2008-10(Oct)-18 Hat Show

http://picasaweb.google.com/terricallaway/HatShow#

Hi everyone, this email will interest the ladies I am sure...the guys - well I don't know.
On Wednesday I attended a hat show at the British Consulate. It was a fund raiser for EveryChild, an international organization dedicated to assisting children around the world. It is a British charity and there is an office in St. Petersburg working with children in institutional care primarily, but also with others. A very sweet young lady explained their work in St. Pete and I was impressed. Orphanages are very active here. Even though the abortion rate is very high, there are many unwanted children, particularly those with problems. This group works to provide basic needs for children - get them off the streets, provide shelter and basics and get them educated. If you are interested in supporting them, please let me know. My neighbor across the street is from the UK and can get you more information.

Back to the hat show. The designer is a woman who thought she could design and make hats. So she gave it a try. Now, several years later (and freedom from the soviet rule) she has two shops in the business center of St. Pete selling GORGEOUS hats and furs of every description. These are not cheap - the hats retail in the 10.000,00 ruble range ($400) and the fur coats in the many thousands. Amazing when you consider she was probably almost penniless before the soviets fell. I think you will enjoy the pictures.

Tonight we had dinner at the apartment of a colleague of John who works for BE&K East but is from Poland. His name is Marek (Polish for Mark) and his wife is Mariola (a Polish derivative of Mary). They have two sons in Poland and a daughter who studies at a university in Poland in architecture but is spending this year in Valencia, Spain. I was delighted to go to the dinner; John was pleased as well because he had visited them in Poland and Mariola is a wonderful cook. We had a wonderful evening. We arrived at about 5 pm and were greeted warmly - wine for all.

Also attending the meal was Marina (BE&K driver/translator), her daughter Ritta, her friend Lenny, and a Polish paper engineer who is working on the project with John and Marek. The eight of us sat around a table; Marek and Mariola served us Polish soup first- two sausages (one like a hot dog and the other like Polish sausage), hardboiled egg in a creamy broth with lots of spices. It was tasty - maybe not a soup I would want to eat often, but it was good. Of course we ate every bit they served us to show our appreciation for them having us! Also on the table were slices of several kinds of bread, olives and red (bell) peppers. The peppers here are so good - a very common condiment to meals.

Next we had the main course - served family style: a salad (finely chopped lettuce with cucumbers, onions, green/yellow/red peppers and a mild vinaigrette dressing); spaghetti with a meat sauce; rice with peas, peppers and spiced with seasonings (with a touch or curry); pork chops with a plum sauce; pan-fried chicken cutlets. Of course we had a serving of everything. All was good - my favorites were the rice and the chicken, John especially liked the pork. We ate way more than we would normally eat because we wanted Mariola to know how much we appreciated her cooking, and of course, because it was good. I will say that only the pasta and rice dishes were similar to what I have eaten in the US, but all was tasty. We sat down at 5:30 and remained at the table for about 3 1/2 hours - we had drinks of frozen vodka, flavored vodka, mixed drinks, more wine, juices, coke. As the conversation flowed, we toasted, told jokes, ate additional portions. Very pleasant and very relaxing. At about 9, they served us desert and coffee/tea (or more drinks if we preferred). We left at 9:30 as Ritta is only 6 and her mom, Marina wanted to get her home.

The conversation was delightful - Mariola, of course, speaks Polish and she knows a bit of Russian. She is taking English lessons and really is learning but she is rather embarrassed by her lack of ability to speak. I think she does great - way better than my Russian (which consists of understanding a word or two- Mariola can say English phrases). Understanding the words is much easier than trying to speak them. I am beginning to read words in Russian - menus and signs but cannot put more than two words together. Marek can speak pretty good Russian and rather good English; their Polish friend works with John and he speaks good English and Russian, plus is a terrific engineer - he sat next to me and was great to translate when the conversation was in Russian or Polish; Marina is the BE&K driver who most often takes me shopping so I know her well had Polish neighbors as a child so she remembers some Polish; her boyfriend, Lenny does not speak any English or Polish and neither does Ritta. Still, our time this evening went by so fast I was very sorry when we had to leave. We talked about travel, children, the soviet times in Russia and in Poland, the Catholic Church and its importance in Poland, paper mills, weddings, cooking, customs; we had lots of laughs. Ritta was playing with a Barbie doll, which of course, we all knew about. Mariola and Marek's second son is getting married next August and we were invited to the wedding in Poland and I really hope we can attend. What a thrill that would be.

We are going to a Russian wedding this week! I'll let you know about it later

Question of the week: Do people have pets?
I have seen very few dogs. A few with their owners on the street; a few rare strays in the park, but I think relative to the population, very few. However, I have been told that the people in the sleeping district have dogs - at least one on every floor of the high rise. Remember that the sleeping districts are in the 'suburbs' and most of the buildings were built in soviet times and look to me like housing projects that have been neglected for years. Honestly, Cabrini Green (in Chicago) was in much better shape, from the outside, than these 'apartment' buildings look. I have been told the apartments look very nice inside, even though the outsides look terrible (remember, the government owns the exterior of the buildings, the individuals own the insides) However, where we live, downtown, there are lots of cats. I've been in a dress shop where they roamed freely; they are in the parks and on the streets. People feed the strays - a lady on our street built a lean-to shelter for some against a building next to the sidewalk. I don't know how they stay warm in the winter. I guess I will soon see.

Hugs to all
Terri