The Week in Moscow

It's Sunday morning and already the middle of August. This week the weather finally cooled off and the wind shifted, blowing away the smoke from the wild fires, and life is good! Over the past few weeks KLynn has attended some activities with an international women's group here in Moscow, and she is becoming good friends with a small group of women who seem to have gravitated to each other. One is from France, and the others are from Honduras, Poland and the Netherlands. They have gotten together a few times to see some of the sites around town and are having a nice time together. I haven't met any of them yet, but KLynn speaks highly of them and she is enjoying their company. They sound like interesting women. KLynn is the only one of the group who speaks no Russian, and they are very protective of her. KLynn is now regularly taking the shuttle bus from our home at Pokrovsky Hills to a metro station and then getting around the city by subway. I'm glad she's comfortable doing that. It is important for her to be able to get out and about without having to rely on our "driver" who is on vacation for the rest of the month. The Moscow subway system is amazing. Trains come every two minutes like clockwork, and many of the stations are works of art. It is so nice to have the weather a little closer to normal. People who have lived here for a long time tell me that summers in Moscow are usually beautiful, and now I am beginning to understand what they mean. KLynn and I went out to dinner Friday night at a grand old hotel, the Metropol, across the street from the Bolshoi Theater next to the Kremlin. It used to be Lenin's headquarters I'm told. It was beautiful but pricey. Saturday we did some Christmas shopping and got some craft items for the house, which was fun. We also found a really good and moderately priced Uzbeki restaurant not far from our home that I think will become a favorite. We bought some of the Russian "nesting dolls" and two wood carving figures for our house that we like a lot. They are hand painted and are quite pretty. The young man, Ivan, who operated the booth selling the nesting dolls explained their traditional meaning, which helped me have a greater appreciation for them. I guess that's how it is with a lot of things. Ivan learned to speak English from Mormon missionaries, which is kind of fun. He is a nice fellow. Driving in Moscow has been a little daunting, but we are gradually getting more comfortable with it, which helps us to feel more at home. Work continues to be interesting. I especially enjoy being able to work closely with the Area Presidency. They are outstanding men and make me want to be a better person. We are supposed to receive our shipment from the U.S. sometime this week -- and this time they really mean it -- which will mean we will no longer be living out of suitcases. That will be nice if it happens. This has been a little rambling, for which I apologize. We'll check in again next week.
Bob