We may now move...

In honor of having our internet back (insert sarcasm), I felt it was only appropriate to use the internet, and finally post about an event that took place almost three weeks ago, and should have posted much sooner.  The internet was only the icing on the cake, I have had "one of those days" the past few days.  I will not go into details about the complaints I had, the frustrations I felt, or the breakdown I had, but rest assured fellow expat wives reading this, you are not alone.  It was very wrong, and misleading of me to title this post "we may now move."  After the aforementioned days, that title popped into my head along with a fleeting grin.  We are not moving anywhere, but do feel free to continue reading.  Negative Nancy has finished her rant.

At the moment, I may not be the biggest fan of life in Russia, but there was a moment, somewhat recently that was a goal I hoped to accomplish during our life in Russia phase.  Ryan and I finally attended a ballet performance of the Nutcracker at the Historic Stage at the Bolshoi Theatre.  Just in case you missed it:

*THE Bolshoi Theatre
*THE Historic Stage
*THE Nutcracker

Ryan has been a wonderful husband, and sat through a previous ballet performance in Moscow, but it was not at the Historic Stage.  He was even more spectacular when he sat through an Opera, but still, it did not satisfy the three main points.  We may now move, I have successfully completed my goal of living in Russia.  And Ryan may breathe a sigh of relief, I will not drag him to anymore theatrical performances in Moscow (though he may enjoy them too).
 

Tickets in hand. 

Fourth row, fantastic views.
Ryan did take a few pictures during the performance, they are on his iPhone, but I am too afraid to post.  Photography was not allowed (though everyone had their phones out), but I do not want to publicly post photos on our blog.  No need to draw any unwanted attention.  

Not as though the Concierge at the Marriott Aurora in Moscow reads this, but just in case, a huge thank you to their staff, for helping us hunt down the elusive ballet tickets.  Tickets sell out as soon as they are posted, but their ticket company had a few remaining.

Also, a big thank you to Chase bank for allowing us to withdrawal large amounts of rubles from ATMs in Moscow, and not denying our card for exceeding daily limits in order to pay for the tickets.

But wait, there's more.  A note to ticket offices in Moscow, I suggest you update your systems and start accepting credit cards.

A little piece of America...

If power walking was an Olympic sport, I would make one fierce competitor.  To say Moscow is cold right now would be an understatement.  But, I have heard the news, and I am aware that the Midwest seems to be suffering the same chilly weather, so I will not complain too much.  I have made record time this week power walking from the hotel to the nearby Starbucks for my caffeine fix.

In my previous post I talked about my little piece of heaven in Moscow, Fresh Restaurant.  Since that post Ryan and I have been there for two lunches and one dinner (with dinner planned there tonight).  They are quickly starting to recognize us, but I have to get my daily fix of rabbit food.  Last night, we went to Ryan's little piece of America in Moscow.  Shake Shack.  I honestly had never heard of the restaurant before it opened in Moscow, but I did a bit of research and it seems to be very popular on the East Coast.  Regardless, it offers burgers, fries, and shakes, so of course, Ryan had to go.

I remembered, we took pictures from our first trip, and decided it was a good time to post them.  The picture of Ryan with his ice cream is my favorite, he is a very, very happy man with his ice cream.

I wish I could post pictures from our numerous meals at Fresh, but it seems when the food arrives we are too quick to dive in and devour, and seem to forget to take a picture.  It seems silly to take a picture of an empty plate, but maybe tonight we may pause long enough to snap a photo.  But, most likely not.

 

Expiration, renewal, and unknown.

It's Monday, the start of another week.  I feel as though we were just in Moscow, and I would be correct.  We were here for a few days after our return from Paris.  Ryan completed the process for his new Russian work permit, and submitted our passports to begin the process of renewing our Russian Visas.  As I type this, I realize I told everyone and myself, we would not be in Russia long enough to renew our 3-year Visas, but today, I stand corrected.  We have come to their expiration, and must file for renewal.

I sit in Moscow, and I think back three years to Houston.  Late February, Ryan and I were out of our apartment, and living in a hotel until we were given the go ahead to move to Russia.  I remember sitting in the hotel room, Macy was probably taking a nap (the usual) and Ryan called.  He told me to get ready, he was coming by to pick me up, we were going to submit for our Visas.  From that point, it was a whirlwind, we submitted, scheduled the movers, finalized paperwork and flights, and we were gone, off to Russia.

