Day 22 - Outdoor excursion and fizzy milk

Today was a little warmer than usual so we decided to take our daughter on an adventure outside. The doctor told us during our information visit that it would be all right if we took her outside for a short time since it would be good for her to get some sunlight to enhance her vitamins. Ok, so that really doesn't make much sense to me, but any excuse we can use to our advantage we will take. We were given a snowsuit which looked harmless enough, but when placed on our daughter it reminded me of the "I can't put my arms down!" Christmas story scene. It must be often mentioned here because Oxana seemed to roll her eyes at us and say "Yes, I've heard of that movie." But seriously, she couldn't move her arms down, let alone walk forward at all. In fact, her first attempt at a step forward ended up with her face down and all of us rolling in hysterics. Don't worry about our daughter though. With six inches of insulation on, she didn't feel a thing.

Outside was kind of anti climatic. She was definitely interested and curious about her surroundings, but the fact that she couldn't walk meant that she depended on Momma and Papa to take her around. Take one toddler and add six inches around in every direction and you end up with one hard-to-hold package. It was fun to explore a little and see new things, but there wasn't a whole lot to do with a bundle of limp rags that makes cute noises. We played on some snow covered play ground equipment and walked around the building twice and still came inside two minutes shy of our twenty allotted minutes.

And in the new tastes file, we have another food to share. While walking in the dairy section we found a strange bottle that we thought must be kumis, the local fermented horse milk drink. Oxana explained to us that is isn't fermented like kumis, and it is cow's milk, but is still fizzy and in her opinion was worth trying. After all, she likes it well enough. So I figure to myself, if Oxana likes it, it must be good. So I brought out a bottle to share with our travel partners a few nights ago when we invited them to dinner at our place. Apparently the smell from the glass was enough to tell them not to drink it, but I find that being more intrepid than the average traveler, I wasn't going to let the smell of rotten foot fungus turn me away from what maybe a true culinary delight.

It wasn't good. It was an acquired taste. And by acquired I mean the nasty stuff burned off part of my tongue and I can no longer taste things and now I must reacquire that skill through years of painful rehab. I mean it was salty and fizzy and in no way like milk any more. I guess I was expecting it to be like a milk and ginger ale at the same time. Probably not the right expectation for a foreign taste sensation. But I don't feel too bad about not liking it. Vladim our driver thinks its gross, too, so I must be in good company. He and I do share a love of the small rubbery things that came on the Five Fingers platter. Turns out they are horse intestine pieces. Surprisingly tasty intestines I should add. Especially with the sautéed onions. Mmmmm good.

Prayer request: We have a new family in our little visiting room - a Beligian couple who just met their adorable little son. This does change the dynamic in the room a bit and Sestra is having a little trouble adjusting to sharing her toys. Please pray with us that all three of us would find ways to be good hosts to our new room-mates and that Sestra's training to become a sibling wouldn't be too disruptive to our normal patterns and fun.