Moscow -- as a day trip.

Okay, so the blog control panel is back in English, which is AWESOME.  I was able to figure out where it had the place to change languages, and I feel like I deserve a gold star.  :P

I'm so glad we decided to get visas for Russia so we could go into the city of Moscow and see the sights.  It's such a wonderful place, with so many beautiful historical things to see and places to go.  Our guide was a dear friend of a dear friend of mine (and now a dear friend of ours herself), and she was so wonderful and really helped us see all the amazing things in her city.

We rode the express train from the SVO airport to the center of Moscow, where Anna met us.  She took us via Metro to the Kremlin and all around Moscow, really.  It was a lot to do in one day, but it was really worth it.

People touch the nose of this soldier's dog for luck.  We touched it and had a fantastic day -- I don't know if it was luck or if it was just that Russia is such a wonderful place to visit.

We got to see the outside of the Bolshoi theater.  Some day I would love to come back with enough time to see a ballet here.

 

The geographic center of Moscow.

We got to see the changing of the guard at the war memorial.  They call WWII the Great Patriotic War.

Kremlin walls.  We also went inside the Kremlin armory to see the Faberge eggs and other treasures.  Photos aren't allowed inside, so we bought postcards for our scrapbook (and some to send when we get to Bishkek).

With Anna, our wonderful new friend, at the Kremlin walls.  Words can't say how much of a blessing she has been to us.

Inside the church near Anna's apartment -- saying a prayer that everything will go well with the rest of our trip and our adoption.  :)

Such a pretty church!

 

The outside of the church.

 

More socialist realism in the Metro.  They have a really interesting perspective.  The other mosaics in this station are airplanes, etc -- everything is about appearing as if the subject is looking down a hole at the people passing by.

Enjoying Russian ice cream with Anna.

GUM -- pronounced like "goo" with an "m" on the end -- the most exclusive shopping in Moscow.  It is very beautiful and historic, dating back before the Russian Revolution.

Saint Basil's reflected in GUM -- as close as we could get on this side of Red Square.

St. Basil's.  NOT the Kremlin.  :P

With Papa Beast at St. Basil's -- it was the back side because we couldn't get near the front due to a concert in Red Square.

GUM lit up at night.

The inside of GUM.

The wonderful spread of salads and other goodies at dinner.  :)

 

It was so hard to leave, really, and I would love to go back to Russia and spend much more time there.  Hopefully, I will learn more Russian soon.  :)

Russian Festival in West Hollywood

We've been doing a lot of things as we wait.

Fun things, productive things, cultural things, time wasting things.  All sorts of things, really.  I'd like to highlight some of them, even though I'm a bit behind.

Here's the first one...

In May, we went to a Russian cultural festival in Los Angeles, where we got to see Russian folk dancing, including that squatting dance the Cossacks do.  It turns out that's called Kozachok or Kaзaчoк in Russian.  It actually comes from Ukraine.

Here's our favorite group, Russian Souvenir, doing their routine from last year's festival:



It is held every May at Plummer Park in West Hollywood, which has a large and historic Russian population.  The Russian WWII Memorial is there, commemorating the veterans of the USSR countries.  It's not something that's talked about a lot Stateside, but Russia lost more men in the war, which they call the Great Patriotic War, than any other country.  May 9 is Victory Day in Russia, and they celebrate it as a kind of Memorial Day, which parades and honors for veterans. (These articles discuss it: Wikipedia: Victory Day  Buzzfeed: Why WWII Matters to Russians Today) 

  

The Festival was a lot of fun.  We met up with friends from the a local Eastern European/Central Asian adoption group.  There are several areas to the Festival -- the main stage, the booths (for food and other vendors), and the bounce houses (free of charge for the little ones).

