Trip to Pushkin

So many of you may have noticed that due to our lack of posting activity you can determine two things-

1. Nikki is back at work and Josh is back in school full time and their lives have become far less worthy of blog posts.
2. We have been having so much fun that finding the time to post blogs has been impossible.

Unfortunately the former smells like the truth much more than the latter.

This last weekend we went to Pushkin about 25 kilometers outside the city, we took public transportation there, and learned that we should probably drive there in the future as we are sure we could get there in a quarter of the time of the metro/bus combination. Regardless it was probably one of the last beautiful days of the summer and we enjoyed a great walk outside in the marvelous parks of the Czars summer palace, you can learn more about the area here.

Here are some pictures we took around the gardens.

What would a run be without a dinner to celebrate?

After our race we took the opportunity to celebrate our victory with what else but a night out on the town! What is better then good food, good wine and fantastic company! We went to a new delicious Italian restaurant. You know you are at a nice restaurant when you set your purse down on the floor the waitress brings us over a stool for our bags! So fun!

And as if we needed anything after our wine the restaurant insisted that we try a special lemon drink to end the evening- Thankfully my wonderful husband took one for the Kaser team and drank mine!

10 K Fun

This weekend was the 10K celebrating women's health. What a perfect way to spend a sunny Saturday. The weather was perfect, not a cloud in the sky with a cool breeze keeping the temperatures more than favorable for running. My girlfriend and I ran together as part of the IWC group. Just to prove how small the world really is would you believe that Megan and I both went to Roanoke College! Here is the whole IWC gang before the race-

The race course took us through the city and by some of the beautiful sights. It was spectacular to run and not worry about cars running me over for once! In typical Russian style the start was mass chaos and at the first available point half of the crowd cheated by cutting the corners.

I am happy to report that Megan and I finished the race with no problems and without cheating!





Josh was unable to attend the race (because he has class of Saturdays!) But thankfully Megan's adorable family was there to meet us at the end!

Not a bad place to run is it?

Credit Security..?

Translation of a conversation this morning at the supermarket cash register... (I'll leave out the repeated lines from the clerk that I didn't understand the first time, or the lines I repeated that the clerk didn't understand due to my poor pronunciation.)

Me: May I pay with a card? (Always a good question as sometimes the machines are offline or broken)
Clerk: Of course.

Clerk rings up all the groceries and I finish bagging and the clerk announces the total, I hand her my credit card. Now like many credit cardholders in the US I do not sign the back of my cards but write in big block letters "SEE ID."

The clerk inspects the card, like most of them do and then runs it through her machine and hands me the touchpad and asks.

Clerk: Insert your Pin code.

Me: It is a credit card without Pin code.

Up to this point this is a fairly normal conversation when paying by card here, most Russians (and at least a couple of years ago Europeans for that matter) use what they call Visa electron or Visa plus cards which you and I would call debit cards attached to a checking account. My language tutor informed me that many Russians also use what we would call credit cards that are not tied to a checking account but a bank loan of some sort, but even those take Pin Codes for additional security.

Clerk: Your Documents please. (Also a fairly normal question when I don't use a pin code on my card.)

I hand her my Russian drivers license and a photocopy of my passport. The Russian drivers license has my name in Russian which unless she knows english phonics looks nothing like the english letters on my Visa, and of course the Passport is a perfect match to the Visa, but most clerks prefer the drivers license, anyhow.

All seems ok and the receipt prints off and she hands it to me to sign. I sign my name and hand it back to her, she looks at my signature and picks up her phone. She calls someone and whispers something very quickly, knowing the odds are I won't understand what she says. She is right.

Quickly the security guards come over and stand behind her. I ask?

Me: Does the card not work? (I know it did as the receipt I just signed has an approval code on it)

Clerk: Your signature does not match the signature on the back of the card. (She is holding the card away from me as if it is not mine)

Me: It is not my signature on the back of the card (this causes major consternation on her face and the security guards) I backpedal- What is on the card means that you should look at my documents and compare the photographs to me and not compare the signatures.

I am sweating, knowing full well they think I am committing credit card fraud, I start reaching for my cell phone to call the US Consulate and let them know I MAY be on my way to a Russian jail, a reoccurring nightmare of mine.

I throw on the counter all the documents in my wallet with my picture on them, and some without a picture at all and two other credit and debit cards and try to explain that SEE ID means to inspect the persons documents and is not really my signature. The other customers waiting behind me all have left to other lanes by now.

At this point another clerk comes over, one who I have had many times before and starts asking what is happening. The clerks discuss for a while. The original clerk asks.

Clerk- Can you sign on the receipt exactly what is written on the back of your card? (She is still holding the card away from me as if it is not mine)

Me- Yes.

Clerk prints off another receipt with signature line and carefully observes while I write in Big Block Letters on the signature line.... "S E E I D"

She is satisfied with the transaction returns my card and thanks me for shopping there and I wipe the sweat of my brow and grab my cart to get out of there.

Hopefully I only have to tell this story to the you guys on the blog, if I have to repeat it I fear it will be to the Visa Card company explaining why there is a double charge on my account as I guess technically I did sign two receipts.

Saint Peter's and Paul's Cathedral

Recently I went inside the Saint Peter's and Saint Paul's Cathedral, as the ticket wasn't comparatively inexpensive and they don't do discounts for students, or foreign residence or even for Russian citizens for that matter, I was quite surprised with myself that I actually shelled out the 7 bucks or so to get in, anyhow this cathedral is most famous for being the final resting place of the majority of the Romanov dynasty.

The ornate decorations were quite beautiful, but I suppose those revolutionaries in 1917-1918 knew what every visitor to this cathedral realises within a few minutes of entering the cathedral. That is the Romanov dynasty must come to an end as there is simply no more room for burial spots inside this cathedral.