moika flat

As promised long ago...

Here's my new flat! I love it. Two blog readers have actually lived in this flat, which add to the hominess.

You walk in, and the room immediately to the right is a large living room that also has a dining table. Yes, you walk in and see the back of the couch. Yes, it's a huge, teal, ugly couch. But, it's also THE most comfortable couch on which you've ever sat. Really--it's a struggle to stay awake when you sit on this. And my feet don't reach the floor when I'm sitting here.

This is the kitchen. There is a large, open tiled space, sort of a central hub, off of which the bedrooms, bath and kitchen come. The door to (previously pictured) d2b's room is just to the right of the little table. Next to that is a little closet--housing my stacked US washer/dryer, then the bathroom, then another storage closet, and then my room.

And, here's my bedroom--with a little sitting area around a traditional (non-working) traditional fireplace. It's a cat magnet. Next to this room is the living room.

one step back...

... and two steps forward.

That's good progress in this dance of attachment, if you ask me. I know attachment takes oodles of time. But I think this visit will make things that much easier when we finally come home. I said I would come back, and I did. That gives me some credibility.

I spent a lot of time this trip trying to help Sasha feel empowered, letting her lead our play. And, by the last visit she was certainly feeling in control. ;> Nary a tear was shed on this trip. And, we heard, "I don't want to." More steps forward.

Got four and a half minutes? Tissues not required.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I know there were a million bubble pictures. But, it was hard to choose! And, it made the music fit better.

Paperwork is scheduled to be presented to the judge this week. Court before my birthday seems very likely...

real

It's really going to happen.

Yesterday, I just felt so much lighter. I know much of that was my sw visit. I had been concerned about to going to court and swearing I lived where I didn't live...and getting caught in a lie...and having the judge deny my adoption...

With my rock star visit yesterday, all of that concern just vanished! (Agency has yet to acknowledge this good news, I suspect, because their mouths are full of crow.)

The other thing that makes this real, more real than the toys and dresses and things that have been accumulating for years now, arrived yesterday.

I remember shopping for a wedding dress with my friend Lara. She tried on beautiful dresses, including the dress that was just perfect for her. And she was fine--happy, but in a sort of impersonal way. Then they put a veil on her and happy tears came flooding out. The veil made it real.

Here's what's made things real:

I've had the privilege of buying dolls, first dolls, even, for my friends' children and my niece. I've been looking forward to doing the same for my daughter. But I refused to buy d2b's doll until I knew she was coming home. I wanted it to look like her. So I waited. Yesterday, her doll arrived! I even had time to place it in the cradle before the sw came.

Now, every time I pass by Sasha's door and see her doll sleeping in the cradle, I smile. It's real.

Yes, that's her sweet, dainty room--without being pink. Oh--the doll's blanket is pink (not unpacked in this photo) and there's a pink pillow on the green couch. I still need to sew that slipcover. Photographs don't do justice to this room. I love the arch in here! It keeps it feeling cozy. On either side of the arch, the ceiling soar. There are floaty, white cotton curtains on the window at the foot of the bed. The sill is more than wide enough to curl up on and watch the happenings in the courtyard. That's my beloved bed in there--one I shopped ages to find. It came with me from the US. But, I thought that when we do move from Russia, it might be comforting for Sasha to have the same bed in our new house, so I've given it to her. It's oak with a spoon-carved daisy. On the wall across from the dresser, where you can see them while you're lying in bed, are three large photos of the two of us from trip one. The six little pictures are Monet prints from a calendar and bits of pretty wrapping paper. Next to the dresser is a large, oak-colored wardrobe. Above the little couch is the big Noah's ark print that I love. This room could use some wall stickers, couldn't it? I wish I were able to paint.

