11 Sivan/24 May, 2010
May. 24th, 2010 11:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bearshortyWoke up after six, looked back at the clock and went back to sleep until eight. I’m bringing my sleep patterns back to normal.
This morning we went to the cemeteries – first, North Cemetery Gate 2 for Aunt Lucy (Sveta’s Mom who died tragically six years ago at the age of 50 and was Mama’s good friend). It took a bit of wandering to find the right plot, we even consulted the map at the front. We left flowers there and then drove to Gate 1 for my grandfather’s grave. The tree there grew very tall. My grandfather died pretty young too in 1978 so I never knew him. After Mama cleaned up and visited we went to find the grave of our California relative’s father. We knew the right section number but it took a bit of searching before I finally spotted the hardly visible letters of his last name. We took a picture to send to him. The morning was cold and rainy, and even as the rain stopped before we got to the cemetery, the ground was still wet. The place closely resembles a forest, much more than American cemeteries so my shoes got wet too. (Well, I figured out that my sneakers are not really waterproof for walking in wet grass.)
After a visit to the North Cemetery, Aunt Vera and Uncle Tolya dropped us off at Moscovskoye cemetery where my father’s grandmother is buried. There was a cool computer system by the entrance that shows who is buried where and gives a convenient map. We found our California relative’s mother’s grave easily using it – which I don’t think we would have without this computer. Nine years ago, Papa and I searched for a hour to find my great-grandmother Fanya’s grave. There is a new stone on it now. This cemetery also has graves of famous people, writers and politicians – so we looked a bit at those too.
After all the visits, which took up the whole morning, we took a Metro to Kastrychnenskaya to the city center. All the metro stops and announcements are now in Belarusian. Metro still looks ridiculously pretty with all the marble and it still smell the same (the train smell, still familiar after so many years away).
Papa wanted to try McDonalds here to compare – he thought the products should be tastier here, made of local ingredients. I haven’t had a Big Mac in four years (there only thing I get at McDonalds now are ice-cream and hash browns) but I got it now. It all tastes exactly the same. Hopefully, he got it out of his system so now I could just have Belarusian food – like more potatoes.
After lunch, we went shopping at the a sort of Russian mall, with a little bit of everything. I bought two little notebooks and a planner that every schoolchild uses (it also records grades and parents have to sign it every week). This dnevnik (or ‘daily’) is in Belarusian now too with national anthem on the inside cover. I bought a little owl for Marianna, Russian Tarot cards for Medusa, and a Minsk magnet and a city coat of arms magnet for myself. Papa also saw a cross-stitch kit of a monkey with a banana which I bought to make for him. I might buy some Russian theme cross-stitch later.
Then we walked to Nemiga street – it is a shorter walk than I remember – and went to the store there. (Mama loves shopping, Papa and I not so much but a little shopping must be done). I got two pencil cases for Kid and her brother and I found the robe I liked at Katya’s the night before –one with a zipper and no sleeves. We ran into a girl who was with us on a plane to Minsk. I also bought napkins and table cover in traditional design with “Minsk” written on it in Belarusian for Bear’s parents. And I saw a teatowel with polar bears with a big heart and love written on it – which I just had to get too. It was very very hot in the store and my parents still wanted to do a bit more shopping, so I took our big bags of purchases and went to Katya’s apartment a minute away. I started my monkey cross-stitch there. It is very small and I want to finish it here.
Then we took the Metro to Aunt Vera’s. Mama went to get a manicure and Papa and I went home to eat. Once Mama got back we went for a walk to our old neighborhood. We went through our yard to a local grocery store. The design is the same, there is just more food. The bread is in the same place. Then we passed my old kindergarden/day care and crossed to the corner of Pushkin street. We were too tired to walk all the way back so we took a trolleybus.
Tried calling Bear, couldn’t reach him. He did write a nice long email though. I’m walking a lot again, I do like that but my feet hurt nicely. I watched a bit of History Chanel with my Uncle once my parents went to sleep - Japan was signing a treaty on “Missouri” to end WWII – and also a bit of British version of “Who Do You Think You Are.” That was kind of fun.
