Season II, Episode 8: What Parents Do
We had a whole day (Thursday) in Orenburg with Ashton Beau before we were scheduled to depart for Moscow on Friday. This was a good time for him getting used to DW and me and vice-versa. We fed him and he played a lot. I changed my first “poopie” diaper. Ashton Beau was captivated by Baby Einstein DVD's.
We decided to go out for lunch. Toria had suggested OrenPizza and I had seen it as we drove from the regional government building to the hotel the day before. It was a 6-8 block walk and the weather was sunny, but not too hot. I called Natalia. Her daughter answered the phone and I told her that we were going to OrenPizza. I also told the ladies at the hotel front desk that we were going to OrenPizza and to please relay that message to Natalia if she was looking for us. We loaded Ashton Beau and his stroller and headed out.
It was a pleasant walk. DW and I used a little teamwork carrying the stroller up and down the stairs to and from the tunnel under Marshal Zhukov Street. Once we did it once or twice, we had it down pat. OrenPizza is in a basement through several doors. Again we navigated the stroller up and down and through the doors. The whole time Ashton Beauregard was easy going. It must have been the novelty of all that was going on.
OrenPizza is a good place for an American who speaks a limited amount of Russian. You order at a counter and behind the counter photos of the various pizzas they serve. It's point-and-order. Same thing with the beverages in the in a cooler with a glass door.
We ordered, sat down, and about ten minutes later a waitress delivered our pizza. The restaurant was not crowded. When we entered there just were two young ladies having lunch and chatting. About half way through lunch, a contingent of six to eight more ladies came in. It looked as if they all worked together. No one paid any special attention to us. A few of the ladies looked at Ashton Beau and smiled. I think children just draw attention. However, all of it was positive.
Near the end of lunch Natalia arrived. We didn't need anything and there was no where for us to go or anything for us to sign. She was just checking-up on us. She seemed almost surprised to see the three of us leisurely enjoying a pizza in the mid-afternoon.
Natalia left after about ten minutes and we departed shortly after her. We walked back towards the hotel. There was a sporting goods store along the way so we stopped in to check it out. Pretty much like a sporting goods store back home, but more focused on outdoors sports instead of field sports.
After returning to the hotel we took stock of our baby supplies and made a shopping list of what we needed. Instead of waiting for Natalia to come pick-us up, I headed out to the stores.
First, I went to the dairy to buy some more бифидок. Then I returned to the baby store in the basement to buy some more baby food. With all of that finished, I stopped in a grocery store to buy a box of apple juice and drank it on my walk back to the hotel. When I returned, I spent most of the time playing with Ashton Beau and watched him in amazement. DW fed him and a while later Natalia called to say she would pick me up to go to the passport office for Ashton Beau's passport.
Natalia arrived around 5:00 PM. We drove about half a mile into the old part of Orenburg to the passport office. Natalia said the office was very busy because many people applying for passports to go abroad on summer vacations.
She said she had planned to take me back to the dairy while we were out at the passport office, but she'd spoken with the ladies who operate the dairy and they told her I'd already been there. She was a little surprised that I’d preempted her.
We drove to the passport office, a red brick building in central Orenburg, entered and waited in a large hallway. While in Russia, whenever we had to go to an official office, we usually waited between 20-40 minutes. I was glad I had my Blackberry or a book, etc., to pass the time. We found that typically the waiting area would be a hallway, sometimes with a chair or two, often with none at all. The passport office was typical, a large hallway with a pair of chairs. After the typical wait, Natalia told me that we were summoned.
The office we went to was typical too. Long and narrow with two desks and a chair at the end of a desk. Natalia instructed to sit down in the chair. A lady handed me Ashton Beau's passport and I examined it to ensure everything was correct (e.g., transliteration of his name into Russian, date and place of birth). When I finished I signed a receipt, Natalia and I walked back to the car and we were on our way to the hotel.
On the way back Natalia asked what we would like to do for supper. We decided to go out and get Ukrainian food in about an hour. This was Ashton Beau's first time out and he was not all that pleased. We were discovering that he does not mind being harnessed into his stroller when it's moving, but he really dislikes it when stationary. Reclining the seat usually helped. Then there was the mid-supper poop diaper change on the bathroom floor. At least the bathroom was pretty clean. You who are already parents can picture the scene.
