A Trip to the Big City

About a week after we arrived back in Russia, Shane was required to travel to Bryansk, to a government building to sign a paper. Whenever we make our 8-hour van trip to or from the airport in Moscow, we pass by Bryansk, but our drivers never stop. So, we made a family trip out of it.
 
If I remember that day correctly, the drive to Bryansk from our house took about an hour and a half. Our company interpreter lives there, so instead of catching the company commute to our farm that day, he stayed in Bryansk and we met him at a bus stop. I jumped in the back seat with the girls and held Echo on my lap. It was a double bonus for her--she got to get out of her carseat, AND she got to sit on Mom's lap.
 
First, a small introduction of our interpreter is necessary. His name is Dima, and we are very lucky to have him as our interpreter. He was born in Kazakhstan, where he lived for the first 5 years of his life. Then he and his family moved to Bryansk. He is very intelligent and a good friend to our family. He helped navigate Shane through traffic, which is more than a little tricky. But we arrived at the government building without as much as a fender bender. Whew!


Shane and Dima in the front navigating traffic.

 
We went in the building and entered a hallway with chairs facing some office doors. There were several men seated on the chairs in the hall, apparently waiting their turn for an appointment. We walked up and down the hall a couple times as Dima made a few inquiries. The men waiting in the hallway watched our comical procession up and down the hall until we also took a seat. No sooner were we seated when Mesa told me she needed a bathroom - NOW! Dima asked for one, but without success, and since we were waiting for an appointment, we couldn't exactly leave to look for one.
 
Now, this topic needs to be expounded upon a little more so you can appreciate my situation. One of my frustrations here is that it doesn't matter where I am, sooner or later, one of the girls will need a bathroom. And when it happens, it's as if the girls just asked me to go skydiving or something, since I am struck with something akin to a small panic attack. It's not exactly like Walmart, or the local grocery store, where there are restrooms publicly marked, fairly easy to find, and you can ask any associate, in English, and they will point the way. But no, here I am instantly sent on an Indiana Jones endeavor to find some semblance of a porcelain throne, in a different country and in a foreign language. And I know that I have about T minus 42 seconds from the time they ask before it's too late, and to top it off, when one girl says the magic word, ALL THREE have to come, TOO!
 
So, back to the moment where I am sitting in this hallway, with several Russian men scattered up and down the hallway, no restroom in sight, and I am in the middle of the city. It's not exactly like I can pull over and find a bushy sagebrush. So, I grab Mesa's hand, demand that Shane keep Rain and Echo, and I troop bravely back out of the building, without the slightest clue of what I am going to do. I look around me as I walk back towards our truck, pseudo-confidently, as if I know what I'm doing. I glance around at the cars parked around me, the people loitering about, the apartment buildings across the street. And since I knew I was running out of time and ideas, I marched Mesa over to our truck, tried to shield her as much as possible and we did our business by the tire. Breathing a quick sigh of relief, and with a little squirt of hand sanitizer, we headed back to the building. We walked pass the men, still waiting, and before I even sat down, Rain insisted she needed to go as well. Out we went again, same routine, and then back into the building. Only this time, by the time we got back in, Shane, Dima, and the other girls were gone. I had no idea where they went, how long they would be gone, or what I was supposed to do. So we just sat in our little chairs and waited. Thankfully, it wasn't too long before they returned, and that was it. Papers signed, and Shane had his official employment card for the Bryansk region.
 
Next, shopping. We decided to try some of the bigger stores in the area since there would be more selection, AND we were armed with an interpreter. My first item to find was a bookshelf. I really wanted something to help me organize the house. But our search was mostly in vain. Most of the stores didn't carry any, or there was only one odd style in the inventory, or it was outrageously priced. There was one store where we almost purchased one, but it would take about 4 weeks to get it produced at the factory, and then Shane would have to go back to Bryansk to pick it up. Not exactly a feasible option. So we decided to wait. I thought about just making my own with some plain old lumber, but Dima, nor his father whom he called, knew of anyplace in the city that sold lumber. Really? Maybe the DIY trend hasn't quite hit our area yet. Perhaps I ought to open a Home Depot here. “You Can Do It, We Can Help”

After that, it was lunch time. Dima took us to an awesome little restaurant called Pizza Hat. No, that's not a typo. It was a Mexican-themed pizza place. There was a huge sombrero hat on the building, and inside was all western decor. I should have taken a picture. But sorry, amigo, no burritos, taquitos, or nachos sold here. But, they made a very excellent Russian pizza. We bought two, and some cheese-stuffed rolls that were excellent.


