Христос Воскресе!

Today being the Orthodox Easter I decided to celebrate a little bit and made painted eggs. The traditional way of painting eggs is to boil them with onion skins. Last time I tried doing it, the eggs didn't paint because I think I didn't use enough onion skins. But yesterday I must've shelled all of our 2kg onion bag and the eggs turned out to be nice and red. My parents have actually followed the lent this year and went to church last night for the крёстный ход (walking around the church with candles at midnight) and today they're having a big Easter Sunday celebrations with friends and relies. To me it's one of the most beautiful traditions... it's at these moments when I feel sad that I'm far away from them. In my family we always celebrated various things with big parties and I always wish I was there for the get-togethers.

But I guess I can't complain - this week we've had sunshine and warm weather for the whole week. It's about 20 degrees outside today and very sunny. I was answering a questionnaire yesterday (as part of the 30 hours of experiment participation that I need to do for my degree), and to the statement "I try to think about the positive things in any situation as a means of coping with sadness" I answered 'yes'... I suppose it does help :)



Here's also an unrelated set of pictures of a first mince meat pie I ever made - from last weekend. Jack said it turned out good... so I suppose I'll do it again sometime.

Glass cutting - the evidence

Unix - the well travelled cat

Yes... our kitten (big fluffy cat) arrived last Friday after flying from Melb to Singapore to Frankfurt (where he had to go through EU quarantine) and finally to the Lufthansa Cargo in Berlin. He was a lot calmer than I expected and it didn't take him long to get accustomed to his new environment. His usual daily routine revolves around sleeping and eating... and occasional meowing when he decides that he wants a pat. One of his favourite positions is to be flat out on his back waiting for someone to give him a tummy rub.

In the beginning he couldn't get over the shiny black cupboards that we have in the kitchen, as he would constantly see his own reflection and must've thought that there's yet another cat here. He got used to his litter tray straight away, which is very nice for us. So far his two single favourite foods are raw chicken breast and beef jelly... he avoids eating the actual "meat" bits out of the canned cat food, but eats all the jelly around them :)

Some videos and pics for your viewing pleasure...

Pasta, Tourism in Russia, Bike-Riding and Melbski - here we come!

Yesterday I rode my bike to and from uni... in the morning it was sunny so it was actually a very nice relaxed ride. On the way back it rained a bit, so wasn't as nice... It takes about 1 hr each way... and if reasonably flat - apart from about two hills... Berlin being very flat - that's an anomaly. I felt very sporty and even considering investing in a helmet... prolly better to keep brain inside the skull rather than on the outside. It's about 11-12kms and the last 3 are on these cute cobble-stoned streets... very German-like :) A map on the left...


This is just an ad for 'Russia - as a tourist destination' that we saw when leaving actually to go to Russia in March... just downloaded the pic off my phone then... it's a funny ad... 'cos it says "Russia - the land between sea and more"... but it's a play on words 'cos in German sea (Meer) and more (Mehr) sounds almost identical.





Yesterday's lunch at the Mensa .... some sort of pasta with chicken... while eating it I totally forgot that there was meant to be chicken in it until I stumbled accross ONE piece... YEY!







Finally some more practical and perhaps useful info... we're coming to Australia. Arriving on Monday 11th of August VERY early in the morning (04:45) and leaving on Sat 30th of August at 22:50. We're really looking forward to catching up with everyone and we'll be organising actual catch-ups/get-togethers/drinkies/eaties/campies/whatnots closer to the dates!!!!! HOORAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

oh... and another funny Smoke on the Water made in Japan...

1x Beanbag, 1x Study, 1 x Coffeetable, Many x Tulips

We bought some very nice purple velvet at the Turkish market along with the material for the curtains. After searching for some time for 'bean-bag beans' I found a company in the Netherlands that were the cheapest... so I ordered 600 litres... which is what me and Jack worked out to be about right. However last Friday two HUGE bags of beans arrived and while filling up the beanbags our flat filled up with them too... so much so, that afterwards I needed to empty three vacuum cleaner containers out! But the result was not so bad - and the purple goes well with the couch. A zipper on one of the bags broke unfortunately while I was filling it, so I'll need to replace it. Oh... and we have enough beans left over probably for a bean-couch!



Over the weekend I also sorted out some of the boxes and other Kram (crap) in my study... and now it looks very livable-studyable. It was good timing too, 'cos uni started this Monday with my very first lesson being Italian - I was very lucky to get into that subject, 'cos normally 'outsiders' are not allowed... but I was early to enrol and everything seems fine - yey!

Seeing as we had a gazillion of all sorts of tiles left over... and some of the 'wrong' doors from our kitchen, Jack screwed one of these doors onto an el-cheapo IKEA coffee table and I got creative over the weekend... and now we have a coffee table :) Well the grouting still needs to dry for a couple of days, but otherwise it's done.

the initial design...



putting the tiles onto mortar...



before the black grouting...



and the finished product...



And of course no post would be complete without flowers. Today Jack brought home these wonderfully beautiful and sweet-smelling tulips :)

Siberian Sense

this is a blog where I'm translating a weekly column that my Dad writes in a local Novosibirsk newspaper. Some of the topics include: Russian education system reform, modern culture, individual vs. mass, philosophical ideas on happiness, etc. Some articles are Russia-specific, but most are really "contemporary human"-specific. The main reason I decided to undertake this is 'cos a) Jack had this brillian idea, and b) I think some of the things Dad writes are very relevant and interesting and would be of interest to a non-Russian speaking audience. :)

A rant about the flat or the story of monkeys and cocaine

Here's just an update on what's been happening with us... lots of small stuff...

