Summer is is great for tourists in St. Petersburg.
We were awed by the spectacular rain storms, which happen nearly every day for a few minutes at a time to hours at a time. One day we had thunder and lightening just a few hundred yards away and then it cleared up into beautiful blue skies filled with white billowing clouds, as in this photo taken Friday evening during our Friday date night dinner cruise on the Neva River and the Gulf of Finland. More on that evening later.
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The Adventures of the Dishwasher
Our little tabletop, one-rack micro dishwasher gave up the ghost last week. The timer dial (right center) simply stopped advancing. The landlady thinks it's not broken, but it gave us an excuse to buy a new, larger dishwasher and deduct the moderate cost from the rent.
We found a built-in style Electrolux model from Sweden--with only Russian-language instructions--at a local appliance store. Here is the floor model in the store, ready for cabinet installation. So on Monday, Sister Efimova (our local Russian housing manager) and I went back and we bought it. And we took delivery on Thursday morning. We hosted President and Sister Rawson for dinner that night, just before Sister Efimova arrived with the installer. So it was a bit of an kitchen/dining-room/pantry disaster in one small space as we hosted our visiting VIPs.
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| Store model of new dishwasher |
A couple of real problems however: After we got the dishwasher home and unloaded, and after the Rawsons left, we learned for sure that the store didn't supply a needed front panel. That requires cabinet work to match the kitchen. Nevertheless, in the midst of piles of dirty dishes, we were able to install the machine enough to get it working, and so we began to rearrange cabinetry and refrigerator and rebuild the kitchen with the help of the installer, a local church member who installed the current cabinetry. Unfortunately we haven't figured out quite how to fasten it down. Not all the needed parts were provided, and it obviously needed to have an enclosure. Ken shoved some styrofoam packing material between the countertop and the dishwasher to hold it in place temporarily, and late that night he did the whole load of dishes in the new dishwasher. Saturday Sister Efimova made a run to the local Ikea (of Sweden) to see what is available that is semi-turnkey. She bought something that may or may not work. We think it's the revenge of the Swedes, who were driven out of this region in the 12th Century. More news is sure to follow in the coming weeks.
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Cornstarch
We all thought we could not find cornstarch in Russia, at least not in local grocery stores. We were already making arrangements for a courier to bring in a box. Then Sister Archibald, visiting from Novgorod, stopped by the local health food store in the mall next to our dry cleaners, looking for gluten-free ingredients for her visiting grandson. Surprise! She found cornstarch: KYKYPY3HblN (kykyruzniy) and she bought it for us. Sue took part of the treasure and gave the rest to Sister Rawson. So now we have all the ingredients we need for anything, with a few substitutions. No chocolate chips, but cut-up chocolate bars work--just more work to chop. No cream of tartar yet, but Sue can substitute a teaspoon of lemon juice or vinegar in the snickerdoodles.
Speaking of service, Friday afternoon was our scheduled volunteer time at the turnstiles in The Hermitage Palace, where we assist visitors entering the museum. We stand for three and a half hours helping people from all over the world scan tickets or return portable audio guides. It is almost overwhelming some days. This week, as we arrived at the Palace, we both realized that we had forgotten our photo badges, so we stopped in the volunteer's office to pick up temporary tags. After our long shift, we returned the badges and got to talk with Mikhael, the chief volunteer coordinator. It gave us an opportunity to promote our team. He told us of one immediate need: an older American woman, legally blind but only visually impaired, who was a former college art major, was living in St. Petersburg and needed an escort to view the paintings. So we called her up right there and started to make such arrangements. There will surely be other opportunities. As he did 11 years ago in Hamburg, Germany, Ken has volunteered to copy-edit the English-language version of their semi-monthly publication, which could use some proofreading. We shall see.
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Dinner Cruise
The sun was still up late into the evening, so after our Friday afternoon service we went out on a date, a river cruise around the lower Neva and out to the Gulf of Finland. It was a dinner cruise, not just a little excursion boat. Here are some of the scenes from that cruise.
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| The riverboat docks, the Hermitage, the Admiralty and Saint Isaac's Cathedral from the middle of the Neva River |
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| The old soccer stadium on the island |
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| The new soccer stadium for World Cup 2018 farther west. |
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| Under the new belt route highway bridge and new soccer stadium |
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| The new suspension bridge, Gaszprom Tower, and Soccer Stadium at the mouth of the Neva River |
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| The Viking River cruise boat loading to sail up the river toward Moscow |
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| St. Isaac's Cathedral in the sun while rain falls nearby at home |
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So Saturday we stayed close to home. Ken went to the office for a bit. Sue cleaned house and cooked for two young Elders coming for dinner. It was mostly a beautiful sunny day, except when it was pouring buckets of rain. We could hear lots of thunder. Sue walked the long block to the corner store to buy some bread and chips for dinner about 5 pm. It was so nice out. The Elders arrived an hour later with greatly-dripping umbrellas and wet feet. So this is Summer??
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