Blogs from Obninsk, Centre, Russia, Europe - page 4

I went to a different clinic today and felt a lot better with this doctor. I actually got my blood pressure checked, temperature, asked about medical history, etc. and she was a lot cuter! I forgot how to say her name, but she was Russian but educated and trained in the US with excellent English. I was late for my appointment due to traffic, but they got me right in so no complaints. She laughed at my bruises from my vacuum massage (Dasha said that is normal) and could not tell if the swelling was from the massage or part of the problem. She did not think it was anything serious so does not want to take x-rays or mri until I get back from vacation, but she made me promise to continue doing the excercises ... read more

I am not sure Russia will ever be home, but I must say I am feeling more and more like I am at home. I can not remember what day it was, but one day last week I was having dinner at Dom da Doma (local restaurant near my flat) and while I was there I ran into two people I know. The first one I did not see, but he saw me and came right over to say hello. He is a friend of Dima and does not speak a word of English, but wanted to say hello. Then I saw a couple I met at one of the parties come up the stairs so I waved at them and they came over and joined me. He speaks okay English so we had some conversation ... read more

Not a lot to write, but I had to share the pictures with me being so famous by signing the students calendars. I have to admit, it did make me feel important. I feel bad, Natalia, their teacher, always thinks she has to get me something. This last time, she got me a book, in both Russian and English, about the Kaluga region, which is where I live. The one downfall of the book, it does not have a lot about Obninsk and I am not sure if that is because it was one of the unnamed cities or why, but it is a very nice book to have as part of my collection of things from here. I did not get a thing done today at work. It is "Women's Day" tomorrow (Thursday) and everyone ... read more

My friend Alex, who is in the theatre in Moscow called on Saturday and wanted to know what I was doing on Sunday because he wanted to come to Obninsk to help celebrate "Pancake Day." That is not the official name, but everyone makes pancakes and fills them with calvar, fish, etc. and eats until they can not eat any more. And since we are talking Russia, yes, drink and drink until you can not drink any more. So Alex took the train, where I met him at the station and we made pancakes and stuffed them with turkey (I did not realize you were even suppose to stuff them with anything) but I had put a turkey breast in the crockpot with a great recipe using jelly, sugar, starch and cranberries. I figured the cranberries ... read more

Last Sunday was my cooking day in preparation for all of the celebrations. I thought Jamie was crazy when he brought me a suitcase full of jello. I wanted a couple, not the entire store. He said, I thought maybe you wanted to do Jello shooters for your birthday parties. I decided that would be a good way to get rid of the flavors I did not like as well as merge two different cultures/traditions so I was busy making Jello shooters. I can not remember how many batches I made, but I went through two liters of vodka making them...lol I also put my crockpot my sister got for me to good use. The only problem, I converted from pounds to kilograms backwards so instead of requesting 2 kilos of ground chicken meat to make ... read more