Penguins on Parade

We couldn't help but notice that there was this 6-foot tall painted fiberglass penguin outside of our hotel in Tulsa.

We figured it was just a clever advertisement and didn't think much of it until two weeks later we noticed another penguin in a different part of the city. Another week later we saw a third penguin and realized some research was in order. We learned that the penguins were part of the "Penguins on Parade," a fundraiser for the Tulsa zoo to bring an African Penguin exhibit to the zoo a few years ago. There are about two dozen painted penguins throughout the city of Tulsa, and I really wanted to try and find all of them! I couldn't find a website that listed out all of the locations, but after some scouting we were able to find quite a few of these cute little buggers. Unfortunately, because we had to leave Tulsa so quickly we weren't able to get to all of the ones we had found, but we did find a few and thought we would share some of the pictures with you.

This next one is clearly a faker, but he gets credit for effort :)

What a Crazy Life We Lead

As of 5:00 this morning we are now back home. Though the job in Tulsa was not yet complete, there was a more pressing job that Jeff was needed for, so we left Tulsa yesterday evening (after watching the awesome Packer victory) and drove straight through the night. As soon as we get our visas sorted out we are heading to Panipat, India. It is a smaller city in northern India, a few hours north of New Delhi. We have talked to other employees who have been to this location, and it seems like we will not have internet access, so it is possible that you will not hear from us for a while. We should be there for about a month or so. I will try to post a few fun things in the next few days before we leave so you don't miss us too much!

More of the Ice Storm Aftermath

The weather here has been warmer lately, so a few days ago Jeff and I headed to a local park to play some disc golf. Every single tree in the entire park seemed to be effected by the ice storm. Here are a bunch of pictures to show you just a bit more of the devastation.

Seeing these definitely reminds us how lucky we were that we suffered basically no impact from the storm, while just a mile from here it looks like a war zone.

Ice Storm

As I am sure many of you have heard (and some of you experienced), last weekend Oklahoma was hit by a pretty bad ice storm. Several hundred thousand people in the greater Tulsa area lost power, but we we VERY lucky to be in what seems like the one area of town that kept power throughout the whole storm. The worst of the storm hit on Sunday during the day. Starting Sunday night the hotel here became completely booked with people who had no power at home. It was absolutely amazing how many people they were able to cram into this little building!

Lucky for us Jeff had the weekend off, so we opted to stay indoors Sunday and enjoy the view from our hotel windows. On Monday Jeff had to go to work at midnight (I guess technically Tuesday morning). We needed to get groceries, but upon seeing our cars coated in over 1/2 inch of ice we decided that we would walk to Chipotle across the street. The place was an absolute zoo, probably because it was one of the only restaurants open, and because everyone from the hotel seemed to be going there. After waiting in line for about 15 minutes we learned that they were out of pork, chicken, tomatoes (also including all tomato salsas) and chips. Clearly the supply truck wasn't able to get there!

After eating we decided that we needed to try and tackle the ice covering the cars so Jeff could get to work. Jeff wasn't feeling well, so I took on the job myself. I have seen some serious snow and ice storms while living in Minneapolis, but I have never had to scrape so much ice from a car! It was insane. Here are some pictures of my car to give you an idea of what it was like.

After about an hour I was able to get both of our cars clean. Jeff headed off to work and got to see the damage as he drove. There were branches snapped off trees everywhere you looked. Some trees looked like they had been split right down the middle. Neither of us had ever seen anything like that! Unfortunately Jeff couldn't take pictures from the car, but here are a few pictures of the tiny trees in the hotel parking lot.

Even though these are small trees, you can see how the weight of all of this ice could snap branches on huge trees, thus pulling down all of the power lines.

On Tuesday I made it to the grocery store and it looked like people were stocking up for the apocalypse! Shelves with essentials (bread, lunch meat, soup, water, etc.) were completely bare. It was a surreal experience that made us realize how bad it was in the rest of the city. We really did get lucky!

