2 Relaxing Days

We have had 2 days not seeing the boys, and it has actually been very relaxing.  No 5 hour drive to and back from the orphanage, just waiting for the days to pass.  We get to go see them again on Monday, but in the meantime, we are relaxing.  I almost wrote relazying~~I am not used to chillin' as much as I have here in the last 2 days.  I will give you the highlights~obviously not much about the boys because we have not seen them, so if you are looking for that, you will not get it today.

We had a lot to do on Friday~Diester made a list, and we got busy.  Don't ask me what all we did, but some of the highlights are:  A big long NAP (I think that was almost 3 hours long), playing Scrabble (Diester won by the skin of his teeth), making dinner and homemade chx broth (for some soups for when we get the boys), answering some e-mails (have loved hearing from the ones who respond), and don't forget our bible study, and prayer time.  (God just keeps revealing himself to us.  For that I am thankful!)  It was a good day!

Yesterday was our Saturday, and once again we had only a few things to do, so we took it easy.  I think this might be what vacation is supposed to be like: relaxing.  Feels really weird to be in Russia experiencing 'vacation', but I will take the downtime.  I know it will not last, and life will be in full swing again.  We woke up in the morning to find that our toilet didn't work.  YEA!  Some things in life are just not exciting to face.  So, Diester decides he is going to learn the proper Russian phrase to let the concierge know that the toilet is broken.  I say, Go for it!  Then, we spent some time piddling, and me trying to pass some time in God's word; and Diester asks me if I think he can pull off communicating with them, by taking this issue up with the concierge.  Well, I am not sure who would end of paying for the maintainance, so I explain that to him, and we agree that he could do what his plan was, but it might be best to contact our interpreter first to see if she would suggest a different route.  Sooooo, here we go, calling Ilena on a Saturday.  She is very gracious.  Diester called her, and she lets us know that she saw on the news that the cold water is being turned off for a two days in our certain region of Krasnoyarsk.  WHAT!?  TWO DAYS!?  Seriously, that would never happen in the U.S.  Okay, we do have hot water.  (An interesting thing that I found out~~probably happened when communism/socialism was in full swing here, is that the hot water we are getting does not come through a hot water heater in our apt, or even in the apt building.  It comes from the one single source in this region where the water is heated for everyone, and then you have to draw it.  I have waited for 40 minutes (with the shower going full blast~~as full blast as it gets here), and finally gotten some hot water.   Now that makes sense why we have to wait so long.  I must have been the first one drawing it on the mornings that we had to wait that long.  We aren't in America~~

So, what else have we been up to?  Oh, we went to a souvenir shop yesterday, and got a couple of items.  We did that in the morning, and on the way home we picked some things up from the grocery store (we have been eating in, as we are hopeful that this is saving us money).  It was nice to get out and get some fresh air.  So, then we headed home.  We decided to make chili~~nothing like at home.  I didn't have ground beef, so I used chx as my meat.  Then I realized that we did not have a can opener.  So, I used some of the black beans that I had cooked, instead of the kidney beans that I had bought in a can.  It turned out tasty (I had brought spices from home), but just different. 

Then I took another nap (AHHHHHHHH! ! ! )  Lovin' that!  I could get used to that, but Diester will come and wake me up after a bit if it is getting too long.  He says he wants to make sure I will sleep at night.  (I think he doesn't like being 'alone' for too long.)  Turns out he napped out in the living room while I was napping in the bed.  We both needed it for sure!

The plan is to eat lunch with the Loomans this afternoon.  Besides spending time with them, I cannot wait to see her garden.  I think I saw a sneak peek on FB, and it looks lovely.  So, yesterday, we decided that I would bring some potatoe salad for our lunch, and I needed some potatoes~did not have enough.  So, we went to the market again, but they did not have any potatoes that looked very good.  And, actually on our way into the market, there were several farmers and their wives selling veggies from their garden, including fresh dug potatoes.  Around 10 sets of peddlers right outside the market.  That would never be allowed in the US.  So, we decided to buy the potatoes from a farmer.  Once we got the other stuff I needed inside the market, we headed outside.  When we were heading out, the wind was picking up, and the sky was darkening.  Diester was concerned that the farmer with the potatoes would already be packed up as it was also starting to rain.  Fortunately, he was just starting to pack up, so we headed toward him, and Diester greeted him (in Russian), but also stated that we are Americans.  Diester pointed to the pail of potatoes that we wanted, and then held out some change for the farmer to pick out money from this handful.  Obviously, there was not enough change to pay for these potatoes, so the farmer was not taking any of the money.  Diester said questioningly, "Nyet?" and the farmer said "Nyet, Nyet" so we could tell it was not enough.  Then Diester dug a little deeper, and brought out some more coins with bigger denominations, and sure enough, the farmer went through the handful of change, and pulled from it what he charges (we figure it was around 40 rubles), and then he handed us the potatoes that had been transferred to a bag, and then, it was so sweet, the farmer held out his hand for a handshake, and Diester shook his hand.  (There are a lot of Russian people who are awed by Americans.)  As Diester's mom said, he probably went home and told his wife that he sold potatoes & shook hand's with an American today. 

We came home, made our dinner, blah blah blah~~ how everyday boring can this get?  Then we made potatoe salad, cleaned up, and played Scrabble after skyping with Diester's mom a bit.  The girls were not available, as they were off to a campout sleepover with a church group.  I have to let you know I won in Scrabble!  I broke Diester's winning streak~ YAY! 

That is about it.  It is early Sunday morning.  We got to skype with the girls, which makes my day good, and now we are getting ready for our day at church, and with the Loomans.  Have a blessed day yourselves~~hope all is well with you!  May God bless you!