I am trying to decide if Sasha's doll will come with up on our pick-up trip. If the orphanage will let Sasha bring her elephant with her, then I think the doll should wait at home. The elephant will be familiar (I hope) and smell like the orphanage. (Sasha's Elephant could be the sequel to Mishka: An Adoption Tale.) But, if the orphanage keeps the elephant, then I'd love to have her doll for the time in Moscow...and on the plane rides. Right now, I'm contemplating sacrificing valuable suitcase space for the doll and just keeping her hidden if the elephant makes it out of the orphanage. What fun things to ponder!

ppnn

Yesterday, second grade went on a wet and windy field trip to Vyborg Castle. It's a Swedish medieval castle (as per our guide) in what was once a Finish city. Vyborg is lovely! It has a very not-in-Russia feel to the layout and architecture.

ppnn, as defined in this post, is kateish for "pretty picture, no news".

ppnn

The tulips in the Summer Garden are beautiful right now.

choking cherries

Do you see this?

It's a chokecherry tree on our school playground.

Every year when it starts to look like this:

the weather gets cold. I don't remember this happening in Colorado...but maybe it did. We've gone from warm sunny weather with temperatures in the lower 20's to cold, sleety morning with a temperature of around 8C. I refuse to dig out my winter coat...but I did put on a hat today.The sunshine is predicted to be back on Monday. Let's hope!

if it's spring...eta

Edited to answer below

..then these sights should soon be a thing of the past. The first picture is right beside my front door. (Note: The fact that I have my own door was important enough to be mentioned in my Russian hs. Rightly so! It's my favorite feature of my current flat.) The second is on the street outside my building.

The red tape is found all over the city right now. It warns you that the storm pipes are melting and may come crashing down. There is another one right outside my bedroom window. The grand whooshing it makes give me a thrill reminiscent of the one brought on by thunder. I love thunder. It reminds me how mighty God is. And melting drainpipes remind me of thunder which, in turn, reminds me of the awesome power of God. Digression. Sorry.

The warning tape also marks melting icicles, snow being shoveled off roofs and generally any falling object that may impale you.

Note there is no red tape on the broken drainpipe. I guess it whooshed too powerfully.

"Spring" is actually a misnomer, Debbie. The season that follows winter is "Mud Season". The city will be filled with and mired in deep, gooey, sticky, smelly mud. Mud Season is followed by "Tourist Season" in St. P which overlaps with "Sleep Deprivation Season" (like basketball and football seasons overlap) in which all American ex-pats walk around like zombies because it never gets DARK here. Good times ahead...

tallinn

I'm back! Tallinn was a nice trip--wide, clean streets and friendly people. 'Most everyone spoke English.

If you've been to other medieval cities in Europe, then this one could be passed. (My pick--Carcassonne in southern France.) But, for a little respite only a six-hour bus ride away ($50--not bad, eh?) this was a nice couple of days.

No, it was not in any way adoption-related. Estonia only does 30 international adoption each year. One US agency is accredited to work there--and it's not mine.

Enjoy the pix! It was cold and clear. The traveling buddies are friends from school--I taught their older daughter my first year here.We spent our time in the old city the first day, and that's where all these pix are taken. There was a Chirstmas market in the square selling hand-knit woolens and wooden...things. I got a lovely hat and a poncho (well, I was cold...it's my only excuse) both in charcoal grey (my fav color). On day 2 we did a little shopping...but didn't find anything worth the hassle of peeling off multiple layers to try them. No pix from that. I did pick up four books in English and a bottle of vanilla extract ($25 for that little bottle!).

Clearing passport control was tricky both ways. They didn't like my multiple visas. And they didn't like my friends' visas at all--and wanted to keep them until they returned! (Not all countries have the visas fixed into the passport like the US does. Theirs were separate documents.) But, we made it there and back and lived to blog about it.

pix as touted

Here are some pictures from our production of Seussical. We had over 20% of our school population involved. With limited resources, a borrowed performance space, and a lot of enthusiasm we managed to pull off a good show.

I didn't take the action pictures as I was otherwise occupied but thought you might like to see some of them. I'll add more when they're available--the production shots are only from the last third of the play. I'd like you to see my little Whos in action, too! (Slide won't let me put in my own music...and, funnily enough, "Oh the Thinks You Can Think" wasn't one of their choices...)

As the ending of the curtain speech goes, "Sit back, relax and enjoy, Seussical!"

