BOREDOM

Katelynn's getting over a cold, Dylan's getting a cold. We are housebound and boredom is setting in...UGH!

Nizhny Novgorod

Our family took off on Saturday, May 15th for a few days in Nizhny Novgorod. Nizhny is about 400 miles from Saratov and we traveled there by train. We explored other options (flying or a cruise up the Volga) but quickly learned that a 21/22 hour (one way) train ride was our only option! We left our flat a little before 7 am on Saturday morning and walked to a nearby bus stop. The bus took us and our luggage to the train station. The conductor on the bus didn't charge us for the children, but did charge us for the 2 suitcases. No biggie - bus fare is very inexpensive here (7 Roubles). We got to the station and into our compartment with little trouble. As mentioned before, Russian trains are an experience never to be forgotton! We were in a second class carriage which consists of double bunk beds. The beds have a tiny bit of padding and there are bed rolls and pillows. The pillows are down (based on the feathers floating around) but heavy and about as comfortable as rocks. The bed rolls are old and worn and provide little cushion. Passengers are provided with CLEAN sheets and pillowcases. Our train to Nizhny was not the cleanest train (apart from the sheets) - the bathroom defies description. To all my germophobic friends out there - you may want to avoid this train... Let's say that we made good use of our Purell! We were much better prepared for the train this time as compared to our arrival in Russia. We even managed to have some fun (Ken hopped off at one of the stops and bought some ice cream which was a nice treat for all of us)!

We arrived in Nizhny at 5:30 the next morning. There were two students from the University where Ken was lecturing there to meet us, Kate and Ann (twins), and they proved to be one of the best things about Nizhny! Later in the week we also got to meet Sasha and he was a wonderful new friend as well. Kate, Ann and Sasha all spoke English and took it upon themselves to show us their city. I think we all fell in love with Nizhny. It is situated on the Volga and Oka Rivers and is picturesque! We spent a lot of time just walking around the city, admiring the churches, the monuments, the architecture and of course the Kremlin.

Nizhny's Kremlin was the first Kremlin that we saw and it was impressive! We had lunch in a restaurant inside the Kremlin. Ordering was interesting - it was a very large menu and there was no English menu. With the help of Ann and Kate we tried to order several things off of the menu, only to be told that they weren't available. We finally got some food and although ordering was challenging, the food was delicious, and we all had a chance to try Borsch. We all liked it to varying degrees, Katie was the least enthusiastic, I could have done without the sour cream. Dylan and Ken were happy! Interestingly, Ann and Kate both shared that they disliked borsch, perhaps from having to eat it too much when they were children.
We saw many beautiful churches...

Went for a cruise on the Volga...

And, Sasha used his connections to get the kids free rides at a local amusement park and entrance into their zoo. The amusement park was wild - the bumper cars were fast and made a major impact! At the zoo, the kids got to hold a baby fox and we got to see the bears (Misha and Masha) getting fed!

In addition to touring the city, Ken completed several lectures at the University about Social Work in America and he was also able to visit a local drug and alcohol rehab facility for his research. We were also able to meet with 3 Americans who are currently making their home in Nizhny.

All in all we had a very busy but fun week! We enjoyed our mini vacation, had the opportunity to make some wonderful new friends and got to see a very beautiful Russian city. Ann and Kate enjoy traveling and we are doing our best to convince them to visit us in America!

All too soon it was time to head for the train to come home. Ann, Kate and Sasha got us safely on board, negotiated with another passenger so that the four of us could be in the same cabin (we were unable to get tickets all together and had to trade) and gave us some delicious sandwiches and sweets from Nizhny to see us home. I confess to crying as our train pulled out of the station - we couldn't have spent the week with nicer people. I hope to meet them again someday!

Our journey home was interesting. We left at 7 pm on Thursday night. The good news is that this train was significantly cleaner. We still made good use of our Purell, but in general there was a much better bathroom situation. On Friday some policemen boarded the train and asked to see our passports. Ken showed them copies, they perused them and were on their way...Not sure what that was all about. Ken almost got kicked out of our cabin - the person we switched with had left the train and they were going to put the new passenger in our cabin. Again, that person was kind enough to switch so that we could all be together as a family. We finally pulled into Saratov at 5:40 pm and caught a bus home.

So, the vacation is over but we are realizing how quickly our time here is ending. We fly back to the States on July 13 (here's hoping that ash from Iceland doesn't disrupt anything). Please keep us in your prayers as we get through this last month and a half. We are excited to come home, sad as we start our lasts (I just changed our last water filter:), and have all kinds of things to do in the time that we have left (souvenier shopping, Ken has some surveys to get completed and he hopes to see some more rehabs). Thanks to all of you who keep in touch via FB, email and skype. Looking forward to seeing you soon and trying some of those pretzel M&M's I have been hearing about!

