Happy Halloween!!!

Jim and I went to our favorite market here in Moscow called Dorogomilovskiy (we like it because it's indoors and its clean) and bought a couple of little pumpkins...here they are!

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Happy Haloween!!

Apartment Pics

So everyone has been asking us to send pictures of our apartment now that we have our things....did I ever tell you guys when are shipment finally arrived???? It arrived on September 28th - so we lived out of suitcases for 2 months!!!

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Also this past weekend we had our first cocktail party at our house - Jim and I take part in a group called Daring Diners - which is group of couples that meet monthly and try out new restaurants around town....basically to see how daring we are!? Last month we ate an Indian restaurant and this month we ate at a restaurant called Simple Things....SO since we were having this cocktail party before dinner Jim and I were forced to tidy up a bit so we finally took some pics of the digs.....Enjoy!

This is the entry way....notice my rug I purchased in Turkey

Our bedroom

The bathroom

The living room (yes the carpet doesn't match...we know.)

The living room....

(no that is NOT Jim's mask...that came with the place
and will stay with the place...haha)

Living room again....

Kitchen...smallest room in the place....but we like it.

The Daring Diners crew...

Moscow Zoo

Last Monday I had lunch at the Moscow Zoo with an organization called AMUR Preserving Leopards and Tigers in the wild in Russia. Did you know that there are only 35 AMUR Leopards left in the wild in Russia and only 400 AMUR Tigers??? Check out their website..... http://www.amur.org.uk/tigers.shtml

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After the lunch we had the opportunity to tour the zoo privately since on Monday's the Moscow Zoo is closed. The Zoo is similar to Zoo's in the US that they have the same animals but very different in the size cages that the animals live. I think people here compare going to the zoo like going to the circus and instead of learning about animals and where they come from, they laugh at the animals and throw popcorn at them. Another difference were the size of the cages the animals lived, they are small and at times it was kind of sad. But this is a country that is changing everyday, and I have no doubt that the zoo will get an upgrade soon.....

This is an AMUR Tiger at the Moscow Zoo

This is a shot of our apartment building where we live from inside the zoo



A polar bear taking a snooze



A funny looking camel

A black bear with really long finger nails

The Will Update

Sorry that we haven't been updating our blog daily! Jim and I are surprisingly busy and now that our Sling Box is up and running we are able to catch up with Dancing with the Stars, Grey's Anatomy and of course Steeler Football!

We have been receiving a few phone calls and emails regarding Jim's blog entry on his Russian Banya experience. Just to make sure we are all on the same page - I DID NOT go to the banya and I WAS NOT hanging out with a bunch of naked Russian men and a 10-year old boy. That was Jim.

Last week our heat was switched on. In Russia Gas & Water are free - so when the government feels that it is cold enough (basically 8 degrees Celsius or lower for 3 days straight) they switch on the heat. Most apartments are heated with radiators and ours are very HOT. We need to sleep with a window open at night....Some of my friends have to turn on their air conditioners it gets so hot - talk about an oxymoron?!

It's a good thing they decided to turn on the heat since Moscow has already had it's first snow fall for the season! Unbelievable - it snowed 19 centimeters in a northern village outside of Moscow on Monday - the Moscow Times reported that the village lost electricity because a few trees fell on some wires...they also reported that the electricity will be back up and running in this village in several days!!! Are you kidding me? TIR.

Jim has been in a city called Samara which is the sixth largest city in Russia and is located in the southeastern part of Russia. He is there the entire week for work - he is helping out the Alcoa team here in Moscow and I've been home alone for the first time - I've been entertaining myself however - today I went to the Coco Chanel Exhibit at the Pushkin Art Museum http://www.russia-ic.com/news/show/4814/ It's amazing how the clothes she designed in the 20's and 30's are still worn today....too bad I don't own any?!?! Whats up with that?

Jim & I were walking around town and came across this man.

(Of course Jim took his picture.)

Poor guy...at least he hung onto his bottle of vodka....

Red October Chocolate Factory

For one of my women's groups (AWO) I am the Interest Group Leader for a group called GO MOSCOW - basically what we do is tour different things around Moscow. For my first tour last Friday, I arranged for the women to tour the Red October Chocolate Factory. The tour was 700 rubles per person - which included a tour of the history museum, chocolate factory, tea party, chocolate souvenirs, and an English speaking tour guide! I had 16 women sign up for the tour and it was a lot of fun!

The Red October Chocolate Factory from a distance.

Is this machine ancient or what?!
This machine is mixing sugar to make a hard caramel candy.

This is again mixing the same mixture.

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This woman is pushing the candy along the conveyor belt.

This towel and broom are helping the candy move along
the conveyor belt...hmmm...TIR.

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Here is the finished product - hot from the machine...
these candies were EXCELLENT!
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Here they are packaging the candies.

Again packaging the candy.

Are we CUTE or what????
Here is my group with our shower caps, shoe covers, and surgical gowns!

Honey Festival

A few weeks ago we set out for an afternoon at the Moscow Honey Festival. We went to the festival with our friend, Lana. We met Lana through her husband, Chuck who we met waiting in line at the Pittsburgh Airport back in August. Lana is Russian and kindly offered to take Jim and I to a honey festival to experience a little Russian culture and to experience something new!

This honey festival lasts the entire month of September and vendors (around 1000 vendors) from all over the country of Russia come to Moscow to sell their honey. The festival was packed with people and Russian's aren't buying little 'honey bear' bottles of honey - Russians take their honey VERY seriously. They mostly buy honey for therapeutic reasons to help fight off the common winter cold. Let me just say that this isn't your typical honey festival.....if there is a "typical honey festival?!?"