I've been sewing curtains... phewww... and they're finally over! I think I don't want to see another curtain for a very very very long time. We bought an incredible length of this heavy dark brown silk (26 meters) ... we bought so much so that I could sew it double to keep out the sun in the early mornings. We also got 13 meters of white lace - this is something I NEVER EVER want to work with again.. .It's a pain in the bum... the material slides, refuses to take any shape for folds, it gets holes from pins that just stay there... you get the picture. But after all that the curtains are finally hanging and we were actually surprised how much more 'homely' the flat started to feel... There's definitely something about curtains



While making curtains I noticed how much static there is in our flat, and made a little video of it. Actually we notice it pretty much constantly... by getting zapped from every surface imaginable. I think we'll have to invest into some sort of anti-static slippers - do those exist?

Seeing as we had absolutely no chairs we decided to invest into a 16 EURs each IKEA chairs that Jack put together and I waxed them with wood wax to make them look not quite so raw.


before... and after ...


We ordered a lot of wooden beams and wooden boards, so that Jack can make us a table and a bed. The table has now officially been made and is big and comfortable.



In other news... last year while we were trying to still buy the other flat (read the Saga) we accepted and then cancelled a total of two mortgages... here in Germany you have 14 days to cancel something that you just bought... so thinking that we were about to sign a contract we wanted to have the money handy to move in asap. As that didn't work out - twice... we cancelled those then. Didn't hear anything from the bank... assumed that was cool. Not so quickly! While looking at our financial situation in the end of March I noticed an extra payment that has come out for a strange unknown amount.. so yeah - the bastards somehow didn't cancel one of the mortgages, even though our mortgage broker thinks they're BSing... but that also means that the saga continues and we actually have two mortgages... one for the place that we live in and another one for a place we don't even own. Hopefully the bank will pull the finger out and sort it out quickly.. but knowing banks somehow I doubt that :(

Last, but certainly not least - these kinds of experiments make me wonder - how does one come up with an idea to test this... ??? Subordinate Monkeys More Likely To Choose Cocaine Over Food

Pain

def. - when you stamp your wrist on a pincushion... pins pointing up... OOOOUUUCCCHHHH

100 Minutes of my life

First bike ride 2008

This morning I took my bike for a spin first time this year. The wind was still a little chilly, especially on my face, but it's such a good feeling to pedal along...mmmm. Over winter I also forgot how quick it is... I managed to ride to a doctor's office for referral, drop off our tax return at the Finanzamt, and pick up our R.E.M. tickets from Kreuzberg - all this in under an hour! I plan to try and ride to uni, but not sure if I'll manage - it'll prolly take just over an hour each way, but I guess it's not much quicker on the train - will have to give it a try... The R.E.M. concert will be in July in Waldbühne - it's an open air venue where we saw Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2006... really looking forward to it, they were great when we saw them in Melbski at Rod Laver.

Here's also the current always-flowers-at-home selection from my incredibly and mostly loved husband. The photo doesn't really do them justice - the flowers are almost round and heavy with lots of petals... and smell amazing. I am very spoilt. :)

deeper into Siberia - Altai mountains

The week before we left Novosibirsk, parents, Gleb and the two of us went to the Altai Mountains. These are mountains about 400kms south of Novosibirsk and close to the borders of Mongolia, China and Kazakhstan. Ever since I was a kid I dreamt of going there, as everyone kept on showing beautiful photos and telling stories of the icy cold river Katun and tall mountain Belukha. Where we were it wasn't quite in the mountains, but at their base about two hours north on the little lake called Aya.



We left Novosibirsk late on Tuesday night and got there early Wednesday morning. The bus trip was long and fairly painful... it was a pretty old bus, with crammed seats, with the heating going under every seat so hot that I was boiling in my t-shirt with about -10 outside. There were two drivers who were doing shifts and they both had very VERY bad music on going full blast and at every stop they kept on turning on the lights really brightly, so no-one could sleep. Oh, and they also took turns at smoking behind the wheel. :)

Thus we all got there being underlept, hot and grumpy... However almost immediately our mood changed for the better when we got to see what was in store. The way to our hotel took us over a hanging bridge, over the frozen Katun river...





Our hotel was pretty good - apart from serving cold porridge every morning that Jack refused to eat.. but Dad was happy to have an extra serving :) We spent our three days walking around, throwing each other in the snow, playing snowballs, drinking, eating, playing cards, talking, playing pool and table tennis, and generically relaxing.



Dad kept his Russian Army Officer's uniform on, and pretended to first be a new Russian and then a secret agent, talking to someone on the phone ;)



On one of the days Jack and I took a walk around the frozen lake. At this stage the weather was actually pretty warm - about 10 degrees and the lake started to melt... so on the way back there were a couple of hairy moments when we would step into the snow and fall through into a layer of freezing water underneath to about knee high. But we managed and it was fun. We even saw the back of a wild cat - I think it might've even been a little lynx.



Actually the places there are so incredibly beautiful that I'll stop rambling and just post the photos...






Because we were there in the beginning of spring and the weather was actually very warm for March, a lot of the snow was melting. In many places we saw little streams forming and these four were shining so beautifully in the sun and making such a cute sound that I decided to take a video...



Some "little things" too...
These little summer houses had the biggest satellite antennas - which was almost as big as the house... I guess even here one doesn't want to miss the Grand Final...

Even though the area is actually fairly clean, there are a few signs telling people off for throwing rubbish around, which reminded me of the good old soviet days where 'moral' signs were everywhere. It says "Don't pollute nature, don't throw rubbish! Fine for non compliance."

This was a huge sign from WWF indicating rules for appropriate behaviour in the area. Most of Altai is actually protected by UNESCO as a natural park, but I doubt anyone would ever spend the time reading something like that.

...speaks for itself (it says "beach opening hours...")