An Almost Arresting Development
We met up with Carlos and Lourdes and their two BEAUTIFUL girls for dinner at Eastern Quarter. We were eventually joined by another couple, Kathy 
and Jerry, that we befriended in our apartment who are leaving tomorrow for home. Earlier in the elevator, the doors had opened on 5 and they waved and said, "we'll just wait". I saw their stroller and figured they might be kindred spirits so we waited in the lobby for their descent. They adopted their cutie pie daughter from Perm which is anti-American and Kathy had to go to court three different times to complete her adoption. Talk about a road warrior - Kathy must be the strongest woman EVER! We all had a great time chatting and I think that Kathy and Jerry needed a nice night out since their description of their daughter is that she's a 'blood curdling screamer'. Wow .. that's a lot to deal with. Apparently they've tried on numerous occasions to go out with Ana but it always ends with Ana starting to
scream. Ana must have been 
trying to prove them wrong because she did very well with all of us at the restaurant. Everyone applauded Mia and gave her the star award for the evening because she was so good. This was remarkable because usually she wants to have all the attention and on this occasion she just chilled out eating bread and sitting in her stroller. 
Hey ... we could get used to this little girl!
We stopped by the expensive grocery store for some staples - toilet paper, detergent, baby liquid yogurt and a bottle of wine (not necessarily in order of importance :) There is a lovely floral department in the middle of the store. The Russians take great pride in how things look so their bouquets are absolutely stunning. I took a photo of a particularly pretty bouquet. I was immediately confronted by a security guy. I asked in Russian if he spoke English. Nnnnnyyyyeeeeet. That means 'No'. He started speaking rapidly and the words I heard were " blah .. blah .. blah .. Photographie ..... blah .. blah .. n
yet." So, I got out of this that he didn't want me to take photographs. I wasn't sure what about a bouquet of irises consitituted a great national secret but I was willing to go with it. My camera was already away so no worries. As we headed towards the cheese section he trots up next to me and starts up again, " blah, blah, blah (but more Russian and stern sounding blah ... blah .. blah than the normal blah, blah, blah ) photographie ... yada, yada, yada". I was frustrated at this point, I had no camera, I was not taking or thinking of taking pictures of the various cheeses and said with both arms outstretched and my hands open, "Okay, okay, I don't have a camera, I get it, we're not taking any more pictures, " and headed towards the wine aisle. With him still following close next to us, we still needed laundry detergent but had missed it in all the 'photographie' scuttle so I mentioned to my mom that we still needed to find the laundry detergent. She decides that the little photography hitler is the perfect person to ask about laundry detergent. He is close by after all. You can only imagine how this all played out. He apparently didn't know anything at all about cleaning clothes and he didn't want anyone asking him any questions about laundry or anything else. When he didn't know, I proceeded to go to his friend in black (yes, they look like men in black with ear pieces and everything) and asked if he spoke English and did he know which detergent was for colors. NnnnYeeeet, was his answer and he looked quite irritated (for those going after us, I don't think you're supposed to address the men in black. 
They are just for show and to protect the floral arrangements). I figured these guys were well connected. Surely their ear piece could've provided an invaluable 'phone a friend' option but alas ... they proved to be no help. Finally, a little woman feeling either sorry for us or sorry for the men in black came over and helped us locate the right type of soap for our needs. Craziness. I think they may have a poster of us up in the expensive grocery store now and we may be banned from the premises. Thankfully we're leaving in four days so we may not need any more trips to this store.
and Jerry, that we befriended in our apartment who are leaving tomorrow for home. Earlier in the elevator, the doors had opened on 5 and they waved and said, "we'll just wait". I saw their stroller and figured they might be kindred spirits so we waited in the lobby for their descent. They adopted their cutie pie daughter from Perm which is anti-American and Kathy had to go to court three different times to complete her adoption. Talk about a road warrior - Kathy must be the strongest woman EVER! We all had a great time chatting and I think that Kathy and Jerry needed a nice night out since their description of their daughter is that she's a 'blood curdling screamer'. Wow .. that's a lot to deal with. Apparently they've tried on numerous occasions to go out with Ana but it always ends with Ana starting to
scream. Ana must have been 
trying to prove them wrong because she did very well with all of us at the restaurant. Everyone applauded Mia and gave her the star award for the evening because she was so good. This was remarkable because usually she wants to have all the attention and on this occasion she just chilled out eating bread and sitting in her stroller. 
