 | Jeff says:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOANNA!
I can't write much today. It's late. I need to get to bed. I'm behind on my reading (although I have less than 300 pages to go now!). And I am definitely (as Dr. McCoy would say) "not exactly operating on all thrusters."
I maintain that I could live here. However, I am no longer stating it emphatically, and it is only true under the proviso that all twelve months of the year are May, which I am told is quite lovely. The heat and the pollution are getting to me, and I finally do feel like I am rescuing my son. If it is true that the three distinguishing characteristics of geeks are computers, glasses, and allergies, then I certainly fit the bill. Alex has already shown an interest in high-tech gadgets and also in my glasses. I hope he remains merely a two-point geek.
Unfortunately, I would have to say his most identifiable characteristic today was a gum-induced lethargy. He definitely has teeth on the way in. We can't find them yet with a digital inspection, but we can tell that he's uncomfortable. I was uncomfortable too, today, so we had solidarity together. (Brilliant one, Jeff. Is that as opposed to "solidarity in divergence?")
On the other hand, he demonstrated a new affinity for musicianship. Damir demonstrated the xylophone in the morning, and by afternoon, we had created the one-handed marimba king! Here is his musical debut. We then substituted the tonal percussion instrument for an atonal one, and gave him a drum. Strangely, his favorite thing to do was to turn the drum on its side and hit the outer edge of the cylinder. Beats me why (pun definitely not intended, nor noticed until I went to edit this).
After we came home for the evening, I took a quick nap. Then we had Assia and Alia over to watch most of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. They enjoyed it very much. We met Masha and John and Sue for dinner at the Pushkin Hotel. It was built by (and mostly for) Italians and has a pretty nice Italian restaurant in house. We sat and discussed language and languages and all of the mistakes any of us had ever heard or made while learning a new language. We told stories and jokes and laughed for about three-and-a-half hours.
I paused to chew my carbonara occasionally. I also learned that a strong martini takes away most all symptoms of a massive, day-long allergy eruption...or at least makes one not care too much. |
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 | Dina says:
We just walked in the door and it’s 10:30 PM. We had a wonderful evening with John, Sue, Masha (their translator), Assia and Alia (Assia’s sister). We decided to go to the Pushkin Hotel for a treat. We’d heard that it’s owned by an Italian man and that they had good Italian food there. We were not disappointed. It was nice to have a change from the Chagala and Kamelot, our regular places for dinner. Jeff had the spaghetti carbonara, and I had the spaghetti Bolognese. It was really tasty. We ended up staying there for over three hours and talked and laughed and had a wonderful time. Philippich drove us to the restaurant, but had plans for the evening, so he didn’t have dinner with us. We took a taxi home, it was very convenient, and cheap. It cost about a dollar.
Before we went to the restaurant, Assia and Alia came to our apartment to watch a movie. They love comedies and love watching movies in English. We decided to watch “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”, and they LOVED it! Although they both speak very good English, we kept the English subtitles on, it helped them cath phrases they could have possibly missed. We kept quoting the movie over dinner and they were cracking up! If they owned a DVD player, I’d leave our copy here for them.
Our visits with Alex were nice today. The morning visit was in the music room with John, Sue, Lance, Nicole, and all the babies. Sometimes, it’s difficult to have “quality” time with Alex with all the other things going on. But it’s cute to watch all of the kids. We’ve all agreed that we ended up with the four cutest kids in the whole baby house! Actually, all of the children we’ve seen are gorgeous, but it’s fun to kid around every now and then.
When we went to get Alex for our second visit, we were told he hadn’t eaten yet. We were excited at the chance to feed him again. Before we started feeding him, I was told to wash my hands. They are very careful with germs at the baby house. I had just “Purelled” my hands, but I figured it would be easier to just wash my hands than explain what Purell is. As I washed my hands with the (almost clear) water, I wondered if I was cleaner or dirtier than when I had started. Nevertheless, I fed him without any problems. He’s a good eater, and seems to love food. After he took each bite, he’d bounce his legs up and down, as if to say he was enjoying it. Then he drank his warm stewed juice straight out of the mug. Assia helped again, and was funny when she said he “drinks like he lives in the desert”. She is very cute with Alex and he absolutely adores her. He flirts with her like there’s no tomorrow, and when we walk to the music room, he wants to look at her, not dad.
