This morning, we all got up and Masha and I took Grisha to his Kindergarten party. All the children were dressed up in different costumes, and Grisha was a little clown. It was interesting to see what customs they have for the kids at Christmas, and who knew, Santa in Russia has an illegitimate granddaughter, Snegurochka. Unlike how in the US, we have Santa and Ms. Clause seen posing together in things, here, it’s the old man and the young girl wearing a triangular hat–with no Ms. Clause in sight. The granddaughter character was the host of the party this morning. After the party, I headed to Kurskaya to meet Evgeny for lunch. He’s had to go into work this week more because of some issues happening due to end of year. After lunch, I went to Red Square and watched figure skaters. They had a performance on the ice rink that’s set up on the Red Square for the winter. I also went by St. Basil’s Cathedral, and then over to Church of Christ of the Saviour. After getting a chocolate crepe, I headed back to the metro and went to Arbatskaya to wander around. I can’t believe how Moscow has changed. Being the 3rd time, each time I have seen such differences compared to the last. 
The biggest impressions was the emergence of such new upscale shopping areas, clothing outlets, and just newness over all that I hadn’t seen before. Impression #2, men are wearing a lot of dark colors/black (due to winter) and the women are wearing more fur than I’ve ever seen in my life. The good Russian hats are still popular than I’d ever imagine (seems so cliche!) After a walk here, I decided my legs had had enough and I took the metro back to Novogireevo.
Pediatrician
Today, Masha and I took Grisha to the pediatrician. It was quite an interesting experience to see what the doctor’s office looked like, and how they have documentation for his visit. Apparently in Russia there are districts that you are part of, and as such, you are assigned a specific doctor. So you have to wait for your specific district’s doctor to see you. She also had a book that had all these stamped documents of information about his shots, background, etc. After the pediatrician’s office, we came back home and had lunch. After lunch we headed out to take Grisha to a New Year’s party at Red Square. Here I met up with Evgeny and we walked around while Masha and Grisha were at their party. We then came back for a good dinner at the house and Katya joined us for the evening. It was so great to have everyone together and chat about everyone’s lives. We’re still waiting for the snow!
Arrival in Moscow
My flights yesterday went really well and were quite easy. Business class in Lufthansa was really nice. There was a remote control for my seat that actually made it lay out completely flat, and it even had a massage in the back of the chair! The movie selection was good as well, and I ended up staying up the entire flight mainly because the time of the flight was all day for me. Business class was pretty empty, and almost everyone sat by themselves (they’re usually pairs, meaning no one sat next to anyone, including myself.) Flying into Frankfurt was very beautiful. All the trees had been dusted with snow and it was a winter wonderland. I walked around the airport, found the showers, and had a nice hot shower to feel better about being on the plane for so long. I then had some bratwurst and sat at the ‘Goethe’ Bar and lounge and spoke to some people. There was a guy that randomly sat down next to me and he was from San Francisco as well. Throughout the airport, I felt like a poor american–our dollar has sunk so low that no one even wants it anymore. My bill at the Goethe bar was 6 euro, so when I said that I needed to pay in US$, they upped the price to a grand $15. I couldn’t believe it. For a currency that started off completely equal to US$ back in 2001, to seeing that now I was being charged almost double was gross! I then waited around until my next flight for Moscow was to leave, and I wrapped my gifts to be brought into Russia :) By this time, I was definitely tired, so I dozed on the 3 hour flight to Moscow. After we deplaned, we went to the passport control, and there were queues that looked endless. I chose a line that I thought would move fastest, and I could not believe how slow my line was. Not only was it the SLOWEST line, but I ended up being the absolute LAST person through–after 1:40, I finally made it through, which was fine, because Evgeny had been caught in traffic. At around 8pm, Evgeny and Katya came to pick me up, and we started our long journey back to their flat. I was energized by the excitement of seeing them, and I was so happy to be here again. More soon. (PS> I got through customs in a breeze).
Off to Russia!
So yesterday I spent all day tidying up the apartment so I have a nice clean apartment to come back to in the New Year. I also went around town today doing my last minute shopping/errands etc. So today I’ll get to fly to Russia and see Evgeny and his family/friends and spend Christmas and New Year’s together with them. Evgeny and I have written to each other since we were 12, and I remember letters saying I must experience a Russian Winter, so here I am, getting all my handwarmers/toe warmers etc ready for my journey to a Russian White Christmas. Stay tuned for our exciting adventures together!
Ginny’s Holiday Party
Tonight was Ginny’s Holiday party. When I arrived, there was a beautiful spread of great appetizers including meatballs, cheeses and crackers, all the while Charlie Brown’s Christmas Story was playing on the theater screen. I also saw another old colleague from APL, so it was a nice reunion for me. It was such a nice get together, and I look forward to our bowling night in January!