Victory and Defeat

May 9 was the celebration of Victory Day here in Russia. Victory Day is the day that the Russians celebrate winning The Great Patriotic War (WWII). There is a very strong feeling that Russians were responsible for winning the war and in fact their casualties in the war were staggering. I believe that around 28 million soldiers died with about 40 million soldiers and people killed during the war. Russians take great pride in the part that they played in WWII. This extends to the younger generation and is something that seems to bind them together. We spent Victory Day with a group of Russians that we have gotten to know through church (these are our firefighting friends)!

We gathered at our flat for a pot luck meal. It was a bit crazy with all of us gathered in one place but we had a lot of fun. We headed out in the evening for Lenin Square to watch the fireworks. It was a busy but very fun day. We have so enjoyed getting to know this wonderful group of people.

The Monday after Victory Day was a holiday and we walked down to the embankment in the evening. There are lights along the Volga and on the bridge and we have been wanting to see them lit up at night. While we were waiting for the lights to turn on we grabbed some ice cream and let the kids try the water balls. Along the embankment they have all kinds of activities: bikes to rent, inflateables and the WATER BALLS. They inflate the balls (with you inside of them) with an air blower, zipper you in, and seal the zipper with a strip of plastic that gets velcroed down. Then they push you and your ball into a pool of water. Both kids were a little nervous about this activity but decided to give it a try and had a lot of fun. They said that they felt like gerbils in a ball. I think that we had as much fun watching them as they had playing in the balls! After they were unzipped, the lights began to turn on and we walked along the embankment for a while before heading home.

So that's our story about Victory Day and now our story about Defeat... Ken and Dylan woke up at 5:30 to watch the last half of the Cav's game. Dylan is very bummed at their loss to Boston. If you know Dylan you understand his intensity and he is a passionate Cav's fan. He is not having the best morning...

We are gearing up for our trip to Nizhny. We are supposed to leave tomorrow but as with all things Russia, it is not going as planned. Masha, from the University, went to purchase our train tickets and learned that there are no 2nd class tickets available. We have heard that this train is "not as nice" as the train from Moscow, and were advised to travel 1st or 2nd class. Well, this train has no 1st class and the 2nd class was all booked. There is no other way to get to Nizhny - no flights, no cruise up the Volga... Masha is looking into 3rd class tickets. 3rd class is an open car (as opposed to a private 4 person room in 2nd). We are open to giving 3rd class a try but wonder how well we will sleep in a large group setting. We are also unsure if there are even 4 3rd class tickets available. So, it's the day before we are to leave and we aren't sure if there are tickets, not sure what time we leave, how we will get to the train station... We are trying to summon up our adventurer's spirit!

Fire

We had a very interesting weekend. In Russia, May 1st is a celebration for workers. Similar to our Labor Day. We went out on Saturday for a walk to the Volga and while we were out we saw street performers, many outside stands had opened and there was a general feeling of celebration. We ventured out onto the Volga Bridge (there is a walking path on the bridge). Halfway across the bridge (about 1 mile) you can descend some steps to a small beach. We walked around the beach and the kids had fun swinging and exploring. I was a wreck as we walked on the bridge. It looked as if it had been constructed A LOOOONG time ago. There were holes in the concrete and at times I could see through the bridge to the Volga below! The kids thought it was hysterical that I was so nervous about the condition of the bridge. After our trip on the bridge we were all tired and we stopped at a restaurant for dinner. There were some pictures on the menu so we pointed to order. We thought we ordered chicken for the kids, turns out that they got duck! The kids were great that day, we walked over 6 miles and they didn't complain at all!

On Monday we went on a picnic. Our friends, Todd and Katya were going to the forest with some of their friends from church and they invited us to join them. We drove about 20 miles out of Saratov to get to the forest. We were excited to leave the city for the first time since we have been here. As we left the city there were many wide open places. Most people live in the cities and the rest of the land is not owned by anyone. You can camp, picnic etc. in any of these places. There are no regulations about where you go and what you do. So, we pull into the forest and get a fire going for some kebobs. As we are sitting and relaxing we notice quite a bit of smoke behind us. Apparantly we were in the midst of a forest fire! Our friends called the fire department and then proceeded to grab blankets and head to the fire to work on putting it out. Ken, myself and another couple stayed back to watch the kids and pack up should the fire get too close. The other couple noted that the fire department might take a while to come (this being a holiday weekend and all). There were a few tricky moments when the fire was quite near us. Twice we packed up and were getting ready to go. Ken and I were both nervous about the whole situation. The fire was very close and we were both thinking about how quickly fire can move, spread and change direction. After an hour the fire department came and worked on extinguishing the flames. They were very thankful to our friends for their efforts in putting out the fire. Ken was joking that the fire was the "Russian way to BBQ" which just cracked up one of the guys, who quickly got us kebobs to pose with. The fire was still burning at this point, but there is only smoke in the distance in this shot! Except for the fire, we had a lovely day out in the forest. The fresh air was great for all of us and we came home tired but happy!