More Pyramids

Salut!

Well, yesterday, our 2nd day in Egypt, was as magical as the first! We got to see some more pyramids (The Red Pyramid where me and the girls actually went inside, the Bent Pyramid - not its official name, but that is what the girls nicknamed it - and then we saw the step Pyramid at Sakkara.

We then had lunch and ate the freshest pita bread ever! Right from the oven! We had never tasted pita bread so fresh. It was amazing! The girls got to do some more horse-back riding near the pyramids and then we did some more shopping before coming back to the hotel, exhausted!

Again, we ate breakfast in the shadow of the great pyramid and its hard to believe we've been here only a couple of days! We love this city!

Ciao for now!

;-) LIL

The Great Pyramids

Hello Campers!

Well, today has been amazing! As you may know, we are currently in Cairo, Egypt. We arrived yesterday evening and the first sights of the pyramids through the darkness were amazing! This morning, the first thing we did when we woke up was to run to the balcony. WOW! We've posted some pictures on Facebook, so if you haven't seen them yet, go on over and take a peek.

We ate breakfast in the shadow of the pyramid (our hotel is almost that close) and then we got to go visit the plateau. Seeing the Pyramids up-close was literally breath-taking. The rest was just gravy! M and S did some camel riding. Me and S did a horse carriage ride while M and C did some horse-back riding!

Then we went to see the Sphynx. Holy moly batman! That just topped it off!

We then proceeded to do some shopping, then lunch, then more shopping, then got back to our hotel. Fiouf! Not bad for a first day!

I'll see if I can post something tomorrow about our 2nd day.

'Till then!

;-) LIL

Salut Le Monde!

Salut tout le monde!

Wow! Its been a month since I posted something. Sorry for that. ;-) Unbelievable how time flies! Last week M pointed out that we've been in Russia for 2 months now. I had not even thought about that! Well, how has our life been for the past 2 months? Ahhh, how to describe... Well, I think different is the best way to sum it up! ;-) Ya know, different is just different. Well, holy moly batman, is it ever different! ;-)

Getting our stuff really helped and having the car now is a blessing! We've had peculiar experiences which we can talk more once we're back visiting, but, its all good. Different, but good. ;-)

I'm sorry that I haven't posted as much as I would have liked to, but hey...

We've done our first trip 2 weeks ago! We went to Brussels and to northern France for the weekend. The weather was amazing! M was able to put her mini-shorts and it was just perfect strolling through the "Grand Place" of Brussels.

Last weekend, we went and visited Red Square (which really should be called beautiful place, but, because the word for beautiful and the color red are very similar, this is something that got lost in translation). We went and visited St-Basil's Cathedral. It was amazing! As an added bonus, there was a choir singing inside while we toured. Man, it sent chills through our cores!

This week, we bought 4 pumpkins (well, sort of pumpkins) for about 52$. Never thought we'd pay so much for 4 pumpkins, but hey...we always do pumpkin carving so, you got to do what you have to do!

Well, that's about it for now. I'll try to post something else soon. Really. Honnestly... cross my heart.

Ciao people!

;-) LIL

Last Wednesday

Has there ever been a period of time that, if you could do it over again, you'd just skip it? Well, for us, that would be last wednesday. Or, more precisely, last wednesday evening. Around 4, I get a call from S that I need to stop over at the pharmacy to buy medication to treat head-lice. C had been given a note at school indicating that she might have head-lice. Great! You know, we've never had head-lice at home, but, move to another country where you can't read the language and you have to gesticulate to make yourself understood (you hope) and you have to buy a treatment medication for head-lice. Awesome!!

I buy the treatment and we spend a portion of the evening combing C's hair, not finding anything. Then, I get a call from a collegue of mine to go shop at the equivalent of Costco. Shure! I'm on board for that, but I just need to go to the school to take out some money at the bank machine. Hmmm, what is something bad that can happen at a bank machine...especially after it already sucked in your card? Dunno if you guessed, but the ATM chose that moment to die. I call S to let her know that I'll be delayed coming home as I'll try to contact the bank (which I was not able to reach, even with the help of the russian guard at school because the bank was closed and I should call back during working hours). Fantastic!!!

I get back home exclaming that I can't believe the bank machine ate my card as I'm opening the door and then I hear my neighbour's voice saying "Hello! I'm here!". I turn the corner to see my neighbour in a big puddle of water telling me that the washing machine broke and that S is over at their place. At the same time, C is telling me that mommy left home crying. Hmmm, what word is better than awesome? Dunno, but I would put it here. Ah well. Needless to say, I cancelled my shopping outing, (where I was to buy a bottle of wine), so our neighbour went back to his place and brought back a bottle of wine for us. Man, we are lucky to have super nice neighbours! Anyways, everything turned out okay (we got a new washer to replace the broken one) and C doesn't have head-lice. Hey, at least we can laugh about it, so that's still good!