One funny moment for me happened at the DirecTV booth.  They had a spin the wheel of fortune type give away with lip balm, pens, etc.  They also had a raffle for an iPod if you filled out a survey form (all in Russian).  So, I walk up to spin the wheel -- and get a sales pitch totally in Russian.  From what I could gather, it seemed to be focused on Russian language programing and channels.  I kept saying "no thank you" in Russian, and they kept trying to hand me the survey.  "Nyet, nyet."  "iPod, iPod."  "Nyet, nyet."  "iPod, iPod."  Until I finally gave in and admitted that I'm sorry, but I don't speak much Russian. (And, even more relevant, I don't know how to read it -- but, sadly, I don't know the word "read" in Russian.)  Maybe those Russian language channels wouldn't be such a bad idea, after all!

The first show of the day was the Children's Show, where kids get to display their Russian cultural talents.  Everything from singing to ballroom dancing to rhythmic gymnastics was showcased.

Then there was a break, where a magician came out to entertain the little ones.  We were able to move forward for a better view after we grabbed food (pelmeni and shish kebabs) to enjoy while we waited for the second show.

The second show was filled with mostly the grown up performers, but there were a few excellent children's groups who made the cut as well.  It was definitely the more professional of the two shows, though, and featured the wonderful Russian Souvenir dance group (pictured above).  We weren't able to stay for the whole show, because we needed to go home to feed our dog, but we will definitely come back next year and bring him so we don't have to hurry home so early. (We weren't sure if dogs were allowed in the park -- but now we know.)

Five Favorites Vol. 1

 

For a while now, I've enjoyed the Five Favorites posts at MoxieWife.com, and this week I've decided to try doing it myself.

Number One:

Vidalia Chop Wizard

 

This chopper is amazing -- very quick and fairly easy to clean.  It also wasn't terribly expensive.  You can buy it at Bed Bath and Beyond or here.  I used it on Friday to make the recipe below.

 

Number Two:

Olivye Salad

 

Easter is here, and we got to eat meat, blessed glorious meat, on Friday due to the Octave of Easter.  I had a church Women's Society book club meeting, and I wanted to bring something meaty and good to the meeting -- yet I needed something that would work well cold, since I was facing about an hour's drive.

What would be better than an Eastern European recipe to share a bit of our future children's culture with the book club?

It was a huge hit with the club, and the leftovers were a huge hit with my hubby later.

 

Natasha's lovely version of it can be found here.  I also found out about the Chop Wizard on Natasha's blog.  So maybe my favorite should have been Natasha's blog -- but I have to stretch this out to five somehow, right?  #cutthen00bsomeslack

 

Number Three:

We and Our Children by Mary Reed Newland

 

 

Of all the parenting books we've read for our now complete home study (yay!), none of them really addressed the issue of introducing faith based learning to our children.  This book explains it very well.  Now, there is a modified (post Vatican II and new calendar) version of this book called How to Raise Good Catholic children.  I prefer this, the original 1953 edition.  I hope to get Mrs. Newland's The Year and Our Children, which discusses recipes, activities, and crafts for each liturgical season and holiday.

 

Number Four:

Goong: The Royal Palace

 

 

Not adoption, family, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, or in any official way related to this blog whatsoever.  (Unless you count it as something I amuse myself with in between scouring the internet for updates on Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, which is very much what it is, I must admit.) However, I am ADDICTED to this comic book series from Korea.  Usually I read Japanese Manga, so Korean Manhua is new for me.

 

This series is a romance in an alternate history setting -- the author explores the idea of what Korea would be like today if they had a monarchy.  Against that backdrop, she develops very interesting characters and actually makes an arranged marriage plot seem realistic in today's world.  The art is simply beautiful -- I love that it incorporates both traditional Korean clothing and modern Western clothing -- and in both cases it is so very beautifully drawn.  :)

 

Number Five:

Pimsleur Russian I

 

 

 

We love the Pimsleur approach for language learning.  It works great, and we do our Russian lessons when we're in the car together, either on the weekends or when we take SuperPup to the dog park.  It's fun to do together, and we are learning more and more Russian, which we use when we go to Russian markets, delis, and restaurants.  :)

 

It isn't the cheapest thing out there, so I recommend trying their free lesson to see what you think.  I will say, though, that they run frequent discounts, and that their method has worked really well for us.  :)