The incredibly insightful treat...

I have a big sweet tooth with a tremendous craving for, among other things, chocolate.  Daily, I put forth a strong effort to restrain my cravings.  Russia does a fair share of restricting my choices, the available baked goods are nothing to write home about, which leads me to baking my own sweet treats.  One treat I allow myself daily (proclaiming it's for the antioxidants, as a way to refer to it as healthy) is a piece of Dove Dark Chocolate.  I don't remember the exact month I stumbled upon these treats, but they have been present in our apartment for quite some time.  I prefer the Dark Chocolate, Ryan prefers the Milk Chocolate with Toffee pieces.

By now you are probably saying to yourself, why are you blogging about chocolate?  We all know you love chocolate, as well as any other normal woman.  The Dove Promises, like the ones sold in the United States contain little, insightful messages inside.  What makes them even more incredible, is that they are written in Russian.  So......if I want my daily dose of "promise" along with the antioxidants, my American mind is forced to translate.  It's a workout for the mind.

For a few weeks I saved my wrappers, piling them away, telling myself I would translate them.  A few of the messages I was actually able to translate completely while enjoying my chocolate, the rest I understood a portion of the message, but needed to seek the assistance of the Russian dictionary.

Consider this your largest Russian lesson to date.  Enjoy "reading" the actual message on the wrapper, and then reading the English translation.  One message, in particular was incredibly on par with the events of that particular day.  Also, I have not eaten a Dove Promise from the United States for an extended period of time, but I do not remember the messages being as long as the Russian versions.  I chose a few of my "favorites" pertaining to our current life experiences, or that just bring a smile to my face.

The incredibly insightful treat....

Give yourself a day, free of care...

Don't hurry with an answer, begin by sorting out your feelings...

Do not fear to take a step, the game is worth the candles....
More commonly known phrase "The gains are worth the risk."

This week you will be successful in everything.....

Hurry up, otherwise you may miss the most interesting things.....

Soon, something pleasant and unexpected will happen.....

It's a good time for pondering what you will do in the future.....

The day I left for Moscow, before our trip to Italy, I ate this chocolate!
Gather your bags, soon you will go on a nice journey.....

Try to give more time to that, which makes you happy....

It's the small things in our daily lives that can bring a smile to our face.  Not only does chocolate make me smile, but also the message each treat provides.  Maybe I will celebrate today, and have an extra piece, I wonder what message waits inside.....

Speaking of things that make me happy, I must make a correction to my previous post concerning Halloween.  I mentioned that I was saddened by the lack of trick-or-treaters, BUT that evening, after posting, we had two groups of trick-or-treaters ring our doorbell!!!!!!  The first group was a trio of Russian girls, dressed in all black with black whiskers drawn on their faces.  They may have been the ones trick-or-treating but I think I may have been more excited!  I grabbed a few suckers we had, and some of our Dove chocolates to give them.  Later in the evening, our doorbell rang again, this time it was two of the children from our Chevron team.  I was so excited to have trick-or-treaters!!!  It was also an insightful experience, while dropping my candy into their containers, I glanced inside and noticed they had collected, among other things, chestnuts, figs, candy, and roubles (Russian money).  Either they caught families off guard, or Russian families have yet to fully learn the guidelines of Halloween trick-or-treating.....