I thought I would give you some details on where we are living during our stay in Semey. We have a very nice apartment, which is new and we are the first to live in it. We have a very large living room, a bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, and WC. My mother has the bedroom and I have been sleeping on the couch – it is a sleeper, but I don’t really bother with pulling it out. We also have a washing machine, but no dryer. Surprisingly, though the clothes dry pretty fast. It is also amazing to see how many people hang their clothes out to dry even when it is below freezing here.
The shower is extremely hi-tech – has a panel for lights, radio, overhead shower, side nozzles, etc. What it doesn’t have though is hot water coming out of it! Two evenings ago, the hot water stopped and has not come back yet. Taking a freezing cold shower in the middle of a Siberian winter is not very pleasant and forget about washing your hair! Yesterday when I told our translator about this she just smiled and said, “yes, this sometimes happen, but it will come back.” This morning I told her again and said that we really need to have someone look at it. Pasha to the rescue. Pasha is one of our drivers and Jack-of-all-Trades. He fixed our shower after our second day here when all the water was leaking out of the bottom of the shower – I flooded the bathroom floor and hallway my first morning here. He has helped to get me internet access at the apartment. I think he has been dispatched to almost everyone’s apartments for some sort of repair.
He just left my apartment where we discovered that the water tank in the WC was not plugged in because they never installed an outlet in that room. You can tell where they meant to put an outlet, just have not done that yet.
Twenty minutes later. We are waiting for another repairman and somehow Pasha, who only speaks Russian, and I have been conversing on all sorts of topics. Lots of charades happening. He did ask to see pictures of my home and family which I showed him. I also showed him pictures of other families that have adopted from Semey and their children. He was really excited to see them and remembered all of them – especially the men that he shared some vodka with and went to the Turkish Baths.
5 comments:
You seem to be settling in nicely. Your apartment looks great. I remember not having much hot water in Russia,too. They also gave us towels the size of wash clothes! It's amazing the people you have to support you, Pasha seems wonderful. Thanks for sharing all the wonderful details!
Hugs to all of you,
Joanie
I love reading your posts! It seems like everything is working out wonderfully. Mahabbat is beautiful! It won't be long before she'll have two or three outfit changes per day with you and your mom. Of course, I teared up when she called you "mamma". Morgan is sitting here with me reading the posts and is equally moved. Morgan said she's adorable and says "hi". Take care and you are in our daily prayers.
Love,
Jill and Morgan
Nice digs! Pasha sounds like a gem. I wish I had a Pasha here!
Linda, cool, thanks for the updates! ... but is it really a Siberian winter if you're not in Siberia? Just asking :-)
This sounds so much like my boarding school. We had no washer/dryer, and most of the time, no hot water. The radiant heat and the white window treatments look very familiar, too. These were the good old days... This trip is such a wonderful experience for you. One day you will tell your daughter all about it, and she will be fascinated by the stories from her past.
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