June 14, 2012 A lesson about sheets

Yesterday when we came back from the trip and put our new mattress on top of the one we have been using we discovered that it was about 8 inches bigger and hung over the edge.  This was not a horrible problem but we needed to get some additional sheets that would fit this new mattress.  Yesterday we got back to the apartment about 9am and had a meeting from noon until 7pm and then dinner until 9pm so there was no time to buy any sheets.  Today after work we went to our favorite "Orange" store and got sheets and some groceries.  Who would have known that buying sheets could be so complicated.  I think it took us over 30 minutes to get it all figured out. With assistance from the iPhone app translator and Konstantin and the lady who worked at the store we finally made a decision.

In the meantime we have learned a few things........

1) The beds are typically what we call twin or double, we have not seen anything bigger and     probably because there would be no space to put a bigger bed. 
2) These beds are defined as 1.5 person bed or 2 person bed.  Apparently we had been sleeping on a 1.5 person mattress and bought a 2 person mattress. 
3) Getting a "fitted sheet" and a "flat sheet" in a sheet set doesn't happen.  The sheet sets either come with a "fitted sheet" (which is typical in Euro) and a blanket cover and pillow cases  OR  they come with a "flat sheet" (which is typical in Russia) blanket cover and pillow cases. 

This explains why we only had a flat sheet on our bed when we first got here and had to buy a fitted one.  Honestly I do not see how people sleep with just the flat one, they must never move in their sleep.  So here are some pictures of our 30+ minutes learning lesson on buying sheets in Russia.

Of course we did not see this picture when we were trying to figure out if a fitted sheet or flat sheet was inside.
Translated "Fitted Sheet"

Translated - "Quilt or Duvet cover with zipper"

Translated - "Pillowslip zipper"

We need to always look for "EBPO" because that mean EURO which means there is a fitted sheet!!

Such a simple task turned so complicated!!  BUT in the end, we got some pretty blue sheets that fit perfectly on our new comfy mattress and we are sleeping much better now!!!