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snowman cometh

 

i woke up to a fresh snow fall this morning.  and the largest snowman ever created was born. (at least the biggest one I've ever created)

random thoughts

valentine's day came this weekend and we just finished celebrating my girlfriend's birthday. valentines day is one of the many new holidays they welcomed in after post-soviet time. when we went out to eat, I noticed the restaurant was filled with reserved tables unlike other times when you could sit anywhere.  so it seems many russians have adopted the holiday happily.

lucia and i went for our first long dog walk today after her illness a few weeks ago.  this time i drove her to a safe spot to avoid any other trouble.  but i still had to step in when she spotted mystery garbage on the ground.  during the walk we met a woman walking her dog.  she had a poodle that was happy to see lucia.  but after the initial greeting, lucia surprisingly walked away.  the wagging poodle was whimpering for some playtime with her but i couldn't coax lucia back.  i've never seen her turn down an opportunity to play with any dog as long as it was reciprocating interest.  i gave our apologies to the women and left.  strange..

last year my favorite milk brand stopped putting expiration dates on their plastic bottles. i haven't checked other brands but someone else told me they noticed it too.  i thought it was a mistake at first but after waiting this long i guess they don't bother with it anymore.  cream is another item that bugs me.  even freshly bought cream can go bad in just a couple days.  i'll get two or three little boxes of it and when i go to grab a fresh one i can feel it's newly bloated container waiting to surprise me with a spoiled mess. (update: i discovered cartons of milk still get the expiration dates printed on them.  it's only the plastic bottles that you play russian roulette with)

russian cake - i know it's just personal taste, but every time i have a piece it's like i'm tasting something that's missing just a little sugar.  whereas russian chocolate doesn't have that problem since it tastes as sweet or even sweeter than other chocolates i've had.  I hear russian store bought cakes are normally that way but homemade cakes are better.  

i switched home internet providers a few months ago and enjoy unlimited download usage once again. the previous provider gave us a download limit and if you went over that you paid an additional hideous cost. now it makes it easier to be able to use skype or download without worrying about the cost.  patches and software updates were regularly cutting into my ability to do anything else on the internet.

it's bidding season again for some folks in the foreign service.  and i'm excited to see a couple people are already interested in my position here.  i didn't think it would be hard to fill since this post has been a great tour for me.  the work can pile up with just two people doing it but most of the time it's a great way to serve a tour abroad.

i hit the second river market more and more now to pick up meat and fish.  the quality and price are much better than going to the newer grocery stores.  i picked up six steaks saturday that only set me back about $18US.  i tried one in a sandwich over the weekend and it was tender enough i didn't even need a knife.

i realized this weekend, i may have bought too many consumable items to have shipped here.  i'd have to cook something new every night just to use everything up by the time I leave in 2011.  it's the leftovers and the time that interferes the most.  as much as i enjoy cooking (and eating) some nights i'd rather be doing something else than spending an hour or two making something new.  i guess i can always sell it to other americans.

don't eat the snow

 

 

after coming back from moscow on saturday, i took lucia out for a walk that afternoon.  our happy little reunion quickly turned into me looking after a sick dog.  she began vomiting and suffering from diarrhea by dinner time.  i didn't know if it was something she ate during the walk but suspected it was a bit of garbage she snuck away with without me noticing. after a sleep free night of watching her and trying to make her comfortable, my girlfriend and i took her to the dog clinic.  after a several questions, the doc said she suspected lucia ate some snow/ice chemical concoction that one of the homeowners had spread out on their driveway to melt the ice.  there's no limitations on what people can use to treat their property so if anyone gets infected by it, they are out of luck and look forward to a few days of misery in bed.  in lucia's case, she probably drank or ate something that basically gave her a case of food poisoning.

the doc gave her several shots of anti-inflammatory drugs along with vitamin shots and anti-biotics.  she gave me instructions on how to care for her with some throat medicine to reduce the inflammation over the next couple days.  although she was still weak, she started showing more signs of life by the time we got to my car.  by the time we got home she was able to move on her own and walked into the house.  she's still weak and moving slow but at least she on the road to recovery. 

it sucks when you encounter problems even during something as simple as a dog walk.  i promised her the next posting would involve a place that actually has somewhere to walk where road-side trash and anti-freeze mickeys are not the norm.

merry christmas, welcome 2010

keeping my head warm . .

