Emmy: We're Flexible (July 11)

Some of you know that I work for Starbucks Coffee Company at the headquarters in Seattle. Starbucks takes up seven floors and at each of the four corners of the seven floors is a coffee kitchen with at least one espresso machine, an ice machine, water, and a refrigerator with all of the ingredients to make our drinks. During Christmas, the fridge is stocked with eggnog to make our eggnog lattes and during the summer we have lemonade to make our blended drinks. My desk sits smack in the middle between two kitchens. Every morning I would feel a little frustrated because one of the coffee kitchens has the kind of espresso machine I like to use (fully automatic) and one had the kind of ice/water dispenser I like best (the crushed ice, not the cubed). It would take me a full five minutes and an extra 200 yards to get my free coffee and my water in the morning as I had to visit both kitchens. Boy do I feel silly now! I actually haven’t had a cup of coffee since we came to Russia. There hasn’t been a coffee shop anywhere that I have seen and we have been in some busy places. Those of you who know us, especially Edna and me, know that typically we can be, well...a little stubborn and set in our ways. But you would be amazed at how flexible we have been here. In fact our travel motto has been “We’re Flexible!” Not a one of us has been a grump about a lack of our usual conveniences, in fact they are adding interest and flavor to the trip. Here are a few examples:

Hot Water:
We have been so lucky to stay at the District Office apartment and while we were warned it is small, it actually is meeting our needs nicely and is larger than expected. Unfortunately, the hot water in the entire district has been turned off for some time. I seem to remember hearing that during the summer they shut it off for extended periods of time to clean the pipes. The building itself has what I believe is a hot water tank the size of my coffee cup back home, so we had to develop a new shower strategy: get in, wet hair and body, turn off shower, lather up and turn shower back on to rinse. The rinse is the hard part as by then your hot water is gone and you are pretty much rinsing off with water the temperature of Puget Sound. We have taken to singing loudly, laughing or screaming as we finish the final rinse in order to distract ourselves (in fact as I am writing this, I am hearing Edna screech from the direction of the shower).

Elevators:
I have never had to lay hands on an elevator and pray before, but I am not ashamed to say I did just that to the one working elevator in our building. It has gotten stuck twice, once with all of us inside (Edna spoke of that earlier and yes it is one of my top 3 fears) and once with Charles and our tour guide Tim inside. I don’t remember ever having to root for an elevator to make it to its destination before, but we all get in it every morning and evening and give it a lot of encouragement. By the way, it hasn’t gotten stuck since I prayed for it.

Clean Clothes:
Another item we are grateful for in our apartment is the washer and dryer. We weren’t expecting it and since we are traveling with two kids and me, who has a tendency to spill every food item she tries to eat on her shirt, it has been invaluable. But when you image these appliances, don’t think of the ones you use. Cut them down in size by about two-thirds. We can wash about six items in the washer. The dryer leaves the clothes a little damp and so we hang them up on our travel clotheslines. For traveling this is an amazing blessing as I have never had such access to laundry facilities like this during my past travels. But I am trying to think about how I would manage this at home. How would I be able to keep up with my laundry if I could only wash six items at a time and then hang them to fully dry?

Edna’s Supplies:
Edna, having read about twenty guidebooks on Russia has come armed to combat the elements here with about 100 gallon-sized Ziploc bags filled with everything from stomach medicine to electrical adapters. When we have to move ourselves and our stuff it is like an army is mobilizing! I teased her mercilessly about her supplies but I have been very grateful for two items in particular she brought, those being a bandana for each of us and wet wipes. It was very humid here the first day and we did a lot of walking. Needless to say, the bandana was used to mop the sweat and dirt off my face, especially when standing in the hot metro. It was in the wash today, and I felt a little nervous leaving the house without it. Secondly, the wet wipes have been a must. I had to use a Porta-Potty in Red Square the other day and it is all you would imagine it to be. When I came out Edna asked me if I needed a wet wipe. I said that I needed about 20 and asked that she start wiping me down at the top of my head in circular motions down to my toes!! Seriously, Edna has been (as expected) a great Mom, keeping Jacob and Zachary happy, healthy and running seamlessly under tougher than normal conditions.

And lastly, though Russian toilets are a different standard design than American toilets, jiggling the handle works on both to stop the toilet from running! Emmy