Green beer and in house entertainment....

Snow Storm descended for a day!

We have been taking it easy this week. I completed an online grocery shopping - it arrived yesterday morning - well, half of it arrived to be precise. We only got charged for half of it but the problem is that we now have to go shopping again today for all the things that they didn't bring...grrrrrr.  I knew it wouldn't be as easy as I thought. Plus I made rookie mistakes like ordering 7 cartons of milk which turned out to be tiny milk cartons with a straw for children - brilliant. So today we must spend our Sunday at a shopping mall called Metropolis - sadly Superman doesn't live there any more, he has been replaced by M&S.

We ventured to a Japanese cafe across the road yesterday to have some lunch. The Russians seem to think that anything Japanese is very trendy and so there is sushi at every turn...bloody sushi, Graeme and I hate the stuff, trendy, no flavour, raw nonsense..yuk. Arthur enjoyed his Japanese food (rice and noodles - obviously no raw fish), eating some of Graeme's and mine and then plowing into some Veg and prawn tempura with gusto. He seems to eat all food which is great - I must make the most of this while it lasts. 

High speed balloon waving!

I ordered some beer which turned out to be rather strange - 

Green lager...cheers!

Here goes...

Okay...didn't kill me...

Strange after taste but it's passable! 

Graeme partaking in a little Green beer too....

It's strange when you're in a new place and you have a child because your freedom to learn and explore is extremely inhibited. I have lived abroad a few times but only for short periods compared to this and I often try and compare the experiences in my mind but it is impossible. The ability to throw yourself into another culture happens, but in different ways. When I lived abroad before, We'd go out and drink and meet local people that way. We could eat at lots of places, do things on a whim, never have to plan. Now, with a baby, I'm throwing myself into learning how to buy vegetables, planning every day with nursery, groups or activities and have settled into a normal everyday life without much of a problem and without any extremes of experience. A baby makes it necessary to organise quickly and without ripples. Sometimes I yearn for a break in routine that would actually wake me up and say 'Oh you are in Russia' and actually, these times will come once we are more acclimatised and we meet more Russians. The problem is finding a way to meet locals. All the baby groups are expats, not all English but all English speaking, and I really have no idea how we are going to meet any Russians. The language is an obvious first step and I now have a number for a tutor which I am excited about and cannot wait to throw myself into. Socialising with Russians is a massive step on our way to being part of this country and also understanding many of it's varied and wonderful customs and traditions. The only way to learn how to fit in is by learning off the people who know best and until that point I think we will always feel like we are just window shopping.

Now, we have been training Alice up for when the snow comes - lots of people buy sledges and you pull your child on a sledge through the snow as it is easier than a pram or buggy so please watch video one which is a demonstration of what we would like Alice to achieve by the time the snow arrives:

This next video shows our progress:

By the winter we shall have her fully trained and operational and may even buy her some antlers and a red nose for that Christmas feel. We are also planning to teach Arthur how to open the fridge and get beer and then to instruct Alice how to pull him back to his lounging parents. There has to be some use made out of these pets as they are costing us an arm and a leg in food as a tin of dog food costs £3.00 - it's a big tin but still, they have to earn their keep.

See....lazy I tell you!

On Tuesday Arthur and I ventured to the natural history museum which is just two minutes away. The nanny called in sick and so I had a slight panic of how to amuse my ever so crazy child for a full 12 hours and so thought a bit of culture might be in order. Well, the staff looked like they should have been pickled in the jars as they were all slightly the wrong side of 80 and the building was something from soviet times. But I did my best and we travelled around looking at different pickled reptiles and other things ending in 'tile'. I think it may have been a good way of getting Arthur to sleep as he didn't seem too impressed with my long winded explanations of each pickled object. When we got to the spider section I did manage a rather splendid version of insy winsy spider to the amusement of a passing school group. 

Look at the butterflies Arthur...they're in front of you....

Yes, a big creepy thing with lots of legs....

Think the boredom is setting in....

Not much to say about a big shell....

This is what will come out from under the bed if you are badly behaved....

Flying Manta Ray...

The most exciting part for Arthur was the Manta Ray suspended from the ceiling - I did try to explain to him that Manta Rays can't fly in the air as portrayed here and that they actually live under the water...why can't people represent things properly...how am I to try and educate my son properly when he now believes there are flying fish...I tell you, some people....