I can't wait

It's the hardest time now. I can't wait to see you, bun, to hug you and to know that i don't need to worry anymore... I haven't heard from you after you left for the airport and i can't hide that i am worried even though i understand it's OK and i'll see you in less than 24h! But how i wish i could talk to you now.. please have a safe and easy trip! See you soon!

From Far Away Sunday: Mail

I love getting surprises From Far Away! And this Sunday while B is in NYC stick there with a storm i want to share some with you. Last week i got a Happy Birthday card from one of my friends in NYC.. yeah, it has just arrived! Late but still lovely! It's never late to make someone happy, right? :-) So here it is:

Don't you think packages always feel like Christmas? When i get something from Ben's parents it definitely feels like it! Just look at this:

And i got two packages from B with different American sweets and my favourite ones - Reese's cups!!! 

Oh, bun, you are wonderful!!

Also, thank you for all the flowers you sent me, dear! The phone calls from a flower guy do make me really excited but i would be the happiest to just finally get you here and hug you and hold your hand. Here is the last one surprise from far away i got and i hope the next one will be you in person! Sorry the pic is all blurry - we were too excited when we were taking it :-) Here are the flowers in a vase and chocolates :-*

3 more days!!! I hope the hurricane goes away from NYC and lets my B get to me safely!

Hi, this is Benjamin, I miss you so much dear Katyusha love. I wanted to share some surprises that are coming with me back to you.  First off, I am bringing this book, which I think you'll really like, it's about marketing with social media :-)

Next, I have a jar of something that will let us make all kinds of cool things.

And finally, I have a surprise bag from Starbucks.  I also have lots more stuff of course :-))) but some of it will really be a surprise when I get there.  I love you very, very much Katyusha.

And I got a photo from up near a bridge of the New York skyline as Irene was going away.  It was a little bit windy and still raining a little, but there never was a scary part of the hurricane here in New York.  I really hope that it doesn't affect my flight on Wednesday, but I don't think it will.  I can't wait to get back to K and hold her tight for a long time.

Comparative world Starbucks

Hi, this is Benjamin! Katie loves going to Starbucks wherever we are, and she asked me to take some pictures of the one in Sandpoint to see how it was compared to the ones in Moscow. We were especially curious how the menu might be different. It's always interesting to see how international companies like Starbucks or McDonald's change their menus depending on where they are. For example, McDonald's in Korea has Bulgogi burgers! And I think in Italy some of them serve pizza. That being said, McDonald's in Russia is pretty much exactly the same as McDonald's in the US -- the raspberry milkshakes they had this summer were really good, by the way, even for people who might not usually go to McDonald's! They were soft and fluffy with raspberry syrup at the bottom and whipped cream on top :-)  And they were on the way home from work so Katie and I would stop and get them from time to time.

Anyway, here's Starbucks in Sandpoint!  I wish I could have taken Katie there and sat on the back deck overlooking the docks.  Just a week til we're reunited!

Katie goes to Montana!

As I promised, I took Katie with me to Montana :-) Someday we'll really both go back together. I floated the river again with my dad and we saw some animals! So I'll share a few photos of them. Only 8 days till I get to hug my Katie-bun! PS my dad let the fish go free -- he rarely brings them home to eat. My mom likes eating them so sometimes she complains :-)

From Benjamin

From Far Away Sunday: Look out of my Window

Hello-hello! It is Sunday and it's less than 2 weeks till we see each other! Meanwhile we share what we see when we look out of our windows! B's yard and K's neighborhood. Hugs from far away!!!

folk

Привет from Russia! This weekend i decided to take it easy and cozy: with coffee in a new starbucks cup and ginger cookies (..and lonely planet guide books because even if i don't travel right now i can't help planning my next invasions :-)) Talking about invasions: i have some more beautiful Russian shots from my trip to Kostroma. Like these carved wooden house elements - wonderful! I even think of going on a special trip to capture this kind of Russian wooden art, then making a book/photo album or something.. There aren't too many of these masterpieces and skilled masters left. Aren't these pretty?

In some towns (and Kostroma is one of those) there are open air folk museums where you can see some unique examples of traditional architecture, family life scenes and listen to folk music. 

spontaneous adventures

Lenin and our team

Hello everyone! I've been feeling bad lately for leaving the blog for so long.. but my trip to Kostroma was worth it! I didn't plan it in advance which explains my sudden disappearance. Till the last day i kept dobting if i should go or shouldn't. I don't regret going at all -- that was such a great get-away! There were 17 of us, most of us were Russians, there was one Spanish guy from Barcelona and one American from Texas. We experienced a fireworks festival, Volga river swimming, guitar singing in a train and parks, a town birthday celebration and much more. We even think of going once again the next year! Wanna join? ;-) Here are some more pics to convince you:

a window view from my hostel room

an average street in Kostroma town

PS: Thanks to Benjamin for keeping us posted while i was away! Only 14 days are left till the biggest fun ever strats! Can't wait!

From Far Away Wednesday

This weekend we both visited outdoor craft fairs!

Fair on the street in Kostroma, Russia

Popcorn man at the crafts fair in Sandpoint, Idaho

We miss each other an incredible amount, but we're almost there!  

Thank goodness this is a relatively short period of distance.

Goat Video

Well, I lied, we didn't post yesterday, but we will do a "From Far Away..." this week. Meanwhile, here's a video of the goats:



And here's another song for Katie's album from me.

Sunday Surprise!

Hi, this is Benjamin! From Far Away Sunday will be "From Far Away Monday" this week. Katie took a trip with some friends and she is on the train right now headed back to Moscow, so we won't be able to make our post for that until tomorrow, but I have a big surprise for everybody, including Katie!!!

Today my dad and I went to a mountain called "Scotchman's Peak," it's almost 8000 feet high and took about 3 hours to hike up. I'll leave it to the pictures to explain what we found at the top :-)

We saw at least five different goats, and some people we met on the way up claimed they had seen at least 12!  They were pretty relaxed.  My dad joked that when they sit down and close their eyes, that means they are really scared.  They looked at us for a few minutes, then went back to chewing their cuds. And yes, there was still some snow up there, too!