Business Trip

The name of the company translates to "Siberian Nuts" in Russian

I know, weird, right?  Like, I'm some sort of business professional now, out there jetting around the country in business class wearing a suit or something.

Well, OK, that's an exaggeration.  Of course I wasn't actually wearing a suit.  Anyone who has known me for more than 5 minutes would have known that bit wasn't true.  And I'm not actually "jetting" around the country so much as driving in a hatchback, but the part about a business trip?  That part was true.

 Just to give you an idea of how big Russia is, I thought I'd include this map of our trip.  

Now, I know your first reaction is to look at it and say "Meh.  Doesn't look like much."  Well, let me just put the record straight.  That trip right there is over 2900 kilometers.  That's almost 2000 miles.  You could drive from Boston to Atlanta, and then turn north again and go to Chicago, and still not travel as far as that little blue line in the above picture.  Russia is freaking massive.

Anyway, the trip itself was a chance for my business partner and I to meet with some people involved in the setup of our pine nut business.  First we went to Novosibirsk where the project manager/architect is based (that's him in the picture at the top) and also the place where the equipment for processing pine nuts is being manufactured.

The architect (and Scott's friend, shown above, perhaps a bit too excited about the sign that we were given) threw us a barbecue, complete with the most delicious sausages you've ever had.  Some sort of combination of elk meat and pine nuts - seriously amazing.

 After resolving some of the issues with our production facility design, we traveled to another nearby city to visit an operating pine nut shelling facility to check out their equipment.  It was a real answer to even meet these people; they were fantastic and incredibly helpful.

I don't have many pictures, because it's kind of boring to show pictures of business meetings, so I'll leave you with a few shots taken along the road.  Not only is Russia huge, it is amazingly beautiful.

Anyway, it's good to be home.  Actually, there is one more bit of news since we last posted: Steven is doing much better.  

A few of you might have gotten a frantic email from us about this, but last week Steven had a low-grade fever for a few days.  Nothing major, we thought, just a sinus infection or something that would run its course.  Then, out of the blue, he began to complain of stomach pain, specifically in the lower right part of his stomach.  When he doubled over in pain and pointed right at that part of his stomach, saying the left side felt fine but the right side hurt him sharply, immediately the situation became scary.

Appendicitis isn't a major problem in the West, because you just go to the MD and they cut it out.  However, here in T-land where the quality of medical care can vary, invasive surgery is not something to trifle with.  After briefly weighing the odds of appendix rupture on the journey, we decided to risk the trip over the mountains.  5 hours later we were in the emergency room in Abakan (see below).

Two days of tests later, it was revealed that the problem was nothing to do with the appendix at all, but some sort of inflammation of the lining of the bladder, which, combined with some constipation and a sinus infection, had managed to give the exact appearance of acute appendicitis.  Phew!

He is good, no?  Thanks to all of you who lifted us up during a scary day or two! And thanks to all of you for being a part of our team here.  See you again in a week or two!

The Newest Addition to the Wandering Family

Introducing ... Pepper!

Pepper is a 4-week old dachsund that we have just adopted.  What with coming back for a longer stretch this time and the boys being at the right age to have a pet, we've been on the lookout for a small pet that could live in our apartment.  We considered guinea pigs, rabbits, and small dogs, including terriers and beagles, but all were either too expensive or too far away.

When we saw his picture on the Russian version of craigslist here in town, we knew we had found the right one so we ran over and picked him up.  The boys are quite excited, as you might imagine.

He's obviously still pretty tiny, and he has to eat 5 times a day, but he's doing well and will be well-loved I'm sure.  Not much else to blog on, since we're just still in the routine of language study and getting the business up and running, but we did want to let everyone see our new addition!

The Things I Have Pictures Of ...

... are pretty limited.

Since we've been home it seems like someone has been in our home at least every other day, if not every single day, but we didn't take any pictures!  So, we're stuck posting the one thing I did take a bunch of pictures of: the future site of our pine nut facility.

You have to get creative, almost squint a bit, to see the potential in this building, but it's what we have.  During Soviet times it was a part of a big grain-processing facility, so the usage doesn't change that much, really.  But it obviously isn't in great shape at the moment.  Fortunately, we budgeted a goodly sum to fix it up; hopefully we can get it repaired on a budget.

