Sunday, December 5, 2010

Deck the halls!

We were forewarned....Moscow can be a land of inconvenience for American Ex-pats.  We moved into our new apartment on Saturday and thought we were thinking 10 steps ahead by having the Internet guys meet us first thing.  They did get our Internet up and running...but the minute they walked out the door...not so much.  I found myself scrambling to the window shouting down the street “Wait!!!”.  That apparently doesn’t translate so well in Russian...they were gone.  We now have Internet access for about 32 seconds then it conks out for an average of 47 minutes.  When the Internet is your life line to the outside world - you want the thing to work!  They will be back in the morning...

It brings me great joy, along with glad tidings, to tell you Christmas tress are available in Moscow!!!  Steve and I bought our mini live tree yesterday at OBI, Moscow’s version of Home Depot, (complete with orange decor).  We just had our traditional tree trimming party (it took all of 8 minutes).  The lights are a touch on the florescent side - but we were thrilled to even find lights!  We also found the cutest ornaments at IKEA made out of straw... 

Moscow is beautiful at Christmas time.  Lots of decorations and lights strung across most streets.  Christmas decorations are in the stores along with English speaking Christmas carols....it’s kind of amazing to hear Jingle Bells in a store while surrounded by Russian speakers who have no idea what “Jingle Bells” means. I love it as it makes me feel like home.  I’m attending a “See Russia” event tomorrow put on by the American Women’s Organization.  The topic is Russian Christmas traditions - can’t wait!