A walk in the forest and an update on our week of settling in

I would say that we are mostly settled back into our apartment in Russia now.  This is a huge contrast to when we first arrived in Russia as a family in May 2006.  Back then we arrived in an empty apartment with lots of junk to get rid of.  This time round, we have arrived to an apartment that we already know, in a community that we already know.  We have even had some bonuses along the way.  We expected to buy a couch, but there was a new one already here.  It's super comfy too.

(Another angle on our apartment building.)

After we moved in we set about fitting out our kitchen with appliances.  We gave nearly everything away before we left last time.  We did leave a few bits and pieces, that are still here.  We bought appliances on Friday last week, and then plates, bowls, cups, cutlery and utensils on Monday.

Things were going pretty smoothly.  We even managed to fill out a contract for the internet at the local telephone exchange/ internet server.  The people there remembered us and decided to let us sign up ourselves.  It is after all, who you know that counts....

But then we had difficulty connecting.  The procedure turned out to be quite complicated.  Just to prove that we were not ignorant, it required two trips by us back to the office and two trips by the ISP guy to our apartment before we were finally online.  In between I wondered how it could be so complicated to do something that should be so simple.  But then back in Australia, TPG messed up something as simple as sending me a modem- a week later than scheduled- by courier no less.  When it came to paying credit at the automated machine so we could start using our service, I had to laugh when the machine crashed after I had put in a 100 roubles.  I had to walk to a second supermarket....  "welcome back to Russia!" I joked with Melody.

(The view at the end of the walk through our forest.)

We still need a couple of bits and pieces for our apartment, such as bed side tables, etc.  But we have decided to pick those kinds of things up as we head about our daily lives, instead of hunting too much.  We know there are some second hand furniture stores, so we just need to find them again.

We still need to buy a bed for PJ.  He's really grown out of his carry travel bed-bag now.  And then there is the big hunt for a family car... which we hope to complete this Summer, with enough time to get used to the roads before Winter hits at the end of September.

It's so much fun to get back here in the early part of Summer.  Spring has been working for a while, even though the weather has been pretty cold up until this week.  We have now had five days of nice weather in a row.  The last three have been above 20 degrees.

There are various generations of flowers throughout a Summer.  The yellow flowers come in first, followed by the purple ones.  The most majestic are the orange flame flowers, which have not arrived yet.  They are then followed by white flowers.  I don't know if anything comes later than the white flowers in July, because that is the last time that we left Russia.  It will be fun to find out.

It's hard to capture an image that really displays how wonderful a sight the birch forest floor is, but this image gives you an idea of the splendid colours.

Those feisty bees are hard to capture, but I think I got one here. (Click on the image for a closer view.)

A zoom lens is fun for capturing the critters as they try to run away up the trees.  I didn't manage to see any birds in the trees this day, but we certainly heard plenty of them singing.  Some of the Siberian tits that escaped me last time had better watch out, I'm armed with 250mm and image stabilisation now!

What, did you drop your acorns in your speedy flight?

That's the end of my photos for the moment.  I went to the rugby with Kostya last night.  It was a bit of a one sided affair as Krasny Yar thrashed Moscow Fili, 93-3.  You can search the sport label for the game two years ago when Krasny Yar suffered a whipping at the hands of the other Krasnoyarsk team Yenisey.  (It's worth mentioning that even though very small crowds turn out to the games and there are less teams than there used to be, that Rugby does have a future in Russia.  Kostya remarked that when he was a kid that the stadiums would be packed for Rugby.  But there is so little sponsorship these days that the sport has gone a long way backwards.  But Rugby is now an official Olympic sport from Rio 2016.  So the Russian government have decided to put some funding into the sport.  Perhaps the glory days of Krasnoyarsk being the Rugby capital of Russia, will return again.) It would be fun to actually see a close game some time.
Later on Kostya and I went to see our friends in their band at one of the Krasnoyarsk clubs.  It was fun being immersed in Russian language and doing some of the "normal" things in life such as watching a sporting event or a live band, a la Siberian style, which is a lot more rustic than Aussie "normal".

We have been trying to find a swimming pool to resume our exercise.  We have had little success so far. There is actually one three bus stops down the road.  But they have just closed down for the Summer and will be closed for a year or so for renovations.  It will be great when it finally re-opens.  There are some other pools in the city, but further away.  There are also some fitness clubs with private pools.

But in the midst of our exploring we have bumped into some more indigenous students.  This time we bumped into some Sakha girls.  Hopefully we can follow up on some of these students and get to know them.  That's something for prayer.  Some names to remember are Vladimir, Ira and Pasha.