Trick or Treating

Halloween came early in Yuzhno! Our mid-term break for school is the week of Halloween, so our Olympia community families chose an alternate day for the kids to Trick or Treat since most families go on vacation. We had lots of fun Saturday! The rain stopped just before the kids were heading out, so could manage no jackets, just long sleeves/pants for the chilly temperature.

Gondola Ride

On Saturday afternoon, we went up the Gondola in town. There is a small ski hill in Yuzhno and they run the Gondola on the week-ends for locals to enjoy. There was quite a crowd. A ride up was 150 Roubles per person (about $5). The Gondola was made in Austria, so European construction felt safer than Russian. We stopped at the park at Bryan's office building afterwards to get some more Fall color pictures.

Fall Colors

The trees are starting to change to their Fall colors this week. I guess the snow gave them an incentive to change. The Aspens are still green, though. I'm hoping to get out to the mountains to see more colors in the next couple weeks.

SnowMan Family

The Wesley Snow Family!

Alyssa has been wanting to build a snowman ever since we told her we were moving to a place where it snows a lot! She got to build it quicker than we thought! We weren't expecting snow October 2nd.

SNOW!!

It is SNOWing on October 2nd, 2011 in Yuzhno, Sakhalin, Russia!
It started about 9am and is still going (it’s 2pm here). We probably have 3-4 inches so far. The flakes are huge!
Luckily, I put Alyssa’s snow gear in the Air shipment, because we are still a couple weeks away from getting our sea shipment. Unfortunately, I did not put all of mine in…….
Bryan left for the plant this morning (Sunday, Oct 2) so he missed the sledding fun. I’m sure he also has snow since he is north of us.

We came in for lunch and to warm up and are heading back out to build a snowman!

Tortillas Galore!

The ladies had a tortilla making day for the upcoming taco booth at a fundraising Bazaar. We made 300 tortillas! I've never made tortillas before, so I was learning all the stations. There was quite a system going and all went deliciously. My mouth was watering all day since I haven't eaten a tortilla in a month since we've been here. We got to munch on the ones that got ripped, so I might have pressed too hard on the tortilla press in order to get a bite!

Grocery Shopping

Grocery shopping is an all day ordeal. We have to go to 4 to 5 places to try to get all our groceries. No one store carries everything, but I have learned the ropes over the past few weeks and have gotten the hang of it. There are still a few places I won't go without a friend, but I can get by with visiting those infrequently. My Russian lessons are starting to pay off and I can actually ask some questions and figure out some of the answer. I really miss my Kroger store that was less than a mile from our house back home.
I am very grateful of our drivers. They take us anywhere we want to go and can maneuver the worst Yuzhno traffic.
So far, I've had good results with all the cooking and baking I've attempted. All the items are different, even the sugar, flour and oatmeal. I'm having to make everything from scratch since not any packaged foods available. If you have a favorite homemade recipe, please pass it to me.
I am still in sticker shock. Most of the items are 3 to 4 times more expensive here than back home. Some stuff you have to get, other things we just need to get by without. and some things are not even available to purchase here: brown sugar, vanilla, cocoa powder, baking powder, corn meal. We go to Tokyo in November for vacation and I hope to get some food there.