We did it!

Well, we officially made it back to Moscow! Our beautiful baby Beau was born July 25, 2013 at 4:41 am and Scott and I feel so very proud and lucky to be his parents. 

WELCOME BEAU!

So I just can't stop thinking to myself and smiling: "We did it!" 

What exactly did we do? A LOT.

1. I had an easy and uneventful pregnancy, despite dividing the trimesters between California, South Africa and Russia. Phew!

~35 weeks pregnant in Palo Alto

 
2. Scott made it to the States in time to witness the entire 22.5 hours of labor (ugh!) and cesarean delivery. Love that man so much!!

First family portraits.

3. 11 weeks postpartum, my heroic mom and I packed and checked 4 giant suitcases + car seat + jumbo stroller bag and boarded a plane from SFO --> NYC for Matt and Beth's wedding (yay, Matt and Beth are getting married!!!);

4. Spent a fun week exploring NYC, visiting with old friends and attended Matt & Beth's gorgeous wedding;

  

   

5.  Successfully RE-packed aforementioned suitcases (actually 6 when you count Scott's!) and all the baby gear AND flew 10 hours from NYC --> Moscow;

Mom, Scott & B and The Bags

Beau at the airport in line.

  



6. On the flight, we were able to get a bulkhead row and Beau got tucked in to one of those hook-on bassinets. He slept like a pro.

Little baby in his Aeroflot bassinet.

  

7. All the bags arrived in one piece and everyone lived happily ever after.  In Moscow. :) Lookout Moscow, here we come. We really did it!

Sunset and window view from our Moscow apartment

Now Siena has her parents back together, with the addition of a 1 new baby brother.

Cutest dog ever!

Cutest boy in Moscow:

 Best and most generous Mimi (I feel so lucky to have her here with us!):

More Culture...Moscow River Cruise

A couple weeks ago we officially entered the season of "White Nights" in Moscow, where the sun is up and shining by 5 am and doesn't set till well after 10 pm. These long days, combined with a lull in Scott's travel schedule, have afforded us the chance to do not just one, but two cultural activities in Moscow in one week! Yay us!

We chose to go on a dinner cruise along the Moscow River, a very popular activity during the long summer nights. The Moscow River winds in and around much of the city so it's a great way to see a lot of stuff from a unique (water-based) vantage point. 

The cruise took off from the very large and very old and very historic Hotel Ukraina (now called the Radisson Royal Hotel but everyone knows it also as Ukraina). That in and of itself is a destination. The hotel is seriously massive and really dominates the skyline - it was the tallest hotel in the world from 1957 (when it was built) until a Westin opened in Atlanta in 1976. It is one of Moscow's famous "Seven Sisters" Stalin-era buildings and has the corresponding "wedding cake" structure by which they are all easily recognized.

Hotel Ukraina

Inside the hotel they have a cool diorama of the Kremlin and surrounding area from 1977. There's an audio guide with headphones so you can learn a bit about the different buildings and their significance. The diorama is built on a 1:75 scale with all sorts of neat, realistic details and kind of reminds me of something you'd see on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. :)

Mr. Rogers...

...and "Moscow: Capital of the USSR" diorama with Kremlin churches and a clear shot of the red brick wall that (still) surrounds all the Kremlin buildings. See what I mean about Mr. Rogers?

Another shot of the diorama with a view of Saint Basil's Cathedral. Again....is it me or is this so totally Mr. Rogers!?

After checking out the diorama, we left the hotel and set off to find out boat.

My cute hubs, ready to get cruisin'.

Off we go! View from our boat looking at another river cruiser (there were probably 10 boats that shoved off around the same time as us). Behind the boat is a "Gasprom"  building. Gasprom is one of the major Russian oil companies.

People hanging out by the river since it was such nice night.

Old Soviet space shuttle.

Peter the Great statue

A couple shots of the churches inside the Kremlin walls.

Just as we got closer to the churches and buildings inside the Kremlin walls, the sun started setting. Nice job, Captain!

Kremlin government building (with red wall in the foreground).

Grand Finale: Church of Christ the Savior with the sun setting behind. This church is not inside the Kremlin walls, but it was on the route back to the hotel docks.

Yep, that's us! One last pre-baby date night.

