Apartment Tour!

Welcome to our new home!  Here's a short tour to show you where we live in Moscow.  Hope you enjoy it.

Sunday Tea!

My favorite meal of the week is Sunday tea.  A hangover from my family's England days.  I always enjoyed having tea, crisps, cheese, fresh bread, egg salad, and sausage rolls.  As Rachel and I make our new home in Moscow we've decided to make Sunday tea one of those traditions that we hope our children can enjoy when they're grown up.

Although the food (and tea!) itself is essential, what makes it even more fun is praying a vespers service from the book of common prayer, reading some scripture, and then talking about God.

The next time you are in Moscow swing by on a Sunday night and break some (freshly baked) bread with us!

-Dan 

Using One's Noggin'

Translation:  V. P. Nogin

-rkc

Happy Birthday Dan!

October 9th was a big night at 173 Bolshaya Cherkizovskaya.  The little apartment rang with good conversation, games, and a thundering round of Happy Birthday, half in English, half in Russian.  Birthdays are a big deal in Russian culture:  one spends all day preparing food and desserts for all of your guests to enjoy, cleaning the apartment, and thinking up toasts and happy wishes for all invited.  We were no exception!  I started preparations at 10:00 am, and finished up as guests started arriving at 7:00 pm!  But the caviar and crackers, chicken fajitas with homemade tortillas, fresh salsa of all natural ingredients, sliced $6 avacado (a rare find here, but worth every rouble!), pan seared Kubanski peppers and onions, hot tea with sugar, lots of local cookies and treats, and a double decker chocolate chip cookie cake (courtesy of our teammate Kim,) made the day very memorable for all.  

Here are some moments from the evening.  I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

The boys (from left to right Egor, Chris, Dan, Yan)... and Dahsa enjoy the appetizers and some Pepsi.

Dan and Robi dig into some black caviar, a tasty treat served at most big occasions.

Yan built this delicious fortress out of the cookies and treats available.  He's in a prep school to become an engineer and constructor one day.  Off to a good start!

Our teammate Kim and her oh-so-fabulous-cake, complete with icing spelling С Днем Рождения Данил!  (Happy Birthday Daniel!)

Dan managed to blow out almost all of his imaginary candles.  He missed two.  Better luck next year.

Our happy crew enjoying tea and cake after a round of pictionary.

Happy Birthday, Dan.  And many more.

-rkc

Dasha Cherripasha

Meet Dasha, our youngest roommate, at just 8 years of age, known as Daria to her teachers and acquaintances, Dasha to her friends and family, and Dahsa Cherripasha (Dasha Turtle) to her Dad, Slava.  Quite the bubbling ball of energy and excitement, like most 8 year olds, she's eager to try anything that looks fun or entertaining, with unending commentary for any adventure.  She's a constant chatterbox, full of stories ranging from lunch in the cafeteria that day, to finding dragons' eggs at show and tell.  We've enjoyed helping Dasha with her homework this semester; she attends an American Christian school here in Moscow, so actually speaks both English and Russian very proficiently.  Her spelling and vocabulary lessons are much more fun when we reverse roles and Dasha teaches us, well, much more fun for her anyway...  We're so thankful for Dasha, and have enjoyed our days seeing life through her eyes here.  Please pray for Dasha, that she would listen and obey her parents, that she would grow in her knowledge of a God who cares for her and hears her every word, and that her overflowing joy for life and adventure would remain with her all of her days.

(Yes, she's literally climbing the walls... welcome to our family stay...)

-rkc   

Slava

Who is Slava?

The father of our Russian family is called Slava.  Slava works hard.  He works most days at a men’s clothing retailer and often works 24-hr shifts at the American Christian school as a security guard.  We really haven’t been able to figure out when he sleeps.  When he’s home he is kind, fun, and always smiling.  Usually he arrives hungry sometime after everyone else has already had dinner.  When the kids are doing their homework in the other room, I’ll often sit with Slava in the kitchen drinking tea, eating an omelet, and listening to him tell stories.

 

Where’s he from?

Before moving to Moscow, Slava and Sveta lived in Baku, Azerbaijan.  They have fond memories of warm weather, watermelon, friendly neighbors, and trips to the sea.  Slava served in the Soviet army before the fall of communism.  He was trained as a radio operator and was about to be sent to the war in Afghanistan when the government began unraveling.  He moved to Moscow and joined a friend in a venture selling various things at the six stores they owned in town.  In the post-communist chaos they were making a good living providing the clothes and products that were hard to find in most stores during that time.

 

Jacket = Car

One day, in the early 90s, a old, scruffy-looking man with a backpack came to their store wanting to try on a leather jacket.  Slava and his business partner Pushkin looked at the man skeptically but gave him the jacket to try on.  The man said “I’ll take it” and opened his backpack that was full of cash.  Pushkin took the money from that sale and went and bought a car with it the next day. 

 

The 1998 economic crash

Slava and Pushkin had 6 stores full of men’s clothing that they had purchased with dollars.  Overnight the ruble dipped to about a sixth of what is was worth the day before.  Sveta’s family had sold their car and put the savings into a bank, the next morning they woke up to find that their account had gone down to just a few dollars worth of rubles.  Slava and his partner lost an estimated $600,000 and were stuck with a bunch of men’s clothes that no one was buying.  They eventually had to shut down all but one store.  It was a good week when they could sell one pair of pants.

 

Paying taxes

In the 90s almost no one paid any taxes.  The government was so disorganized that they never knew who wasn’t paying.  Sending taxes in just caught the attention of the tax ministries.  If a tax collector did come they would pay him some arbitrary amount (which went into his pocket).  One day Slava decided to figure out how much it would cost the business to pay all of their taxes to see if it was even feasible.  After a long time of adding everything up he determined that to be above board they would have to pay 118% of everything they sold as tax.

 

Police protection racket

One day the police came to their one remaining store and asked if they had paid their taxes.  Of course they hadn’t so the cops told them that there was a $1,000 fine.  When they said that they couldn’t afford $1,000 the officer said “Listen, we’re in the same boat as you, our police station burned down and we can’t afford to build a new one.  The government won’t give us any money.  Now we’ve figured out that we need $150,000 to build a new station, so we are going to all of the 150 stores in our district and taking $1,000.”  Slava and Pushkin refused and tried to figure out a way not to have to pay them.  Eventually the cops won, shutting down their store and taking away their business license.

-drc

Michael Jackson Sighting!

Just outside the American Embassy, the Russian people have constructed their own memorial to the man, the myth, the legend, Michael Jackson. If you're in the area, bring some flowers, a picture, or your own poem to commemorate "the man in the mirror."

Michael Jackson,

From Russia with love...

-rkc