Food Glorious Food

Our first month in Saratov we spent a lot of time figuring out how to get food! Our host Natalia took me to a large supermarket on the outskirts of town on our first day here – the Supermarket Real. She was helpful in identifying the best juice to buy and figuring out what everything was. Things like flour and sugar come in much smaller amounts that what we are used to. She advised me on the best brand of toilet paper (imagine my surprise when I realized the orange toilet paper I bought actually smelled like oranges)! To the delight of Katie and Dylan she advised me to buy a “sweet cake for the children.” We were well stocked after that first shopping trip but quickly ran through the meat and fruit that I had purchased. Now what to do?

Thankfully I have a resourceful husband who likes to run. Ken would run in the morning and find local sources for food. Our most common place to shop is the local market. This is an indoor/outdoor market (for you PA folks it reminds me of Green Dragon/Roots but on a much smaller scale). This market keeps us stocked in fruit, bread and snacks. The fruit here has been a pleasant surprise. It is delicious. I wasn’t sure what kind of quality we would get in winter. We just had grapes the other day that were almost the size of golf balls! The snacks here have been fun to explore – lots of mysterious cookies and chocolate yummies. The kids like to go and try new snacks. We definitely have a few favorites! We can get meat at the market but have only bought chickens. The beef and pork are butchered to order and we haven’t figured out how to do that. It’s also not fun to order a pork chop with the pig’s head looking right at you! The kids are always eager to avoid the meat section of the market!

Ken also has discovered a small corner store near our flat. We always laugh at its’ name – Socialism. Yes, I have shopped at Socialism! The store is very tiny but carries a nice variety of items.

On one occasion when we were running low on meat and getting tired of chicken Ken ventured out to a store by the Volga. He stocked up on meat and other needed items and then trudged it all back home – he had sore arms for a few days. Then, we hit the gold mine! Ken figured out how to take public transportation to Supermarket Real! He made a trip to the store and I was giddy because the freezer was stocked with meat! We are planning a trip to the store tomorrow!

Cooking has been interesting. We only have a stove top, no oven! We believe that the microwave is a convection but haven’t figured out the buttons yet. I have had to be creative with cooking under these conditions. Imagine cooking with no stove and limited supplies (only fresh fruits, pasta, rice, some veggies and limited canned/prepared foods). It has been interesting. If you have easy stove top recipes, send them my way!

We have been eating out a little bit. There are lots of little café’s and restaurants that are cafeteria style. We also have a favorite bakery that is close by. Yesterday the kids and I ventured to the pastry shop and bought cake and piroshki (meat pie) to surprise Ken on his first day of teaching. It was yummy.

Eating has been different – no cereal for breakfast. The kids eat a lot of yogurt, bread and fruit. Lunch is bread, cheese, fruit, leftovers, or family sausage (hot dogs). Dinner is whatever I can create! I miss pretzels, cooking with an oven and my spice rack! I love all the fresh food, Russian cheese and the pastry shop!

Traveling to Saratov

Thanks to everyone for their patience… We finally have internet service – a little sketchy but something is better than nothing. I thought I’d go back in time and tell a bit about our adventures from the beginning.

Our journey to Saratov began on a snowy February day. PA was still digging out from a major snowstorm and we were headed to Washington Dulles airport. We left very early anticipating that some of the roads might be drifted. We had a lot of difficulty even getting to the airport – highways were closed and detours were not marked. We finally arrived and went to check in…

Checking in was interesting…The representative at the desk looked at our passports/visas/return tickets and immediately noticed that our visas expired before we were scheduled to return. We told her that we were planning to extend our visas once we were in country. Apparently that was not good enough. She confiscated all four of our passports and informed us that she would need to speak to a supervisor. The supervisor called the Russian Embassy and we waited and waited. She finally returned and told us that we would be allowed to board the plane but that they might send us right back once we arrived in Moscow! Not good news. Ken contacted the Fulbright office who encouraged us to board the plane and promised to inform the Russian Fulbright office of our difficulties. By the time we grabbed some Subway to go and made it to our gate they were getting ready to board the plane. We had no time to spare!

I have not seen such an empty plane in years. I guess there aren’t very many people interested in flying to Russia in February! The flight was long (10 hours), but the kids were fantastic! We were served dinner and breakfast and were able to watch some movies. We encouraged them to sleep but all of us had difficulty getting good sleep. We arrived in Moscow around 10:00 AM (Moscow time) on Feb. 13. Our driver, arranged by the Fulbright office was there to meet us and we had no difficulties going through migration and customs. The driver took us from the airport to the train station. As we were driving we heard “It’s Raining Men” on the radio - just a little bit of home!