 

  

. . with my spiffy new winter hat 

 

yesterday i looked back on how we celebrated all the holidays in vlad.  here's my recap:

• spent xmas eve with my girlfriend.
• spent xmas day at neighbor's house with my girlfriend, my american colleagues and some visiting american students.  our consular affairs officer cooks the greatest meals.
• day after xmas, entertained friends with dinner and a movie.  another chance to use my home theater/projector.  
• new years eve, my house for dinner. spent it with my girlfriend, a friend of hers and our consul affairs officer and his wife/consulate medical nurse.
• new years day, recovering with girlfriend
• day after new years day, my girlfriend, another friend Natasha, and Natasha's boyfriend Аrtom. we had a late dinner together and also celebrated the new year with fireworks they brought.
• sunday after new years, my girlfriend, her god daughter and i went to vlad motor inn for breakfast.

the russian holidays continue over the first week of january.  so i'm enjoying the time off, and like most russians, recovering after all the celebrating.

snow covered city

vladivostok gets another blanket of snow.   

  

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 

2 years in vladivostok

my anniversary came and went on oct 19th.  two years have passed by and it still seems like i just unpacked.  the benefits of staying at a post longer than two years for me are being the mr. know-it guy when it comes to the consulate's recent history.  other new americans can ask me why something or when something was done.  one example is our landlord, he's kind of a slippery character.  before i arrived, he proposed splitting our residences in half, to double the available occupancy.  i.e. be able to charge more for less space.  that idea was shot down since we don't have that many americans here anyway and there was no need.  well, fast forward 2 years later and he brings the idea up again with all new american staff.  except i was in the room and remember the old snake oil pitch from before.  the idea was kibosh'd again before anyone seriously thought about it.

now let's go to Brick for the weather..

1st snow of the season arrived during early morning hours in vladivostok.  it stopped around 5pm but the high winds kept the city subdued for the rest of the night.  traffic was close to non-existant and those that did travel reported multiple cars stuck in snow drifts and low visibility.  i stayed inside, stocked up on groceries and waited it out till morning.

my girlfriend and i ventured out sunday for lunch and to see what kind of damage the snowfall had done.  the cleaning crews still had their work cut out for them as even the main roads were still covered in wet stuff.  i'm happy to report only one close call as another driver didn't like how slow everyone was going and decided to start cutting people off, me included.  sad to see even bad weather doesn't keep the stupid drivers at home.

rikorda island

rikorda island is about an hour away by boat from vladivostok.  the boat ride in the morning was windy and wet, but we made it to the beach eventually.  you can buy tickets for boats to some of the more populated islands like russkiy or popov islands, but we enlisted a private boat and went to rikorda, which is farther out than the other two.  we had to pack food and drink since the island doesn't have any places to eat.  amid all the prep to get the car loaded and meet everyone, i forgot to bring all the fruit and snacks i had bought the night before.  i did remember the wine and vodka.  which i think everyone enjoyed more than the food.  we spent all day walking and enjoying the water and sun on different sides of the island.  by the time the sunset started to set we met up with our captain and took off for vlad.

the islands here have smooth rock beaches as opposed to the white sand ones in australia.  the water around the island was definitely cleaner than the city beaches i've visited.  i can see why russians like to visit them in the summer.  it takes a bit of time to reach them but it worth the trip once you get there.  i didn't see much wildlife besides birds and bugs so i imagine any four legged critters get caught by hunters.  no one was doing any jet or water skiing like they do at the city beaches.  it was a nice break from shamara beach just for the traffic alone.

speaking of, last week, i took my girlfriend for a scooter ride out to shamara. it's about a 40min ride. it's the first real passenger ride i've given in a couple years so i was a bit worried traffic would make it tough.  but during the whole trip, i didn't have any trouble with going in and out of traffic.  the wind is starting to get cold already so the days of summer are drawing close in the russian far east.

russian far east racing

last month, i caught a drag racing event outside of vladivostok.  another american at work is in to racing and is now a regular with the local city club.  he got us vip invites to watch the races during the first week of august.  (i'm late posting this)  so a group of us attended the races during one of the few nice summer days and enjoyed what seems to always be a crowd-pleaser.

the guys walking around the cars are there to make sure the cars start off from the right spot.  the green light is outside the pic, but resembles the same lights used see in the states.  anyone could enter and for the most part it was the serious motor enthusiasts that raced.  although there were a few folks that just wanted to see how their car would do and entered in the amateur category.

during racing breaks, the announcer would organize some comedy bits with volunteers from the audience, like seeing how long guys could hold a tire with straight arms at chest level.  just goes to show there's always something interesting to see in vlad.

more pics can be found here.

birthday cruise

С днём рождения:  "Happy Birthday"

on my birthday, i took a day off so we could enjoy a nice lunch at mario giovanni's and a sailboat ride around the harbor.

i been on several ships and boats but never a sailboat, so it was a nice way to end the day.  Here a snap of the captain.

he's a friend of my girlfriend and always happy to take guests out for a ride, especially the ladies.   beautiful weather and a great day to be on the water.