Olympics

Did I show you this picture I took when the Olympic torch came through St. Petersburg? (If so, just marvel in its beauty once again. I like this picture and am not going to go check.)


I love watching the Olympics! I, like so many others, am partial to figure skating in the Winter Olympics and gymnastics in the Summer Olympics. I also love watching equestrian events. For the last two summer Olympics, I was living in England. I had no idea how biased sports reporting is. When watching gymnastics in 2000, there was a huge roar that went up from the crowd. The presenter (they present rather than commentate) said, "That's just the Americans cheering for one of their gymnasts." And then they didn't show us what had happened!

I am very happy to have US coverage of the Olympics. I know that it's biased--it has to be. But, Americans have big hearts. We love a good determination-filled story--and an underdog. I feel like the coverage on US television is more representative of the entire games, that we get to follow not only the stories of US athletes, but also stories of athletes from around the world--especially those that are very skilled or have faced enormous odds.

And I get to see why the Americans are cheering.

Volleyball is on right now. I don't even care about volleyball, but it's the Olympics, it's live, and I'm watching it. Japan is looking tough--passing well and blocking our 6'7" (seriously) player. But the crowd, the CROWD is oohhh-ing the big rallies and chanting "U-S-A!"

It sounds like the Olympics to me.

(ps How 'bout the little nine-year-old boy who accompanied Yao Ming and the Chinese flag at the opening ceremony? He was trapped in the Sichuan earthquake last May and, after getting free, went back and helped to free two classmates from the rubble. When asked why he went back (Who would ask why he went back? Of course you go back!), he replied, "Well, you see, I am a leader in the class. That was my responsibility." Way to go, Lin Hao!)

boxes & later

I don't really have before and after pix of the inside of my new flat...because I never saw it "before" and I don't know if I'll ever make it to "after". But, I do have pix of "boxes" and "later" (which I just took for you today).

(I hate it when a television epi starts exactly the way the epi before it ended, so that was a JOKE!)

You enter the house and come into the kitchen. The entry is very tight. My desk wouldn't fit. You creep around a giant standing closet, hugging the wall, and come into the kitchen.

<-Here is the box- (and stupidity-) filled kitchen
and there it is later -->
(less stupid but far from brilliant). The person who designed it made it sound good on paper...but didn't make it very functional.


Can you see the edge of the round table in the boxed picture? It took up soooo much room! It extended further than the tumble dryer and went all the way to the 'fridge. That made it impossible to get into the cabinet below and really difficult to get around the kitchen.

Here, on the right, is more evidence of stupidity. The opened cabinets in the picture on the right aren't really cabinets. Instead, they are a water heater, a drying rack, a dishwasher and a washing machine. And those cabinets on the far right? Really difficult to open.


That's a clothes drying rack opened to try to show you how small the kitchen is. (With the stupid table it couldn't fit.) The kitchen photographs much larger than it is because I can stand in the living room to take the pictures. Still, with that round table taken down, it's much better. (Behind the door is the downstairs shower room and sauna that is now storage.)



This was and is the living room. The couch was crammed under the window with the tv in the corner. The table took up most of the room. There was an armchair under the stairs.

I undecorated and re-arranged furniture, putting the table under the window and the couch and chair grouped around the fireplace. I moved the tv and my computer to this area and added a rug. The dresser, which was in my bedroom in my last flat, now holds dvd's and a few videos--movies in the top drawer, tv in the middle, children's in the bottom. I couldn't really do anything with the landlord's china cabinet, though I was tempted to fill it with books. Instead, my books are in the baskets by the window...and the blue tubs under the stairs...and the boxes in the sauna. The cheap, yellow fabric of the couch and chair are encased in my slipcovers and new pillow cases from IKE@. My pb striped pillows always make me happy.

This is my favorite room in the house.



This is the room at the top of the stairs. It is meant to be the computer room. I tried to use it that way. But, there are no windows in this room. It was just too depressing to spend as much time up there as I spend on the computer. So, now it's the kitten's room. Eventually it could be a guest room (the taupe-slipcovered couch pulls out into a bed...though not a comfy one) or just more storage. Again, this room is s-m-a-l-l. I don't know why they didn't make two good-sized bedrooms with windows and a nice, large bathroom out of this top floor instead of putting in useless rooms and miniscule bathrooms.



