Apartment or Castle?

I realized today, I have not shared a photo of our apartment keys.  It was the strangest thing I noticed about our apartment, and it was before we even unlocked our doors for the first time!  Ryan's family and my family have seen our keys during video chat, but I want to share a picture with everyone following our blog.  Sorry for the delay, I realize we have been here a couple weeks already.
                                
                       You decide: Apartment or Castle?

You have to turn the key about three times in the lock to lock and unlock the door.  It took some getting use to.  The black disc is how we unlock the front door of our apartment lobby.  I know when Ryan is home from work, because every time you use the fob to let yourself in the lobby door it chimes in our apartment.  Macy has also learned the noise and runs to the door to wait for Ryan.
One very convenient feature of our apartment building is the keypad outside the building's front door.  Visitors can call our apartment and we can buzz them in.  You may have noticed a white phone hanging on the wall in our apartment pictures.  It is much more convenient than our apartment building in Houston.

A Day in the Life.....

I got this idea from Stori.  She is keeping a blog during her time in Russia and someone gave her the idea to keep track of a day and post for others to see what you did that day.  I decided this would be a good idea because I have frequently heard the question "What do you do all day?".  :)  I plan to do this once a month.  My apologies if you find this boring, there is only so much to do in Novorossiysk and when your husband is away for business.  To those whom have asked the question, "What do you do all day?" here is your answer for today March 29, 2011.  Stay tuned for future A Day in the Life....

6:00 am Woke up, made a cup of tea and sat down to talk with my parents over iChat.  It was 9pm their time.  

7:30 am Took Macy outside to go potty. She came back in to have her morning yum yums.  :)  I had a bowl of cereal while watching CNN International.  

8:00 Checked emails, sent one to Ryan.  Aberdeen is three hours behind Novorossiysk.  I was able to talk to him last night, before bed, he seems to be enjoying Scotland.  We are thinking about making a trip around Scotland for one of our R&Rs this year.    

9:00 Alexander picked me up and took me to the gym.  

10:45 Arrived home.  I did a cardio and leg workout.  It seems that the ladies only do leg workouts, maybe because their skirts are so short, they want to keep their legs looking nice.  The gym is very interesting, I don’t really blend in.  The girls in my age range are about the size of a spaghetti noodle and the older women are more pleasantly plump.  Either way, they don’t seem to sweat and come to the gym with hair and make up done.  Needless to say, I get some strange looks when I am all sweaty and wearing some random T-shirt.  

-Don’t worry about Macy, I took her outside to go potty after arriving home. :)

11:00 Quick shower and lunch. 1/2 PB&J with an apple for me.   More yum yums for Macy. :)  Threw in a load of laundry before leaving. 

12:00 Stori and her daughter Isla had their driver meet Kim and me at the apartment building.  Stori is the wife of Nick and Kim is the wife of Ed.  Both of their husbands work with Ryan.  We made a trip to the South Market to explore the shops.  I found a trash can!  Well, no need to get too excited, it is a clothing hamper that I am using as a trash can.  The very nice thing is that it is a corner unit so it fits nicely in the corner of our kitchen.  

2:30 Went to the Chevron office to pick up our mail.  Our mail is delivered once a week in a DHL pouch.  Ryan brought our mail home last week, but since he is gone and Stori’s husband is also gone, we both stopped by to pick up our pouch mail.  I got more magazines!  Woot woot, I will be entertained. 

3:00 Arrived back at apartment.  “Garbage can” is sitting nicely in the kitchen.  

3:30 Went to visit Ed and Kim’s apartment.  It is always interesting and exciting to see how other apartments look.  Ed and Kim arrived in Novorossiysk this week and many more families are arriving next week.  Our building is filling up!

5:00 Walked to Tebrez, a grocery store that is very close to our building.  I picked up a few random items.

6:00 Made dinner, for one. :(  I always hate making dinners when Ryan is gone, I don’t enjoy eating by myself.  I usually end up having a bag of popcorn (last night's choice) or a bowl of cereal for dinner, but tonight I picked up a salmon steak at the grocery store.  They have a prepared meal area.  I made some rice and vegetables to go with.  

I also started a second load of laundry.  The small washer makes for daily small loads, 2 bath towels here, some workout clothes there.  

