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