18 Sivan/31 May, 2010
May. 31st, 2010 11:00 pmHappy Birthday, Grandpa!
I think by the Jewish calendar, it is my birthday today (but it isn’t yet by the solar calendar so I’m not recognizing it). Today is actually my grandfather’s birthday – he turned 83. Papa and I called him on Skype. He asked my grandmother to buy him a new apron as his present – he cooks in that family. Tomorrow will be the last day of my twenties, I will not give that up. :)
Vika named her daughter Iris. A very pretty name.
Today was rainy again – not a pouring rain, more drizzling here and there and it wasn’t cold or anything, just gloomy. And I was in a grouchy mood a lot because most of the day involved Papa and I waiting for Mama.
We left home at around 9:30 to go to a store on Tanka street for Mama to look for a summer jacket. It was to be a simple thing – store, shop, go operation – that turned into afternoon since the store only opened at 11. So we walked toward Yama (Holocaust memorial) instead. That sculpture is just so touching. I noticed more detail in it like a pregnant woman and her husband touching her belly. The rain was appropriate.
( pictures of Yama memorial )
On the way back to the store, Mama noticed a hair salon and went to see how long it was until the next manicure appointment. It was really soon so we figured that it shouldn’t take a lot of time, so why not. Papa and I could go to a different store for a bit.
It took an hour. We went to a radio-technical store. We went to a little café and had a muffin and a cake dessert (it wasn’t all that good). And still we waited for Mama. I even looked into a movie theater to see all American movies on posters in Russian like “Sex in the Big City 2”.
( movie posters in Russian )
And after that and more waiting, there was still jacket shopping. Mama bought two jackets in two neighboring stores. By the time she was done, it was 1pm. By the time we stopped by the bread store by the bread factory and left the stuff at Katya’s and then went for our first touristy destination of Troitsky suburb (old Minsk really), it was 2pm.
At Troitsky we found a nice place to eat lunch. I had draniki again with a special sauce and salad. I’m determined to eat as many potato pancakes as I can. The portion was enormous. It was very delicious and very filling. It restaurants here, they mostly cook pork for meat – I try to avoid it. But sometimes they put it inside the potato pancakes.
After lunch, it was time to go to the café where I will have my birthday party. We had to pre-order some things like appetizers and drinks so that it would already be on the table. We had a nice girl, Julia, helping us with the selection. There will be 10 adults and 3 children. The café is called “My dear.”
Then we stopped by the main church. There are homeless people there. Then we went back to Troitsky for a more thorough look. I found a honey jar shaped a bit like a bear – the lid had two bear ears and the jar had bear eyes and paws painted on it. It says “Myed” (Honey) on the back. It is very cute and I had to buy it. We also found a very original art gallery by Ostashov with fairy tales like sculptures. Very cool art.
Mama wanted to go to Nemiga store again, so Papa and I waited at Katya’s for a hour or so. I took Lenya’s “Belorussian fairy tales” book and his Belorussian schoolbook – much easier Belorussian to read.
In the evening, I mostly hung out with Mama and Aunt Vera in the kitchen. I was looking at Lenya’s English textbook too and in their version of Goldilocks story little Bear and Goldilocks become the best of friends once little Bear finds Goldilocks sleeping in his bed. Even Disney have not white washed this story so much yet.
I think by the Jewish calendar, it is my birthday today (but it isn’t yet by the solar calendar so I’m not recognizing it). Today is actually my grandfather’s birthday – he turned 83. Papa and I called him on Skype. He asked my grandmother to buy him a new apron as his present – he cooks in that family. Tomorrow will be the last day of my twenties, I will not give that up. :)
Vika named her daughter Iris. A very pretty name.
Today was rainy again – not a pouring rain, more drizzling here and there and it wasn’t cold or anything, just gloomy. And I was in a grouchy mood a lot because most of the day involved Papa and I waiting for Mama.
We left home at around 9:30 to go to a store on Tanka street for Mama to look for a summer jacket. It was to be a simple thing – store, shop, go operation – that turned into afternoon since the store only opened at 11. So we walked toward Yama (Holocaust memorial) instead. That sculpture is just so touching. I noticed more detail in it like a pregnant woman and her husband touching her belly. The rain was appropriate.
( pictures of Yama memorial )
On the way back to the store, Mama noticed a hair salon and went to see how long it was until the next manicure appointment. It was really soon so we figured that it shouldn’t take a lot of time, so why not. Papa and I could go to a different store for a bit.
It took an hour. We went to a radio-technical store. We went to a little café and had a muffin and a cake dessert (it wasn’t all that good). And still we waited for Mama. I even looked into a movie theater to see all American movies on posters in Russian like “Sex in the Big City 2”.
( movie posters in Russian )
And after that and more waiting, there was still jacket shopping. Mama bought two jackets in two neighboring stores. By the time she was done, it was 1pm. By the time we stopped by the bread store by the bread factory and left the stuff at Katya’s and then went for our first touristy destination of Troitsky suburb (old Minsk really), it was 2pm.
At Troitsky we found a nice place to eat lunch. I had draniki again with a special sauce and salad. I’m determined to eat as many potato pancakes as I can. The portion was enormous. It was very delicious and very filling. It restaurants here, they mostly cook pork for meat – I try to avoid it. But sometimes they put it inside the potato pancakes.
After lunch, it was time to go to the café where I will have my birthday party. We had to pre-order some things like appetizers and drinks so that it would already be on the table. We had a nice girl, Julia, helping us with the selection. There will be 10 adults and 3 children. The café is called “My dear.”
Then we stopped by the main church. There are homeless people there. Then we went back to Troitsky for a more thorough look. I found a honey jar shaped a bit like a bear – the lid had two bear ears and the jar had bear eyes and paws painted on it. It says “Myed” (Honey) on the back. It is very cute and I had to buy it. We also found a very original art gallery by Ostashov with fairy tales like sculptures. Very cool art.
Mama wanted to go to Nemiga store again, so Papa and I waited at Katya’s for a hour or so. I took Lenya’s “Belorussian fairy tales” book and his Belorussian schoolbook – much easier Belorussian to read.
In the evening, I mostly hung out with Mama and Aunt Vera in the kitchen. I was looking at Lenya’s English textbook too and in their version of Goldilocks story little Bear and Goldilocks become the best of friends once little Bear finds Goldilocks sleeping in his bed. Even Disney have not white washed this story so much yet.