Figs From Thistles: Moscow

From an email sent to family during our stay:

We are in Moscow, and we want to return to Saint Petersburg! Moscow is a large city, brightly lit, crowded, rampant with bumper to bumper traffic, and HUGE!

While we were able to easily navigate Saint Petersburg on foot, Moscow initially forced us to take taxis (until we were desperate to find a way to tire Matty at which point we walked EVERYWHERE). Many buildings and bridges here are lit with neon lights and give the city a Vegas-type appearance. There is a blanket of snow covering the ground. Dirt/sand is used to combat the ice instead of salt which leaves the streets and walkways covered in a muddy slush. Currently, it's about -3 degrees Celsius, and while I can't provide the exact conversion off the cuff, I can tell you it's biting with the wind.

Our hotel is quite posh with stores like Faberge, Baccarat, Bulgari and Rolex: as a result, Jeff and I feel a bit out of place in our Banana Republic and Gap. The only children running around are those that have been adopted. Moscow is extremely expensive, also. Last night, our dinner was $140 and consisted of a bowl of rice, a chicken breast, two cokes, a bottle of water, and six pieces of sushi. We went to a grocery store today and bought fruit for Matty (we learned through a translator that he's essentially a vegetarian which explains why he didn't eat the hamburger out of the happy meal we bought for him today).

Uprisings also seem to follow us on our travel: in Saint Petersburg, anti-Putin rioters held a demonstration five blocks from our hotel, and two people were killed. In Moscow today, there was an anti-American riot (supported by Putin) outside of the US Embassy. This should make going to the embassy tomorrow with a Russian born child interesting. In addition to the normal demonstration propaganda (bull horns, posters, flag burnings), the rioters dressed pigs in American flags and stated that the pigs symbolize 'Russians who go squealing to America.' I'm not exactly sure what that's supposed to mean, but I think the rioters don't like us ;) As a result of the anti-American sentiment here, people in Moscow aren't as friendly as those in Saint Petersburg: we want to come home.

We plan to go site seeing on Saturday. Enough about Moscow, on to the important matters. Here's what we've learned about Matty so far:

- He knows no strangers. Because he knew every adult in the infant's home, he assumes that every adult outside of the infant's home is the same in that they all want to talk to him.

- Matty talks all of the time (see above). Goodness only knows what he's saying (hopefully, it's not something like, 'These people have abducted me and are making me eat happy meals.'). He doesn't seem to mind that we can't understand him and doesn't allow the language barrier to get in the way of all of his talking.

- Matty is VERY energetic. If you combined all of the cousins, you MIGHT come close to this kid's level of hyperactivity. Jeff and I are tired, and we are already parents to three kids, so this is no small feat.

- Matty is a charmer. Because he talks and smiles at everyone, people seem to respond positively to him. Already, he's commandeered the following items for free: * A package of gummy candy in the hotel's gift shop. I tried one and have never salivated so much in my life! If one was lost in the desert, one could subsist without water if one had these candies. The store employee thought he was cute. * At our uber-expensive dinner, the waitress brought him a package of Spiderman toys (he was afraid of them). This was after he told the waitress, 'feed me, feed me," so this attests to his charm. * Chocolates from the housekeeping staff. J had to do paperwork this morning (the Russians prefer the men to do the paperwork), and I took Matty on a walk. We passed a housekeeper, Matty chatted away (of course), and walked away two pieces of chocolate richer.

- Chocolate makes Matty bounce off the walls like a pinball.

- Bouncing off the wall like a pinball makes for a two hour nap...an upside to the chocolate.

- It's apparent that Matty has been indulged. He milks 'boo boo's' and laughs as you fawn over him. The caregivers weren't kidding when they said he was the most spoiled boy in the home; I don't think he's ever heard the word 'no'. Interestingly enough, he also doesn't know the Russian word for 'thank you,' so the caregivers received no gratitude for all of their fawning.

- Matty smiles and laughs all of the time. The only time he's cried was on the plane from St Petersburg to Moscow when he got sick.

- Matty has mastered the art of jello legs. Today, J was at the concierge, and I was watching Matty as he traipsed around the lobby talking to everyone. He made a beeline for the front door, and I ran after him. I took his hand and he went limp, falling to the floor. Now, having a kid on the floor saying goodness knows what in Russian while an American 'pig' is desperately trying to get him stand up looks a little suspect. What I would've said if I could speak Russian!

- Matty loves grapes. I dread the BM that will be sure to follow.

- This may be vulgar, but Matty's BMs are the foulest of any living person. J chalks it up to cabbage. I will never feed Matty cabbage again. His cabbage gas made several people on the plane to Moscow gag.

- Matty is afraid of water. The kids got bird baths in the orphanage and were never submerged in water. This would have been useful information prior to Jeff taking him to a pool.

- Matty screams bloody murder when he's taken to a pool.

- Matty can say shoe, foot, and fly in English.

- Matty is wonderful. We can't wait for you to meet him!

Stalin's grave