We had fun in the afternoon playing with the mini xylophone and a drum. Alex is very strong and loves to explore by banging on things. At one point, he bonked his head on the drum pretty hard, he started crying pretty bad, and I held him and soothed him. I can’t believe how much my heart hurt knowing that he was in pain. He was fine after a few minutes of kisses and cuddles, but I had no idea the “mama instincts” would kick in so quickly for me.
It’s still very warm here, but thankfully our apartment stays quite cool, despite not having air-conditioning. We do use our little fan from the Schebler’s apartment, but I’m not as miserably hot as I thought I’d be. I learned something interesting, that in the winter here, it gets to be 45 degrees below zero! Now THAT’S cold! I think I’d prefer it the way we have it now, I’ve never been anywhere that cold.
And last, but certainly not least, I’d like to wish Auntie Joanna a very happy birthday. In our morning visit, we all sang Happy Birthday, and Alex says that he hopes you had a great birthday. We’re sorry we weren’t there to celebrate with you.
My stomach has been doing flip-flops for the past couple of days. It’s like it’s “thinking” of being upset, but hasn’t gotten real bad yet. I’m hoping that some extra prayers will help me as much as they did when I had the beginnings of a sore throat.
I hope you’re having a great weekend, and we’ll “talk” tomorrow! |
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Comments for August 22
Comment from
darcy mcgowan | woo hoo... I'm not even family and I got to be first today!
Dina... you had mommy instincts way before this!!:)
keep writing... love this site and a peek into your lives. | Comment from
Yiayia Connie | Where is everyone today? Must be busy on the weekend. We love the new pictures, looks like Alex is going to be a musician!! Poor little guy I hope his teeth come in soon so he can feel better.
Dina I hope your stomach feels better soon.
Love, Yiayia | Comment from
Tami | Thank you so much for writing each day to include your family and friends in all of this. I can not wait to give Alex a big hug and kiss. I think you could have a rock star with all the banging on drums, especially with the head. Sorry to hear your stomach is feeling funny. It could just be a nervous tummy. You won't get sick, don't worry. The mommy instincts have always been a part of you Dina they will only continue to flow as you and Jeff bond with your baby.
Love you all, Tami | Comment from
Tom and Pam Vamvouris | Congratulations Jeff and Dina, you both are going to be excellent parents! This is an exciting time in your life and this is a wonderful way to share your experiences with all of us back home. Tom and I hope you have a safe and calm trip home and we look foward to meeting the newest, little member of the family. | Comment from
Tom and Pam Vamvouris | We just saw the photos of baby Alex, and oh my goodness what a beautiful baby! | Comment from
Julianna | Happy Birthday, Joanna!
Dina, maybe the food's making your tummy funny? Some seasoning you're still not used to? I'm sending you my warm fuzzies!
-Julianna | Comment from
Auntie Julie | Hi Guys!
Dina, sorry I didn't have much time to IM with you today since I was so busy entertaining. We had a fun time, and I kept holding little Anisa thinking to myself, "I CAN'T WAIT FOR MY NEPHEW TO COME HOME!" I am getting so excited!
This is my last day of summer :-( as I go back to work tomorrow... 3 days to set up my classroom before the kids come on Thursday. Hopefully that will make the time pass more quickly so it won't seem like I have to wait so long for you guys to get back!