It's been a week since the storm, and things are starting to look a lot better. Last I heard there are still over one hundred thousand people in the Tulsa area without power. Tomorrow is the first day that Tulsa public schools will be open, but I guess seven schools will not reopen because they still don't have power. We went to the grocery store and the shelves have been restocked. Chipotle is even offering a full menu now :) I guess slowly but surely life is getting back to normal.

By Popular Demand

As some of you know, we were able to find cute Russian style fur hats while we were in Russia last month. Last time we were there it was spring and the selection was slim, but since this time we were there right at the start of winter it was easy to find hats that we liked. We've had a few requests to see a picture of the hats, so here you go:

The picture isn't the best, but Jeff's is made of brown leather and otter fur and mine is made of mink. They will definitely keep us warm on all these cold winter days we are having!

We're in Tulsa

We are so excited because for the first time in our travels we have an assignment in the United States!!!! On Sunday we packed up my car and made the 11 hour drive from Chicago to Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was so fun to not have to worry about airport delays, luggage weight restrictions, jet lag, or any of the other not so glamorous parts of international travel. We just packed the car with as much stuff as we wanted and headed out on our own time. It was fantastic!

Our hotel room is beyond perfect, as we finally have an actual kitchen to use, but it is hard to want to cook when we have all of our favorite restaurants within just a mile of our hotel! In case you can't tell, we are really excited about this job :) We should be here until early January, but at least we will get to spend Christmas and new year's in the US!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We hope you all had a wonderful holiday and were able to spend time with loved ones. Because of a family emergency, we were able to return from Russia on the Saturday before Thanksgiving and spent the holidays with our families. It was really a wonderful time and we are glad we were finally able to be here for at least one holiday! We will be heading out again shortly, but more on that in another post!

A Little Lesson in Aviation History

Throughout modern history there have been many famous Russian aviators. Two such pilots have hailed from Nizhny Novgorod. On our tour of Nizhny a few weeks back our translator taught us a little bit about these two famous men.

The first is Pyotr Nesterov. Nesterov was a pioneer in the area of in flight acrobatics. In 1913 he was the first person to ever perform a 360-degree loop in an airplane. To this day, when pilots perform a loop it is known as a Nesterov loop. But that is not the end of Mr. Nesterov's fame. He was also the first pilot to destroy another aircraft in flight. During World War I Nesterov was a pilot for the Russian military. While in flight he came across an enemy spy plane. At the time planes were not armed, so Nesterov had no way to stop this enemy plane. Instead of allowing the plane into Russian territory, Nesterov rammed the plane with his own plane, causing the spy plane to crash. It is believed that he intended to ram the plane with his landing gear, but instead Nesterov hit it with his propeller, causing his plane to crash also. Both pilots died in the crash. While Nesterov did not survive this first attempted at ramming an enemy aircraft, his idea was perfected over the years and was used frequently and successfully by Russian pilots during World War II. There are several monuments and plaques honoring Nesterov throughout Nizhny. These are a few that we found and took pictures of.

A replica of the plane Nesterov flew when he rammed the spy plane

The largest monument to Nesterov

A close up of the same monument (you can actually see the snow falling in this one!)

I have no idea what this says or stands for, but I can read that it says Nesterov

The second famous aviator from Nizhny is Valery Chkalov. Chkalov was the first pilot to fly non-stop from Russia to the United States flying over the North Pole. The nearly 5,500 mile flight from Moscow to Vancouver, Washington took place in 1937 and lasted 63 hours. Chkalov too has a huge monument in Nizhny (as well as several in Washington state). Here are a few pictures we took of the monument.

Jeff and I in front of the monument

The monument is in front of the Kremlin (notice what a difference a week makes in terms of the weather!)

Close up of the base of the monument, which has a map of the historic flight

Happy National Unity Day

Today, November 4th, is a huge holiday here in Russia: National Unity Day. The day is similar to the Fourth of July in the US, as it celebrates the Russian victory over the Polish which lead to the unification of Russia as a state. The holiday was celebrated from 1613 until 1916. However, in 1917, following the Bolshevik Revolution, the holiday was abandoned and replaced on November 7th by the Day of Accord and Conciliation (which celebrated the Bolshevik Revolution instead). The Great October Socialist Revolution (another name for the Bolshevik Revolution) was celebrated as a national holiday until 2005 when President Vladimir Putin eliminated it and reinstated National Unity Day on November 4th. We are told that there are groups throughout Russia that still celebrate November 7th, but they are a minority.

