Congress

I'm reading David McCullough's John Adams. Nearly to the end, I just found my very most favorite quotation, "Having failed at nearly everything he ever tried, he had lately been elected to Congress."

Not much seems to have changed in 200 years.

This isn't how I wanted it to end

Our family is supposed to depart St Petersburg, likely forever, in June.

But instead, Alex and I have to curtail. We thought we could medevac, but it is within the month before PCS and therefore we can't. When we leave in less than 2 weeks, we are not coming back.

We had plans for May, one of the best months in Piter. Alex was supposed to perform in one last school production, which would have been a goodbye for everyone as this is the last year of detsky sad and the kids all scatter to different schools next year. We were supposed to have time to revisit favorite places and share meals with friends. And try to eat up some of this load of food we accumulated.

Most of Russia will shut down May 1 and not reopen until after we're gone. People go away on vacation. Alex's last day with some friends may well be tomorrow. We're lucky that when faced with medical problems that nobody local can figure out, we have the opportunity to travel elsewhere. We are lucky that although we now have an odd, uncomfortable block of time in the USA without husband, son, or any more stuff than we can fit into 2 suitcases, we have plenty of options of where to go and what to do. We know that we're only cutting a month off the end. But this month was meant to be filled with goodbyes and will now, likely, be filled with a gaping silence.

Wordless Wednesday

Concert and Ballet and Hockey, oh my!

A couple of weeks ago we had what was for us a crazy busy weekend.

On Saturday, one of our Consulate colleagues performed in a cello concert (accompanied by a pianist - the teacher of several of the Consulate kids and a parent or two) at the CGR. Our game plan was that Terry and Alex would go and Z and I would stay home as it was naptime. Thus, I can't say much about the performance other than everyone reports it was very good and there is video I hope to view. When Z woke from his nap the first thing he said was "Can I bring doggie [stuffed animal] to the big house [CGR]?" So we went, hoping the concert had ended by the time we arrived. It had. So we got to hang out with

The next day we went to the children's ballet production of Sleeping Beauty at the Gorky Culture Palace out in a part of town where we had never been. Because the dancers were kids, some of the spectacular moves that make me love that ballet so much were toned down, but overall Alex and I enjoyed it, the boys got antsy.

We rushed home from there to get the kids a bit of naptime, because when we woke them we were off to hockey! Terry's been playing on an intramural type league and that Sunday evening was "skate with your kids" night. Alex couldn't participate as she was still in the cast and Zoltan was very eager outside the rink, very iffy inside. In the end Zoltan skated a tiny bit and we all got to see Terry play a bit and I got photos and video that will probably never see the light of day. A couple of the other kids inspired ours and they both said they want to skate more. I'm pretty sure Alex would have been on the ice if she could have. So, if we're here when they do another round, it will be another family night.

Happy Earth Day!

13 years ago today I went on a first date with a guy I met in his own kitchen. He was the new roommate of a friend from graduate school and I went with some other friends to their housewarming party. Funny how I don't remember the date of the party. But I do remember I had papers and exams and although we soon started talking every night on the phone, we hadn't seen each other since the party.

We decided to check out the Earth Day doings on the National Mall and met up at noon. The conversation never stopped and it felt like we'd already known each other forever. Fourteen hours later we were still talking, I was seriously starting to fall asleep, but he hadn't kissed me yet. And then he did....

I blame the next 10 lb on customs

We just discovered we aren't allowed to ship back home USA acquired items (i.e. commissary, amazon.com). Cans, jars and boxes we had assumed we would be using for the first few months of new-home are now lost to us. For a lot of this stuff we feel that slight twinge we all feel whenever we spend money and then never experience the value of the expenditure (think: clothes "just in case" you lose weight or have that perfect event; gym memberships; gift cards, etc). But there are a few items causing a bit of heartache.

Today the kids helped me make maple sugar cookies. Dinner was meatball subs with homemade tomato sauce (organic diced tomatoes). Then maple sugar candy. When the kids settle down I'll be making maple bread pudding. Tomorrow we may do homemade pizza (bonus: the crust will rid us of some whole wheat flour). We seeing a pattern here? It is entirely possible I will use so much maple syrup that I will voluntarily never have any again. For at least a few months.

A busy week, but finally progress!

It's hard to write about an overwhelming experience. And some of the personal stresses of the last couple of weeks have even been good ones.

In the space of week we have decided to medevac Alex for her various medical issues that need testing to figure out (on Monday we should know for sure whether MED agreed); we first unsuccessfully, then successfully, bid on a home (different properties); listened and watched in horror as the Boston Marathon, MIT shooting, and West, Texas tragedies unfolded - each of which involved a location near and dear either to our own hearts of hearts of good friends. I am thrilled to report that my father was not at work so never in harm's way.

Now that we seem to be heading the right direction with Alex we have nothing to do except wait to hear when the appointments are set up and then we can worry about flights and hotels. Now that our bid has been accepted and we've made the calls we needed to make for inspection and appraisal, there's nothing to do except wait for those reports to come back. The cortisol surge of the last few weeks hasn't abated yet and is looking around for a good target.

Wordless Wednesday

Sleeping Beauty

In my 4 years in St Petersburg, I have seen the ballet Sleeping Beauty 4 times.

1. Mariinsky, classical interpretation
2.Ballet on Ice, a child-friendly performance. Alex and I agreed that it wasn't good enough ballet or good enough ice skating and the two should not be merged.
3. Mikhailovsky, Nacho Duato's interpretation. My favorite of all time. I may try to see it one more time before we leave here.
4. Children's Ballet at the Gorky Culture Palace. Zoltan's first ballet. Very modified due to children dancing it.

It probably goes without saying that this is my favorite ballet.

CKA Hockey - Playoffs

[Editor's note: this event took place 2, maybe 3 years ago. I edited the post to add labels. Somehow it re-posted as of today. Love technology]

Wow do they take their hockey seriously. We went to a playoff game on Defender's Day (aka Men's Day) and it was a great game. Spartak scored a tying goal with 3 seconds left on the clock, and CKA won in overtime. And we still got home in time for the sitter :)

Some interesting points.
1. The Moscow fans get their own section and it is blanketed with Policia (formerly militsa, in any case the riot police) The photo is from my phone so it isn't so good but there is literally a police officer sitting on either side of the aisle on every single row. Terry tells me they do this for every game, even when the other side only had 6 fans at the game. Wowsers.

2. There is a special CKA fan section, you need to be on some special list to even sit there. These folks are hard core, they have their special chants and arm movements, and the flags. Oh, the flags. I took some video of them cheering for something great the CKA did, I don't remember what. Enjoy.