650am.
My host.Tatyana picked me up from the Petrozavodsk train station.She's a surgeon ,married and has 2 children...5and 7 year old boys.Sasha and Tioma.
Sasha was having his birthday party in the afternoon.So that was how i spent my first day.A birthday party of a 5 year old russian boy.
Before the Party
I had my first glimpse of the supermarket in Petrozavodsk after Tatyana sent Tioma to the kindergarten.There used to be a market right next to where the supermarket is, but it was demolished and now a supermarket stands in its place.And most of the people of Petrozavodsk shop there.There are huge discounts if you buy the supermarket loyalty card.Thank goodness it is just a 10 minute walk away from the house.
Just before the party started,Tatyana went off to pick Tioma up from the kindergarten. I was alone at home with Sasha.Perhaps i made a very bad move by introducing my camera and laptop into his life , because the aspiring photographer and computer gamer couldn't take his hands off them, pressing ,clicking ,fiddling and constantly pleading to use them.
Party
So there was 6 children in the house.SIX.I never realized how difficult it is to handle 2 children until now.6 children...was ......exhausting.One minute they were watching tv,fighting over the educational computer games , playing cars.They were everywhere.Children.Regardless of which part of the world they are in , they are all the SAME.
I was looking through some of the past party photos and saw one of the girls ,with black front teeth.Apparently , the tap water is so bad that it has damaged her teeth and they had to be painted and this girl is just 5 years old.I made it a point never to use Russian tap water when brushing my teeth in the future.
