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| [7:55 pm] |
| Subject: Thatsa good bambino |
| Mood |
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 hungry |
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This journal entry is dedicated to a very special person. One whose prose flows like a runny nose during springtime snows. His credits include the INVENTION of humorous yet informative writing, and it is through him that I draw my inspiration. The one and only, Orville Snowbarger. Now on to today’s journal.
Another lovely day in Kostanai. No one was beating their rugs at 7 am, so that was a nice change. And no, that is not a euphemism. A morning stroll around the neighborhood was on the docket today, as it was clear and the temperature was hovering just north of the thirties. It was a quiet Sunday morning here in town, so it was nice not to be the recipients of numerous strange looks.
For lunch we went back to Culinariya, the other Soviet cafeteria. We had cabbage and potato rolls, and I had excellent meatball pirogi type things. Eugene was surprised to see one of the judges there (not the one that will take our case), but hopefully it will score us some points that we’re absorbing all the local culture. From there is was on to the orphanage. It seems like we’re in a bit of a routine here, no?
You get two guesses about whether or not Asella was feeling better today. The first one does not count.
Check out the little tiny teeth poking through. She still has a nasty cough, but she was very active today and spent most of the time on the floor chasing stuff down. She has also recently discovered that her tongue can do all sorts of funny things and is constantly sticking it out at us.
In addition, she was actually dressed like a normal human being today, so there were hazzah’s all around. Although she did have a garlic soaked cloth protruding from her shirt, presumably to help with her cold. They also have bowls of sliced garlic sitting out in the nursery. So today our baby would have gone nicely on some crusty bread with chopped tomatoes and olive oil. Tomorrow we’re hoping for some basil so we can make a Caprese salad out of her.
As it was such a nice afternoon we met Alex at the train station for a brief tour. And yes, we did get some nice fresh bread there. Alex thinks Americans are very strange for just eating bread without jam or mayonnaise. We asked if we looked odd and he said, “Yes, it’s really weird, but it’s okay.” Next we saw the steam locomotive that brought the first Virgin Lands pioneers out to the Kostanai area in 1954. Right next to the train station is a tiny orthodox Christian church. It’s about as long as it is wide.
Later we walked back to town and tried to go grocery shopping, but the store, though open, had all the aisles blocked off for inventory. So we left. Dinner was at our favorite place, Knick-knack. Sarah actually gets to eat real food when we go there, so it’s very exciting. The desserts today were not so appealing as most had meat in them, so we got an ice cream bar at the market next door for 20 cents. When we got back home our neighbor said “Good morning,” (in English) and seemed very pleased with himself at being able to converse so fluently with his American neighbors. This is the same guy that was babbling to us about Bangladesh the other day. Eugene did figure out what he wanted – he needed the ringer volume on his telephone turned down, and the manual was in English. Since I said hello to him in Russian, he assumed I spoke both English and Russian, and therefore should translate the manual for him. The issue with Bangladesh was that he lived there awhile and picked up some English, but apparently, not much. Oh well, he seems friendly, so that’s all good.
In summation, it was a very nice day; we did a lot of walking, saw a silly baby, and ate. I think I’ll just copy and paste the previous sentence for the next 5 weeks and call it a day.
Goodbye everybody! |
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