Saturday, March 26, 2016

Went to Metro and spent too much money but there is stuff there that you can’ t get anywhere else. I needed to get stuff to fix for dinner when Anatoli came over to give us a Russian lesson. He came on Friday and I made spaghetti, a salad and bread. He said it was good but maybe he was just being polite. Although both Dad and I thought it was good too. Anatoli brought with him a children’s book and what looked like a vacuum hose. The book took each letter of the Russian alphabet and then added sounds and words and names. He had us hold the hose up to our ears and he spoke in the other end. It did make hearing the sounds easier. He isn’t totally fluent in English but we managed to communicate. He stayed and worked with us for about an hour and ½.

Last week we got new desk chairs for the office but no one has gotten rid of the old ones. Our office space,  that we share with the AP’s, is wall to wall chairs. We are going to bring one back here because the desk chair is old and very uncomfortable.

Our apartment floors stay really clean. Dad says it’s probably because we leave our shoes by the door and only wear slippers, that we never wear anywhere else, or go with stocking feet inside. Also we don’t have forced air heating to blow dust all over. The town is heated by steam. There are pipes everywhere pushing steam through the homes and business’. 

We have district meetings on Friday. We are in the Avrora district. There are two elder companionships and 1 set of sisters along with us. After our district meeting was over Elder Oldham got out this drink he wanted everyone to try. I already knew what it was so refused. Dad knew what it was and went along with it. Elder Oldham didn’t tell the sisters what it was until afterwards. They made me video it. It was carbonated horse milk. Dad said it was thin like milk and had the taste of somewhere between sour cream and cottage cheese. One of the sisters asked me if I had anything that wasn’t sweet she could eat to take away the taste. She and her companion had made a pledge to only have one candy per week. I wish I could be so strong. Anyway I guess carbonated Horse’s milk is a favorite drink in Mongolia.

I did laundry today and hung it all up to dry. After I was done with laundry I make chocolate chip cookies. We are having a party after church on Sunday to celebrate Easter. Russians celebrate Easter in May but the Branches celebrate both. Everyone is supposed to bring some food to share. Stacy suggested Chocolate Chip cookies as a pretty American dish. I wondered how it would turn out. The baking powder comes in packets as does the vanilla (not liquid). The white sugar is a bigger granule than in America. The brown sugar doesn’t hold together like ours does and is also in big granules and is kind of dry. There are no chocolate chips so I bought chocolate bars and chopped them up. Then the oven took twice as long as the recipe said it should to cook. I asked Dad to try one and tell me how it was. He said it was good so I finished baking them all. I hope everyone else will like them. I did save some to give the AP’s on Monday. Dad just looked at me and sadly said, “I guess this means I don’t get any more cookies.” I responded that he could have some at the party.


Our Apartment Building


Far Right, Second Floor.  That's us!

We walked up to the walking street today because Dad needed to get some money, and we wanted to get some fresh air. It was in the 40’s today and felt really good outside. I decided I wanted to go to KFC for lunch. It’s in a mini mall, not very deep but 4 stories tall. KFC was an odd mix of Russian and English. Lots of both on the walls but the whole menu is in Russian. While I sat down to wait for Dad, who placed our order, I read a few of the signs. One said Party Basket in Russian and I could read it.

After we were done eating we walked down the rest of that floor to see what was there. We walked by a beauty salon and Dad wondered if they cut Men’s hair. He really needed a haircut. They giggled a little but agreed to cut his hair. He told them he just wanted a little off all over. We got a lot off. It was such a drastic change from his usual. I think it looks good on him. If nothing else he won’t have to get it cut for a couple months. I was sitting on a couch by the receptionist and we talked a little. She asked my name and I told her Susan Stewart. She told me her name was Natalia. I think she asked me if we lived there in Russia. I told her we would be here for 18 months, which I showed by the number of fingers, then I said January, February, March, April…. She seemed to understand. A little 4 year old came and sat by me and she was playing an app on the phone that I think Sadie would really love. The app was of a girl and this little girl could put makeup on the app girl, wash hair, brush teeth and dress it up. I thought it was teaching the little girl about good hygiene. Anyway I finally told the gal I was trying to talk to that, in Russian, that Dad and I were Missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ. She seemed impressed and pleased with my attempt at Russian. 


Opa's new haircut