31 in Russia

                Last Saturday I went shopping with a group of American women in Bryansk to celebrate my birthday and Mother’s day. Bryansk is the equivalent of the state capitol where we live and is a city of about 500,000 people. It is three hours from our farm to the city. Dave dropped me off at one of our nearest neighbors, and then we had a driver take us into the city.

               There is a pretty new mall in Bryansk and it was like shopping heaven for me. The area where we live is pretty remote and devoid of a lot of modern conveniences. I suppose realistically it is only the luxuries that are missing. Necessities are pretty much accounted for, unless you consider a latte a necessity.  I have always loved shopping. Even if I’m not buying anything I love the order and cleanliness of a department store. I love the feeling that somebody gave a lot of thought to what I might like and took it upon themself to try and give it to me.

                The mall here has two stories and walking through the door was like a quick trip back to America. Everything was clean and orderly and available for my convenience. It was awesome. There were four of us from our region and we were waiting on the rest of our group from another region at the food court. I had McDonalds for my birthday lunch. I feel a little guilty living in a foreign country and craving the familiarity of American food, but after 11 weeks I figured I shouldn’t feel too guilty for wanting something familiar. The gals got me an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins and sang happy birthday. It was a really nice surprise.

                For my birthday, I wanted to get some nice lotion and hand soap, I went to a store called Yves Rocher to get it. They didn’t have testers so the store clerk followed me around and opened up bottles that I pointed to for me to smell. After I picked out a few, I said “Horosho” which means good, ok, I’m done and that is all. I thought we were walking to the cash register, but we actually went to the hair care section where she handed me a bottle of conditioner. Not shampoo, but conditioner. She was obviously trying to meet my needs, “Here you are in a foreign land, and you obviously have not been able to do your hair in a long time. Let me help you. Buy this conditioner.”I bought the conditioner. I must have really looked like I needed some.

                AJ was a sport the whole day. She didn’t take a nap on the way there, so she was a little cranky when we got to the mall and then a scary lady made her cry in the women’s restroom. Her diaper did leak while she was in the carrier, so I spent a good portion of the day with a pee soaked shirt, but apparently an unexpected side effect of mommy hood is not caring too much that you are out in public soaked in pee. Happy Birthday to me, indeed.

                Dave picked me up and drove us home. There he had a cake and a card and a balloon and a present. It was a nice surprise because I had given him a pass this year for my birthday and Mother’s day. The cake was not super delicious, there seems to be a Russian law of desserts: if it looks really decadent and delicious, it isn’t.