This is my bedroom. It's a nice, large room. The wardrobe is ridiculous. I cannot even touch the hanging bar when I stand on my tiptoes.




At the end of the stairs, there was another couch. ANOTHER couch. There are four couches and two big armchairs in this place. I moved this one into the shower in the downstairs bath. I put my laundry stuff in its place--the rolling hamper and ironing board. Now, I've swapped that and moved the laundry things to my room and suitcases to this space. The catbox is behind the door. There is no room for it in my (now) polka-dotted bathroom that is the size of an airplane bathroom with a tub stuck on the side. Seriously. The only thing you can't see in the picture is the sink.

And this darling room (ha!) is the one for d2b. Yep. This could be why I got so upset. But, we moved the armchair to the useless computer room and then I moved the couch and covered it with the duvet cover from my last flat's guest room. Not knowing if I'll be here when she/they come home or if I'll be moving to another flat, I didn't buy a bed. (In the other flat, the second bedroom has a bed. Shocker.) And, since I don't know if "d" is singular or plural yet, I don't know if I need a twin bed or bunkbeds. Either way, it will go where the couch is in the boxed picture. That spot now is filled with orphanage donations...which I can deliver when my car is fixed. (Some are for Christmas. 'Most every time I go to the store, I pick something up either for the girls in 3.10 or for Christmas presents.) But, you can see that the tote bag from France is hanging on the doorknob, Noah's ark is on the wall, the doll's cradle is filled with friends (no dolls until I know what d2b looks like...), and the closet is organized.


And that's it! I hope you liked the tour. I think I've done a good job with what I had...and knowing that this temporary home needs to feel more home than temporary.

p.s. This post took forever to compile...though I have no doubt it will not publish as it previewed... so enjoy!

new flat

Okay, okay...but it's not as exciting as you are making it out to be.

Here's my building again.

But, instead of having the top four windows on the left-hand side, now you go in through the center gate (under the middle balcony) and enter the courtyard. (It's too narrow between the back of the part of the building I used to live in and the center part of the building for me to take a picture of it all. It's a narrow, rectangular space. Below is about one-third of the courtyard.) These doors used to belong to the stable. (Obviously, they're being restored as we photographed.) I walk through the tunnel to the right of the doors.

Coming out of the tunnel, the courtyard greenspace we were teased with is on the left (I didn't take this picture--the realtor did in November. There were people on the benches the day I did this photo-essay for you, so I didn't photograph it. I am not suitably dressed to go out of the house and re-take this picture for you today.) but I go to the right, through this little tunnel

into my courtyard, turning right again after the tunnel. That's my door on the far right. Can you see that my flat is below ground-level from these pix? You go two step down from the entry level. Nice security bars. And I really do have the nicest windows. The door on the left, under my bedroom and beside my living room, has a loud beeping security system. And, as we can tell by the white plates, neither of those cars parked right outside my flat is mine.

And these are my noisy upstairs neighbors. I can hear e-v-e-r-ything that goes on up there. Seriously. Sometimes I wake up thinking there's someone in my room. (That hasn't happened in a while. I must be acclimating.)

This is what you see if you stand with your back against my door. (Remember, it is my own door. That's very nice! It's one of those little things that ex-pat living makes me appreciate.)You can't see this much sky from inside the house. Wasn't it a beautiful sky this day?

This is looking up, to try to show you the well-like quality of my courtyard.
See what I mean when I said that I went from the family's rooms to the working part of the house? I bought a shopping cart (I call them babushka bags) to get groceries from the street to my door--with a hand still free for d2b. In the winter I'm going to use a sled. ;>

I don't really have before and after pix of the inside of my new flat...because I never saw it "before" and I don't know if I'll ever make it to "after". But, I do have pix of "boxes" and "later" (which I just took for you today). I'll post those for you tomorrow. I'd do a slide show, but I think I need to commentate.