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| [9:57 pm] |
| Subject: And then it was Tuesday |
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 thoughtful |
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We’ve now been here 5 weeks, and yes, we would like a medal. Only 6 more to go. Ha ha! Just kidding. So where was I? Oh yes, today. Let’s see, our cold water has been thinking about going away for most of the day, so it took the better part of the morning to take a simple shower.
We walked to lunch at the auto dealership and then went to visit that new Straus kid. It was a balmy day in nursery land, a very pleasant 85 degrees inside, and our poor baby was dripping with sweat.
So, we bundled her up even more and headed outside for another stroll. She started out pretty excited about it, but then went into another catatonic trance for much of the time. She was also terribly perplexed by my appearance in sunglasses, and we think she spent a lot of time wondering who the heck I was. I told her I was a famous movie star, and that America is full of them, so get used to it.
This evening was very exciting, as Eugene gave us the opportunity to get out of town. After picking up Christina, a first year English student who is a friend of Eugene, we headed out to the town of Rudny, about 30 miles west of Kostanai. It’s a mining town next to one of the world’s largest iron ore pits. (Man, what a pit!) There’s an “entertainment complex” in the center of town, and that was our destination for this evening. We checked out the arcade, made reservations for the air hockey table, and then headed upstairs to the bowling alley. It was an epic battle of U.S. vs. Kazakhstan, but ultimately the home field advantage allowed the Kazaks to walk away with a 1 pin victory. If you added up Sarah and my scores they approach something respectable. I blame our parents.
We checked out the “Opera Plaza” restaurant, but that was far too swanky, instead opting for the very nicely decorated Chinese place. I’m still not sure they know what Chinese food is here (and you would think being right next door to China they would have a clue), but the food was pretty good. Sarah had a plate of fresh green beans. And we did eat with chopsticks, so that did add something to the authentic oriental experience. This was only the 2nd time ever that Christina has been outside of Kostanai, and probably the 1st time eating at a Chinese restaurant, so being the worldly cosmopolitans that we are, we instructed her in the fine art of using chopsticks and ordering in Cantonese. Well, that’s not exactly true; my Cantonese is not so good so I had to mix in some Mandarin.
Christina spent most of the meal laughing at me when I would thank the waitress or say something else in Russian. When asked to explain why, she said it was because she never heard an Englishman speak Russian before. (And she still hasn’t, but you get the gist.) Following dinner I clobbered Sarah in air hockey, and then she and Christina battled it out for the international female championship.
It was a fun evening and very nice to see something new and different. Tomorrow another family arrives, from Nyack, New York. So our little party of three will expand to five. We hope they’re interesting and entertaining because we’re all ready for some new faces and personalities to be thrown into the mix. That should help the last 3 weeks cruise on by.
Tune in tomorrow for the continuing adventures of your favorite overseas Strauses. |
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