Another Day in Russia

Here we are again. Still in Russia. Still hanging out in our room. Still counting the days til we can head home. One week from today our flight will leave here at 2:something PM. We should touch down in Moscow at 4:something that same afternoon...after a nine hour flight. The increased security in the airports here sure sounds fun, huh?!

Yes. We are keeping up on the news here. Our one news station located in Australia keeps us well informed. :) The issue was in a different airport than the one that we fly in and out of...but.....

Today was a different day than normal here. Jason & I got to go with Oksana to take JN to the photographer for his passport picture. Doesn't that sound fun?! We also stopped at a computer store to buy a new charger for Dad & Mom's computer. (It worked til it must've fried the computer. Oops. We need to get Oksana to take us to the computer repairman sometime in the next couple days.)

Fun, huh? It was a change from the hum-drums of motel room life. I used to like staying in a motel.....

Then we came back to the motel. We sat in the lobby for a little to look over the documents that we will need to take to the Embassy, Consulate, etc. when we're in Moscow. That was fun, too. I discovered that I was born in Arklandesk, Arkansas. You learn something new every day.

Back in the room again, we found out that Addie didn't do so well in school today. Little attitude kinda got in the way. Dad took Will outside to play for a little, but they came in when they nearly froze.

We put the children down for naps and Dad and Mom asked us to sit down. They had some news from home that we may not be too impressed with. All kinds of thoughts started flashing through my mind.

I can't say that I expected a flood in our house, though.

Seriously, our house sits on a hill.

A water pipe developed an issue in our upstairs bathroom, resulting in a fallen ceiling in the dining room, puddles on the floors, soaked papers in the office, soaked pile of mail that was on the dining room table. Water, water, water. Sounds like it made a lovely mess. Just lovely.

Our trusty house caretakers (family and friends) went in to start cleaning up the mess for us. They got a fire and flood repair company out who brought with them fans and dehumidifiers to attempt to dry things out.

Why does all this happen when we aren't home. Not only when we aren't home, but when we're halfway around the world?!

It did spice up our day.

Here's the e-mail that was sent to us describing the mess. You don't care do you, person who sent this?
Ivan called around 3:30 with the news that there was water everywhere. He didn't know where to start to clean-up.
I was in the middle of putting the boy's room in order, but Greg suggested that I run over & check it out. I grabbed a few towels and figured that I would 'clean up the mess and be home in a jiffy'. Ha! I even left the chillens here.
I quickly saw that we had a very large mess and I wondered where to start the clean-up also. It was 'raining' in the house - the dining ceiling was residing on the floor - all the walls, windows and ceilings in the rest of the house had condensation on them - the living room & office wanted to be ponds - the mail and lots of papers had been swimming. Oh dear!!!
We started by carrying out the ceiling, then sweeping with shop vac, mopping with towels, going through pictures, pulling apart papers. I went through your mail again and this time almost everything went into the trash except the really important stuff. .
Sarah brought supper over which was a blessing.
When I left at 8:30 Boone's Restoration had brought in big fans and dehumidifiers. They were running on high. Your bed & floor, Addie & Will's bed are all covered in pictures and papers drying.


They sent us a picture. If I can, I'll try to stick it in here. It doesn't look too bad in the picture. Maybe they embellished their stories?

So. Here we are in Russia, while those at home are taking care of our house mess.

Makes us feel a little...I don't know...odd. We have plenty of time right now and can do nothing to help. They all have jobs and daily life to keep up with...and have to do our stuff on top of it.

Since the hotel computer repairman fixed our computer (we hope) I'll try to do a brief picture recap from our day yesterday. The day when I spent all that money and should have saved it all to repair our house. :)

Ice chipper right outside the hotel...we see them everywhere around town.

Hopping on the train....literally.

First stop...fabric store.

Traffic on the main drag. We took a walkway over the top of it all on our trek to the grocery and babystore.

Market behind the chinese market.

Anyone want a whole piglet?

Or perhaps a hog head with eyes, teeth, and tongue included.

Or how about some pickles?

So there you have it. A brief recap of our day out on the town yesterday.

We hope that tomorrow is a little more boring than today was. From now on if our phone rings...we won't be pushing and shoving to answer it.

As far as the M&M's? We're working on them. I have now doubt that we'll polish off all ten pounds before we get home.

After all, we don't want to have that extra weight in our luggage.