Back to the Blog

"Last post on April 7" -- ack! That smarts!
I have left this blog thing for way too long without any additions. I guess my only explanation is that, with the spring weather, we've just had much more opportunity to get out, and there hasn't seemed to be any time to write an update. But I'll try to get back to basics and add short posts more frequently after this one.

For now, here is a digest of the news collected over the past month:

China
As our photos on Flickr help to show, we made a successful trip to China with colleagues from Vlad's diplomatic community in the first half of April. It was really a fascinating visit, moreso than either Dan or I (and probably Anya) ever expected. I guess neither of the two of us adults ever really took a special interest in China, and so perhaps we didn't know what to expect. And perhaps it was particularly interesting to take the trip from Russia, with all the comparisons and juxtapositions in the forefront of our minds. Whatever it was, we both really felt extremely curious to know more about the place, the culture, etc., and it felt like a refreshingly new environment, after our time in Russia, which of course is just the latest in a long history of traveling to the former Soviet Union and Eastern bloc for both of us.

Two impressions of China:
(a) Chinese people really do have a remarkable love of babies. The first time we got out of the bus on a city street in the town of Hunchun, we could barely walk around, because at every step someone -- interestingly, both women and men -- remarked at Anya, approached us, talked to us, spoke to Anya in an animated way, squealed with delight, touched Anya's cheeks, etc. I guess I can see how that would get old (we know one diplomatic family with kids who were in Beijing, and the kids started just slapping away the loving hands after a while!), but it was quite interesting, and marked for us on our short visit. It was definitely not the same response a baby inspires in Europe or America.

(Well, I'm sure the people in the rooms closest to ours in the hotel in Yanji were not professing a love of babies, especially on the second night. Somehow this part has faded in my memory, despite the fact that Anya's crying kept us up almost all night that second night. And I think both Dan and I would agree that the trip was worth it overall, although we were cursing the idea all through that terrible night. I'm not sure what the answer is for future trips -- always shelling out for a suite, with separate room for Anya to sleep in? I'm not sure whether it was tough for her to sleep with us right there in the room, or whether the problem was the unfamiliar place and noises...)

And (b) even in smaller (by Chinese standards) provincial cities, that sense of wide open boulevards and impressive -- perhaps even oppressive -- public space that I must have gotten from pictures of Beijing, was also confirmed. Public spaces were also remarkably quite clean and tidy. This probably interests us more because we were visiting from Russia: most Russians who heard we were going warned us to be careful, especially taking a baby, that "China is dirty." (This from people whose own city can kind of look like a garbage dump in places, of course. Some people from here are able to see that and feel badly about, but I guess enough do not recognize it.)

OK, probably not the most interesting observations to you, but that was what impressed us.

Also the trip was a fun chance to meet local folks, actually more local officials and honorary consuls of foreign countries who were Russian rather than other foreigners.

Getting Out

We've really been enjoying the chance to get out more here in Vlad, with the weather so much better. We've enjoyed the great outdoors at some spots outside of town, and we've tried several new restaurants and eateries in town. As you'll see from our recent photos, Anya is getting really tan from all of her time spent outdoors with us and with her nanny, Marina.

The weekend before May Day was gorgeous, and that Sunday it got into the mid-80s F -- actually quite hot! We started out with brunch at the crazy little Canadian hotel and restaurant outside of town that is our guilty pleasure, and we followed our meal with a stroll in the park near the water that I described in an earlier post (when we went for a winter walk there, with the ice skaters and the ice fishers and strollers out on the ice). It was such a lovely day -- the brunch place had tables out on the patio for the first time this season, and the park was great, everyone out with their picnics, obligatory 100 grams of vodka, etc., and even some brave sunbathers. By mid-afternoon we ended up at a colleague's dacha for barbecued pork and other goodies, which was also lots of fun. Anya had a great time just playing with the grass in the yard, the first time she experienced this green stuff.

In town, our spring outings pretty much began with the Indian Weekend -- 5 Indian navy ships visited Vlad for joint exercises with the Russian Pacific Navy Fleet, and there were several events in honor of this first visit of its kind. We took Anya to a presentation of Indian dance at the city theater, which she actually seemed to like. Probably the interesting shiny costumes and movement caught and held her attention. Dan and I got to attend a reception at a new Indian restaurant in town, which was fun and held great potential for future dining. (We also cooked our first Indian meal at home, but that belongs in a different section. See below.)

Since then we've also tried out a surprisingly successful local brew-pub type of place and a pretty good seafood restaurant whose interior was very pleasant. The funny thing about the latter is that it is almost the only real thing to go to that is within walking distance of our house (except the grocery store and little shopping center that we often go to, and have gone to from the time we first arrived, when we went everywhere on foot). For some reason we just hadn't made an effort to try the restaurant -- probably for fear that it would be overpriced and bad. But after Dan and a colleague stopped by and ran into a local official whom we met on our China trip and heard his high reviews of the place, we decided to try it. We were very happy with our meal -- an octopus appetizer, a mussel salad, a salmon steak entree, and a curry seafood dinner plate.

All of this exploring is aided by the fact that we put out a call for more babysitters, and we've tried two new ones in the past week. It helps to have a handful of names of interested and reliable people, since up to now we have really just had one woman to call upon for evenings.

Staying In

Since the kid does require us (or a proxy) to be here while she snoozes all night, we've also been trying to liven up evenings when we're stuck at home:

• We officially rang in the start of the 'cuing season with some mixed grill for dinner guests one Saturday and two delicious burger nights for me and Dan.
• On a warm evening while Melissa was visiting in mid-April we invented a new cocktail: the "Rumdowner." Dark rum, Grenadine, a dash of bitters, and peach juice, shaken over ice. Mmmmm... it has become a drink of choice to take out on the balcony on a light spring evening.
• As I mentioned above, after finding some key ingredients we finally made our signature Indian dishes -- dry spice-encrusted lamb, and bhagan bharta (eggplant puree). That took a trip to the meat market and getting over the weird fear that I still have about the open food markets. It is some combination of not wanting to get ripped off, not wanting to get sick from meat that is butchered or kept in the open market, and just generally not liking the attention that always gets thrown your way as a potential customer (and probably an obviously foreign one) in the markets. Dan forced me to go and participate in a purchase of lamb, which did help me, and now I try to go regularly to get our produce at this one market. Also the lamb dish requires curry leaves, which we found for sale in a freeze-dried form at the local Hari Krishna vegetarian restaurant. (!) The dishes themselves turned out great, even if the "lamb" was a little more toward mutton and next time could use a bit more stewing time. Now we need to branch out more within Madhur Jaffrey's repertoire and make some new dishes.