Yay for food that was almost like home! The girls had fun eating out.

 

 

And believe it or not, the mural on the wall was . . . The Grand Canyon. It was almost as if I was home. We ate until we were stuffed and then left to do our grocery shopping.


Mural on wall at the restaurant

I can't remember the name of this particular grocery store at which we shopped, but it was by far the biggest one we have visited thus far. I would've taken pictures, but there was a sign forbidding it. I didn't want to cause problems, especially after security at the door got after us for putting the girls in the body of the cart, and not in the seat. Oops.

We had only passed down the first aisle and guess what . . . yep, the girls needed the bathroom again. This time I took them both to save time, and Dima gave me directions. I still had a little trouble finding it because they are usually unmarked and in odd locations. I asked some lady associates on break, and one of them took pity on me and pointed the way, and even threw me the roll of toilet paper sitting by her. This was good because I hadn't restocked my purse supply of wipes/TP. Just a tip: bring your own toilet paper because more than likely there won't be any in the stall. And don’t bother checking the hand paper towel slot, they are gone, too. (One time the girls Mom was lucky because I had a small pack of Kleenex's in my purse. Lesson learned.)

We all finally rejoined Shane and Dima who had made it through half of the store. I was quite disappointed that I was missing the guided tour Dima was giving us. Half the time, I'm not sure what I'm buying, and so I was really anxious to find more familiar products, like sour cream, cream cheese, etc. And he was giving good advice about which products to avoid, how to check the expiration dates, etc. I wanted to take notes. But it was not to be because Echo had a messy diaper and it had started to leak through her clothes. The diaper bag was in the truck, so off I went again, out to the parking lot to change her. By the time I got back in, it was really pointless to jump back into the conversation. The shopping was mostly done, and the girls were tired of walking around. So, we checked out and left.

Dima was good about pointing out landmarks and such as we drove. I was not so good at writing them down.


Russian Theatre for Young People

 


Monument?

 


I'll have to ask again which building this one is. I think it was another theater.

 


Just city snapshots

 

 


Typical Russian apartment building

 

 


Little shops along the road

 


It was nice to have someone else to take a picture for us. I rarely get in front of the camera. Thanks, Dima!

 


The girls loved the pigeons. Echo is getting so big. You can see she is actually "running" with the big girls.

 


I wish I had pulled out some bread so they could feed the pigeons. Next time.

 


War monument

 


Another family picture. Yes, Rain is pouting.

It would have been fun to sightsee more, since we never get to Bryansk, but the girls were tired, and I think Shane was done driving in traffic. So we ran a quick errand with Dima and then we dropped him off at the Miratorg office buildings. We got to meet the ladies in the HR department that I correspond with frequently, but have never met personally. They liked our girls and gave them each a water bottle for the ride back home.
 
 
It was another fun adventure, even with our restroom escapades as well. Another note to ease some worries about the public restrooms. You might remember the post with “The Hole”, but fear not, most of the restrooms we have found since then do not even come close to that. In fact, some are quite nice. I’ve included a picture of a restroom at the furniture outlet stores. The only thing I couldn’t quite understand, was why they chose to finish the ceiling in flat reflective metal slats. One only needed to look up and see a very clear reflection of everything in the two stalls on the left, as well as the right. I thought it an odd choice of finish and was glad we were the only occupants at the time.
 


Very respectable restroom facilities



I should have turned the flash off before I took the picture, but you get the idea. Every stall is clearly reflected onto the ceiling 

Well, that’s it for now. There are so many things to post, but they will have to wait until later.

P.S. I apologize that my photos are getting blurry. My children loved my camera too much and now my lens is worn and leaves a fuzzy circle in the middle of my pictures. Maybe Santa will fix my lens for Christmas. =)