So, as I was saying, if we could redo wednesday evening, I would just choose to skip it. Ah well. So that was it...our wednesday evening. ;-)

;-) LIL

First month done!

Well, tomorrow will be the 5th of September. We left Canada on the 5th of August, so technically, today is the last day of our first month living in Moscow. How has life treated us in the past month. All in all, I can say good. Different is also a word that comes to mind. Different is different. It is not better, it is not worse than what you are used to... different is just different. It makes things easier, I think.

So, a question that we had asked ourselves, is this posting really at the hardship level described? Our answer is absolutely yes! Without a doubt, this is a hardship post.

Yesterday, me and S found ourselves watching a sports show in english and I think most of the reason why we watched it was because it was in a language we could understand. Ah well. ;-)

We got to Skype with a few of yous and that is great! It makes us feel connected. I'll try to post a link to this blog entry on Facebook (they have just updated their privacy settings -- once again -- so we'll see how that goes. I think most of yous have the address of this blog, but for those of yous who don't, well there you go.

We miss all of yous!

;-) LIL

Me got lost!

Hello People!

Well, as the title says, me managed to get royally lost! Yesterday was my first day getting back home by metro by me lonesome. Hey, no problemo, right! I got this thing down pat. Ahhhh, so foolish was I! Usually, to get back home we take the green line. But, coming back from work, I took a different line which brings us to a different station. Well, I was sure I had to get off at a certain station, but nope...I was to get out at the station after that one! Ah well. After trying to orient myself unsuccessfully, I called Stéphanie to let her know. Luckily, I found some change in my murse (man purse) and had enough to get another ticket for the metro (which is 28 roubles - about a Canadian dollar, actually, a little bit less than that). I rode the metro back to a station where I could switch to the green line and voila... Two and a half hours after leaving work, me made my way home. Aaaahhhhhh!

So, there you have it! The one piece of advise, if you are lost, get back on the metro, stick to a route that you know.

;-) LIL

Busy weekend!

Man, we can't wait to get our car! I know its still several weeks away, but still, having our own set of wheels would be nice! It would have come in really handy this weekend, but it turned out good anyway.
Friday, we had a little get together after work and it was okay. But just as we were leaving, one of the guys told us some pretty funny stories about ordering food at restaurants. Man, turns out that ordering a simple meal is like a box of chocolates...you never know what you're gonna get! ;-)

We thought of ordering a cab, but it would be about 2 hours before it got there, so we decided to metro it back home. We made it to our station okay, but we had just missed the shuttle that brings us home from the metro station. Argh... Ah well. We made it home eventually.

Saturday was the orientation session for new families at our daughters' school. Muchos nice school! As the session was done, we grabbed a bite to eat at the school's cafeteria and wouldn't you know, it was the best cafeteria food I ever ate!  We then went to see giant Russian dolls at AFI mall. Muchos nice! Coming back, we missed the shuttle again! Double Argh! But, we weren't alone in our outing and with their help we managed to grab one of the local buses and make it back home.

Today, we went to the Darwin museum. Hmmm... Turns out that chickens are more important to evolution than we thought! There were chickens everywhere! Ah well... And guess what happened once we made our way to our metro station... We missed the shuttle again! Triple Argh!!!! Ah well... all is good as we got ourselves on the same local bus and made our way home again.

And that's it! Doing some relaxing at home before everything starts again tomorrow.

Until then people!

;-) LIL

Adventures!

Hello people!

Well, have we got adventures to report! Oh, it might seem mundane to some, but believe you me, twas not for us!

Okay, so, yesterday, I had to go to the doctor's. No biggy right? Still, it was completely different from any previous experience. Things went well and fast! Now, I'm taking my anti-biotics and already feeling better! For S and C, they visited an american dental clinic for C's braces, and that was different!

For this evening, the plan was to get a cab to go do shopping and groceries. Tried twice to book a cab by phone, no go (although my second call seemed to be partly successful as they called me at home later that day). Finally, it was S who Managed to book the cab by walking down to the admin building and they booked the cabs for the evening.

Who ever thought that going shopping was an adventure? Well, it was! We were nervous before leaving, but it turned out great! We managed to do the shopping, but not the groceries (ran out of time). It is now that we realize how little russian we speak! But, already we are learning new words, like "fsio" which mean "done" or "complete".

Okay, that's it for now. Da Zavtra!

;-) LIL

Red Square

Salut tout le monde!

