Kemerovo- day 8

I imagine my posts for the next several days will be a bit boring. Of course, I hope you continue to read since I will continue to post. Last night was interesting as we watched music videos (many of which were from American musicians) as it is one of the few chances we have to see English on television. We also watched America’s Next Top Model as we could kind of hear English under the Russian dialogue. After it was over Road House was on; I fell asleep when it was on but Chad stayed up to watch it. He had taken a nap in the late afternoon so he wasn’t terribly tired. At 1:30 am we were both wide awake; our bed is really more of a boxspring rather than a mattress. A piece of plywood is under the “mattress”. We are staying in the Peach room in the Hotel Azot. It has been referred to as this by other families staying here so I will continue the trend. The reason for the name is due to the color of the walls. Our AC works though so we have not yet asked to change rooms (the other families AC does not work). We both finally fell asleep around 3 and woke up at 8:30 to our alarm for breakfast. We ate with the other family as usual and they had not slept well either (their room got hot). We showed them how to open their windows from the top so it was still safe. During breakfast I realized I was supposed to have called the girls at 8am our time. I tried to call immediately but the power was out in the hotel. After a while the woman working here went into the bedroom of the workers and flipped a switch and voila! We had power. A few minutes later it switched off again and then she flipped the switch once more. So, I called Dad on his cell and it was about 9:30. They were all already in bed; he said both he and Sam had been working on her math homework until late and they were all pretty tired. I said we would try tomorrow at about 8:30. After breakfast I checked emails and did some work and then joined Chad in the bed for a nap. I slept until noon and then got up and showered. Every time I shower it feels so nice; when you are so far from home you really enjoy the simple things like a hot shower. I did some work on my laptop for a little while and then woke Chad because I was hungry. For those that know me well, things are not good when I am hungry! He got up with a backache (don’t blame him as the bed really is uncomfortable… did I say that already? ). We decided to head down to the park for a short walk so he could stretch out his back. It really is a neat park as it runs along the river and the little rides in it remind me of the Prime Beef Festival. I think they are really just setting up for the season and the big holiday May 9. This is the day they celebrate World War II. It is a celebration of the veterans and the defeat of the German army on the outskirts of Moscow (at least this is what I am being told by the different Russians I am interacting with daily). After our stroll through the park we walked to the Travelers Café. It is a coffee shop/restaurant that has an English menu and some English-speaking staff. The prices were cheaper than the place we ate yesterday. After lunch (which was around $12 USD) we stopped by the market to get some more bread, cereal, lunch meat, and pop. I got on the internet again when we returned and checked out news from the US. We were shocked to see the news about Osama bin Laden. Today was the first time there had been any mention of it in the news here. I guess we will have to check more often to stay in touch with what is going on back home. Tomorrow our big adventure will be to try and find a Laundromat to wash our clothes!