The train station was an adventure. The driver found some porters to help us get our luggage (7 large suitcases and 4 carry on bags) from the van to the waiting area. The waiting area was on the second floor with no elevators. We’re fairly certain we overpaid the porters but when we don’t speak the language and the porters are intoxicated we decided it was best to not quibble. Thus began our 5 hour wait in the train station. We started off with the kids and I standing guard with our luggage and Ken went exploring…Where are the bathrooms? Where can we get some food? Where will our train be? Well, Ken found the bathrooms (we got to pay 20 Rubles each for the privilege of using a Russian “squatty potty” – poor Katie, she was a trooper but she only went once!), Ken found some food – the Russian equivalent of a hot dog), and Ken mostly figured out the train system. While we were waiting we were befriended by a Russian babushka (pictured on the left). She asked me to watch her belongings while she used the bathroom. When she returned we attempted to ask her about the train to verify that we knew what we were doing. She, of course, spoke no English, but through our very basic Russian, sign language and Pictionary, we were able to make some sense of the train station! She also corralled a student on his way to Saratov to help us! Our train arrived and our over-eager porters returned. Again, we over-paid, but it was a small price to pay to guarantee getting to our train on time!

We stuffed our luggage into our train compartment and were thankful that everything fit. The trains were an experience! We were prepared for the cold Russian winter but not prepared for the stifling trains! They were extremely warm. We were all exhausted but thought we would get something to eat first. We finally communicated that we would like their recommendation and they said (we thought) “Fish sticks for the children.” We enthusiastically said, “Yes, Yes.” Our meal came and there were no fish sticks in sight. We were puzzled but ate our meal (the kids had a ball of meat with a sunny-side up egg on top and Ken and I had some kind of boiled beef.) Much later we realized that what we actually received for the kids were Russian Bifshteks – a Russian hamburger with a fried egg on top!

After eating we were all exhausted and decided that it was time for bed. The train was an overnight train from Moscow-Saratov (a fifteen hour ride). The kids eagerly hopped on the top bunks, Ken and I took the bottom and we settled in for the night around 8pm. Sleeping was difficult because of the heat and the frequent stops and starts of the train. At 11pm, Dylan was up and ready to read a little. We told him that it was still time to sleep and he tried to settle back down. A while later, Dylan cried out, “I just want to die.” He cried for a few moments, in a pathetic and heartbreaking way. We did our best to encourage him, but later Ken and I both admitted to feeling rather low at that moment ourselves. Morning finally came and with morning the end was in sight. We all took one last trip to the bathroom (we were amazed to discover that the toilets flushed right out onto the tracks!) and we gathered our luggage. Our train pulled into the station and before we were off the train Natalia (our host) had pushed her way onto the train to find us. She was like an angel! She grabbed the kids and got them off of the train while Ken and I finished up with the luggage. A short car ride later and we were at our flat!

Thanks for hanging in through the telling of our travels. I’ll write more in the coming days of what we have been doing and seeing. The good news is that we are feeling settled and are learning our way around town. We have some favorite stands at the market, have fallen in love with Russian bakeries, and have been having a chance to have some fun together as a family!

Sun and Snow and Snow and Snow...

We have had a very interesting month awaiting our trip to Russia. We started off with a trip to the Pennsylvania State Farm Show.Katie and Dylan enjoyed seeing all of the familiar animals (cows, pigs, goats) and also seeing some unusual animals. We got a close up view of a bison, and Dylan quickly figured out that the bison weighed the same as about 5 Shaq's. Homeschooling math at work!












After about a week in PA is when our adventures really began. We began our drive to FL to spend a week in Satellite Beach with Ken's family. We were cruising along, having a good time (well, as good of a time as you can have when you are going to be on the road for 16 hours) when our van died. Ken managed to steer us onto the side of the road and after many failed attempts we were finally able to locate a garage that would tow us. We had to be towed about 30 miles to the garage which had a truck stop and hotel nearby. The driver was kind enough to drop us at the America's Best Value Inn - We paid $45 for our stay...need I say more? The next day was Dylan's birthday so we celebrated as best we could! We got in late on Friday night so they were not able to look at our van until Sat. They called us with the news that is was the fuel pump but they couldn't get the part until Monday. We decided to rent a car and continue on our way. In the course of the week we found out that not only was our fuel pump bad, we also had blown head gaskets. So, $3000.00 later we had our newly repaired van back!



Despite the car troubles we had a great time in FL visiting with family and enjoying the sun and sand. The kids swam in the pool, played in the sand, played in the ocean (I was not willing to brave the surf - too cold for my bones)! We found lots of interesting sea shells, went on an airboat ride and saw some gators, and had a sunrise walk on the beach...

