Memorable things

We're having lots of fun in Tomsk. The kids enjoy going to the Dacha. It is a summer home, which usually comes hand in hand with a garden and in some cases, a sauna. My aunt Lena and uncle Jenya have both. Family and friends gather there on weekends and some weekdays. A feast follows our every arrival to the dacha. All the fresh herbs and veggies get cut in the garden and all sort of other food is brought in from the city. Arkasha fires up the grill which people call "mankal" and makes shishkababs from pork and chicken.

Kids were a little weary of all those new people at first, but now they know them all by name and get excited to see them. Lydia and Tyler met two remotely related cousins whith whom they half -played, half-fought. But that's not unusual with such small kids. They chased each other and squilled. They played cars, ball and climbed on everything, while Lydia picked black currants, gooseberries and other local varieties of berries.

At night, dyadya (uncle) Jenya would fire up the sauna and people take turns overheating themselves. When Paul and I first went in, I felt like I was going to have a heat stroke any minute. It was 100 degrees celcius on the thermometer and we left the sauna's door open. That detail was not mentioned to my family. They would think we are weaklings. The second time we went we had to admit that we can take such temperatures very well, so my uncle had pity on us and got the sauna to the cool temperature of 80 degrees celcius. Needless to say, we were greatful.

Every Sunday's we went to church before going to the dacha. Our city has a relatively new church building. Last time we came, it was almost finished. So this time was the first time we really attended church there. It was so amazing to see how church is developing here. So many members that I knew and loved from my previous visits were there to greet us and we were something to behold indeed. Our kids made so much racket in Sacrement meeting I always felt like people looked at us funny. Well, what can I say, Lydia and Tyler, active as they usually are, would get extra board since they did not know the language. But I loved hearing people speak. There were many talks and lessons that I felt were inspired to help me.

Nursery and Primary were combined since there were not many small kids in the branch. Because of the language barrier, one of us was always with the kids not so much for transelation of all that was happening, but for reassuring them in the new environment. This is one of the things we had to get used to, since at home, our kids didn't even turn around to say "bye" to us when we would leave them in Nursery and Primary.

The weather in Russia was mostly great in my opinion, though my mom, aunt Lena and others would tell me know much we lucked out with the weather in August which usually is very capricious. We had some rain, but we saw a lot of warm sunny days. We managed to go swiming a few times in a huge lake outside the city. It was surrounded by forrest with water that was cool and clear. Bugs presented the our only problem. Once you pass by some trees, they would surround you and drive you crazy. Once, before Paul got here, my mom and her friend Natasha found a bunch of broken brunches, needles, pinecones and made a fire that smoked like crazy, on purpose, I might add. We all stood there, trying to get the smoke to permiate our clothing, hair and skin. That is a Russian remedy for driving the bugs away. It worked pretty well.

On this trip, I got to see my friends from highshool. It was good to catch up with them. I wished we got together more. Also, we got to see the some of the festivities on September 1st. It is a nation wide beginning of school day. My mom's apparment is close to one of many schools in the city. Paul and I snuck out in the morning, while my mom fed the kids, and got to see kids walking to school with their parents. It is customery for students to bring flower for their teachers on the first day of school. So we saw a small see of people and flowers as we approached the school. We watched as teachers officially announced the begining of new school year. It was a fun sight and brought a whirlwind of memories. I am so glad we got to see it again.

This trip has been a lenthy one and therefore there is a lot to tell, but I will leave some things for another entry.