Taxi Issues....

Yes...
I've lost my hairbrush.
I've lost my sister's Kindle.
I've lost my shuffle.
I've lost my backpack.
BUT
I lost my hairbrush. I do have hair. What will be become of me? What will become of my hair?

I left my backpack in the taxi I was in. When I realized my mistake, my phone wouldn't call or text Lindsay or Craig to tell them my predicament. When Jeremy finished teaching (and was able to call Craig), the taxi company said they weren't gonna be able to get in contact with the driver till Monday. Oh, dear!

So, until then. "Take care of my hairbrush [and my sister's Kindle!]. Take care, oh my hairbrush. Take care, take care, don't dare not care. Take care [my] hair. No fair. Take care, take care... my little hairbrush!"

The End.

Traditional Bashkir Dance Performance

On Friday night, I went to a Bashkir Dance Performance. Ben told me to make sure my camera had a full battery and was ready to take pictures and videos. I tried to heed his advice, but it didn't work.

So, here are some dances that I found. This first one was one that was performed at the concert I went to. It is called "Seven Girls". It is a legend of, well, seven girls who were going to be kidnapped as wives and, to avoid leaving their tribe, jumped off a cliff. A little strange, no?

I was trying to find a video of the men dancing with swords (when I went, they did fight with swords and you could see the sparks fly off their blades!), but I wans't able to. So, here's another one.

From what I can tell, these two are the most famous for men and women to dance.

One of the things that characterizes Bashkir Dance is that they move their feet quickly, even if you can't see them . The face pace is suppose to represent the briefness of life.

Craig and Lindsay took me to this and we met a girl named Galera (spelled phonetically). She didn't speak much English and I speak next to no Russian, so when we were left alone for a bit, it was very fun to attempt to talk with each other. We laughed as we tried to speak in the other person's language. Goalraw acutally lives in the same village I do, but she lives in Ufa during the school week (Mon-Sat). But, hopefully, we'll be able to see each other again before I go.  

I'll be posting again soon. Maybe before my Monday is over. Hope you all are staying (at least) mildly healthy!

With the Piguets

I have been at the Piguets the last couple of days, and I thought I'd show you some things that happened while I was there.

So, Craig and Lindsay both had various things to do Thursday afternoon, leaving Daniel and I in charge of the house.

 When Lindsay got back from the store, she had me follow a recipe for split pea soup. I, obviously, read next to nothing in Russian, so even though the directions were in English, the bag size and all was in Russian. All that to say, I made enough split pea soup to last them one night for the next several weeks - good thing they like it. But this made me laugh - the two bags of split peas were from the Western Hemisphere. One was from "Орегон"

(sound it out James and Zachary). It was from Oregon and the other was from Canada.

 Apparently,
they still trusted me in the kitchen 'cause Lindsay asked if I would make pancakes for breakfast the next morning (just so you all know, with everything I made while I was there, Lindsay had taken out all, or most, of the ingredients - helpful when some are in Russian!). So, black current pancakes were on and pulled off successfully.

The rest of the day was "normal" cleaning and baking. Speaking of baking, I found out what "caster" sugar is. At Fort Vancouver, there is a barrel labeled "Caster Sugar" and no one knew what it meant. Apparently, it is a very finely ground sugar, but not as fine as powdered. Very good for cakes and macaroons.

I am officially Aunt Rachel now to Daniel. He loves books - especially this one called "Bee" and especially the last page with the mouse (which he, on occasion, hits and is cheered on to continue this by Lindsay). He has begun to love books sooo much, that he decided they must taste as good as the look.




Well, now I'm back with Amy and Jeremy and the boys. I really should head off to bed now. I hope you all have a good Friday!

It's All In

I have all of my paperwork (as of yesterday) sent in for my visa to Russia.

link

This means that I am just waiting now to hear if they accepted my visa application or denied it. Please pray that this process will go quickly and that there are no (at least) mistakes that will cause problems in the processing. 

Fun at the Fair

The Clark County Fair started Friday!
We all did well with what we entered.

This is just a sample of what was entered....

All this was fun - fun Friday to be precise. On Wednesday, we bring our animals (I mean Josh, Grace, James, Zachary, Megan, and Madeline bring their animals) to the fair.

And I have to post about Saturday. "The Deiter 100" took place and we raced all over Clark County and Northern Portland.

This Superman Team was pretty super!

("The Deiter 100" is like the "Amazing Race".) 

Zachary James and Ryan David

Oh! By the way, the family I'll be staying with had their twins July 27th! Since the picture was posted on Facebook, I've place it on my blog. :)

Have a fantastic week!

A Fun-Crazy Week

Super busy this past week and busy still this week.
Here's a quick overview:

Wednesday Fun

Thursday 4-H

Meg was flying with this lamb!

Saturday Flower Girl Preparations

Sunday with Friends

 So there you go - that is part of last week. Hope you all are enjoying this great weather!

O, What a Wonderful Day!

The sky looked like this... all day. 

I'm soo from the NW - I like this weather. :)

The twins and I set out to make Pam Tarts (recipe here).

The Twins making the dough. 

Original Pam Tarts

We tried a new twist to the Pam Tarts by adding jelly AND peanut butter to them. Ah, they were delicious!

 

The finished product!

We made a total of 60+ Pam Tarts for tomorrow morning's trip to the Ape Caves.