A Room of Her Own

Finding just the right place for Siena-girl while we're away

It was a big deal getting Siena over to Moscow, and it continues to be an equally big deal finding the right care facilities and people to look after her when we're not home. Since I'm leaving Moscow imminently to deliver our baby in the U.S. (!!!!), it has been a serious priority to find someone who can:

1. Walk Siena twice a day on weekdays;
2. Stay overnight at our apartment when Scott travels for work. 

As is probably obvious, I am very protective of our "baby" dog Siena. She really is like my first born child. :) Here are some photos of our Siena as a tiny pup (<10 lbs!!):

For a while I thought I had it all worked out because I'd gotten a personal referral from a woman in the AWO whose cleaning lady, J, also used to dog sit and walk her dogs. And those dogs were Goldens! Score!  I made arrangements for J to stay at our place when we went to NC and OR in April.

In the end, J turned out to be just okay...when we returned Siena seemed pretty wound up and not all that well-exercised but she and the apartment were in one piece so I didn't think too much of it. However, after sitting down with J to review the week she confessed that the dogs she's primarily worked with have all been very calm and OLD or SMALL (ie  >10 years old and <40 lbs). :( So my search continued and time marched on.

I posted an ad online and got a load of responses from Filipinos looking for extra work. 

Have I mentioned that there is a huge contingency of Filipino domestic help (nannies, housekeepers, babysitters, etc) in Moscow? I mean, HUGE. Our cleaning lady is Filipina and she often brings her niece and/or her cousin to help her at our place. She has also said that her brother and brother-in-law are here too. So the whole family has emigrated to Russia!!? And this is not unique; many, many other expats have mentioned that their housekeepers and nannies are Filipino  and that those folks have relatives who've joined them. Apparently the pay and the opportunities are much, much better in Moscow (even though the weather is not!). Go figure.

But honestly, nannies and cleaning ladies looking for extra work are not what I want. I want a true dog person, and preferably someone who already has experience walking dogs for money. I didn't rule the Filipinos out; I just kept talking to other friends etc and hoping something else would turn up.

Here are some current photos of our sweet 4-year old dogalini:

 

One response to my online ad was from a Malaysian student studying medicine at Moscow State University, T. He had his own dog in Moscow and was truly a dog-lover. Not only that, he was free and flexible in the afternoons everyday after class. Good potential!!

And T did indeed turn out to be great! He stayed at our apartment when we went to Amsterdam for the weekend, he started taking Siena on walks regularly and for a few weeks everything was going swimmingly. :) Until I asked T to start doing 2 walks / day for the rest of the summer and to stay at our place for some future overnight dogsitting. He couldn't help us at all because his classes end late this month and he is LEAVING Moscow for the entire summer for vacation! So back to the drawing board AGAIN.


Next I interviewed and test-walked with a Filipino (this time a young man) who responded to my ad. He seemed okay, but my instincts told me to keep looking; something about him just didn't sit right with me. However, the clock was ticking and my stress level was rising...

About 5 days before my departure, I was referred to another Filipino guy, M, who is the Dogwalker for the neighbor of a good friend. Cautiously optimistic (yet again!), I contacted M and went through my usual battery of questions and test walks, and he passed! Unfortunately M was only available for one walk per day but at this point, I was feeling desperate so made arrangements for him to walk Siena once/day until his other job ended late June, and then he would start coming twice a day. And he could do overnights too. Fan-freaking-tastic.

During our myriad discussions with our friends about the sad state of the Moscow Petsitting Industry, we received a recommendation for a dog boarding facility that was about 2 hours outside the city. This friend has an 11-year old Golden on whom he dotes (much like us with Siena, we think!), and since HE felt comfortable taking his dog to this place, we thought it would be worth considering. 

So 4 days before my flight back to the US, Siena and I took a ride out to the country to check the place out. The "facility" was really just a large house and yard owned by a very nice, animal-loving, married couple. They have a guest cottage that's been turned into little rooms for overnight stays and there is a big, fun securely fenced space outside for running and exploring (critical for our little escape artist). I felt great about the couple within minutes of meeting them, so now the plan is for Siena to go there during Scott's business trips etc. 

Last but not least, the DAY BEFORE I left, a friend mentioned that she'd heard about a family who's 19-year old daughter S would be spending the month of June in Moscow and that she was looking to earn a little extra pocket money. This family had a Standard Poodle and lived about 4 blocks from us. Stop the presses: an American college student was available to walk our dog twice per day AND she lived within walking distance?! Another score!! We quickly arranged for S to come and meet Siena and do a test walk, which went totally smoothly and now instead of M walking Siena only once/day in June, we'll have S do it twice per day, as we originally wanted. Then when S leaves Moscow, M will be free to do twice per day, just like we wanted. And for overnights, she'll stay with the couple out in the country. Done and done.

Hallelujah! What a weight off my shoulders. But man, what a huge ordeal.

