Alas, Claire has departed. It was so nice having her here. Now it's time to return to "normal" life, whether we want to or not. We managed to take Claire to the tofu restaurant while she was here and now, as of last night, we've tried another ethnic local favorite: Korean BBQ. We went with some friends from church as they give you a lot of food and it's not exactly cheap. But boy was it delicious! Each table has essentially a BBQ pit built into it. They bring out about a dozen "side" dishes and then they start BBQing deliciously marinated beef right in front of you. I guess it's so expensive because there were literally 6 waiters hovering around us at all times making sure the beef was cooking to perfection and keeping our plates full. Susan brought her camera, but, alas the batteries were dead, so we didn't get any pictures to document the occasion. If you're ever in NY and have $25 per person to spend, consider some amazing Korean BBQ.

On other fronts, Alexei and his girlfriend left a few weeks ago. Andrei came back and left again last week, and now we have our house all to ourselves. The guests were actually a very good thing for us as it forced us to unpack more boxes to make room for everyone to sleep somewhere. So now the floor is clearly visible in Susan's office and the bookshelves are more full than ever!

Last week Susan invited the pastor's daughters over for some girl time and they had fun eating Subway, baking cookies, writing card to some ladies in the church, and just hanging out. The week before that we went over to the associate pastor's house for dinner with Andrei and we all had a great time, enjoying delicious food and friendly company.

Labels: Food, NY

What a busy weekend it's been! In addition to Claire visiting us, last week Ivan's brother, Alexey, and his girlfriend came to visit us and then on Saturday Ivan's friend, Andrei, arrived. This is the most people we've had staying with us in all 5 years of our marriage! Andrei and Alexey and sleeping in the gym (aka Ivan's office) while the gals are sleeping in Susan's office. It's worked out pretty well so far. Andrei is leaving on Tuesday to go to the Shepherd's Conference in California and the rest of the guests are staying another week or so.

For the most part, Alexey and his girlfriend keep themselves occupied with the typical touristy things during the day, so Claire and I get to hang out, run errands, play games, etc. With Claire's help, we've managed to buy some frames and hang some pictures and art that I've been meaning to hang ever since we moved here 6 months ago!

Hurrah for sisters :)

Oh, and here's a photo of the Russian chocolate that Ivan's brother brought us from Russia!

Labels: NY