The Johnson's in Moscow

28 August, 2012, Tuesday evening.

I don't know what to do. Thomsen complains about all the photographs. The children complain about the witty repartee. What am I to do? I'm blown by every wind of opinion.

We had some interesting experiences in the last couple of weeks. Two Sundays ago Marlene's brother, Gary, got to teach his High Priests' group. In order to fill the time he thought it would be fun to Skype with us during the meeting. So, at 9:00 a.m. SLC time and 7:00 p.m. Moscow time, we hooked up and got to talk to Gary and his HP group. The theme was something like, "How the Church uses technology to further its mission." It was fun, and he later reported that at least half of the brethren were awake during the interchange.

Then last week, on Tuesday, I believe (Hey! Marlene! [Me shouting at her in the other room.] Was it Tuesday, or Wednesday!?) Oh, she says it was Thursday, but actually it was Tuesday. Whatever.

Back to the story. Then last week we got to prove the point. We had a video conference with a group of about a dozen men at the Church Office Building, one mission president in Bulgaria, one area presidency member in England, the Area President in Fresno, and the other four of us in Moscow. The meeting was chaired by Elder Nelson. It was 7:00 a.m. in SLC and 5:00 p.m. in Moscow. It all worked perfectly. Amazing.

I can't tell you the topic of the meeting, because that is top secret, but I can reveal that I probably won't be getting the raise I had been hoping for--(or for which I had been hoping.)

We had a nice adventure on Saturday. We gathered up the Walker's and took them, hesitantly, to Izmaylova Park. (If you have been paying attention you know that Izmaylova is mostly known for its shopping.) But the whole area used to be Tsar Sergey the 42nd's country estate. The park part is claimed (by the Moscow Chamber of Commerce) to be the largest urban park in the world. It is a mile wide and 4.x miles long, and it is big. We only got about a mile into it and found ourselves at a nice pond/lake (where supposedly Peter the Great learned to sail) witha plaza with a stage.

We noticed some band members hanging around the side of the stage and assumed that they were going to perform in the not-too-distant future so we sat down to wait for the show to begin.

It was an absolutely beautiful afternoon, sunny and about 70, and whoever was running the nice sound system had some big band songs playing. I particularly noticed "In the Mood." (It made me think of Connie and Dave dancing at Utah State--where the only culture .... [hold it .....] is agriculture.)

So, true to our expectations, at 3:00 the band got ready to play by grabbing their trombone, drums, saxophone, and flute and got in a kid's train and drove off, playing, into the distance.

But shortly after they left some paid announcer-types, park officials, and award recipients mounted the stage and started announcing this and that. And then the fun started. Various performers came on stage and performed--for about three hours. We had a great time watching and listening.

Enjoy the pictures if not the commentary.

(Thomsen can just read the comments.)

Some Russian babe, or ...
Andy's smoking hot wife.
New hair, new attitude.

Andy before his operation.

The park people had mime's and clowns out among the spectators. They were good.

Ben, before his nose job.

This guy was really good. He had the children hypnotized. They loved his act and so did their parents.

Marlene's new hair color and lips.

This lady was working the crowd for the act on the stage. They were a very energetic group, kind of a Richard Simmons sort of deal.

The mime had been mimicking the girl with the purse, behind her back.

This is the park outside our south windows. We walked by two softball games one evening and noticed that the team with the pink shirts were speaking English. Marlene went to talk to them and found them to be ex-pats playing in a league.

I am not doing what Thomsen thinks I am doing. I am looking at the logo painted on the light pole.
We have been shopping and that is our load of treasures. I think I might have mentioned that food is between 50 and 100% more expensive here than at home.

(Children: Did you not see the picture in the last blog of your mother sitting on the concrete step outside the Kremlin? You know, the one about needing to sell pencils to make up for all the money the children are not sending us?)

It has been pretty humid lately. This is a close up of the fungus in between Nathanael's toes.

Twins at the Metro (kacca) buying tickets.

Waiting for the train to come to take us to the park.

Marlene is trying to see if she is tall enough for the rides.

The second line says, "Izmaylova Park."

Lots of stations where kinds could ride stuff.

We took the park train from the entrance deeper into the park.

In the mile that we went into the park we must have seen a half dozen places with carnival rides.

Waiting for the band to start playing.

Guys in animal suits making the kids laugh.

One of two guys on stilts. That train behind him is the one the band boarded and drove off into the sunset.

Let's see, if Marlene is half of this guy's height that makes her four feet tall.

One of the early acts was this group of Russian youngsters dancing some Russian dances. The guys can do that thingee where you get down on your haunches and kick your legs out.

I can do it, but I don't want to show you.

The shoes Nathanael has always wanted.

The kids could really dance. The costumes were striking. You will see later that they are just kids.

We never miss seeing brides wherever we go.

This was one of the announcer-ladies. I think that thing on the back of her dress must have some meaning, but I will need Emily to figure it our for me.