American Woman’s Group (AWO) Annual Craft Fair

Last Thursday was the American Woman's Group (AWO) annual craft fair. AWO’s Annual Craft Fair is the largest fundraiser we have supporting the Nastenka Foundation. Nastenka is the AWO sponsored floor of the Moscow Pediatric Oncology Hospital. It was created in 2002, when two of our fellow AWO members realized their Russian language teacher had lost her daughter to Cancer. She was only three.

Several of Russia's finest artists were available to jumpstart our holiday shopping! There were more than 50 vendors selling everything from Matroyska dolls, hand painted Santa's, ornaments, Easter trays, scarves, shawls, purses, etc!

There were more than 50 "theme baskets" donated from members of our Woman's Group which were part of a raffle. I was a part of the "lazy afternoon basket" and the "board game" basket. They had wine baskets, baking baskets, Texas baskets (lots of Texans here who miss their spicy stuff), spa baskets, travel baskets, etc!
In addition, there were several donated items available for silent auction. There was some really awesome stuff! Roundtrip plane tickets, a Kindle, lots of fancy restaurant gift certificates, nights at fancy hotels, paintings, etc...

There was also a used English book table since there’s not much of a selection of good English books here! In addition there was a “American food table” which AWO members donated items and they were sold. I ran the used book table and was able to find some great new reads!

Despite the economic crisis and school closings due to the swine flu--this was the best year yet! We were able to purchase a much needed fancy microscope for Nastenka.

Little Good Luck Charm

Darron and I had the pleasure of being a "Nya Nya" (baby-sitter) to our new little 9 month old friend. We're calling her Pebbles. She just moved here from Canada 2 weeks ago, although we had met in August when her mommy and daddy visited to make sure life would be okay in Moscow. We had so much fun with her-and she pretty much had Darron wrapped around her little finger. She was such a good little girl! Being Australian (love to hear her daddy speak!) and Canadian, she had no strong ties to any NCAA teams. Boy did we fix that! We started her off right by teaching her "Boiler Up". She was fast asleep by the time the game was over but after 43 years, Purdue beat Michigan at the Big House! Now, if only she could have used her magic on the Bears...

Smile Cookie

Darron has always been an extremely hard worker. As an expat, he works a ton of hours (usually 13 hrs/day) and has lots of added stress due to Russian work culture/ethics being so different. I decided to try and make him a big cookie! The smiley face wasn't perfect, but it was so darn yummy! Most importantly...goal achieved! P.S. Like his 1980's BUM t-shirt?

Ladies who Lunch

Yep! It's Papa Johns in Moscow! I have to say it was some really good ZA! Not quite Aurelio's or Langels, but I'm not complaining! The cheese sticks were so good! There are several American restaurants in Moscow, and every once in awhile, it's nice to eat something from home. From left (can't "tag" like facebook) Jennie from Houston/Colorado, Jaime from Michigan, yours truly, and Krista-our new friend from Canada who just arrived less than a week ago! Her 9 month little girl, for blogging purposes let's call her Pebbles, is also in the picture-I don't know how she slept through the picture taking--we were laughing so loud! We had a great time!

Snowy Halloween in Moscow

Today is Halloween in the US. No such holiday here. They did have some Halloween festivities at the American Embassy, but you have to be an employee to even get on the campus. I missed handing out candy and seeing all the cute kids costumes. Here is a short video of the weather, taken from our kitchen window.

"Walk like an Egyptian:...part 2!

After the craziness of Cairo, we spent 8 full days in Sharm el Sheikh. The first thing our airport transfer company told us was "Don't Drink the Water". People that live there can't even drink the water. We could shower in it but not drink or brush our teeth. Even cooking was done with bottled water!

We had fabulous weather-right around 90 degrees and sunny-not a drop of rain! You can bet our air conditioning was on full blast! I can't imagine being there in July when the temperatures can soar over 110 degrees.

A few observations. They are hell on wheels. I mean, way more than me. Seriously. They drive super fast and don't observe the lane lines. They honk every time they go to pass someone at lightening speed! Oh, most don't have car insurance! It's too expensive! If they get into an accident, they just scream until they figure out who's going to pay. Crazy I tell you. In Egypt in general, many apartment buildings are not finished. This is planned. WHY you ask? No taxes have to be paid until they are finished. So, they just don't ever finish them to avoid paying. People just move into the lower levels!

Darron was able to scuba dive 6 of the days we were there! That's a record for him! His favorite dive was Thistlegorm (4th best dive in the world). Thistlegorm is an old shipwreck from WWI. He got to swim around it and then inside the ship! It still had tanks and motorcycles on it! I spent a lot of time at the pool just relaxing-got some great reading in! One of his diving days, I went with him and snorkeled-it was really fun! I also went parasailing, 4-Wheeling, and took a little ride on a camel!


We stayed at the Golden Renaissance Hotel. It had lots of steps and several levels of pools and gardens as you made your way down to the beach. Worked out great as one of the pools was right outside our hotel room and a few steps to the beach. Walking up to the lobby was a serious cardio workout--Here's to being a little bit closer to having thighs of steel!

View from our porch. It was nice to be so close to a pool!