After returning to PA, the van went into the shop for repairs to the door from Ken's OH fender bender and was there for a week. The door looked great but on the way home a maintenance light came on. A few more repairs later and here we are...



On the traveling front, things are coming together. We are set to fly out on Friday, February 13 at 4:45 pm. We have a 10 hour direct flight to Moscow. From there a van will take us to the train station where we will catch a 16 hour overnight train to Saratov. Our visas came yesterday and we were thrilled to find out that we actually received the correct visas! Our big concern at this point is the snow! A few days ago we received 19 inches and then yesterday we got hit with another big storm. It is still snowing and we are expecting about 18 inches with high winds which will cause drifting. So, please pray that the roads will be cleared in time for us to get to the airport on Friday.



Please also pray for Katelynn. She has a nasty cold right now - we are hoping that she is feeling better before we have to travel. We'll update our blog as soon as we get internet service is Russia!

Packing...Part III

Friday... Of course we had a snow day, the kids were home, we were packing and cleaning and had a generally crazy day! At the end of it all, we ended up with LOTS of suitcases and hopefully everything that we will need for a stay in PA, FL and Russia!

Ken, Katie and Dylan are posing with all of our many suitcases!

Of course a trip is never complete without an accident. Ken neatly accomplished this task with a little fender bender that he had on Friday night. We were all tired of leftovers, so Ken graciously went out for pizza, unfortunately he got more than a pizza (a ticket, a dented door...). While no one is happy to have an accident, we are still counting our blessings - Ken and the other driver were not injured, we still got to eat pizza and our van was able to be driven to PA.

A shot of the damage...courtesy of Ken...AKA "Crash!"

Meanwhile, we are settling in to a routine with homeschooling, enjoying the hospitality of my mom and getting ready for our trip to FL.

Packing...Part II

We continued to pack today - at times it was overwhelming but mostly it was satisfying. We are actually fitting all of our belongings into the allotted number of suitcases!

We took a break from packing to gather the last of the school books. We are expecting snow tonight and into Friday so we wanted to have everything we need in case there is a snow day. The kids are actually wanting to have school so that they can have more time with their friends! The first time in their life that they did not want a snow day. I had an easy time gathering materials for Katelynn. Mr. B. had already made copies so it was just a matter of cleaning out her desk (yuck!)

My most frustrating moment of the day was seeing the cost for medicine for Katelynn and Dylan. The pharmacy dispensed what looks to be a lifetime supply of one of their asthma medicines. When I called to question it, I was referred to their doctor. I spoke with the receptionist who had a good laugh about it. I was not amused. At least we won't run out of Foradil in Russia!

The kids were happy to go out and play in the snow with our neighbors tonight and we were happy for a few quiet moments.

The plans for Friday: Clean and finish last minute packing...The end is in sight.

Packing... Part I

We began packing - the kids clothes are packed, my clothes are packed and we will tackle Ken's tomorrow. Ken's feeling good, I'm feeling stressed. I think my main issue stems from the amount of clothes that are left hanging in our closets. How can we possibly have everything we need packed when there are still lots of things in our closets and drawers? I'm reminded again of how much we have and how little we need all that we have.

The kids showed a little bit of excitement today. They were happy to hear that we have some of their favorite outfits packed and they became excited discussing what games and toys they would like to bring. Dylan mostly wants his nerf basketball hoop and Katie wants a few stuffed animals.

I also spent some time at Dylan's school getting prepared for home-schooling. Dylan's teacher/principal have been amazing! We are taking his books and I spent about 3 hours copying tests/worksheets/answer keys and other assorted things that I expect will be VERY helpful as we begin to tackle this whole homeschool adventure.

I'm amazed that we have only 2 days left in Canton. We said goodbye to some church friends at Venture Club tonight and I started to become teary, realizing that we will be gone for 6 months! I wonder what will change in the time that we are gone. I noticed when I got my hair cut that a cupcakery was coming in next to the salon - I'll have to check that out when I get back!

Preparations...

We are home for one week and are busy getting everything set up. Loading programs onto our new laptop, purchasing long underwear, figuring out what toys are going to make the cut... We haven't started packing yet, but we do have quite a collection of things that we don't want to forget!

Ken just left to go running, it's 13 degrees with a wind chill that sets us at -3 degrees. Saratov is at a toasty 30 degrees right now. Maybe we'll be moving to warmer weather!

This week should be a busy week. Keep your fingers crossed that we fit everything into our luggage!