You are always in my prayers, but I will send an extra one up for your tummy. I do hope you feel better. Kiss Alex's gorgeous alabaster (good word, Jeff?) cheeks for me, multiple times, and tell him Auntie Julie LOVES him and can't wait to meet him.
love,
Me
P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOANNA... btw... In my head I'm singing the Beatles "Birthday" which of course is POST Sgt. Pepper's... from the White Album, and I'm so with you Joanna, that Revolver and Rubber Soul is where they really started to turn things around and really make music interesting... sorry Nina, but you have it all wrong! :-) | Comment from
Nana Nina | Nah, Julie ~ There's nothing like listening to Dean Martin sing: "When the moon hits your eye like a big-a pizza pie, that'a amore." Let's face it. :-)
Did the ladies understand My Big Fat Greek Wedding? I'm phenomenally flabbergasted (hey, check out the alliteration). I would have thought that due to the cultural differences, it would have been (haha) Greek to them!
Speaking of Gert Schroder (Jeff did the other day) were you aware that he and his wife are not only good friends with Vladimir Putin and his wife, but that the Schroders just adopted a three-year old girl from Putin's hometown?
Is A.J. Holton going to release a CD soon? | Comment from
Uncle Dan | Hi folks,
I couldn't wait. I had to look at the pictures and then return to the comment section. Comment: It doesn't seem logical, but that kid looks better every day, and he was a Gold Medal Looker on day 1!! Maybe Jeff's photo skills are improving.
Glad your troops enjoyed 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding'. It's one of the funniest and most clever comedies to come along .. ever. We have the dvd and probably watch it once a month. It has staying power.
Dina, prayers are out for your stomach. Glad the cold/flu went the other way. Perhaps this thing will also.
Home alone at the moment. Daniel's in school and Samar and the checkbook have gone with Samantha to buy her books for the fall. Love the quiet. There is little one can do to improve on 'Golden Silence'.
Your days are growing short over there. Everyday when I select the date from the menu, I think, 'Another one down.' Have you gotten comfortable with the status quo there or are you becoming impatient to see the great adventure concluded? We want you three home, home, home.
Jeff, what's the story with the Kazaks? How do they fit into the history of things. Somewhere along the way, I picked up the trivia that the suffix ... ..stan ... means 'place of' so Kazakhstan means 'place of the Kazaks' as Afghanistan means 'place of the Afghans'. However, for some reason, it doesn't seem to fit that Pakistan is the 'place of the Pakis'. They are Pakistani. Let me know what you figure out. Also, Alex and all the people in the photos definitely look Caucasian or western European. I'm going right now to find a map.
Love you guys,
Unka D | Comment from
Uncle Dan | Hi folks,
I couldn't wait. I had to look at the pictures and then return to the comment section. Comment: It doesn't seem logical, but that kid looks better every day, and he was a Gold Medal Looker on day 1!! Maybe Jeff's photo skills are improving.
Glad your troops enjoyed 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding'. It's one of the funniest and most clever comedies to come along .. ever. We have the dvd and probably watch it once a month. It has staying power.
Dina, prayers are out for your stomach. Glad the cold/flu went the other way. Perhaps this thing will also.
Home alone at the moment. Daniel's in school and Samar and the checkbook have gone with Samantha to buy her books for the fall. Love the quiet. There is little one can do to improve on 'Golden Silence'.
Your days are growing short over there. Everyday when I select the date from the menu, I think, 'Another one down.' Have you gotten comfortable with the status quo there or are you becoming impatient to see the great adventure concluded? We want you three home, home, home.
Jeff, what's the story with the Kazaks? How do they fit into the history of things. Somewhere along the way, I picked up the trivia that the suffix ... ..stan ... means 'place of' so Kazakhstan means 'place of the Kazaks' as Afghanistan means 'place of the Afghans'. However, for some reason, it doesn't seem to fit that Pakistan is the 'place of the Pakis'. They are Pakistani. Let me know what you figure out. Also, Alex and all the people in the photos definitely look Caucasian or western European. I'm going right now to find a map.
Love you guys,
Unka D | Comment from
Uncle Dan | Well, there I go. Repeating my stories again. Sorry for the redundancy and use of disk space. Don't know how I did that.
Dan |
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