The day is particularly important here in Nizhny Novgorod because the cavalry of troops that came to Moscow and defeated the Polish originated in Nizhny Novgorod. If any of you have ever been to the Red Square in Moscow, you surely saw this monument in front of St. Basil's Cathedral (we took this picture last time we were here in Russia).

When we saw this monument we really didn't understand what it stood for, as the plaque is written in Russian. However, last weekend while touring the city with our translator we learned that it was a monument to Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky. Minin was a common merchant from Nizhny who was called upon to arm and organize the volunteer forces that would march to Moscow. During the battle he was Prince Pozharsky's "right-hand man." Prince Pozharsky was the man who actually lead the troops in the liberation battle. When the monument was originally produced it was supposed to lie in the Kremlin here in Nizhny, but apparently Moscow requested it come to the capitol and reside in the Moscow Kremlin instead. Nizhny did not want to be deprived of the monument's beauty and significance, so an exact replica sits in front of a cathedral just outside of the Nizhny Kremlin's lower gates.

Late last week Jeff received an email alert from his company reminding us of the holiday weekend. It warned us that there would be large public gatherings and a lot of drinking. As in the US, any time you have the combination of drinking and large groups of people, there is a slight chance for criminal activity, so we were advised to shy away from the celebrations. However, we did walk to the grocery store during the afternoon and observed some of the interesting preparations for the evening's celebration. First, like Fourth of July in Chicago, many of the major streets were closed (and regulated by traffic police) to accommodate the increase in pedestrian traffic. Second, and I think most interesting, liquor was not being sold during the day. We are guessing this is to cut down on over indulgence and the violence that can often accompany it. We are not sure if this was city wide, or just at our grocery store which is near the Kremlin, but in any case the aisles of liquor were blocked off and all displays were covered in plastic wrap.

Later in the evening, as we were preparing to watch the Packer's game, Jeff and I started hearing extremely loud bangs outside of our hotel room. At first we figured it was just cars backfiring (that happens here ALL the time), but when we looked out our window we realized there was a huge fireworks display! Though we weren't out on the streets, we felt like we were part of the celebration, as we think they were being shot off just a few blocks from our hotel. We took a few pictures and the following video.

Finally a Traditional Russian Meal

Though we previously spent nearly two months in Russia, up until last week we had never sat down for a traditional Russian meal. It never happened in Ryazan because we didn't speak the language and we really didn't have anyone who could translate for us. Here however, Jeff has a translator (several actually!) and a very generous group of co-workers who offered to take us out for a meal and some sightseeing.

The traditional Russian meal does not differ too much from a traditional US meal, but there are of course some differences. The beginning of the meal focuses on the one thing all Americans would expect of Russians: Vodka. When we first entered the restaurant, we checked our coats, and were instantly offered a shot (vodka for the men and sweet brandy wine for the women). After the first shot we began to realize why vodka might be so popular here. We were both rather chilly from walking around outside, and that shot started a fire in our bellies that really warmed us up!

We then sat down and the group immediately ordered a bottle of homemade flavor infused vodka. These types of vodka are very popular and are made in flavors that are not too common in America. Everyone has seen citrus, vanilla, and berry flavored vodka, but have you ever tried sweet grass, black pepper, or even garlic? Well we can now say that we have had not one, but two shots of radish flavored vodka. I have to say, it was a completely unique taste; very different than anything I have ever had. But surprisingly, it was not bad! Russians are very big on eating some sort of snack while drinking any type of alcohol, and each drink seems to have its own coordinating snack. Our radish vodka came with a piece of dry rye bread (very popular in Russia) with two pieces of fish on top. Very interesting!


