I haven't seen my grand baby twin girls (Alice is with Frances and Claire is with me) for about a month. We took a hike to the mailboxes today. The front packs zip together so one person can take both babies if they have to. They are almost 8 months old now
Friday, May 22, 2009
8 month old twin grandbabies
I haven't seen my grand baby twin girls (Alice is with Frances and Claire is with me) for about a month. We took a hike to the mailboxes today. The front packs zip together so one person can take both babies if they have to. They are almost 8 months old now
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Old Boyfriend
We went to church in North Carolina and Kay was in his High Priest group meeting and heard someone refer to Brother Galati. It peaked his interest and he asked someone if his first name was Rick. It was. After the meeting he went up and introduced himself and asked if he remembered Janae Clark. Rick did. Kay took me into the room and asked me if I knew anyone in the room, I said "no" and he took me up to Rick and said "do you know this guy?" I said "no" Rick started talking and telling me things about me and my family. I heard Rick but didn't see him. Things happen in 30 years. Rick is my ex boyfriend from NJ I dated just before I met and married Kay. We talked for about an hour and had a great time. That was funky.Sunday, May 17, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
Early Mothers Day gifts from Caleb
Mothers day gifts from Korea!
Surprise for me! I received a package from Korea!! My son remembered me on Mothers Day. I was so excited and opened it early. In it was a green traditional tea set.... and a pair of Nike Air high top Sneakers. No note, just addressed to little old me.
Janell wants to borrow them. We have to put a pair of socks in the toe and they are perfect for any wardrobe. Maybe we can both wear them at the same time. Thank you Caleb, how thoughtful! 
Surprise for me! I received a package from Korea!! My son remembered me on Mothers Day. I was so excited and opened it early. In it was a green traditional tea set.... and a pair of Nike Air high top Sneakers. No note, just addressed to little old me.
Wow, I will be so cool wearing my new men's size 11 Nike Air High Top Sneakers!
Janell wants to borrow them. We have to put a pair of socks in the toe and they are perfect for any wardrobe. Maybe we can both wear them at the same time. Thank you Caleb, how thoughtful! 
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Kay in Russia #7
When we first got here Ben told me about a guy that makes LDS Prophet matrushka Dolls for the missionaries. Ben took one home for Leah but it didn't have President Monson. There was a set in the mission office that an Elder had not picked up yet. Ben was hoping to get another set with President Monson and I was hoping to get some for us. Ben tried to call him from the Mission office but couldn't get through. We finally got in touch with him on Friday and found out he had 20 sets in stock but he lives 100 miles away from Moscow and only comes in on Wednesdays. He sells them to the missionaries really cheap. Ben asked how much for 15 sets and he offered us the 3 doll sets containing 16 hand painted prophets for 1200 rubles and he would bring them to Moscow. We called back and told him we would take all 20 for 1000/each. He said he would meet us this morning and bring all 20. This morning we met up with him in Moscow. He brought all 20 and I took them at 1100 rubles each. $33/set.
On the train ride into Moscow there was a drunk that wouldn't quit bothering people. Finally a guy told him to sit down and shut up. The drunk started insulting him because he was dark skinned, perhaps Arab. A lady began cursing at the drunk and he finally shut up for a while.. I commented to Ben it was a early in the morning to be drunk and he reminded me it is a holiday.
On the trains there is a constant flow of sales people peddling anything from books to toys to towels. They stand up and give their pitch then walk down the isle and into the next car while someone else comes into our car and begins another pitch. Today Ben bought some Russian joke books from one of them. The only thing I have been tempted to buy was toy helicopters that fly when you blow up a balloon and attach it to the bottom. Fun for grand kids. I've been looking ever since for them and not found any. I told Ben I would pay for his set if he got up and gave a pitch for the prophet dolls. He almost did it. He said he had tried it as a missionary approach a few times but didn't get any contacts and gave up.
One guy came in this morning and said."I am a drunk and I need money to buy more drink for the holidays" I didn't notice anyone give him money. Boris took us to Victory park today. It is a beautiful park with lots of grass and fountains. Monuments and war machines (tanks) are everywhere celebrating war victories. Lots of people were flying kites, rollerblading and picnicking. We saw at least five brides with their wedding parties. The sign says entrance by special invitation only. Boris told the guard he had 2 Americans he wanted to show the park to and slipped the guy 200 rubles. He put them in his pocket and pointed to a parking space. Ben has been trying to find a tea set the whole trip. He finally found one but didn't want to carry it around for days. Last time we were there the shop was not open so we looked today without success. Ben and I went out just as the stores were closing and he found a set he liked and bought it.
