Yekaterinburg

Zhenya and I just got back from a short trip to Yekaterinburg, which is one of the larger cities in Russia and located in the Ural mountain region about halfway between Moscow and Novosibirsk. The U.S. Consulate serving central and western Siberia is located here. Everyone who wants to visit the U.S. must go to an embassy or consulate for a personal interview and have fingerprints digitally recorded. Zhenya was given a tourist visa, so now we are able to visit the U.S. at any time for the next two years. Everyone who applies for a visa has to pay a non-refundable fee of $150, and many people are turned down. Unfortunately, the consulate will not give out a list of generally acceptable reasons for visiting the U.S. and the decision is based entirely on the evaluation the consulate officer makes (during a 2-minute interview) of whether the person is likely to return home or stay illegally in the U.S. They suggest bringing documentation that proves your ties to your home country, but in our case (and, it seems, in many cases) they don't even ask to see the documents. All applicants wait outside on the street until it's time for their interview, and for some reason, when we arrived they were not allowing anyone to bring anything inside with them except money and documents. There was no forewarning about this, and the Russian security guards would not take responsibility for left belongings. One woman left her purse with me while I stood outside waiting for Zhenya. Overall, not the most convenient of procedures, and we felt bad for a group of three young women who wanted to go to their friend's wedding in the U.S. but were all turned down. For the $450 they spent on applying for a visa, plus whatever travel expenses they had getting to Yekaterinburg, they could have bought their friend a nice wedding present! Travelling to Russia isn't easy either, and the process of getting an official invitation can take up to two months, but if you have all your documents in order you can be confident that you will be given a visa. The $150 fee, by the way, is reciprocal. I think I paid $135 for my visa when I came to Russia.

On to the photos!

At the train station:

A chapel in a park:

Old and new Yekaterinburg:

In a new shopping center:

Loving Michael Jackson:

The partially-melted remainder of an ice-sculpture contest at the Church on Blood. The cathedral was built in 2003 on the site of the murder of the last Tsar, Alexander II, and his family and servants in 1918.

A view of the Church on Blood:

A nice spot for a photo. Behind is the lake located in the center of town:

In the center of Yekaterinburg:

We're expecting!

The new year brought wonderful news: we are expecting our first child! As of today, Zhenya is three months and two days pregnant :)

Winter review - Orthodox baptism

On January 19th, Russians celebrate "Kresheniya" - or "Baptism of the Lord" as it's known in Western churches. The was the first time that I got to see people doing the traditionally Russian thing to do on this day: bathing outdoors in icy cold water. Actually, I didn't actually get to see it myself. Zhenya went close and took all the pictures, and I was stuck holding Macintosh under my coat to keep him from freezing, as it was -32C (-26F) and dogs in general are not invited to participate in religious events. We had been calmly eating breakfast at home when we saw that the road below had been blocked by the police. Before long, a procession came in to view, led by priests carrying crosses. We quickly dressed and went down to watch. There were heated tents set up for bathers to undress and stay warm until the last possible second. Even so, it takes a brave person to try this. It's no coincidence that an ambulance was standing close by, just in case!

Winter review - Macintosh

Our black poodle, Macintosh, is currently back with Zhenya's mom in Iskitim, and we miss him (especially Zhenya). He loves going out and running on the frozen bay, eating the snow and sometimes bringing back home a lumpy, frozen treat!

Winter review - holidays

Christmas and New Year's are long past and everyone here is looking forward to the beginning of Spring. But in an attempt to catch up with posting photos, here's just a few from the holidays. We had a wonderful few weeks and enjoyed having family visit us several times. We spent New Year's Eve (and all night) with Zhenya's sister Yulia and her husband Rafik.

Birthday and winter cooking

On my birthday we made homemade sushi. Zhenya also baked a delicious cake! The day also marked six months of being married! We celebrated with Yulia and Rafik, and they gave me a very thoughtfully created collage of photos from our wedding with an original poem composed for us by Yulia. What a lovely gift! By the way, this was the first time we had made sushi at home, and I only cut the rolls. Zhenya did all the rest. She also made the balloon flower! :)

First Days of December

Zhenya is making "vareniki", a half-round Russian dumpling. In this case we are filling them with mashed potatoes and onion. Other fillings include mushrooms, cabbage, and, if you like them sweeter, cottage cheese (more like ricotta).

The filling stage.

Ready for boiling.

Macintosh waited patiently for a dumpling. He got one or two eventually, after we had eaten all we could. People usually eat these with sour cream or melted butter.

Our view out the kitchen window. On Saturdays there's usually a lot of fisherman out on the lake, but this day was a record so far. Are there any fish left?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thinking of everyone in the USA today! I'm thankful for so many things this year, but most of all for finding my wonderful wife Zhenya and the happy first six months we've spent together. Today the weather was clear and cold, and we went for a walk to the center of little Berdsk to visit the Orthodox cathedral. Zhenya had been here before, but I hadn't. Then we went home to cook dinner. I was in the mood to do something in honor of Thanksgiving, so we roasted a chicken and made fresh cranberry sauce.