well as two of her other American students, at our house last week.

Once again, the girls played and sang...
















their sister applauded...


and fun was had by all!

December 30th - 12 Years!

One of the main things we have learned in our 12 years of marriage is to celebrate it every chance we get, not waiting for the anniversay day because life can be unpredictable...

Some friends of ours are out of town and offered us the use of their 10th floor apartment as a quiet place to get away from our precious children in exchange for watering their plants.

Well, they have been having a little door trouble. We stopped in for just a few minutes on our anniversary to water the plants before heading downtown for dinner. Little did we know, our dinner would be tortilla chips that we were able to find in our well-meaning friends' kitchen!
Yes, we were locked in for the night. The door was jammed. We removed the handle, but to no avail and we couldn't get a locksmith out to us because of the holidays. We did get out the next day in time to relieve our babysitter.
Happy Anniversary, Sweetheart!
Life with you is NEVER boring!

Cultural Observations

We lived in Moscow for years, but since it is a big busy city, I think I have come to agree with the Russians living here in Krasnodar...

Moscow is not Russia.
Or at least it is a Russia that is VERY different than life everywhere else in Russia. So, even now as we celebrate 9 years living in and out of this country, I have learned more about the customs here this year than were ever noticable in Moscow.
American holidays start at Thanksgiving and basically stick around through Christmas and end with a bang on New Years. Well, here they are just getting started when we are all tuckered out!
Our city of a million people shut down on New Years and remained very quiet for well over a week. Quiet in the sense of the regular hussle and bussle of life. The malls and our new McDonalds, however, were full to overflowing the whole time! Speaking of overflowing...

This is a photo of our local dumpsters. There are about 5 within these walls where anyone can dump their bags of garbage, but as you can see, 5 is just not enough at New Years. I am not sure how many days the garbage men are given for vacation, but you will be glad to know that they have since gotten it all cleared away.
We are still hard-pressed to find our regular products and produce at the grocery stores, as they are struggling to fill the shelves after the frenzy of shopping for New Years.

As you may have read in a previous post, we had erratic internet service for the last few weeks.
Catching cabs and marshrutkas (minivans that work like public buses) was a challenge since the drivers were all at home sleeping off their hangovers (which we appreciate, by the way!).
So, to sum up, we have learned that next year, we will need to stock up for the lull after the New Years and that way we can enjoy the calm and recover from the holidays before picking up life's daily routine once again.

You Say It's Your Birthday...

Well...It's His Birthday Too. Here in Russia, Christine shares a birthday with Jesus. Russian Christmas is tuned to the Orthodox Calandar and so every January 7th Christine and the history of the Gospel become a year older. Christmas is mostly overlooked here. It comes a week after New Years, which is the largest holiday thanks to 70 odd years of Communism's influence. Most people, and I do mean most, get completely smashed on New Year's Eve and sleep away the next few days . The fireworks are amazing at midnight, all around the city for 30 minutes non-stop. Other than that, I haven't found much good cheer or sentiment, no rich culture. There aren't any carols, hymns or songs. One famous movie with no redemption story, no angels, no wisemen, no mangers around town. The holidays are another reminder of a nation's lost indentity. But hey, that doesn't stop me from celebrating my beautiful wife's birthday. Happy Birthday, Christine! Ok, actually, she has to throw her own party here. Another gem of Russian culture. It is tradition to throw your own party; this really isn't so bad, because if your party stinks, you know who's to blame. My dear wife slaved in the kitchen all Sunday afternoon making food for the crowd of friends who came over Sunday night. This second picture that I posted of Christine reminds me of her character and of the concept of a Russian birthday party; she is blurry and everyone else is in focus. This is how she lives, with the focus on the rest of us and not on herself. Thanks, babe, for being so selfless in such a selfish world. I love you. Steve-O

I HATE DIAL-UP!!!

When we first lived in Russia, before we were married, we relied on faxes to communicate with friends and family. We thought it was a great deal. We would get them maybe once a week, and though they were always smudged and hard to read, they were so much better than having to wait weeks for a letter to come through common post.

Then there was the Internet! It was amazing! We could write once a day if we wanted to. Sure, the connection was slow, but it was better than faxes.

These days we have ADSL. Highspeed Internet. Just a click and I can see my family in America and they can see us. I can give you all a picture play by play every day (if I am organized enough).

It is amazing how quickly you can get used to the conveniences of life! For about a week now our ADSL has been down and we have had to use dial-up once again.

So, we suffer together. We have to wait 10 minutes just to see the headlines on Fox News and you have to read my inane ramblings instead of looking at pictures that refuse to upload without more speed.

Woe is us...

Stay tuned for life as we knew it to return sometime after the 10th of January.