The food was disappointing, but soon it was time to go. Sergei arrived to pick us up and we went back to the hotel. We were pretty sure we had enough diapers, but the flight to Moscow could be long and who knew how many unexpected delays we might encounter. I decided we needed to add to our reserves, just in case. On the way back we stopped to pick-up some more diapers at the 24 hour pharmacy just around the corner from the hotel. Sergei and I went in and even with him there to translate, we could not seem to get Huggies or Pampers size #3. They said they were out. I bought size #4 instead.
After I we got back to the hotel we tried the size #4 diapers on Ashton Beau. They were way too big. So I went back to the same pharmacy to try again. The same ladies were there. With no interpreter I asked for Pampers, size #3: “Pampers dree pahjolista [Pampers трипожалуйста]” Two of them went back into the stock-room and reappeared in less than a minute with a package of Pampers, size #3. I have no idea what was different between my earlier visit with Sergei and my visit less than an hour later. It was too late for a delivery of diapers while I was at the hotel. I’ll add that to those mysteries about our time in Russia that I’ll never really understand.
I returned to our hotel room, packed up my stuff and collaborated with DW in packing up Ashton Beau’s. Then I hopped into bed to catch some sleep. Our plane was at 8:00 AM and my alarm was set for 5:00 AM.
In the next episode, Nungesser, DW, and Ashton Beau fly to Moscow, visit Dr. Boris, and check-in to Дом Паша.
We decided to go out for lunch. Toria had suggested OrenPizza and I had seen it as we drove from the regional government building to the hotel the day before. It was a 6-8 block walk and the weather was sunny, but not too hot. I called Natalia. Her daughter answered the phone and I told her that we were going to OrenPizza. I also told the ladies at the hotel front desk that we were going to OrenPizza and to please relay that message to Natalia if she was looking for us. We loaded Ashton Beau and his stroller and headed out.
It was a pleasant walk. DW and I used a little teamwork carrying the stroller up and down the stairs to and from the tunnel under Marshal Zhukov Street. Once we did it once or twice, we had it down pat. OrenPizza is in a basement through several doors. Again we navigated the stroller up and down and through the doors. The whole time Ashton Beauregard was easy going. It must have been the novelty of all that was going on.
OrenPizza is a good place for an American who speaks a limited amount of Russian. You order at a counter and behind the counter photos of the various pizzas they serve. It's point-and-order. Same thing with the beverages in the in a cooler with a glass door.
We ordered, sat down, and about ten minutes later a waitress delivered our pizza. The restaurant was not crowded. When we entered there just were two young ladies having lunch and chatting. About half way through lunch, a contingent of six to eight more ladies came in. It looked as if they all worked together. No one paid any special attention to us. A few of the ladies looked at Ashton Beau and smiled. I think children just draw attention. However, all of it was positive.
Near the end of lunch Natalia arrived. We didn't need anything and there was no where for us to go or anything for us to sign. She was just checking-up on us. She seemed almost surprised to see the three of us leisurely enjoying a pizza in the mid-afternoon.
Natalia left after about ten minutes and we departed shortly after her. We walked back towards the hotel. There was a sporting goods store along the way so we stopped in to check it out. Pretty much like a sporting goods store back home, but more focused on outdoors sports instead of field sports.
After returning to the hotel we took stock of our baby supplies and made a shopping list of what we needed. Instead of waiting for Natalia to come pick-us up, I headed out to the stores.
First, I went to the dairy to buy some more бифидок. Then I returned to the baby store in the basement to buy some more baby food. With all of that finished, I stopped in a grocery store to buy a box of apple juice and drank it on my walk back to the hotel. When I returned, I spent most of the time playing with Ashton Beau and watched him in amazement. DW fed him and a while later Natalia called to say she would pick me up to go to the passport office for Ashton Beau's passport.
Natalia arrived around 5:00 PM. We drove about half a mile into the old part of Orenburg to the passport office. Natalia said the office was very busy because many people applying for passports to go abroad on summer vacations.
She said she had planned to take me back to the dairy while we were out at the passport office, but she'd spoken with the ladies who operate the dairy and they told her I'd already been there. She was a little surprised that I’d preempted her.
We drove to the passport office, a red brick building in central Orenburg, entered and waited in a large hallway. While in Russia, whenever we had to go to an official office, we usually waited between 20-40 minutes. I was glad I had my Blackberry or a book, etc., to pass the time. We found that typically the waiting area would be a hallway, sometimes with a chair or two, often with none at all. The passport office was typical, a large hallway with a pair of chairs. After the typical wait, Natalia told me that we were summoned.
