Today I went to the store and grabbed some turkey and other goodies. It is going to be a very simple meal for Christmas, because Svetochka and I really try to keep from gaining too much weight….not easy for us, but we try…
Thirteen Christmases in Russia….I am a teenage in time in Russia, thirteen years here. Kinda amazing actually, the Russians have not murdered me. They are hiding around every corner…
Yes I know Russians and having lived with them, beside them, around them and living daily buying, selling, talking, walking, yelling and helping Russians, I have gained sorta an expertise at dealing with Russians. You could say that I am a Western Expert on Russians….but no one cares to ask me about these evil Russians…
Really, “I SEE RUSSIANS EVERYWHERE!”
It is snowing, has been snowing and will 100% be snowing tonight, tomorrow and the next week or so. In Russia I see Christmas snow 75% of the years. For that matter, it snows almost everyday and by the end of the winter, the sidewalks are packed a meter deep with ice. Ice from snow that has been walked on by millions of feet. But they do clear many sidewalks and I am just talking about the sidewalks away from the main areas. It is strange to walk and have your head in the tree limbs, the same limbs that were above your head in the summer…
I spent several hours digging out our Sammy the Volga. She is the green wagon in the middle of the image above. It was -12 out when I turned the key in the ignition and she fired off first time. Been awhile since I started her and she purred like a kitten after a few minutes. The ice was deep on her and we are lucky that we have a bunch of guys to clean the roads and walks at our flats. It helps us to get our cars out when we need to. I also have to get a new ice scraper….I broke two of them while cleaning the car today… 🙁
The snow is here to stay for at least five months and very well could still be hanging around six months from now. So if you do not clean your car and move it enough, you will never get it out for half a year and we have had that happen before. Now in the Tiny Russian Village, it simply was expected. Sammy could not get around in that kind of snow. But here in Moscow, we can get around. Yes, big city has its benefits at times…
Oh the bare patch of snow in the above image, is where Sammy set before I moved her….it does not look like it, but the doors could barely open on the car, much less after I cleaned her off, I had to dig her out to get her out of the hole she was in…
I could say that I miss my family back in the USA, but to cry over spilled milk is not worth it. I have been the black sheep of the family (Both birth given and my own birthed family!) most of my life. It seemed to be the way life was for me in America, yet in Russia, I am not a black sheep. I find that maybe that is why no one likes Russians from America, we are all black sheep here… (Better than being scared sheep!)
My family is here in Russia. I will say it time and time again, “Home is where the heart is!”
My heart is in Russia and between Russia and my sweetie pie Svetochka, they do a good job of keeping it beating good and sound…
Have a nice Christmas….for we will!
WtR
PS: It will be a kinda a sad Christmas with out our Boza though!
One of my favorite pictures…