Kickin' it Dutch-style

Lucky us, we have some friends from Louisville and Dallas (we've all lived in both cities because our guys work for Yum!) who are now living in Amsterdam and they invited us to visit! 

So off we went to the Netherlands the first weekend in May. M, K and S generously let us stay at their flat, which was in a great, central location. We had incredible weather and a fantastic weekend. The city was very, very accessible and the locals (who almost always spoke English - woohoo!) seemed relaxed and happy. It's only about a 3 hour flight from Moscow since we're both so far north already, but it felt like a world away, and just being there for a few days was like taking a deep sigh of relief.

A typical scene in Amsterdam: us (me sporting a 28+ week bump), bikes, boats, and a canal.

WHAT'S MORE DUTCH THAN TULIPS!!! We made a day trip out to Keukenhof Gardens to see the tulips, which, thanks to a cold spring, were in FULL bloom!! 

Another Keukenhof flower collage.

Us with rows and rows (and rows!) of tulips behind us, waiting to be harvested. So cool!! What a spectacular performance by those tulips.

Back in the city, we did a cheese tasting at Reypenaer. What's not to love about 5 different types of GOUDA CHEESE!?

Technically it was a wine tasting too, but I didn't get to participate in that due to the aforementioned bump.

I did, however, get to declare myself an "expert in cheese tasting" after all was said and done. :)

Another typical Amsterdam scene.

Our sweet friends, M, K and S, hanging out by the Rijksmuseum.

K in front of 1/3 of the dishes from our "rice table" feast. Who knew that Indonesian food was so prevalent in Amsterdam!?

The four of us and a full view of the meal.

And to round out the weekend of good eats, we went for traditional Dutch-style pancakes - kind of like a crepe or blintz with stuff cooked inside (this one had apples and I put jam on top). Very tasty and probably a little better for you than the typical American-style "hot cake."

Thanks for a great weekend, M and K! We had a blast. Cheers to good friends and coworkers around the world!

Feeling cultural

A few nights ago Scott and I went to our first concert in Moscow. Scott had gotten two tickets to this show as a birthday present from his team at work, along with a huge box of chocolates, some beautiful crystal glassware and several other very nice, unexpected gifts.

I've learned that even for adults, birthdays are treated seriously here, especially by coworkers. The weird part is that when it's your birthday YOU are expected to bring or get food for everyone. I asked Scott what he did (since I certainly didn't bake a cake or anything crazy like that) and he said he ordered a bunch of pizzas for his group for a 4 pm "snack." Happy birthday, to us!?!

Anyway, back to the concert. It turned out be a really cool Tango showcase, so there was a band on stage and 3 pairs of dancers who would rotate dancing with each new song. Very dramatic and really fun to watch. His team didn't know this, but I love the tango so it was a very appropriate gift for both of us!

At the beginning of the concert, the band leader gave a speech of some sort (in Russian) and then he invited another guy up to the stage who turned out to be an authentic Argentine. We think maybe he was the show's producer. So he got up and spoke Spanish to us and there was a woman simultaneously translating his words into Russian. We missed pretty much everything but clapped anyway. 

And then the dancing and music started and it was wonderful. Of the three sets of dancers, 2 were tall and blond (from Russia) and 1 was shorter and dark (from Buenos Aires, we later realized). This was a perfect show for us since there was little to no talking, just fantastic live music and fabulous dancing!

All in all it was really a fun evening and we realized we really need to get out and take more advantage of the incredible theater and arts scene in Moscow. There are theaters and art schools everywhere and while this city may not do such a good job with building maintenance, casual dining or in general just being friendly to "foreigners," they sure do know how train their artists and put on a good show! 

Tickets to the Tango showcase. 

Fashion Standout Part Deux

Another "brilliant" choice of outfits caught my attention the other day. It isn't nearly as shocking in the photo as it was in real life, trust me. This really took some work in terms of gathering just the right pieces:

(She also had a matching hot pink watch and bracelet, they're just not visible here.)

Victory Day Part II (Our 1st Dacha Outing!) - 9 May 2013

~~ Masha, Dasha, and Boscha at the Dacha ~~

So, as I described in my earlier Victory Day post, we attended the big Tverskaya parade of tanks. That was in the morning and very entertaining/interesting.

Equally entertaining and interesting in the afternoon, we all -- me, Scott, and even Siena! -- were invited to one of Scott's coworker D's dacha (aka summer house) for a Victory Day celebration/dinner. They invited one other family who had a son and a dog as well (D has a small dog and the friends have a chihuahua). We've decided that dachas are the method by which Muscovites survive the city. In other words, they put up with living in small, tight quarters on the weekdays in the city by also owning a tranquil escape outside of the city where they can spread out and relax.

