June 30 2012 Produce scale, deli foods and secret gift for Lewis

Last day of the month......

We went shopping today at the ORANGE store for food and other misc items.  I keep forgetting to take a picture of something that we think is very cool at the grocery store. 

With produce, instead of having it weighed and the price calculated at the check out register, you put the items into a bag then you go over to this little machine, place the bag of items onto the scale and push the number button that corresponds to what you are buying.  For instance carrots might be #5, cucumbers #47 etc.  A little sticker pops out of the side and you place it onto your bag.

This way you know ahead of time how much it will cost.  It is verrrrrrrrrry cool!!!

 Cabbage must be growing like crazy right now.....look at the size of these things!!!

Thought I would take a picture of some of the food items that can be bought at this store.  Don't ask me what they are......I just took the pictures to show some of what we see!!!

Can you keep a secret????? OK, don't tell Lewis, but I think I will buy him a set of these for Christmas!!! (I saw him looking at them today)

June 29, 2012 water delivery, organization and bread/milk

We have been here 7 weeks today, sometimes it feels like it, but mostly time has gone by really fast!!

We got our water bottles delivered and the process goes like this.....
1. We tell Konstantin when we are ready for more water,
2.  He calls the place and they tell him when they will deliver. 
3. Konstantin calls us and tells us when they will deliver.

Day of delivery.......
1. The man calls Konstantin to let us know he is here and then Konstantin calls us and Lewis goes downstairs to let him in (because we have a security system at the entrance door)......
2.  The man follows Lewis upstairs and we pay him, but he doesn't have a receipt....
3.  So we get Konstantin on the speaker phone and have him tell the man what we need.  He doesn't have it on him.......
4.  So Lewis goes downstairs again to get the receipt from the man's delivery truck!!! 

All that for clean water........too funny!!!

Another thing that makes me verrrrrrry happy, we got containers to put our boots and work clothes in....Now I don't have to worry about getting the manure from Konstantin and Lewis' things onto my things that will stay somewhat manure free!!!

Lewis' favorite meal..........BREAD and MILK!!! (this is one of the few things that we DO NOT have in common!!!)

June 28 2012 Bagged milk holders

The milk we drink comes in a bag.  When we got to the apartment the first night they had left some food for us in the refrigerator and some milk.  When we first used the milk we had a dilemma, how do we store it without it spilling?  So we used the only thing we could think of at the time..............

We found something at the store to hold the milk in and it seemed to work well for a while.........

...............until we were properly instructed on what to use for our bag of milk, then the dilemma was how to keep it closed between uses, well you see how we solved that problem!!!!

June 27 2012 Lewis teaching people

Always teaching..........

June 26 2012 Pizza

Lewis' sister, Kristeen asked us a few weeks ago if we had an oven.  I had to laugh when I thought of that question and took this picture for an answer.......

Yes!  We do have an oven........we have used it only once so far......and look what we cooked in it!!!

June 25, 2012 Russian Money lesson and pictures

When we came to Russia the money was one of the confusing things to over come.  Finally we are understanding a little better, so here is the money lesson. BUT first a little history according to the internet..........

Did you know that in 1704 Russia was the first country in the world to introduce a decimal monetary system?

Here are pictures of the paper money or notes  -

All of the above are rubles = 6660 which is about $200.47

More history from the internet -

The 5 ruble note is very rare now. It is now out of print, although it is still legal tender.

The 10 ruble note is no longer printed starting January 2010. Replaced by the 10 ruble coin

Ruble Coins

1, 2, 5 and 10

Kopek Coins

5, 10 and 50

More History from the Internet -

1 and 5 kopek coins are rarely used (especially the 1 kopek coin) due to their low value and in some cases may not be accepted by stores or individuals. In some cases, the 10 kopek coin is refused

This is all of our change, Kopek and Rubles totalling 54 Ruble 35 Kopek or $1.64

June 24, 2012 A couple of things to make us happy

It's the little things in life that can make you very happy........Just look for those little things, and  you will be happy too!! Today I found 2 of those little happy things!!

There has been frequent talk of how long it stays light around here and even though we have been warned that one day the dark will dominate instead of the light, for now it would be nice to not be blinded when waking up during the "night" hours.  So we figured out a solution.  Not sure why it took us 1 month, 13 days and 15.5 hours to think of this, but who's countingn anyway???

The curtains in the living room are red and the curtains in the bedroom are beige.  We want less light in the bedroom and more light in the living room (remember the post about Lewis' new office? He needs lots of light to get his job done right!!).  So we swapped curtains between the two rooms.  Would it work?  It worked pretty good.....here are some pictures with lamps on and with lamps off in each room at 11pm.  See I told you it stays light outside for a long time!!

What do you think?  Good decision?

Living Room -

Bedroom -

Now for the second -

It has been a trial and error process to find a good dish washing soap.  One that stays bubbly and cuts the grease!!  Ta Da......third times a charm and it looks like the "good fairy" has made dishwashing a pleasant job!!

June 23 2012 Storage units

Storage units.................Russian style.............................

June 22 2012 Robin eggs......to cook and eat!!

We branched out tonight and went to the orange store and then to another store. We told Konstantin that he is holding out on us. We found a few things there that we have not found anywhere else. These I found on the shelf but we did not get them. They cost 43 rubles. ($1.20)

June 21 2012 Sunset

One more post for today....as we were walking back to the apartment from the meeting tonight Lewis spotted this beautiful sunset and took a picture........

The sun was setting at 11:40pm!!!

June 21, 2012 The story of Lewis' office......

Today I will tell you a story......it is a very interesting and evolving story!!  It is the story of Lewis' office in the apartment.  Now usually he is out on the dairies and farms or at various meetings.......but occasionally he has paperwork that needs to be done, so he works from the apartment.

The office started out in the kitchen at the table........but we had to move everything in order to have meals...........

So we moved into the living room......moved furniture around and used this table as a desk and the couch as a chair and place to spread everything out!!!

This was not very comfortable on his back, so he moved over to a "pull down" desk that comes out of the bookshelves in the living room.  This worked OK, but the only chair that would work is the stool from the kitchen......no back support and no "bottom" support!!  Next try was to use one of the cushions from the living room chairs.  This was helpful for the "bottom" but not the back and a little awkward also!!!

So we are off to the Office Supply Store to remedy the situation!!!  There are sooooooo many choices, which one should he pick?  Which one is going to feel the best? 

The decision was made........practicality took over and the final decision was made..........WE brought it home and put it together and this is his NEW comfortable chair that will make him even more productive in his job!!! (We even rearranged the "bookcase" so that there was room for the new chair!!)

 Next BIG decision........what desk lamp will look best?

Hope you enjoyed this little story.......THE END!!!

(I often wonder what the store people think of this American walking around taking pictures of everything!!!)