This morning we went to the cemeteries – first, North Cemetery Gate 2 for Aunt Lucy (Sveta’s Mom who died tragically six years ago at the age of 50 and was Mama’s good friend). It took a bit of wandering to find the right plot, we even consulted the map at the front. We left flowers there and then drove to Gate 1 for my grandfather’s grave. The tree there grew very tall. My grandfather died pretty young too in 1978 so I never knew him. After Mama cleaned up and visited we went to find the grave of our California relative’s father. We knew the right section number but it took a bit of searching before I finally spotted the hardly visible letters of his last name. We took a picture to send to him. The morning was cold and rainy, and even as the rain stopped before we got to the cemetery, the ground was still wet. The place closely resembles a forest, much more than American cemeteries so my shoes got wet too. (Well, I figured out that my sneakers are not really waterproof for walking in wet grass.)
After a visit to the North Cemetery, Aunt Vera and Uncle Tolya dropped us off at Moscovskoye cemetery where my father’s grandmother is buried. There was a cool computer system by the entrance that shows who is buried where and gives a convenient map. We found our California relative’s mother’s grave easily using it – which I don’t think we would have without this computer. Nine years ago, Papa and I searched for a hour to find my great-grandmother Fanya’s grave. There is a new stone on it now. This cemetery also has graves of famous people, writers and politicians – so we looked a bit at those too.
After all the visits, which took up the whole morning, we took a Metro to Kastrychnenskaya to the city center. All the metro stops and announcements are now in Belarusian. Metro still looks ridiculously pretty with all the marble and it still smell the same (the train smell, still familiar after so many years away).
Papa wanted to try McDonalds here to compare – he thought the products should be tastier here, made of local ingredients. I haven’t had a Big Mac in four years (there only thing I get at McDonalds now are ice-cream and hash browns) but I got it now. It all tastes exactly the same. Hopefully, he got it out of his system so now I could just have Belarusian food – like more potatoes.
After lunch, we went shopping at the a sort of Russian mall, with a little bit of everything. I bought two little notebooks and a planner that every schoolchild uses (it also records grades and parents have to sign it every week). This dnevnik (or ‘daily’) is in Belarusian now too with national anthem on the inside cover. I bought a little owl for Marianna, Russian Tarot cards for Medusa, and a Minsk magnet and a city coat of arms magnet for myself. Papa also saw a cross-stitch kit of a monkey with a banana which I bought to make for him. I might buy some Russian theme cross-stitch later.
Then we walked to Nemiga street – it is a shorter walk than I remember – and went to the store there. (Mama loves shopping, Papa and I not so much but a little shopping must be done). I got two pencil cases for Kid and her brother and I found the robe I liked at Katya’s the night before –one with a zipper and no sleeves. We ran into a girl who was with us on a plane to Minsk. I also bought napkins and table cover in traditional design with “Minsk” written on it in Belarusian for Bear’s parents. And I saw a teatowel with polar bears with a big heart and love written on it – which I just had to get too. It was very very hot in the store and my parents still wanted to do a bit more shopping, so I took our big bags of purchases and went to Katya’s apartment a minute away. I started my monkey cross-stitch there. It is very small and I want to finish it here.
Then we took the Metro to Aunt Vera’s. Mama went to get a manicure and Papa and I went home to eat. Once Mama got back we went for a walk to our old neighborhood. We went through our yard to a local grocery store. The design is the same, there is just more food. The bread is in the same place. Then we passed my old kindergarden/day care and crossed to the corner of Pushkin street. We were too tired to walk all the way back so we took a trolleybus.
Tried calling Bear, couldn’t reach him. He did write a nice long email though. I’m walking a lot again, I do like that but my feet hurt nicely. I watched a bit of History Chanel with my Uncle once my parents went to sleep - Japan was signing a treaty on “Missouri” to end WWII – and also a bit of British version of “Who Do You Think You Are.” That was kind of fun.