The closest thing I'm familiar with in the US is the Hamptons, as a retreat for Manhattanites, but I believe in general dachas are a bit more "rustic" than most NYer's Hampton estates. Likewise, the type of Manhattanites who can afford to own a house in the Hamptons usually have slightly more spacious apartments in the city. But the larger concept is similar, especially in the summer: everyone spends hours and hours on Friday afternoons driving out of the city, grumbling about the traffic and the city literally empties out. Then they do the same on Sunday night in reverse.

Anyway we were very flattered to be invited, since Victory Day is truly one of Russia's biggest holidays and most people spend it with their families. D's house was a mix of contemporary and traditional styles. It was 2 stories, built on a hill, with lots of wood inside with stone and wood accents on the outside. In the backyard, there was a deck and then some very steep steps down the hill that led to a large above-ground cement pool and sloped yard. Inside, I believe there may have been just one bathroom; for sure there was only one on the first floor. Perhaps there was another one upstairs but it looked more like a loft than a full second story. Overall, the words I can use to describe their house are natural, humble and modest. This may be the main point of differentiation between Hamptons houses and Dachas, although I've heard there are some really "pimped out" dachas as well.

Before I forget, I should probably explain the subtitle of this post. When Scott and I arrived,  we were introduced to everyone: there was Scott's coworker's wife, Maria, who went by "Masha," his daughter, "Dasha" and then his dog, "Boscha." And we were all hanging out at their "Dacha!" Heehee. Scott and I had a nice chuckle. Changing a name to end in "--sha" is actually very common as a Russian nickname so it really wasn't a big deal to them but we enjoyed it between ourselves. :)

From what I understand, the meal we had was quite traditional for a Victory Day feast; most Russians all over the country were eating similar meals that day too. D and his family certainly spoiled us with all sorts of delicious dishes.

We didn't get too many photos of the experience because we didn't want to be "those people" and it felt sort of rude. But, we managed to grab a few.

First we started out with lots of fresh, colorful veggies and salads. The plate in the foreground is ALL pickled items, a serious staple in the Russian diet (helps the vodka go down easier!). Behind the pickles was sliced tomatoes with basil, and to the left was "Russian Salad" (mayo-based egg/potato/carrot-type salad).

More salads further down the table. Masha's mother's special marinated mushroom salad (made from wild mushrooms that she picks herself; Masha assured us they were safe to eat) in the front (yellow dish). The red dish contained a salad made with fish, beets, and green onions; I didn't feel adventurous enough to try it. Then there was a "regular" salad and a plate of cold cuts.

Here's a better view of the full table, along with Masha and Dasha. It really was a huge feast.

Then, as if all those salads weren't enough, there was the BBQ portion of the feast, with marinated lamb Shashlik (skewers). These were so good!

Complementing the Shashlik was an Uzbek-style Pilaf (pronounced "Ploff") with dark rice, sausage, chicken, peppers, dried fruit, pomegranate seeds, and roasted garlic, cooked on a wood-fire grill. Scott now wants this type of setup (regular grill + wood-fire grill) whenever the time comes that we have a backyard/grill setup again. This was delicious as well.

The grill-master himself, D, chilling with a glass of wine. This is Scott's coworker. Boscha the dog is behind D (he's a mix between a Yorkie and a German Shepherd, of all things!).

Last but not least, here's a parting shot of one really tired pooch getting loved on by D's daughter Dasha. This little girl was really so sweet with Siena throughout our entire visit. They ran around, played fetch, played tug, did lots of snuggling and belly-rubbing. You name it, Siena got a LOT of attention that day!

Speaking of dogs, I should mention that our hosts very graciously offered Siena and their dog each a fresh lamb bone from the Shashlik scraps. Both dogs happily chewed away on their respective bones at opposite ends of the house/yard. When Boscha finished his bone, he tried to hide it under one of the cars in the driveway. Siena chewed on hers for a while and then did something she's NEVER done before: she dug a hole in the yard and buried it!

Then she immediately went sniffing around and found Boscha's bone and took THAT one and proceeded to chew IT as well. And when she was done with his bone, she dug a hole and buried that one too! Then she went back to the first bone, dug it up to check on it, and moved it to a new spot. She kept on doing this for a while, instinctively, like it was her job to keep the bone(s) safe. It was the funniest thing for us to watch, considering she's had raw bones before but never behaved in this way. But, come to think of it, we never gave her the bones outside where she could dig in the dirt and we also always take them away before she gets too far along...this just goes to show you, she really is a DOG after all!

We decided that this day was probably the best day of Siena's life so far. :)