June 9

A day in Moscow in order--the day Christy insisted I take to re-visit the market Ismailova because I didn't buy enough the first time & the booths were mostly closed the first day we went. This time it was busy. Patrick & I waited 'til 10 a.m. to leave (after a phone call to the Mac store in Moscow); none of the kids wanted to come so Christy graciously stayed home to hold down the Elektrostal fort--no problems there. We arrived without any major crisis in just over an hour--nice timing. We started combing the stalls & aisles of the open outdoor market to see what we could find for me to take back to America for friends, family, & myself to commemorate this trip. It was fun & we asked prices, haggled, etc. for 4 hours with a short shashleek (grilled meat shish-ke-bob style). I was pleased with my outcome & got away with some Christmas shopping, too. I won't tell what all I bought since many of you will see it when I get home & some of it is surprises. It was a beautiful, sunny day to browse & spend money on Russian hand-crafted items. And Patrick is an excellent person to have when it comes to bartering at the marketplace.

Next we were off to one of the Mac stores to purchase the computer that will be the family's upgrade & option to use for the home-schooling they will do this coming fall. Without knowing the language or very foreign Russian alphabet, I had to make my brain work very hard to keep up with reading the map & the signs to find the way. Patrick would show me the way on the map & the street names to look for & then we'd go that far. Then he'd pull over again & show me the next part of the route & we'd do this over & over again 'til we reached our final destination in one of the downtown malls that has a Mac store. The sale went okay, but there were a couple of glitches in the purchase. However, the sale was finally made & we were able to load the new computer in the back of the huge trunk area of the Nissan Quest--this car needs a name, don't ya think? Maybe a contest is in order.

Now it was time to hop back into the van for the trip home. We left at 6:30 p.m. & didn't return 'til almost 9:30 p.m. because of traffic. It was Friday, so many are leaving the city from work, but also for their weekend dacha life. A dacha is a summer or retreat home that many go to for rest & relaxation away from their weekly life. Remember the trip to Moscow only took just over an hour.

Christy kept all the kids in order & we found out that Ethan & Megan are slowly befriending Alex, the bully again. Hopefully we can change his title from that one soon. He had a friend with a small moped & they took rides with him throughout the day. Madeleine shied away from those boys not being too sure about their character & intention. The computer was brought out for the ooh & ahh factor, but then packed back away for another day to unload & set up. I know . . .that's against many of your natures, but life must be put to bed occassionally at a decent hour & with tomorrow's plans coming quickly & early (for our lifestlye here). . .