When we got back to Boris' apartment we had dinner and Boris's wife took out a very nice bone china tea set someone had given them a few years ago and tried to give it to Ben. He refused so she insisted I take it if Ben wouldn't. I told Ben I was not taking it and he was going to have to figure a way out of this for me. By then she had it all wrapped in paper and boxed so he accepted it for himself. While we were waiting for the last van I noticed a girl looking quite sad behind us so I told Ben I would give him $5 if he could make her smile. He got up and walked up to her and told her he thought she was cute. I have to remember to give him $5 when I get change. She then boarded the same van we did and got off at the same stop and went into the same apartment building we were going to. It was a good thing we got off first or she would have thought we were stalking her.
Then again, maybe she wanted to know where Ben was going. other notes: Boris' father starved to death in WWII while Moscow was under siege by the Germans. It is really hard to get used to having women in the bathroom cleaning while you are trying to go the bathroom.
On the train ride into Moscow there was a drunk that wouldn't quit bothering people. Finally a guy told him to sit down and shut up. The drunk started insulting him because he was dark skinned, perhaps Arab. A lady began cursing at the drunk and he finally shut up for a while.. I commented to Ben it was a early in the morning to be drunk and he reminded me it is a holiday.
On the trains there is a constant flow of sales people peddling anything from books to toys to towels. They stand up and give their pitch then walk down the isle and into the next car while someone else comes into our car and begins another pitch. Today Ben bought some Russian joke books from one of them. The only thing I have been tempted to buy was toy helicopters that fly when you blow up a balloon and attach it to the bottom. Fun for grand kids. I've been looking ever since for them and not found any. I told Ben I would pay for his set if he got up and gave a pitch for the prophet dolls. He almost did it. He said he had tried it as a missionary approach a few times but didn't get any contacts and gave up.
One guy came in this morning and said."I am a drunk and I need money to buy more drink for the holidays" I didn't notice anyone give him money. Boris took us to Victory park today. It is a beautiful park with lots of grass and fountains. Monuments and war machines (tanks) are everywhere celebrating war victories. Lots of people were flying kites, rollerblading and picnicking. We saw at least five brides with their wedding parties. The sign says entrance by special invitation only. Boris told the guard he had 2 Americans he wanted to show the park to and slipped the guy 200 rubles. He put them in his pocket and pointed to a parking space. Ben has been trying to find a tea set the whole trip. He finally found one but didn't want to carry it around for days. Last time we were there the shop was not open so we looked today without success. Ben and I went out just as the stores were closing and he found a set he liked and bought it.
When we got back to Boris' apartment we had dinner and Boris's wife took out a very nice bone china tea set someone had given them a few years ago and tried to give it to Ben. He refused so she insisted I take it if Ben wouldn't. I told Ben I was not taking it and he was going to have to figure a way out of this for me. By then she had it all wrapped in paper and boxed so he accepted it for himself. While we were waiting for the last van I noticed a girl looking quite sad behind us so I told Ben I would give him $5 if he could make her smile. He got up and walked up to her and told her he thought she was cute. I have to remember to give him $5 when I get change. She then boarded the same van we did and got off at the same stop and went into the same apartment building we were going to. It was a good thing we got off first or she would have thought we were stalking her.
Then again, maybe she wanted to know where Ben was going. other notes: Boris' father starved to death in WWII while Moscow was under siege by the Germans. It is really hard to get used to having women in the bathroom cleaning while you are trying to go the bathroom.
Kay in Russia #6 Saturday
Thursday night I fell asleep in the chair for at least an hour while Ben visited. We had spent the previous two nights on a train and got very little sleep. They put out an air mattress and I slept for another eleven hours. Neither Ben or I woke until after 8am. The cold bath was welcome after three days without bathing. Breakfast consisted of bread, butter, sardines smoked fish and cucumber slices. Friday was a Holiday (labor day) so the father was staying home and the mother and son went off for a few days. It seems they have a lot of holidays around this time. Ben says the father was off the next 12 days. This particular day everyone was off work and the kids are out Friday and Monday.
The family had a spare cell phone so we took it and bought some minutes from a machine in the metro. I got tired of never knowing what time it is without a cell phone or watch. I quit wearing a watch years ago and never remember to bring one where my phone doesn't work. We have been looking for a cheap watch for days and finally went into a store that had some digital kids watches cheap. Ben asked for a cheap watch. The lady said she had one for 250 rubles. He said cheaper so she said 100. He said cheaper and she went into the back and brought out a watch for 50 rubles. Done. $1.50 It works great but one side of the screen fell back into the watch so you can't see the first one on eleven. Ben asked what time it was and I told him 1:30 when it was 11:30. After a panicked trip across town to meet Ryan we realized the mistake. Now I look carefully.