I did not know at the time what was in store for us.  I continuously reassured myself that I would survive, Russia could not be so bad.  But then I thought about the fact I was 24 years old, newly married, and moving to a country that I knew next to nothing about, and the little bit I did know was not the greatest.  At that point, I used the 3 year Visa has my timeline, it was my reassurance that it would not last forever, in three years, we would be gone.

We have reached the point of expiration, renewal, and unknown.  Our Visa expires the end of February, we must renew, and the length of our remaining stay in Russia is unknown.  Ryan and I knew that the start of the new year was going to bring many new things into our lives.  The main thing, and the thing that is most on our minds right now, is Ryan's next assignment.  We do not know where it will be, we do not know when we will move.  For a planner like me, it's a difficult time.  I have said multiple times, "I do not care where we go, I just want to know."  I am sincere in that statement.  I have  experienced, and survived three years in Russia.  From the nervous woman I was to the woman I have become because of the experience, I know that Ryan and I can handle anything (in the States and abroad) that is given to us.  And, I also rest assured that no matter where the next assignment takes us, Chevron will take care of us.  Chevron has been incredible to us during our time in Russia, and I am confident they will continue.  Now, the only question is, where will Ryan's next assignment with Chevron be?  My only hope at this point, is not for the most exotic or comfortable location for our next assignment, but that our move to our new location will arrive before we have to renew our 3-year Visas, again! :)

As you were probably able to tell, I have a lot on my mind, and sometimes it is nice to put it into words.  I mentioned the new year is bringing many new things into our lives, and on a lighter note, I would like to share one new thing that came into our lives during our last stay in Moscow.  Fresh!  It's a restaurant we found, very near to our hotel.  I have found my little piece of heaven in Moscow!  It is a vegetarian, healthy food restaurant in Moscow!  I was close to tears browsing the menu, it was full of fabulously delicious healthy rabbit food (as Ryan likes to refer to my food choices).  I gasped every time I read sweet potato, alfalfa sprouts, fresh this, and fresh that.  I had never laid eyes on such a beautiful menu during our entire time in Russia.  Needless to say, that is where you will find me for most meals during this week in Moscow.  Nice job, Moscow, nice job!

First Country Repeat

The first country we have now visited twice, Scotland! The weekend during our week in Paris, we flew to Aberdeen, Scotland to visit The Perry family!  Phil and Diane are good friends we met in Houston (Phil also works for Chevron).  They have two absolutely adorable children, Harper and Hudson.  We had not seen them since our wedding, much too long ago.

It was only a weekend visit, but we were able to see a part of Aberdeen we had not visited before, Dunnottar Castle.  

Ryan acting as horse for Hudson. 

Ryan and Harper in front of Dunnottar Castle. 

Hudson in fireplace. 

 
Scotland is still a beautiful country, I would be more than willing to visit again.  And, since I now own Hunter Boots, I will bring them along.  I felt it was only appropriate to buy my first pair in Scotland!

Not too many pictures from our time in Aberdeen, feel free to check out the remaining photos in our album.  I must admit, I did not take the first few pictures, Harper found my camera in my purse and is quite the photographer.  :)  Weekend in Aberdeen

*When I said this was the first country we have visited twice, I was not completely correct.  Ryan has been to Scotland multiple times, for work training.  But, this was the first country we have both visited, together, twice. :)

Hello, New Year

I hope the first two weeks of 2014 have treated you well, and left you excited for the remaining weeks of the new year.  It has been far too long since my last post, but now that we are back in Novorossiysk, but planning to leave again shortly, I decided I needed to post about what has been occurring during our first two weeks of 2014.

We spent the first week of 2014 in Paris (more on that below), and the first weekend of 2014 in Aberdeen, Scotland visiting our good friends Phil and Diane, and their super cute children (more on that in a different post).  After our week in Paris, we flew to Moscow where we stayed a few days in order to begin our Visa renewal process, which is also the reason why we will be traveling to Moscow again, on Sunday, to complete the process, and receive our new Visas (a post on my feelings about this at a later date).  I knew the start of 2014 was going to be a crazy time for us, we have a lot going on the next few months, and I will be sure to do my best to keep all posted about everything.  But, for now….

PARIS!

I have always wanted to go to Paris, and since moving to Russia, and all the places we have travelled, it seems Paris always was pushed to the bottom of our list.  Friends on the team have gone to Paris, and come back with negative comments.  I have had numerous conversations with people during our travels, and when we talk about places we have been, our favorites and least favorites, Paris seems to come up as people's least favorite.  One particular gentleman I sat next to on a flight from Chicago to Moscow, we had a pretty long conversation about traveling, we had very similar opinions and experiences during our travels, and he even stated that Paris was his least favorite destination, and he was not American.  I have heard the French are rude to Americans, refuse to speak English, cranky, etc. etc.  Do you question why Paris was always pushed to the bottom of our list?  Well, we decided to ignore the negative comments, and finally give Paris a chance.  And the verdict….