-Again, don’t worry about Macy.  I have been taking her out to go potty and she ate some yum yums while I was eating dinner.  :)

7:00 Decided to plant my new seeds.  I was very careful not to overwater.  I believe my first problem, of many, when it comes to gardening is that I overwater.  I don’t want the poor little seeds to dry out, but it seems my caring is a bit too much.  I did plant some more hot pepper seeds, my previous ones are not growing yet, so I thought I would give them another try.

8:30 Sat down at the computer to add new television stations to our growing list of English Channels.  I don’t really watch TV, but it is reassuring to know I have options and that I can turn to various channels just to hear some English.  We are currently up to 37 channels.  A large portion are news and music.  I am too much of a perfectionist and it took me way too long to decide on a layout I liked. 

  

9:30 I also figured, that while I was at the computer I should work on some Rosetta Stone.  I have neglected my studying for the past few days.  Not good. (I was going to say not good in Russian, but I don’t know how to type the Cyrillic characters). :)

10:00 The Russian did not last very long, I am too tired to try and study at night.  I have decided I do much better earlier in the day.  Tomorrow, I will be better and study earlier.

I am going to take Macy outside one last time, get ready for bed, and snuggle in to read for awhile.  I am currently reading Racing in the Rain I have only read a few chapters and I am enjoying it.

Good Night Everyone! 

Ikea.....Feels like home.

Sunday, Ryan and I made a trip to Ikea.  It is located in Krasnodar, a city that is approximately a 2 1/2 hour drive from Novorossiysk.  The main purpose for the trip to Krasnodar was to take Ryan to the airport.  He flew to Aberdeen, Scotland for training Monday-Thursday.  He returns to Novorossiysk on Friday, April 1st.  This will be my first week without him.  It has only been one day, but things are going well.  Like I have mentioned before, I find plenty of ways to keep myself busy.

Ok, back to the trip to Ikea.  So, since we were going to be in Krasnodar, we decided to do some shopping at Ikea.  We were in desperate need for rugs.  Macy has been pretty uncomfortable with all the hard, wood floors.  I believe our trip to Ikea was a success.  Macy is sitting comfortably.

New Rugs

On another note, gardening update!

It has been one week since the initial planting and I have some growth!  The center row is some type of small flower.  The top row are hot peppers and the bottom row is another type of small flower; both are not growing.  :(  I don't know exactly how long varying plants take to sprout but I will give them some more time to see if they are just late bloomers.

I did purchase some more seeds of varying flowers and various salad lettuce seeds.  I am going to plant them this week and hope for the best!  

The First 10 Days

We are surviving and doing well!  Ryan is keeping busy at the office and I have stayed busy running around Novorossiysk and the apartment.  Ryan has established his morning coffee location (McDonald's) until his Nespresso machine arrives.  I have checked out the grocery stores and determined my favorites.

Currently, I believe we are experiencing the weather phenomenon "Bora" winds.  I tried to get a video of the trees in the wind this morning, but it is hard to adequately catch their strength.  My best description of the winds would be relative to wind you would experience during a strong thunderstorm.  You can hear the wind blowing through the ventilation of the building.  Trees are blowing all over the place.  It is extremely funny to watch Macy battle the wind gusts. :)  The only difference between Bora winds and wind during a thunderstorm, is that Bora winds usually last a couple days.  They began last night and were extremely strong last night and this morning.  It is still pretty windy now, but not nearly as strong.

This picture was taken Saturday.  It shows the clouds rolling over the top of the mountains.  The clouds, like this, are usually a sign of the near arrival of Bora winds.  

On another note, I am attempting to "discover" my green thumb.  There was a large seed selection at Lenta and I thought, "Why not?"  I chose a couple different small flowers and some chili peppers.  I figured the chili peppers would be easy to grow in a patio setting.  Hopefully the flowers turn out and I can have flowers on our balconies.  I will keep everyone posted on the growth (keep your fingers crossed) and progress of the seeds. :)

Day 1 of my seeds. :)  I planted the plant in the green flower pot, I thought it had an interesting look.  It's also nice to have a plant already growing, hopefully to encourage the seeds to grow. :)

Apartment Pictures

I have had numerous requests for pictures.  Here they are!!!  Remember, we have not received all of our items.  Furniture may have moved since photo was taken :) I have been busy rearranging.  :)  I will post future pictures as our shipments arrive.

Novorossiysk Apartment

Please let me know if you have any questions! 

Where is the Target?