Well, took the Moscow metro for the first time today! Stéphanie and the girls had already taken it by themselves this week while I was at work. Wow! There are some beautiful stations! We rode the metro to Red Square. I tell ya, seeing St-Basil's cathedral peeking as you are rounding the corner is a moment I'll remember forever! There were a lot of people on the square! Also, they are setting it up for parades that will take place at the end of august! We then went for a stroll in the GUM mall which is directly off of Red Square. Wow! The place is huge! We found a little restaurant where we sampled some blinis (yum!) and also a baked potato that was out of this world (well, okay, maybe not out of this world, but definitely out of Canada). ;-) We then proceeded to make our way home (I'm not feeling too too great...started having a sore throat after we got here, but I think I'm feeling better now).

We have tasted some pretty incredible products. Russian yogurt is amazing! So is Russian bread. I drank some Kvas (also known as Children's beer) which definitely was refreshing today!

My first week of work in Russia flew by! Woah! Which is fine by moi! I just can't wait to have our own internet connection (hopefully next week) so then we can post more pictures. Currently, we are relying on our kind neighbors for sharing their internet connection. As the bandwidth is not great, we have been strolling to the AAS (the girls' school) to upload pictures as the school has free wi-fi. I know a lot of you have asked for more pictures. As soon as we can, we'll post some more! Promise!

Okay, I'll end it here for now and chat with you all later!

;-) LIL

Jetlagged!!!

First day is done. Just wish the jetlag would be done as well... ;-) Getting up in the morning why easy enough, but the afternoon was hard! It was nice getting home. This evening, more shopping!

;-) LIL

Settling in...on a temporary basis

We made it to our temporary house in PH (Prokovsky Hills) yesterday evening. Our house will be ready in about 4 days. Met the neighbors and then got some much deserved rest. ;-)

Today, we're going shopping! I usually hate shopping, but I'm actually looking forward to it. Yesterday, while driving in from the airport, we saw a bit of the city... looking very much forward to seeing more today.

;-) LIL

Somewhere over the Atlantic

Dear friends,

Well, for you that were not at the airport, you missed one heck of a crying fest! ;-) Honnestly, no matter how I imagine it, life seems to always have one up on my imagination! Hmm, maybe I don't have such a great imagination after all.

Turns out that leaving was harder than I imagined (literally). ;-) Its presently 23h50 as I write this (Gatineau time). In the end, I'm glad that we had people at the airport. Yes, it made it harder, but I believe that it wrapped things up. Nuff said. ;-)

So…how is it now (or then, when you read this). Pretty nice! I'm glad we were able to get better seats. The girls are lying down and trying to get some rest. Supper, earlier, turned out to be pretty amazing! If only I had read the menu more closely, I would have known what my entrée was. Ah well. Me and Mélo figured out it was Salmon (actually, Mélo figured it out) and it was bloody (not literally) fantastic! Woah! Oh, and we did drink some champagne, but turns out, its not that great when the reason you a drinking it is that you are moving your kids half-way across the world.

Hopefully, there will be wi-fi in the Frankfurt lounge and this way we can get some news across the pond (namely, this). ;-)

You know, I think the girls are on to something. I'll see if I can get some shut-eye… (I don't think I'll be able to sleep, but I'd love to be proven wrong.

I'll be back later with an update on my success.

;-) LIL

This is it!

Here we go! This evening, we are leaving for our posting in Russia. Wow! Unbelievable how fast time flew by! I'll work on my first entry on the plane (not sure when I'll be able to upload it, but will try to do so soon. Until then!

;-) LIL

Like deers caught in headlights

Wow! Tonight's Russian class was hard! Okay, that's it, just had to say it. ;-)

;-) LIL

Doctors and Dentists...

Salut tout le monde!

Well, it has been awhile since I posted something, but there was nothing really to post about. Well, today we had our medicals (which we all need to pass before heading to Moscow). Everything went well, but we found out that we needed dental certificates as well for everyone. We had checked previously and none was needed, but these things change every year. Soooo, after leaving Health Canada, we had to go and visit one orthodontist, and three separate dentists (me, Stéphanie and the girls have separate dentists... ah well). So, we had some unexpected running around, but things turned out okay. We already have 2 of the 5 certificates needed and we should have the rest by tomorrow or the day after.

Now, if we are really lucky, we'll get our PCF (Posting Confirmation Form) in two weeks. The PCF is the final piece of the process. Once we have this, we can go ahead and apply for the VISAS and purchase the tickets.

Man, this is a lengthy process! But, we really do think this is an incredible opportunity (okay, maybe the girls don't think of it that way yet, but hey, the way we look at it, we are giving them the world!).

Okay, got to go. Once we have the PCF, I'll post another entry.

;-) LIL