We LOVE Paris!

Ryan and I went to Paris with very few plans, we were going to go, explore, and take Paris as Paris was.  Everyone was very nice to us, we found numerous cute cafes to stop and enjoy a drink, almost everyone spoke English, and even at one particular cafe where the woman did not speak English, I left commenting on how sweet the woman was, and how good her English was.  Ryan gave me a weird look, and told me the woman only spoke French.  I guess living in Russia, and growing accustomed to communicating in multiple languages has made us great travelers, we do not expect everyone to speak English, when they do, great, when they don't, it's ok, we can manage.  I think that is our biggest, and most important traveling quality.  When we visit a foreign country, we don't expect it to be like your home country, it never will be.  Embrace the foreign country for what it is, something different, and consider it an adventure.  Our one unhappy experience in Paris took place at the airport, the morning we flew from Paris to Aberdeen.  87% of the Lufthansa employees decided to strike, leaving a chaotic mess at the airport.  But, it was an experience, and we made it on our original flight to Aberdeen, everything worked out.

We have also learned, when traveling, you cannot possibly do everything.  Pick what you think will be most enjoyable, and forget what others tell you, "you have to do."  You will quickly learn that traveling becomes must less chaotic, and much more enjoyable.  The highlights of our trip:

New Year's Eve celebration.

We made reservations at a nice restaurant.  The food was great, except for one course, cheese.  An unhappy experience, the cheese was awful!  We have tried some interesting foods, and even if we do not like them, we can appreciate how someone else could find pleasure in the taste.  The particular cheese they brought out was by far the worst thing I have ever tried.  It smelled bad, but somethings taste better than they smell.  This tasted worse than it smelled, much, much, worse. I have never tasted a dirty diaper, but dirty diaper was my first thought.  That course aside, all the other five courses during our dinner were absolutely delicious.  After dinner, we went over to the Eiffel Tower for the countdown to midnight, and the light show.

Catacombs

We did not visit the interior of any of the museums in Paris.  We have discovered we are "museumed out."  Waiting in super long lines, to fight crowds to view paintings that are so much smaller than you expect is not enjoyable for us.  I hate lines, my patience does not do well when it comes to lines.  We waited in line for four hours to see the Paris Catacombs!  The Paris Catacombs are one of a kind, and we wanted to see them.

If you want to see the other pictures from the Catacombs, you will need to check out the photo album at the end of this post.  I am uncomfortable posting pictures of bones on our blog, even though the experience was great. 

Random Exploring

On New Years Day, not many attractions were open, and because we wanted it to be a lazy day, we slept in, and eventually made our way over to the Eiffel Tower.  We boarded a boat and enjoyed a laid back river cruise, taking in all the sights.  After our long wait at the Catacombs, we decided no more lines.  If something took hours to see, we would not find it enjoyable, and therefore decided not to do it.  We decided to walk, and explore Paris.  A stop at a cafe for coffee or hot chocolate, a tour of Notre Dame, exploring the streets, and taking in the sights, without the lines, and much less hassle of dealing with other tourists.

Hot chocolate to warm our hands after the boat cruise, with the Eiffel Tower in the background.

I found Paris to be more beautiful at night. 

Interior of Notre Dame.  More pictures in the album.

Either he is a better pointer, or I am a better photographer.
My picture does not have my finger on the tip of the pyramid (it's in the photo album).  

Date Night

It seems eating was a key thing for us, but when living in Russia, the pleasure of going out to a nice restaurant does not exist where we live.  When we travel, we find it very enjoyable to visit nice restaurants, and feast on delicious food.  We had date night at the restaurant in the Eiffel Tower.  Great experience, great food, and for us, the perfect way to visit, and experience the Eiffel Tower.

Would we go back to Paris again?  Absolutely.

I always post an album of all our pictures from our trips, and usually I say, if you want to see more pictures, click on our album.  I will say that again, but I also highly suggest you check out this particular album.  It took FAR too long for me to complete the album.  The pictures uploaded scrambled, and because I am OCD, I had to put them all back in their proper order.  Then, after that was done, and I began to add comments, the website froze, and part of my progress was lost!  A couple days later, and too many hours wasted, you have our Paris Photo Album.  Seriously, click on the link, check out the photos.  Please make my battle with the website worth it.