And so it begins....

Another Field Trip

At least the place wasn't so spooky or eerie.  My Russian teacher took us on another field trip, this time to the new Russian Orthodox cathedral in the villiage of Troitskoye.  The cathedral was named after national Russian hero Alexander Nevsky, and built to resemble tsars' palaces of the 16th century.  This cathedral is one of the four shrines planned as "border guards" of Russia (one each in the north, south, east and west).  Needless to say, it is a beautiful building. 

 inside the cathedral with the Отец (father)

 outside

 inside - notice there are no pews - they stand for the entire service

 view from the bell tower

one guy rings all the bells

yes, it was loud....my ears rang for the rest of the day :)

Spooky Field Trip

I thought this post would be a great one to save for Halloween.  My Russian teacher thought it would be fun to take us all to see a cemetery.  I wasn't that keen, as they aren't exactly my thing, but I had no good excuse to get out of it.  It turned out to be quite interesting.  Russians put a photo on the headstones, which is something I have not seen before.  Sometimes it's a small photo, and sometimes you will see large, elaborate carvings or statues of the person.  Also interesting:  Russian Orthodox bury their dead facing west, and they bring gifts, food and vodka on holidays, birthdays and anniversaries.  I took some photos of some of the more interesting plots.

 fake flowers are common, as is bringing food and vodka

 My teacher said that the pictures are often telling....notice he is standing by a car, talking on a cell phone with a beer in his hand....he died at a young age, so it's very possible that it was a car accident

 very large and elaborate statue

 the red stars signify a veteran

You get quite a bit of information from the headstones....this man was a pilot

Happy Halloween!

We actually carved pumpkins this year!  Well, Shane did it, and Adam and I watched.  I did have the job of "gutting" them (and then cooking and freezing the flesh for Thanksgiving pumpkin-pie...yummm).  No, you cannot find pumpkins like these in Sakhalin.  The Russian pumpkin is much smaller (about the size of a cantaloupe).  My friend brought the seeds back from California and her father grew them at his dacha (a Russian summer house).   I think our pumpkins turned out quite nicely....and Adam agrees!

Daddy and Adam showing off their carvings

 posing with his pumpkins

all lit up

my little Space Commander

Fall in Sakhalin

I think Fall is my favorite season in Sakhalin.  It's not too cold, the leaves turn beautiful colors, and the sun is out most of the time.  There are two things that are bad about Fall, though:  the flies, and the fact that it only lasts a few weeks.  We have to soak it in while it's here, because Winter is just around the corner!

 Pumpkins!

 changing leaves

 Family pic with our pumpkins

 Fall in Olympia

the downside of Fall.....flies!

Back to School

First day of school - Primary 2!

Cape Velikan

This was my first Summer in Sakhalin.  Last year, we went to Texas in August, but since we are all going there at Christmastime, we decided to stay in Sakhalin for the Summer.  The weather here in the Summer is fantastic!  I don't think it ever got above 85℉, and the sun was out most of the time.  Definitely not any where near the heat and humidity of Texas Summers.  

Since this may be our last Summer here, we decided to take a trip to Cape Velikan (meaning "giant" in Russian) in August.  It takes about 3 hours by car to get there, and it isn't an easy ride.  About 75% of it is off-road. There is a small beach, a river outlet (which had salmon spawning), and some interesting rock formations just off the coast.  The scenery and weather were beautiful, but the water was COLD!  

Here are some pictures from our day:

how to catch a salmon:  just reach down and grab it!

yes, the water is COLD!  

Shane trying to rock-climb with a certain monkey on his back :)

Adam watching our driver fish for salmon

Cape Velikan in the background

Catching up.....

Okay, my new project:  to update this blog.  It's pathetic, really.  I was so good about it for a long time, and then I got lazy.  In my last post, I was on a rant about our internet bill....yes, it's still the same....very expensive is an understatement.  Except now, we are not able to monitor it to see when we need to pay.  It makes things very exciting, which we need around here, I guess.

So what has been going on around here?  Just normal stuff, really....summer break, school starting back, holidays, work, etc.  Here are a few photos from the last several months to catch you up with our goings on.....:)

Getting ready for a school play last Spring

First lost tooth!

 Celebrating International Children's Day in June

 Testing out the bumper cars with Daddy this Summer

Riding the ferris wheel with Mom 

Enjoying the beautiful Sakhalin Summer weather

 In August, we took a quick trip to Korea to visit some Sakhalin friends

All the kids at the Dinosaur Park in Korea

Blogger vs. Facebook vs. Crazy Internet Rates

Did you think we fell off the map?  Nope, still here. I have been neglecting my blog for two reasons:  1) both of our parents have found Facebook, and 2) on March 1 of this year our internet provider changed and the rates went sky high.   Actually, the rates were already pretty high, but the new provider just realized that we found a nice loophole in our plan and remedied that.  We were on the "Unlimited Midnight-6 am" plan, which meant that we could use as much as we wanted between those times.  We had that plan because that was the only one that was fast enough to handle iTunes downloads (which is how we watch our favorite television shows).  The rest of the time, they charge us by our actual usage, or at least that's what they do now (the old provider never did).  That's right....no flat rate plans over here in the Siberian wasteland.  So if we don't watch it, we could be spending hundreds of dollars on internet each month.  Crazy, right?  I think so.  So something had to go.  It just so happened that right about this time my Mother-in-law joined Facebook, the last holdout from our family.  When I considered the time it takes to upload photos into Facebook vs. Blogger, Facebook won hands down.  I upload via iPhoto, and it takes seconds to do a whole album.  Blogger, however, was taking 10-20 minutes for just a few pictures.  And yes, our "fast" internet is still pretty darn slow.  Not that I'm complaining ;-)

Ski Season!

All the snow that fell in Yuzhno while we were gone means that it is prime ski season!  We have been skiing on the mountain every weekend and my neighbor and I have been cross country skiing in our compound when we can.  Skiing is one our favorite activities to do here, and we are trying to get as much in as we can before Spring arrives and all this nice snow turns to slush!

Cross-country skiing around Olympia

Kate and I at the base of the mountain

Shane and I at the base of the mountain

Shane and I at the halfway point with a pretty good view of Yuzhno

Shane the pro!

beautiful view from the top

I love the way the snow sticks to the trees

one of the trails

Back to Siberia, I mean Sakhalin

While we were in Hawaii, Sakhalin received massive amounts of snow, especially for this time of year.  When we got back, our house looked the same as it did at the end of March of last year.  There was at least 3.5 or 4 feet on the ground!  And it was still coming....there was a blizzard expected the night we arrived and it continued for 2 days.  Since then, the temperatures dropped.....WAY down.  I don't remember experiencing subzero (and I'm talking Fahrenheit, not Celsius) temperatures last year.  This morning my thermometer read -16 F!  Yikes, that's cold.  That's probably the coldest weather I've been in.  Last year the lowest I remember seeing was 1 or 2 degrees Fahrenheit.  So who knows what the rest of the Winter will bring us...all I know is I'm ready to hit the slopes!

Adam is dressed for the cold

Our house when we returned

The snow is piled up!

up to my elbows in snow

Adam and Shane sledding down the street

The Great King Gaspar

Adam's class put on a nativity play for the end-of-term assembly before the Christmas break.  Adam played the part of King Gaspar, and he was very proud.  He even had a line to say, which he did twice in case we didn't get it the first time!  The play was really cute and the kids did a great job.

Adam as King Gaspar

The Three Kings