Hey ... we could get used to this little girl!We stopped by the expensive grocery store for some staples - toilet paper, detergent, baby liquid yogurt and a bottle of wine (not necessarily in order of importance :) There is a lovely floral department in the middle of the store. The Russians take great pride in how things look so their bouquets are absolutely stunning. I took a photo of a particularly pretty bouquet. I was immediately confronted by a security guy. I asked in Russian if he spoke English. Nnnnnyyyyeeeeet. That means 'No'. He started speaking rapidly and the words I heard were " blah .. blah .. blah .. Photographie ..... blah .. blah .. n
yet." So, I got out of this that he didn't want me to take photographs. I wasn't sure what about a bouquet of irises consitituted a great national secret but I was willing to go with it. My camera was already away so no worries. As we headed towards the cheese section he trots up next to me and starts up again, " blah, blah, blah (but more Russian and stern sounding blah ... blah .. blah than the normal blah, blah, blah ) photographie ... yada, yada, yada". I was frustrated at this point, I had no camera, I was not taking or thinking of taking pictures of the various cheeses and said with both arms outstretched and my hands open, "Okay, okay, I don't have a camera, I get it, we're not taking any more pictures, " and headed towards the wine aisle. With him still following close next to us, we still needed laundry detergent but had missed it in all the 'photographie' scuttle so I mentioned to my mom that we still needed to find the laundry detergent. She decides that the little photography hitler is the perfect person to ask about laundry detergent. He is close by after all. You can only imagine how this all played out. He apparently didn't know anything at all about cleaning clothes and he didn't want anyone asking him any questions about laundry or anything else. When he didn't know, I proceeded to go to his friend in black (yes, they look like men in black with ear pieces and everything) and asked if he spoke English and did he know which detergent was for colors. NnnnYeeeet, was his answer and he looked quite irritated (for those going after us, I don't think you're supposed to address the men in black. 
They are just for show and to protect the floral arrangements). I figured these guys were well connected. Surely their ear piece could've provided an invaluable 'phone a friend' option but alas ... they proved to be no help. Finally, a little woman feeling either sorry for us or sorry for the men in black came over and helped us locate the right type of soap for our needs. Craziness. I think they may have a poster of us up in the expensive grocery store now and we may be banned from the premises. Thankfully we're leaving in four days so we may not need any more trips to this store.We all walked back to our apartments and I gave Kathy a half a bottle of benadryl as my going away gift to them in hopes that Ana would have a calm and peaceful trip home. Apparently their son was an 
angel so perhaps Ana is their pay back? I'm hoping that if this is how the system works our flight home will be a fabulously delightful event. Some how I doubt that this will be the case as Mia 'practiced' her in flight behavior on Monday's attempt to find the jewelry mart. She screamed for about an hour and I'm pretty sure she could've lasted about 8 hours more. She really seems to have a lot of 'stamina'. Kathy, Jerry and little Ana will be making their way to the airport shortly. I know they will be glad to go home and I hope that Ana is great on the flight home.
angel so perhaps Ana is their pay back? I'm hoping that if this is how the system works our flight home will be a fabulously delightful event. Some how I doubt that this will be the case as Mia 'practiced' her in flight behavior on Monday's attempt to find the jewelry mart. She screamed for about an hour and I'm pretty sure she could've lasted about 8 hours more. She really seems to have a lot of 'stamina'. Kathy, Jerry and little Ana will be making their way to the airport shortly. I know they will be glad to go home and I hope that Ana is great on the flight home.
posted by Tamara at 10:55 PM
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