R and R

The first year of our contract is now done and that brought our first R and R trip. We decide some time ago to go to the States for a month and in particular to spend a promised Christmas with one Grand daughter, Lilly. We left Moscow on Thanksgiving day and arrived in Jacksonville later, much later, that day. We spent the night and part of the next day with brother Duncan and his family. We then headed to Dowling Park in a borrowed truck to spend an extended weekend with Mom and Dad Bell. Older sister Alyson and her hubby Richard arrived on Saturday. We had a wonderful visit and were sad to leave. We spent an extra day with Dunc and Kim on our way back through.

Off to OKC to spend a couple of weeks with Renee's family. Seems we were never stopped with visits, doctor, dentist, chiropractor, eye exams, CPA, storage shed.....
We got to see just about everyone and wished we had additional time with with everyone. I even had a chance to take the Sporty out for a spin.

On the 19th of December we flew to Seattle for the week. Shaun and Britty both live there now so it made visiting easy. We spent some wonderful time with little Lilly Bug.

After a day back in Oklahoma we hit the plane on Christmas morning to go back to Moscow. Flights were mostly uneventful and we actually got in an hour early.

One of the things I forgot to mention in the last post was a quick trip to Finland. It was actually Embassy related and a good excuse to get away. The trip took me through St. Petersburg but did not get much time there. Like Helsinki, just enough to want to go back.

Looks like the photo situation has been solved so lots to catch up on: Picasaweb.google.com/hairynleggz or the link on the right.

A bit of catch up

It's been a while since the last entry. I'm having some issues with the Picasa web site so no photos right now. We made several trips to the Dacha since September. It sure is a nice place to relax and just get away. We took Dice out and she sure had a great time wandering the fenced in area. We also spent a last weekend with friends Mike and Sara. By the time we get from R and R Mike will be heading back to the States and Sara not far behind. One of the downers of our work, making friends and then they leave.

We also had the pleasure of attending our first Marine Birthday Ball. This very formal affair called for the formal kilt to be sent from the US. Photos as soon as I can post them.

I also had my debut with the local house band. Uncle Sam's Band now has a harmonica player.

Check out the two new blog links, on for our friends in Moscow http://chris-n-kala.blogspot.comand the other belongs to intrepid wanderer Suzy http://www.dreamnbig.blogspot.com/

Spartak - CSKA Football match

Red Sox - Yankees, Bears - Packers, Carolina - Duke, Rangers - Celtic, that is the level of rivalry for this Soccer match. One of my fellow workers here has some Russian friends that asked if we wanted to attend when they found out my love for soccer. This is a huge game with all the goings on that surround European matches. I checked with our security folks and said just be careful and follow the normal "hide in the crowd" guidelines. Wouldn't you know the next day a notice came out to avoid the area due to "skin heads" and other security risks mainly rowdy fans, many of who take things way to far. We had tickets and were commited so off we went with assurances from our Russian guides that if we didn't look for trouble we would be fine. The Metro was as packed as I have ever seen it, full of chanting fans from both teams. The riot police were out in full force. There were several "incidents" at the metro stops and we saw some unfortunate folks being lead off in cuffs.
We only had one "oh shit" moment when a big drunk guy came against the flow of fans and grabbed a kids scarf right in front of me. Our friends pushed us to the wall and hurried us on. We passed Militia and Army stationed all along the entry to the stadium area. There were no more problems. The game was great ending in a 2-2 draw, probably the best result for a safe exit. They emptied the stadium a section at a time so we sat for over an hour before leaving. We avoided the Metro on the way out by getting a Gypsy cab (unsanctioned taxi) for the ride home.


My first European Match was an exciting time. I shot some very rough video and some photos, here.

Saturday, in the park, you think it was the Fourth of July...

Seems we spent the whole day in two parks and they were on opposite sides of town. We had our last softball game of the summer at the northern most stop on the Green line (that's Metro speak). After that the fearsome foursome went to almost the southern tip of the Green line to the Honey Festival. We found the park with some helpful locals, yes they do exists here. We entered Lipki Park on the NW end and walked almost to the Moscow River to a large exhibit area. Inside were hundreds of honey vendors. As you passed each vendor you had the opportunity to taste the honey with a small disposable stick. I'm not a big honey person but some were quite good. The vendors were from many different areas and used different flowers to make the honey. There was even some honey wine. Renee tried it and lets just say not good.


After getting our fill of honey we hit the shashlik stands for lunch then wandered the remains of the park. It was odd to find signage in English. There were several beautiful churches on the grounds in varying states of refurbishing or remont as they say here. There was also a log cabin once used by Peter the Great. We wandered for several hours and as we were leaving noticed a group of American Indian style dancers. There is the thought that Native Americans crossed the Bearing Streight when it was a land bridge from Russia. It was nice to sit on the Metro for the ride home after a long day of walking.

Lots more photos here!

August goings on

A few things happening this month here in Moscow. The first weekend several of us took a trip to the Embassy Dacha. Dacha is the term used by Russians for their get a way or summer places. They very from crudely built shacks to fancy homes. The Embassy Dacha is a single level log cabin maybe about 2500 sq ft. It has a large function room and multiple bed rooms. There is a large outdoor patio area and several acres of tree and grass area. It is still in the city but you would never know it. We barbecued and played some games and just enjoyed the evening. Saturday we walked along the Moscow River and just enjoyed a relaxing day.


We also said good by to friends Pete and Cecile as they start a new adventure in China. We will miss them. We also joined in on a scavenger hunt sponsored by the Embassy. Clues took us all over Moscow, great fun.





Last night there was a fund raiser poker game for a fellow worker hurt in a motorcycle wreck here. Guess who won!.

Final news is Renee is going to start a new job. No more washing windows and scrubbing toilets.

Check out more photos.

Summer in Moscow

Not been in the mood to blog lately so just a quick "catch up". Weather has been wonderful with a few warmer days, nothing like back home in OKC. Tends to be 80s in the day and cools off nicely at night. There has been some rain. No major fires close this year. We have spent time walking and I just purchased a couple of used bikes. We visited Red Square again, so different in the Summer. We often walk the Old Arbat which is the stereotypical European street with vendors and street performers. Check out the Bagpiper:



I play soft ball with the Marines every Saturday and we are headed to the Dacha this weekend. I'll try to be a better blogger....

Happy Father's day and Happy birthday!

Happy Father's day to my Pop and Happy birthday to my Mom. Mom's birthday great was a little late (16 June), but our family has a 30 day window on that sort of thing!

It's wonderful to have my folks, they've always been such a big influence on my life.

Thanks to both of you!