Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Today we did a little more shopping, but of course! We went to the My Baby store and this time it was open. There are lots of little jars of baby food to choose from. The difference here is, the jars are behind glass and you have to tell the person working what kind you want and how many of each. Nothing here is self serve… I look forward to picking out what I want and touching everything before I buy it! LOL. I’m not sure why I feel the need to look at baby food jars, but… I do. The other difference is they sell Beef and RABBIT baby food, HORSE MEAT baby food, and Beef and TONGUE baby food… we did NOT buy any of these. The picture of the horse on the label is a cute horse kind of ‘prancing’ around… poor little horse! And the rabbit was playing a guitar! I mean – why?? It made us laugh. I know this is a delicacy in many places, and perhaps if I didn’t know I was eating it, it would even be good… but I just can’t get past eating a horse… or tongue, or even rabbit. Yuck. We bought beef, chicken, and turkey. We’re hoping she’ll eat basically table food, but we’ll need to have some jars on hand for airplanes and airports, etc., so we bought a little of everything and will test them out before we leave if we can. Everything is mixed with other things… basically you can’t buy just ‘Apples’. It’s all apples with cherries. Or Peas with Oats. Or Pumpkin with Corn. I wanted individual flavors so I can determine what she does and doesn’t like – but oh well!! I guess she’ll eat when she’s hungry! :)

We went to yet another market today. We got more fruits and veggies. We also saw one of the stalls was a pet store! That was neat. Birds and fish and dog food and cat food. There may be other places like that, but it was the first I’d seen of its kind. We did take a few pictures and video in the market. On the first floor of this market were cuts of fresh meat. There were slabs of meat just there as you walked by waiting for you to choose one. There were sides of beef hanging up. In the grocery store the other day, we saw a WHOLE PIG wrapped up and in the freezer section. I wished I’d had my camera for that one!! I do wonder how meat stays uncontaminated when it sits out in these markets all day. I mean, it wasn’t warm today, but it wasn’t 40 degrees or below either. And in the summer, even if it’s air conditioned (and I don’t think it is, but I’m not sure) it can’t possibly be that cold to keep it ‘safe’ all day. So either we are way too careful in America, or everyone here gets sick a lot? Of course, I don’t know for sure – but I am glad we are here in the winter for this reason, at least! I feel a little better knowing it is fairly cold for things to be sitting out all day. Check out the picture of the ax in the midst of the market, as well as the meat sitting right at the counter side where people walk up, pick a piece and pay – all right there! The last picture is of the fruit and veggie market. You don’t touch anything, even though it is right there in front of you. You tell the person what you want and they pick it out for you.

Today Mom, Masha and I went to the local German restaurant. It was very tasty. I wanted Wiener Schnitzel, but they didn’t have it… So I got Beef Stroganoff. It was very very good. Mom and Masha both got Salmon fixed different ways. They were all delicious! The Salmon didn’t seem very German to me, but it was still yummy!

On Sunday we went to dinner with Catalina and Calin and also with Susan from Austin, TX. We all had a great time at the Slovenian Inn. They have menus in English, so when we arrived, they gave us an English menu. When we asked for more, they told us there is only that one. How funny! So, we shared the menu – no biggie. We were there a good while and had a great time sharing stories and pictures and adventures. One thing I found hysterical was listed under the Appetizers…. The listing was : Butter. Yup, butter! I laughed until I cried – I’ll have a side of butter please. Could I have a fork and knife for my butter? Matthew, this one is for you… from Everybody Loves Raymond... “You know what makes me happy? Buttah. Buttah makes me happy.” Needless to say, we didn’t order the Butter appetizer. **Matthew, I can’t wait to come home and watch that episode of Everybody Loves Raymond with you – it will always remind me of that restaurant and my time here in Petropavlovsk.

It has been snowing here for like 36 hours but not really accumulating. I’ve never seen it snow so long and not have more to show for it. It is still windy today, but not quite as bad as the last couple of days. (**Remember, for whatever reason, the weather link that shows at the top of the blog, for current day temps is never even close to accurate. Like right now it shows 41 degrees F. It’s more like 15, maybe.)

Today is my last day before the decision of the court is final!! That means that tomorrow Maia will be legally mine. The plan is to still take custody of her on Thursday!! What an exciting week this should be! Life is about to change quite a bit in less than 48 hours – and I look forward to every minute of it!