We went looking for Vera, a 16 year old girl we spent a lot of time with on our cruise up the Volga river 17 years ago. A cute 18 year old girl heard us talking and came over to help us/Ben. She said the family had moved l a couple of years ago but she might be able to find out some information and call us if Ben would give her his number. Ben was happy to oblige but we have not heard from her. We met up with Ryan and the family he has been staying with and toured the palace of Elizabeth the Great. Not very impressive after going to the Hermitage. At 7 we went to the world famous Moscow circus. Very disappointing but I got Janell a little Giraffe.
Ben said he was sorry he went because he had good memories of last time he went. This circus was mostly a bunch of gymnasts who didn't win the gold metal. More off the wall observations. The TVs get very bad reception and almost everything is voiced over. I have never seen so much PDA in my life. The first trip on the metro I counted 8 couples kissing\making out in public. You can't go anywhere without seeing it.
The family had a spare cell phone so we took it and bought some minutes from a machine in the metro. I got tired of never knowing what time it is without a cell phone or watch. I quit wearing a watch years ago and never remember to bring one where my phone doesn't work. We have been looking for a cheap watch for days and finally went into a store that had some digital kids watches cheap. Ben asked for a cheap watch. The lady said she had one for 250 rubles. He said cheaper so she said 100. He said cheaper and she went into the back and brought out a watch for 50 rubles. Done. $1.50 It works great but one side of the screen fell back into the watch so you can't see the first one on eleven. Ben asked what time it was and I told him 1:30 when it was 11:30. After a panicked trip across town to meet Ryan we realized the mistake. Now I look carefully.
We went looking for Vera, a 16 year old girl we spent a lot of time with on our cruise up the Volga river 17 years ago. A cute 18 year old girl heard us talking and came over to help us/Ben. She said the family had moved l a couple of years ago but she might be able to find out some information and call us if Ben would give her his number. Ben was happy to oblige but we have not heard from her. We met up with Ryan and the family he has been staying with and toured the palace of Elizabeth the Great. Not very impressive after going to the Hermitage. At 7 we went to the world famous Moscow circus. Very disappointing but I got Janell a little Giraffe.
Ben said he was sorry he went because he had good memories of last time he went. This circus was mostly a bunch of gymnasts who didn't win the gold metal. More off the wall observations. The TVs get very bad reception and almost everything is voiced over. I have never seen so much PDA in my life. The first trip on the metro I counted 8 couples kissing\making out in public. You can't go anywhere without seeing it.
Kay in Russia #5 Thursday
After arriving at 6am we started walking instead of taking the metro figuring on finding Internet along the way. Several miles later I spotted a Hilton across the street so we went and asked for the business center like we owned the place. It was not open yet so we cleaned our shoes on the automatic brush, used the facilities and grabbed some oranges and drinks off the table of the group that just left after morning orientation, then walked back out the front door.
A block or so later we came across a license plate that had been knocked off a car. It was in a frame with a wire front and took some doing to get it out without a screwdriver but I was successful in acquiring Ben a souvenir. Boris insisted we could sell it for a lot of money but he was going to take it to the police. Ben had me quickly pack it away before Boris could take it.
All over Moscow we see signs promoting families. They have a negative growth and are worried about the future without young people. The government has told everyone the Mormons are a cult. We should run our family adds to improve our image. Another mile later we finally found a post office. They all have Internet. It would open in 15 minutes so we sat on a park bench and I read my American newspaper from the Hilton.
Just a couple of observations. Cigarettes are under fifty cents a pack so a lot of people smoke. The orthodox church has a government granted monopoly on sales of cigarettes and get all the profits, go figure. Russians shake your hand when they meet you but only shake hands when leaving if they are not going to see you again. We are expected to take off our shoes in all the homes and the church. We took the metro to Red Square and went through Lenin's tomb. We couldn't take backpacks in so Ben waited for me while I went through then I did the same for him. I followed two rude teenage girls who dress was offensive and had to be shhhhed by every guard in the tomb. Lenin looks great. Hasn't aged a day.
I sat down on the ground outside the gate to wait for Ben. When a guard saw me he came over and ordered me to get up off the ground. OK, I did. We met up with Ryan who has been staying at another family's home and took a train to Sholkava, Ben's favorite area. He had called ahead and made arrangements to see a family there. We had to walk about a mile from the train but this was a neighborhood of houses rather than apartments. They have no objections to building nice new homes in the middle of old ones. It seems everyone owns a dog, even in the apartments. Ben pointed to a sign on the fence and told me it says "mean dog". I went over to the fence and sure enough the dog behind the six foot fence began having a fit. I reached my camera over the fence and snapped a couple of pictures making sure to keep it high enough the dog couldn't get to it. After a few wrong turns we finally found the members house but they were not home.