Ryan and I have been in Novorossiysk for 4 days.  I believe we are adjusting well.  Our apartment is nice (I will post pictures in the near future) and it seems like it will be plenty big for the two of us.  Macy is also enjoying running throughout, but she has yet to figure out the extra slippery floors.  :)

I have spent a good amount of time searching for random items for the apartment.  One particular item, a kitchen trash can has proven its self quite difficult to locate.  I really wish we had a Target, then I would be able to choose from a large assortment.  I was able to locate trash cans at the market today, but they were good sizes for the bathroom.  I had a lovely conversation with the woman, that resulted in her laughing that I wanted such a big trash can.  I have decided that if they sell large trash bags, then there must be large trash cans to hold them.  I will keep you posted.

I am really struggling with the wait for our shipment.  It is very difficult to be in an apartment and have a great desire to settle in, but you do not have any of your belongings yet.  I am very thankful the apartments are furnished with plenty of furniture and that we brought a few bedding, towels, spice items with us during our pre assignment trip in January, but currently, we are living off of what we could stuff in our suitcases.  Once I get a project established in my head (organizing and setting up the apartment) I have to finish it.  Unfortunately I am not able to finish the project and I must wait.  Therefore, I have resorted to rearranging furniture multiple times a day.  Ryan has stopped asking why, and just lets me do it.

On a random note, Ryan and I were out for a walk with Macy Sunday and passed an old woman sitting on a bench that began talking and making noises at Macy.  She seemed like a very nice lady, Macy had her doubts, but Macy has not warmed up to the new people yet.  The woman then proceeded to pull out a book she was sitting on.  It was a dog and puppy book.  She insisted that we take it.  We thought it was the most random thing for a lady to be sitting on, but we graciously accepted the gift.  I guess Macy was the chosen dog for the day (there were many out for walks Sunday) and the lady gave us the book.  I have decided, since it is written in Russian, to translate the book in order to practice my Russian.

Speaking of practicing my Russian.  I believe things are going fairly well.  I will admit I do not talk as much as I would in the States ( shocking, I know) but when I do speak, I feel like I am getting somewhere.  I resort to a lot of pointing while I speak, but none the less I am "communicating."  Our current driver, Alexander, knows a decent amount of English.  While he was driving me around today he explained a few words and helped me with some pronunciation.

All in all, things seem to be falling into place here in our new home.  I think this is going to be an unbelievable experience for us, and I am very optimistic that there are many more good things to come.  Now, if only I could get a Target built and stocked. :) 

We have arrived.

Ryan, Macy and I safely arrived in Moscow.  We fly to Novorossiysk tomorrow.  This is an extremely short post, but I wanted to inform all that are checking our blog.  I will post again soon!

It's Moving Day

I am aware that I have already made one post today, but the previous post was originally typed on Wednesday, March 2nd.  In order to not "jinx" our move, I waited until everything was officially approved.

Since the previous post was typed, we have received our Visas from the Russian Embassy and the movers came on Friday.  The moving company was quite the experience.  I have never seen so many people, move so quickly, packing items.  I compared them to tornados, highly skilled, very organized and efficient, but tornados.

So, today is the day.  I must admit, unsurprisingly, I did not sleep much last night.  There are a plethora of emotions running through me; disbelief, excitement, fear, anticipation, relief.  I have never done a move like this before, but I would assume all are normal.

I am nervous about Macy.  I know many dogs, everyday, spend long amounts of times in kennels, but fortunately, I am able to not have to put Macy in a kennel for an extended period, except at night.  Today, she will spend her longest time kenneled and on a plane.  Our airline is known for excellent pet care, but I hope she is comfortable.

Well, I think that is the end of my post.  Today, March 7, 2011, Ryan and Virginia move to Russia.  Wish us luck!

Ready or not, here we go!

Ryan and I are officially in the process of moving!!  This has been a crazy week for the both of us.  We are currently in our final stretch of our time in Houston.  Monday our LOI's (Letters of Invitation) were delivered from Russia.  We went to the Russian Embassy, in Houston, to have our Visas processed.  Our apartment is packed, organized, and inventoried. Macy had her final vet appointment today.  The movers come Friday!

We are have our itinerary set for us to fly out on Monday March 7th, arrive in Moscow on the 8th, stay in Moscow a day to have Ryan's final paperwork processed.  On the 10th we are scheduled to fly to Novorossiysk.  Our new home sweet home!

Please see the photos below.  They are what our apartment looked like, pre organization.  I did not have the camera with me to take post organization pictures, but if you know me, then you know everything is sorted, labeled, and ready to go. :)

Look for my next post to come from RUSSIA!!!