Mopeds to the Sandy Beach
Today, Steve and I decided to rent mopeds to scoot around Honolulu and explore past the city confines of Waikiki. The first place we went to was a very shabby looking shop run by a very pushy New Yorker type guy. When we were signing forms and such, it came to the insurance part, and fortunately, Steve is a lawyer, and actually reads the forms :) After he was reading through the forms, not only was the insurance part a little iffy (ie: you pay for insurance, and get coverage only after $3000 or something ridiculous like that–it’s a scooter!) but the guy kept pushing us to hurry up and sign–including the part where you’re supposed to mark the scratches/dents of the scooter. So Steve says, we’re not signing until we mark the damages, and the guy says, no sign first, and then you can come back in and mark the damages, it’s MY process. That made me nervous, and Steve says, it takes less than 2 minutes difference if we sign it before or after looking and marking the damages on the report, so that’s what we’re going to do. The guy is furious, rips up our contracts and says, listen, this is how I run my business, so why don’t you guys come back after you’ve run your own business so you understand what it’s like to have someone tell you the way to run their business. Perfectly, Steve says, well I’ve actually owned my own practice for 12 years, and I know to read thoroughly before signing :)
Sadly, that left us wondering where to find a legitimate place that wouldn’t try to take advantage of tourists, and we were directed to a place next to the hostel I stayed at the first time I was in Honolulu 2 years ago. A Japanese woman was running the place, so I got to speak in Japanese with her. Prices were better, and place seemed MUCH more legit, so we decided to take these. We hopped on and started to explore the eastern part of the island. We went through some really nice neighborhoods, then ended up going up over a small hill to a road that was much like the Pacific Coast Highway in California. We ended up stopping at some lookouts taking pictures, and then finding any beaches to take some time and hang out. The best one was ‘Sandy Beach’ which had great waves. After a while there, we continued on and found some other stop offs, but by the time we reached a far area, we thought it best to turn around and get closer to Waikiki so we can better time how long we have left with the scooters.
All in all we had a great time exploring on scooters, and it helped me decide that when I get back to San Francisco, I’m gonna get the scooter I’ve been wanting!
That evening, we went to meet Theo and Dave at Nobu for drinks, and then headed over to the Design Centre for appetizers.. which ended up being my dinner because I was absolutely starving. Dave & Theo lived in San Francisco before, so that’s how they knew Steve. After dinner we went to see their new condo, which was on the 23rd or so floor in this beautiful hires in Waikiki. It was really stunning. The views were gorgeous and I couldn’t imagine living in such a paradise.
Off to Hawaii!
The idea of going to Hawaii came up when I was leaving my previous employer, that I wanted to go somewhere to relax and enjoy myself. So the day after my final check arrived, I signed up for unemployment, and packed my bags for a little vacation to Hawaii! So this morning, Steve, a lawyer friend of mine, got a cab and picked me up for our little Hawaiian adventure. We arrived at the airport and boarded our flight and several hours later were touching down in Honolulu. When we landed, to save some cash, we opted to take the cheap shuttle bus to Waikiki, which was the biggest mistake ever. It took forever, and was completely not worth the savings on money, because after almost an hour and a half, we got out of the bus not at our hotel, but were in somewhat walking distance of where we thought our hotel was. 6 blocks later, we came to the same name of our hotel, and I was shocked, because it looked nothing like what the hotel was supposed to look like according to online pictures. We went in, and asked about the reservation, of course to not be found, and then found out that there’s yet another hotel, under the same name, just 2 more blocks down. So relieved that it was this bigger nicer hotel, we went over, got into our room, and unpacked to get ready for the beach.
We spent the rest of the day on the beach getting some sun, and enjoying the water, then grabbed some dinner and walked around the streets. It was so nice to be outside in the evening with shorts and sandals on–was perfect weather. We then thought about any other activities that we wanted to do before Steve was to leave, and I was to go to the Big Island, for my more ‘rugged’ adventure with my friend Tim.
Zipcar — Caught
Last weekend when I had my potluck, I had rented my zipcar to run the errands. This was the first time that I had waited out in front of my zipcar garage and not had the car waiting on me. Not only was it not there, but it took an extra 30 minutes before I got it (I contacted Zipcar and they said the other person was late). I thought it was odd that I wasn’t compensated for having to sit there for another 30 minutes waiting for this car, nor was I offered a driving credit–they simply just moved my reservation to the next time slot.
Anyhow, after I finished my errands, I made it back to my apartment in perfect timing to have the car back. So I parked it out front with the hazard lights as I went to deliver my items to my refrigerator. Once inside, the phone rang and I started talking about the evening, then I put the groceries away, then I wandered into my bedroom and continued picking up things. I then went for a shower, and you know, just took my time hanging out in my apartment making sure everything was ready. All the while, my little zipcar was sitting out front, completely abandoned, and completely charging me an arm and a leg for being late :(.
Right when I realized what I had done (it was only until I was walking outside to get a bag of ice, and saw my car sitting there, I raced as fast I could to drop the car off thinking, maybe they wouldn’t know, or that I could say, i was parked in the right spot, but I forgot to check it in, but nope. I couldn’t think of anything that would save this fault–My bill came and I was charged $100 late fee :( Lesson learned! PARK THE CAR!
Pot Luck
This weekend I put together a Pot Luck to have friends over who still hadn’t seen my apartment. I seemed to have spent all day cleaning the place, even though it’s not that dirty, but making sure everything’s neat and tidy really takes up a lot of time. Luckily, this party was a success, and people came right at 7 brining food from pizza, friend chicken, to brownies, tiramisu, and the appetizer type stuff of breads, dips and cheeses. So, I was very happy that everyone came around, and we had a nice evening filled with food. Even more exciting is showing off my new paint job in the Den/Dining Rooms. I’ll have to plan for the next one soon. Thanks to everyone who came by!
San Diego Convention
This week has been such a long and trying week. My first tradeshow with Ellex kicked off this week at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons in San Diego. Luckily, everything went as planned, and everyone seemed happy with our work. Another convention was going on at the same time–the Democratic Convention with Obama, Hilary, and others, along with a huge crowd coming to support them. On my way to lunch one afternoon, I walked by my friend Luke, who happened to be attending the democratic convention, which as most of you know, I run into the most people in such random ways! Friday night I went out with Lucas and Eve, two friends from my time in Sydney. We went to the most delicious sushi restaurant in La Jolla, and it was fantastic. It was great to catch up and see them and talk about how things are going with everyone.