Yesterday (10-29) I ventured out again. My plan was to walk down to Karl Marx and Lenin where there is a bookstore and souvenir store. And so after lunch and a phone call, and IMing I set out. I had consulted the map that Steve and Tami lent me (a missionary family here God has graciously put us in touch with) and it seemed to me if I walked all the way down Marata (in the opposite direction from yesterday) it would run into Karl Marx. Lenin St, is just one block over to the left. And so, that is just what I did. No problems, hey, I can do this!!
So, once I arrived, I recognized the souvenir store as it is one that Darren and I went to in January. In fact, it is where we bought all our gifts and trinkets in January. But, since my hope is to find enough small memorabila type gifts to give SV one every year until he's 18, and then something for his future bride, and something as a wedding gift... I have plenty of things to look for. So I walked into the store, did a quick glance around (here, at some stores woman are made to put their purses in locked cubbies) at fellow shoppers, they all had purses with them, so I held onto mine and began wandering around. I was looking for some art supplies to do some crafts and things with SV once I have custody. My list consisted of scotch tape, crayons, markers, paint, paintbrushes, some thicker paper if I could find it, and maybe some stickers.
I also wanted to check out the birch boxes and matryoshka dolls.
However, just as I walked into one section of the store (looked like maybe school workbooks?) a clerk approached me and began talking to me, at a rate of about a mile a minute... Um, ok? I told her "nyet ruskie, engliski?" apparently I didn't get the point across as she kept jabbering and pointing at things around me, then she looked at the man who was standing beside her and said something to him, what I have no idea. So, I turned around and ignored them... after staring at me for a few minutes they left, and I headed to another section of the store, the kids section, trying to find the items on my list. At this point the same clerk lady came back, with another lady, and they litterally followed me up and down the aisles... um??? at one point they said something to a THIRD clerk and she joined them on the same aisle. So 4 of us together in an incredibly narrow aisle. I was not digging this, and they were making me nervous, so... I do what any self-respecting bubble having introvert would do. I hightailed it out of there! I momentarily considered going next door to what I believe is the bookstore everyone has talked about, but after that experience decided I'd rather hang outside with the birds instead.
I walked up and down the courtyard that is there behind Lenin's Statue, and then found an empty bench and sat down. I closed my eyes and tried to really take in the sounds and smells (mostly just smoke/smog) around me. The buses and trolley things went whizzing behind me so quickly that it made the bench shake. I also thought it was funny.. before Darren left to go back to the US he had commented that for the craziness of the traffic here, he was surprised we didn't really hear alot of people using their horns. Well, I guess we just hadn't been in the right part of town as there were PLENTY of people using their horns yesterday.
A beggar approached me and stuck a box in my face. No really, IN MY FACE. I shook my head no, and said nyet, and he pushed it closer to my face. I again, shook my head and said nyet, we repeated the process. Just when I thought I might cry he shook his head at me and walked off. I decided before I go out next time I will put all my coins in my pocket so I can access them easily if another such situation arises. I just didn't feel comfortable opening my purses and having him see me dig through my rubles...
I tried to watch the people pass by, mostly I assumed they were college students or business men. I saw one mom with a stroller and a 4-5 year old in tow, a few couples. One older couple, was very sweet, they walked arm in arm, very slowly down the courtyard, looking into each others eyes and talking quietly to one another. Got me thinking if it was a first time marriage for them? and if so, how incredibly rare that must be. There were several very fashionable women who passed by, I can barely walk around in 2 inch wedge heels without looking like a total moron, these women are walking around in 5 inch stilettos, on broken up cobblestone sidewalks... one girls boots were the color of her hair, made me wonder which came first.
Pigeons... are EVERYWHERE here. There were three that kept circling my bench, and with every turn around they'd walk an inch or two closer, so that their distance began to close on me... I swear they were planning an attack.
After sitting for awhile I decided I MUST have been gone at least 2 hours I made my way back to the apartment, and only momentarily did I think I'd somehow (even though it was a straight shot down Marata) managed to get myself lost.
It was a BEAUTIFUL day yesterday, probably in the high 40's if I had to guess... oh, and for those of you who were curious, I was only gone an hour and a half. Ridiculous!
Today (10-30)
Woke up with the most awful back pain. What the heck? I can't think of anything I did. Well, I did Tae-bo yesterday in attempts to keep up some sort of exercise regime while I'm here, but surely that wouldn't have caused this... I'm used to much more strenuous work/exercise at home... who knows. Took an aleve and a muscle relaxer... hopefully it'll ease up as the day goes on.
I skyped with the boys, decided there should be a way to bottle their laughter and then distribute as medicine... I believe it could cure alot of ailements. Did some chores, ironing (I don't know about the rest of you IRK mom's) which at home I don't really mind, it's just time consuming. But here, Oi! even on the max setting I feel like it doesn't get much past warm, making it VERY difficult to iron the "crunch" out of your clothing. Did some dishes, cleaned the kitchen and put the stove back together after last nights smoke fiasco. Lena stopped by. IM'd with Darren, got a call from Tami, then a call from Alex... busy morning.
After all that, it was lunch. Pretty good. Had one of my last tomatoes that Tami gave me last weekend, some potato stuffed pasta's and corn on the cob. The corn tasted weird so I passed on that.
On the agenda for the rest of the day. Hebrews, Blog about court, Shower and bed. The time changes here tonight, so I will now be only 12 hours ahead instead of 13.
Prayer requests:
That I will get braver and more comfortable as the days go by. I don't want to regret having this time here in SV's homeland and not taking advantage of it and soaking it up to share with him later. At the same time, I know my limitations, and need to be wise with how far I wander around from the apartment.
Also, Darren relayed that we got two more denials from grant agencies, which means there is only 1 left that we are waiting to hear from. We also just found out that a $2000 subsidy that we were counting on from the State no longer exists.... Finances are beyond tough, pray for provision.