 
Above you can see the ruined warehouse that hopefully, after a new roof and some work on the loading dock, will be our new office/production facility.  The building is actually way bigger than we need, so we'll only be renting half of it.
 
Below you can see the inside as it stands.  Fortunately everything structural is in good shape, but the cosmetics are a bit rough.  This is where most of the work will be done, building walls to separate offices from production space, etc.
 

 
This is the other side of the building, the side that faces the road.  Not much will change on this side, except that halfway down the length there will be a wall dividing our half of the warehouse from the half that doesn't get remodeled.
 

 
I really need to start taking more pictures, because that's about it.  Seriously, I think people were over for dinner every day this week, and the days were full of running around trying to get the paperwork for the new business completed.  But there's not much use in taking a photo of the bank manager or our accountant; it just doesn't seem the kind of thing you do.  So you'll have to make due with a few pictures of our kids.
 

 

It's finally warm enough to enjoy that most Russian of treats - ice cream!  Of course, it did briefly snow last week, but for the most part it's nice and warm here and we're enjoying our one month of spring before it gets hot.

And that's it, at least for now.  Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts, and we'll try to make an effort to carry the camera around a bit this week so there's something for next week's post.

We're Here

Just haven't gotten any pictures downloaded yet.

But I just wanted to post very quickly to say yes, we've arrived (over a week ago now) and are planning to update this blog at some point.  It's been a busy time with getting into gear with the new business and all, but this week there are two holidays in Russia so it's a bit more laid back.  We're hoping to be all the way back to our schedule (with the boys back in kindergarten and us back in sync with our studies and work) next week.

I will post sometime when I get some pictures.  Thanks for stopping by!

Easter

Just a few pictures from a photo shoot over Easter with the boys and their cousins:

And of course their first experience of an American-style Easter egg hunt as well!

This will be our last post from the US of A!  Regular, almost-weekly updates to start again next week when we return to our home country.  Thanks for joining us, and hope you'll be back again then.

Post-trip Pictures

Pictures are starting to pile up, so I thought I'd post a few.  You've probably noticed that we haven't been posting as often since we've been in the US; a big part of that is that most of you are around us more regularly, but rest assured that we'll be back to our regular schedule once we return to T-land.

However, for your viewing pleasure, a few pictures of our time in the US since we got back from our marathon trip:

Cary Kite Festival

American food really DOES make you get big fast!

Steven and Matthew on a fun trip to the zoo with their cousins.

At a science museum, Steven volunteered for the demonstration on electricity.  Not a great picture, but he's holding a rod to show how the power arcs from the source.

Trip Pictures

 These pictures are all out of order for some reason, but I figure that just gives you a better sense of the confusion that happens when you're cooped up in a car for a month.  Of course, as you can see above, it doesn't seem to bother some people ...

 Whatever your criticisms may be, there's no denying that the US is a beautiful country.  One of the best parts of traveling around was seeing all the scenery.  I think the above photo was taken of Mt. Shasta in northern California, though it's entirely possible it's in southern Oregon somewhere.

 Above: Steven demonstrates what Siberian kids do with snow.
Below: Saya tries it out herself.

Yes, gas is still available for this price ... as long as you're willing to drive to Wyoming to get it!

Can't remember whose bathtub this is (though I'm sure Bobbie would know) but it's beautiful.

One guess as to where this is (answer below the picture).

Did you get it?  It's the (highlight for answer) Mormon Tabernacle in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah.

Above: feeding a horse in central Oregon.
Below: I have decided that we should all move to Montana to live somewhere like this.

Above: Enjoying a visit with my dad's aunt in central Montana.
Below: Why yes, I AM dressed as a hot dog, thank you very much.

In Portland someone gave us money to do something fun with the kids - we took them to this kind of indoor playground thing where they had air-powered guns that shot nerf balls.  The boys enjoyed a pitched battle for domination of the ball pit.

 I don't know why we don't have more pictures of it, but in Indianapolis our friends took us to a wonderful children's museum.  Here Matthew is dressed as a dinosaur and about to go sit on his eggs.

 Valentine's dinner at a group in Billings.

 There are a lot more pictures, but I think they must be on the other camera chip or something.  Hopefully we'll get them up one of these days.  At least I can say I put some of them up now.

Thanks again for stopping by; we should have more to tell you about in a week or so, so come back soon!