The office we went to was typical too. Long and narrow with two desks and a chair at the end of a desk. Natalia instructed to sit down in the chair. A lady handed me Ashton Beau's passport and I examined it to ensure everything was correct (e.g., transliteration of his name into Russian, date and place of birth). When I finished I signed a receipt, Natalia and I walked back to the car and we were on our way to the hotel.
On the way back Natalia asked what we would like to do for supper. We decided to go out and get Ukrainian food in about an hour. This was Ashton Beau's first time out and he was not all that pleased. We were discovering that he does not mind being harnessed into his stroller when it's moving, but he really dislikes it when stationary. Reclining the seat usually helped. Then there was the mid-supper poop diaper change on the bathroom floor. At least the bathroom was pretty clean. You who are already parents can picture the scene.
The food was disappointing, but soon it was time to go. Sergei arrived to pick us up and we went back to the hotel. We were pretty sure we had enough diapers, but the flight to Moscow could be long and who knew how many unexpected delays we might encounter. I decided we needed to add to our reserves, just in case. On the way back we stopped to pick-up some more diapers at the 24 hour pharmacy just around the corner from the hotel. Sergei and I went in and even with him there to translate, we could not seem to get Huggies or Pampers size #3. They said they were out. I bought size #4 instead.
After I we got back to the hotel we tried the size #4 diapers on Ashton Beau. They were way too big. So I went back to the same pharmacy to try again. The same ladies were there. With no interpreter I asked for Pampers, size #3: “Pampers dree pahjolista [Pampers трипожалуйста]” Two of them went back into the stock-room and reappeared in less than a minute with a package of Pampers, size #3. I have no idea what was different between my earlier visit with Sergei and my visit less than an hour later. It was too late for a delivery of diapers while I was at the hotel. I’ll add that to those mysteries about our time in Russia that I’ll never really understand.
I returned to our hotel room, packed up my stuff and collaborated with DW in packing up Ashton Beau’s. Then I hopped into bed to catch some sleep. Our plane was at 8:00 AM and my alarm was set for 5:00 AM.
In the next episode, Nungesser, DW, and Ashton Beau fly to Moscow, visit Dr. Boris, and check-in to Дом Паша.
DW and Ashton Beau at OrenPizza.
DW and Ashton Beau outside of OrenPizza.
DW and Ashton Beau strolling back to the hotel from OrenPizza.
Nungesser and Ashton Beau on their way back to the hotel from OrenPizza.
DW and Ashton Beau in front of the sporting goods store.
DW in front of stairs leading down to a tunnel for crossing Marshal Zukov Street in Orenburg.
Nungesser and Ashton Beau at the tunnel under Marshal Zhukov Street.
The russian version of a disabled access ramp on the stairs to a street crossing tunnel. Where I come from, that would be an "E" ticket ride. Don't try this with your stroller either! The tracks are far too wide apart. Well, actually I'm told they are inteded for hand-trucks and dollies full of goods, not people at all.
The lobby by the elevators on our floor of the Hotel Orenburg.
More of the floor lobby.
The hallway from the lobby to our room.
The HQ of the Orenburg Gas Company, a big natural gas producer, one of Orenburg's main industries.
One of Orenburg's 24 hour pharmacies [24 Час Аптека].
Entrance to the dairy where Nungesser went to buy бифидок.
The doors to the dairy store.
The windows in the dairy story. Place and order and pay on the left, pick-up on the right.
A .5 liter carton of бифидок (sour milk, pronounced "bifeedock") purchased at a Moscow grocery store. The dairy had store sold fresh бифидок in glass bottles.
To get to the baby store for baby food, diapers, etc., go under the arch-way, then to the door under the green awning. This is Orenburg style out-of-the-way retail.
Now go through the door under the green awning.
You've always wonder what's "behind the green door." Well, its this dimmly lit corridor leading to the baby store.
Ahh! The wares of the baby store. Well stocked, just a little off the beaten path.
Store lockers. A lot of Russion stores, especially grocery stores, insist that you put your bags in a locker like these before you enter the store. Know where they are first and you'll avoid the security guard telling you to go back to them.
Nungesser drinking apple juice at an Orenburg bus stop.
Ashton Beau entertaining Nungesser while he waits for Natalia to go to the passport office.
Ashton Beau climbing about.
The Orenburg passport office building.
Entrance to the Orenburg passport office.
posted by Nungesser at
11:25 PM
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