Vendor after vendor selling nothing but HONEY

The vendor we FINALLY picked after sampling a few dozen honey's

Here he is pouring our honey into our container that we purchased for 140 rubles or 8 dollars.

Looks pretty clean...huh?

Jim - he just loves the honey!!

Me and Lana

High Tea at the Ritz

Through the American (AWO) women's group that I am involved in - we had the opportunity to tour the brand new Ritz Carlton Hotel that just opened in Moscow http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/Moscow/Default.htm

After touring the hotel we had High Tea - which for those of you that haven't had "High Tea" before its tea with little sandwiches and cakes - it was very nice and great afternoon out with the girls!

Pics from the Roof-Top Deck of the Ritz

The view of the Kremlin from the roof-top deck of the Ritz

The girls posing for a picture

The Gym...... well almost

So, after researching all of the gyms in our neighborhood I stumbled upon this totally Russian gym down the street located in the first floor of a Russian Banya. I was very excited to find this place as all of the other 10 gyms I checked out cost between $2,500 and $5,000 per year per person and everyone has told us that we need to find a gym before it gets too cold.

So, I checked the place out and it looked pretty decent, not as fancy as the $5,000 gym, but nice enough none-the-less and they let you sign up for a pay-as-you-go program where you simply pay 100 rubles (about $4) each time you go. This seemed like a great deal as there is no way with work and our expected travels that I would be able to get to the gym everyday anyway. So after registering, I went to use the gym this Saturday morning.

The gym

The building of the gym opens at 8 AM and I showed up at about 8:05. After waiting in the check-in line it was clear that I was having some problems checking in and the guy behind me, via his 11 year-old son who spoke perfect English, volunteered his assistance in translating. The 11 year-old did some talking on my behalf and I was told that although the Banya opens at 8 AM, the gym facility does not open until 10:00 AM. Looking a little discouraged, the father, again via his son, asked if this was my first time to this facility and my first time in a Banya.

When I told them it was, he invited me to join them in the Banya for the morning until the gym opened. He was very generous and even offered to pay my admission.

So, I followed the guy and his son through the check-in process for the Banya and then followed them into a locker-room type area where the three of us were assigned a private booth. The booth was a little larger than a booth at TGI Friday's and had a little room where one could change out of their clothes.

The 'changing booth' (where people also hang out and drink - here you can see the bartender delivering some beer and vodka)

Once inside the booth very quickly the man and his son were changing into their towels and the son told me to do the same and he also explained to me where I should hang my clothes. So I followed suit, and changed into my towel.............. This was only the beginning of my adventure as Russian Banyas are quite steep in history and I was in for quite a history lesson.

Once we all had our towels on we walked through the locker room and entered into a very large room made of white marble with about 50 white marble benches. It was here that the man and his son removed their towels and showed me where to hang my towel. I would say at that time there were about 50 completely naked guys in the room at this point. You see, they were not completely naked because everyone of them wore a funny little felt hat - similar to the kind you would imagine that the Swiss would wear in the Alps. As I removed my towel the guy proceeded to prepare a bucket of cold water and dip some little leaves and twigs that he had purchased into the bucket.

From there we walked to the steam room. Thank God I was following an 11 year-old boy around as I don't think I could have taken the heat for a moment more than his father would allow him to stay in the steam room. Once inside the steam room everyone inside took a seat somewhere on the wooden amphitheatre-style bleachers. Then began one of the most random (as if this whole event were not random enough) things I have ever seen.... all of the guys began beating themselves or their friends with the branches and leaves they had purchased at the desk. Even my hosts joined in and the father began to hit his son's back with the leaves he had purchased. Apparently this process is supposed to allow all of the toxins in your body to exit as you sweat in the heat of the sauna. I kindly declined to participate in the twig beating process..... maybe next time.........

The steam room

After I could not take it any more - I was struggling to stay in the steam room for as long as the 11 year-old - the father mentioned that is was time to get out of the steam room. From there we walked directly to a bathtub-sized pool full of freezing cold water where you jump in. Again, this is supposed to have some therapeutic qualities - experiencing such a drastic change in temperature. So after the father jumped in (and quickly got out) he instructed me to do the same. So I did, and boy was it cold - it was like it was full of ice cubes. The 11 year-old then told me that he had to be another year older before his dad would let him jump in that pool.

From there we walked down another hall to a large swimming pool, with somewhat warmer water, where everyone takes turns swimming under three faucets pouring out very cold water into the pool.

The pool

After hanging out in the pool for about 10 minutes the son explained to me that we were going to start the entire process over. And that is just what we did for the next two hours: Steam room, little pool, big pool...... steam room, little pool, big pool.......

Finally, when the two hours were just about up we went back to the little changing booth and the father ordered a round of drinks (water and pop for this crew - although I did witness some beers being delivered for the booth next door). At this point I got dressed and the father thanked me for practicing English with his son the entire morning and I thanked him for letting me tag along.

So that, in a nutshell, is my first banya experience.... Quite an interesting time...... And for the record, the photos I have posted above were all simply cut-and-paste from the banya's website and were clearly staged as no-one wore their towels like you see in the photos! The website is in Russian - but in case anyone is interested: http://www.baninapresne.ru/

As you can imagine, Carrie was quiet disappointed that she missed out on this adventure - but the womens Banya is just on the other side of the building.......... And we can only imagine what 50 naked Russian women do on a Saturday morning...... Maybe next week........