Trip 2 - Day 14 **REVISED**

**Just a quick note about our little Ruble mishap at the grocery store (see below) for those who were concerned about being able to use credit cards or get an ATM. There are PLENTY of ATM's around so you will always be able to get cash quickly if need be (make sure you alert your bank before traveling). Also, I have yet to see a store that doesn't accept credit cards, so you're good to go as far as that's concerned as well (again, alert your credit card co). OUR PROBLEM was not only did we walk out without enough Rubles, we also walked out without our credit or ATM card!! Oopsie!**

I woke up this morning feeling really bad - scary bad in fact - but thankfully it passed within a couple hours and all is well..for now. Let's hope it stays that way! It's not uncommon for at least one member of the adoptive family to have stomach "issues" when they stay in country, and some people refer to this as getting the Moscow Crud. Recently, though, Emily suffered from something similar and termed it "stomach rot" which I thought was kinda funny when I read it. Umm, not so funny when you're living it! I couldn't get the following rhyme out of my head this morning:

"Moscow Crud or Stomach Rot...

doesn't matter what you call it, it's what I've got!"

Oh joy! Norm just announced that he's freezing, has the shakes and his stomach hurts. Fun stuff, let me tell ya! In fact, the poor guy just went to bed and it's not even 10pm here. I don't think we've gone to bed prior to 11pm any night we've been here. Hope he's feeling better in the morning.

We went back to the market today with Ron to pick up a few last souveniers. It wasn't the best day to be walking around outside, it was freezing and raining pretty hard. Ron was a real trooper to suffer through it with us. Thankfully Norm & I had a list of what we wanted so we really weren't there long at all. We felt guilty dragging Ron along with us so after a quick lunch, we headed back to the city center.

Other than getting our caregiver & orphanage gifts ready to deliver on Tuesday, we didn't do much this afternoon. Oh, we did make a quick trip to the grocery store only to find out after all items were rung up that we didn't have enough rubles with us. Slightly embarrassing and VERY DIFFICULT to get a Russian speaking cashier to understand you need some items taken off your bill so you can pay. Let's just say there was a line of pretty unhappy locals behind us, and one very unpleasant cashier staring at us like we had just sprouted 10 extra heads each. We'll make sure not to go to her line again! I really wouldn't suggest other families follow our example on this one. It was not a pretty sight.

We - well I - spent the rest of the day trying to figure out how to edit some scenes from our first trip so I can upload video to the blog to share with you on Tuesday. It's not quite working out like I had planned. Mainly because it's not working at all! I am beyond frustrated at this point and could really use some tech support before I suffer "exploding head syndrome" again. Wow, I haven't had to use that term since the dossier stage!

I have so many pictures I haven't shared yet and I promise I will. I feel like poking a bit of fun at myself though, so I'm going to share another embarrassing moment with you all. Between our trips, I decided to challenge myself and learn the Cryllic alphabet as much as possible. Now, when we spend so much time sitting in traffic, I entertain myself by trying to figure out the signs and buildings around us say. Well a few days ago I was feeling pretty proud of myself and started showing off a bit. So, Norm & I are in the grocery store trying to figure out what all the food labels say and we saw this:

After staring at this for a good 5 minutes or so while Norm started getting a glazed look over his eyes, I finally (and confidently I might add) announce to Norm that it's "cappeletti with shpeenat" (spinach). After nearly 13 years of marriage, I didn't think there was much I could do anymore to impress Norm, but by golly he was impressed! I was beaming at that moment, I know I was! Norm tossed the package into our cart and our dinner was planned. Woo-hoo!

Everyone who reads this blog knows I do not cook. Ever. Not even in Moscow. So as Norm is starting to cook the shpeenat stuff, I hear him yell out "Uh, Kar, wanna come in here for a second?" That's never a good tone, so I cautiously entered our kitchenette wondering what the deal was. He sarcastically asked how well I looked at the shpeenat label and I was slightly offended because as I said above, I intently stared at it for nearly 5 minutes sounding everything out. He says "Uh huh. I see. Why don't you take another look & tell me what you missed."

Okay, Mr. Crabby. I will! And I finally noticed the stuff in the red circle (click to enlarge if you need to):

Mmm hmmm...that would be ENGLISH you're reading folks. Pride is NOT a pretty thing people, it really isn't!