Path down by the beach. Is that Scott Muir? The hunk walking may or may not be our friend Scott. No, they weren't there at the same time, I just didn't have a beach path pic so I'm using theirs! I'm not privy to the rules of picture "borrowing". Can one go to jail for such activity? We chose this hotel from Cassie and Scott's suggestion and were very happy with it! Thanks Muirs!

One of the nights we stayed at the hotel and went to a Bedouin dinner. Bedouins are wandering tribes in the Red Sea and Sinai Peninsula. We made our way down to the beach and noticed immediately the tents and low tables. We ate several different types of kabobs (chicken, lamb, beef) served as in the picture above. We also had rice and some yummy homemade bread. After dinner, we were treated to a dancing show! We shared our table with a couple from Scotland.

Couldn't resist. I am way high up on the DORK-O-METER!

Darron joining in on the fun!

Who is that hunk? My hubby checking out the sea near our hotel.

Going up! This is my second time parasailing and it was just as awesome! So peaceful!

"I Believe I Can Fly"

They gussied me up in a Muslim headcover for the 4-wheelin' and camel ridin'. Yes, I know I look extremely scarry and I apologize for any nightmares you may have...

"Born To Be Wild"

The 4-Wheeling was my favorite! I had a blast! We rode for two hours, mostly in the desert. Between the sunset, sand, sea, and smountains, it was amazingly beautiful! Yes, I know I spelled mountains with an s-I wanted all 4 words to be s-words!

My camel friend, such the poser! Wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as I thought it would be!

Me and "Camster" were like peas and carrots...just look at that toothy grin!

A view of our resort from the boat. Darron was going diving and I went along to snorkel!

Darron getting ready for his 13th dive of our trip!

Darron jumping into the gorgeous red sea!

"Walk Like An Egyptian"... go ahead, sing the song!

Darron and I just returned from a 12 day holiday in Egypt! We flew into Cairo and spent two days there before flying to the coast area of Sharm el Sheikh (on the Sinai peninsula) to relax. Neither of us had ever been to the country or the continent before so it was very interesting to see and learn about the Muslim culture. Cairo is on the continent of Africa and Sharm el Sheikh is on the Asia continent. Sharm el Sheikh wasn't a place we had really heard of before moving to Russia-but it is very popular holiday spot for the Russians and American expats!
Cairo was very hot, busy, and full of crazy drivers who think the lane lines are for decoration! We took a private tour of the Egyptian Museum, Pyramids, and the Sphinx. Out of respect, we both wore pants--which made the 90 degree temperture seem even hotter!

Map of Egypt

Sunset as we were descending into Cairo



Our Egypt visas. After landing at the Cairo airport, we went to a bank teller type window and gave them $30 dollars (US). They tore off two visas, pulled off the sticky stuff and plopped it right into our passports. If only our Russian visas were this easy!

Egyptian Museum. I'm not a big fan of museums, but this one was pretty interesting. Saw mummies and all! Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed inside.

Darron and I in front of one of the Giza pyramids. Of the 100+ pyramids in Egypt, the Giza ones are the most famous. The Pyramid of Khufu is the largest Egyptian pyramid, and the only remaining wonder of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World! They used approx 2.5 million stones to build the largest--each weighing an average of 2.5 tons! WOWZA! No stealing that big boy!

We were able to see a panoramic view of all three Giza Pyramids! Look how talented I am!

Self-Explanatory!

Darron and I in front of of the Giza Pyramids. We thought we should take one normal picture!

The Sphinx...is the largest monolith statue in the world!

Had to take a silly Sphinx picture too!

Daylight Savings Time

Even in the Muthaland we "fall back", although it's more like "winter back"! Tonight is the night that the whole country will get an extra 60 minutes of sleep! Which means that for the next week, we will be 8 hours ahead of Chicago, rather than 9. In recent years, there have been talks about ending daylight savings due to the possible health risks involved. Are you KIDDING me? I am certain the one hour time difference is NO more of a heath hazard than the amount of vodka Russians drink. Here's a fancy factoid--Russians men drink, on average, a pint of vodka every other day.

How big is Russia?

Come on, take a guess...BEFORE you google the answer!

Russia is the largest country in the world- covering approx. 6.6 million square miles. Russia covers about 1/8th of the world's land surface, and is 60% larger than the worlds 2nd largest country, Canana. Population is approx. 145 million.

And how many time zones do you think the the largest country has? ELEVEN. Hopefully this question will pop up in a game of trivial pursuit!

Where does Moscow fit into all of this? Moscow has approx 13 million people and covers approx (I found several different numbers so I am going with the average) 380 million square miles.

Now, just for shits and giggles, let's compare it to the USA. Why? Because I think it's fun...and it's my blog. :-) The USA covers approx. 3.6 million square miles with a population of 303 million.

Purdue

One of my favorite things to do while visiting home in the fall is heading down to good ole' Purdue for a football game. This year has proved to be a Boilermaker Fan nightmare, but we still had a great time. Darron and I were fortunate to be able to sit upstairs with his parents for the Notre Dame game (we won't discuss the score). Despite the loss, it's always a great feeling to be back at Purdue!