Baba T. continues to be possibly the number one blessing for me here in Russia. She makes me laugh and spoils me rotten. While she was away for 2 ½ weeks in Moscow I often found myself saying “I'm starving, somebody better fix some food around here!”
Upon her return I was a bit anxious about her reaction to the 200 rotten onions, a broken tea pot and the fact that I was off in Tuva. When I returned from Tuva I was relieved to find that she was not worried about the tea pot and said she wanted to get a different kind of tea pot any way, wanted to know about my time in Tuva and as far as the onions go, the speech went something like this: “I am very sad about my onions. Because I will not be able to find any like them and now we will not have any good onions to eat. I am not mad at you because you are foolish and didn't know any better. Don't they have flies in America? You will be responsible for buying onions as we need them.”
I said that we do have flies in America, however this only seemed to confuse her more as to why I would take such measures to be rid of them. She went on to say that they are harmless and cannot infect anyone and that they were normal. I still find flies in the bathroom and kitchen now and then and quickly smash them with my lightning-fast speed ;)
I must say she is absolutely right in that there are no onions like hers – I am quit sad to eat my beet salad without her sweet onions and instead the bitter store bought ones :( but I guess that's the price I will have to pay. I'm just glad this whole thing is resolved!
One day back in December I had time to go with Baba T. to the store and do some grocery shopping. We both agreed that it was a lot of fun just walking with someone! While we were walking home she stopped at the ice cream stand and bought us 2 ice cream bars :) When we got home we enjoyed them with her canned strawberries – it really was a treat!
Baba T. had mentioned how much she loved ice cream early on in our time together but I wondered why I never saw her eat any and why there was never any in the freezer. Later, I learned from her daughter-in-law that she regularly ate ice cream with her husband.
The other day when I was grocery shopping (which I have the bag Baba T. to let me shop for us!) and thought I would get some ice cream. When I told her that I bought dessert she asked what and I said it was ice cream – she got a look on her face I had never seen before . . . as if to say “You shouldn't have, but I'm glad you did!” As we slowly savored out ice cream she shared that when her and her husband would have a fight they would buy ice cream for each other to make up afterward.
I am so glad that Baba T. lets me share this special treat with her. I think is will become a real regular thing at our house!
For the past 3 weeks and for 3 more weeks Baba T. has been watching her 2 year old granddaughter, N. N's dad is in the states for his job for 6 weeks and Baba T. wanted to help out N's mom who also has a 10 month old baby by watching N. It's changed things quite a bit around our house – but probably the best part for me is the new vocabulary I am picking up. You see, N has just begun potty training . . . I'm not sure how detailed I can be with what I am learning, but I will tell you that I frequently laugh in my room as I over hear Baba T. giving her instructions!