Ben had brought two baseball gloves and three balls for the family. All week he had been saying how anxious he was to get rid of them. Ben and Ryan threw a ball to each other in the dirt road until their arms got tired then Ben decided to go try to talk someone into letting him use a cell phone. They wouldn't let him use it but someone called the family for him and soon the family came home. We stayed the night with the family. They live in the back of a home that has been converted into a triplex. It is small and dilapidated. There are pipes and wires all over and the wallpaper is worn and old. When it was installed many years ago they didn't bother to trim the ends so some pieces go for 8 inches or more onto the ceiling where others just make it to the top of the wall or a few inches more. They probably don't even see it anymore. He installed an on demand water heater but there isn't enough pressure to turn it on so they heat up water on the stove for a bath/wash. I chose to forgo the hot water and took a cold bath. Not really a bath since I just washed my hair and splashed enough water on me to soap down and get it off. Ben says all of his apartments had the hot water tied to the boiler that heated the building. When they shut off the heat to the building they were without hot water until fall.
The father has a good job as a warehouse manager over three warehouses. He makes about $1000/month and his wife sells insurance on the street for another $800. They are middle class. Few people here own a car. In the US they would qualify for housing assistance, food stamps, earned income tax credits and who knows how many other government programs. Our unemployed poor live in better housing, eat better food, wear better clothing and drive better cars than Russia's working middle class. For dinner they fed us a pasta dish with pumpkin and hamburger mixed in.
A block or so later we came across a license plate that had been knocked off a car. It was in a frame with a wire front and took some doing to get it out without a screwdriver but I was successful in acquiring Ben a souvenir. Boris insisted we could sell it for a lot of money but he was going to take it to the police. Ben had me quickly pack it away before Boris could take it.
All over Moscow we see signs promoting families. They have a negative growth and are worried about the future without young people. The government has told everyone the Mormons are a cult. We should run our family adds to improve our image. Another mile later we finally found a post office. They all have Internet. It would open in 15 minutes so we sat on a park bench and I read my American newspaper from the Hilton.
Just a couple of observations. Cigarettes are under fifty cents a pack so a lot of people smoke. The orthodox church has a government granted monopoly on sales of cigarettes and get all the profits, go figure. Russians shake your hand when they meet you but only shake hands when leaving if they are not going to see you again. We are expected to take off our shoes in all the homes and the church. We took the metro to Red Square and went through Lenin's tomb. We couldn't take backpacks in so Ben waited for me while I went through then I did the same for him. I followed two rude teenage girls who dress was offensive and had to be shhhhed by every guard in the tomb. Lenin looks great. Hasn't aged a day.
I sat down on the ground outside the gate to wait for Ben. When a guard saw me he came over and ordered me to get up off the ground. OK, I did. We met up with Ryan who has been staying at another family's home and took a train to Sholkava, Ben's favorite area. He had called ahead and made arrangements to see a family there. We had to walk about a mile from the train but this was a neighborhood of houses rather than apartments. They have no objections to building nice new homes in the middle of old ones. It seems everyone owns a dog, even in the apartments. Ben pointed to a sign on the fence and told me it says "mean dog". I went over to the fence and sure enough the dog behind the six foot fence began having a fit. I reached my camera over the fence and snapped a couple of pictures making sure to keep it high enough the dog couldn't get to it. After a few wrong turns we finally found the members house but they were not home.
Ben had brought two baseball gloves and three balls for the family. All week he had been saying how anxious he was to get rid of them. Ben and Ryan threw a ball to each other in the dirt road until their arms got tired then Ben decided to go try to talk someone into letting him use a cell phone. They wouldn't let him use it but someone called the family for him and soon the family came home. We stayed the night with the family. They live in the back of a home that has been converted into a triplex. It is small and dilapidated. There are pipes and wires all over and the wallpaper is worn and old. When it was installed many years ago they didn't bother to trim the ends so some pieces go for 8 inches or more onto the ceiling where others just make it to the top of the wall or a few inches more. They probably don't even see it anymore. He installed an on demand water heater but there isn't enough pressure to turn it on so they heat up water on the stove for a bath/wash. I chose to forgo the hot water and took a cold bath. Not really a bath since I just washed my hair and splashed enough water on me to soap down and get it off. Ben says all of his apartments had the hot water tied to the boiler that heated the building. When they shut off the heat to the building they were without hot water until fall.
The father has a good job as a warehouse manager over three warehouses. He makes about $1000/month and his wife sells insurance on the street for another $800. They are middle class. Few people here own a car. In the US they would qualify for housing assistance, food stamps, earned income tax credits and who knows how many other government programs. Our unemployed poor live in better housing, eat better food, wear better clothing and drive better cars than Russia's working middle class. For dinner they fed us a pasta dish with pumpkin and hamburger mixed in.
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