After the flavored vodka, the regular vodka came out. With the vodka came the corresponding snacks, which consisted primarily of raw fish, mushrooms, various vegetables, and three different types of bread. It was not all that unlike something you may see in America. Every so often there would be a break in the conversation and one of our generous hosts would announce a toast and a shot of vodka would be taken by all. The toasts were very similar to American toasts: good company, good food, beautiful women, cooperation, good health, etc. Each time a shot was downed the waitress promptly refilled the shot glasses so we were prepared for the next toast. While it is considered strange to take your vodka any way but straight up, we were served a mix if cranberry juice and water on the side in case we needed a chaser after each shot.

After a few more shots and some snacks our soup arrived. Soup is very popular in Russia and is always served with lunch, and sometimes served with dinner. We have noted that Solyanka and Borsch seem to be the most popular varieties. Solyanka is an onion based soup with many vegetables and either fish, meat, or vegetables. Borsch is a beet based soup with a few vegetables and sometimes some meat. At this meal we had a meat Solyanka which was very good.

After the soup came the main course. These were very similar to something we may order at an American restaurant: beef in a red wine sauce and brazed pork. Of course there were more shots of vodka to accompany our entree.

After the main course they insisted that we eat a dessert, so we shared a bowl of ice cream with chocolate shavings. We felt a little awkward since we were the only ones eating dessert (they are not very popular in Russia), but it's hard to turn down ice cream!

The meal lasted about two hours, and we were absolutely stuffed by the end of it (and also a little tipsy from the countless shots of vodka). It was such a good time and we were so glad that we were able to finally experience a somthing authentically Russian!

Back in the Motherland

Hello all! We know its been a while, but we are still alive and we are back in Mother Russia. Last time we were here we were in the city of Ryazan, which some of you may recall was not necessarily our favorite place in the world. This time however, we are in the fabulous city of Nizhny Novgorod, which is just so much better.

The first week here we felt like we were at summer camp in Northern Wisconsin. The higher powers had us stay in Kstovo, a small suburb of Nizhny Novgorod, which was closer to Jeff's job site. We stayed in a small "hotel" in the middle of the woods. We use the word "hotel" lightly, as it was not one building, but rather a collection of smaller cabins spread throughout the property.

To further the campy feel, there was also a central dining hall for meals and a few sporting activities spread throughout the grounds.

The rooms were huge and we had access to a kitchen, but there was no where to go besides the hotel property and there was no internet access or cable television.

So while it was nice to relax for a week or so, we were very excited when we were moved to our current hotel, which is located in the city, has free wireless internet, and has English TV! Now that we are downtown there will be much more time to explore the city and enjoy our month in Russia!

Finding Our Roots

Last year when we were in Korea we decided to subscribe to Ancestry.com so we could start creating one family tree for our newly formed family. We were able to trace our lineage back to when most of our ancestors came to America. On our European adventure we realized that the cities from which both of our father's families originate were within a few hours drive of Gelsenkirchen.

First we decided to visit Tourinnes-la-Grosse, Belgium. Jeff's father's side of the family left here in the 1850s to head to America. It was a super cute, super small town. You can tell everyone knows everyone because as we drove through the streets people looked at us with a look of "who are these strangers driving around!?!" After driving around the town we found the really old church that we were pretty sure Jeff's family belonged to. Inside we saw a cornerstone indicating that the church had been standing since the 1700s (which is a huge feat given the destruction caused by World War II). After looking inside the church we examined the cemetery surrounding the church to see if there were any family headstones. We weren't able to find any from Jeff's family, but there were a ton with the last name Degreve, who at some point married into Jeff's family. We believe that a Degreve married into Jeff's family and left her family behind when his family traveled to the US.

Later on in our trip we drove to Glandorf, Germany, where Mia's father's side of the family lived before coming to America in the 1830's. We were also able to find her family's church, St. Johannis, but unfortunately the church is not the same one that the family attended. The church was destroyed in World War II, but parish rebuilt a new church, which was still pretty cool to see!

We also found the "old" town cemetery, but we didn't find any graves there for people who passed away before World War II. Our best guess is that maybe the cemeteries were destroyed in the war, and the "old" cemetery was created after the war. Since the family left in the 1830s, we weren't able to find any grave, but it was still really interesting to walk through the cemetery and the town.
We have to say that visiting the exact places that our ancestors used to live was really a once in a lifetime experience that neither of us will forget.