Travelog for: Mousy Mouse

Yesterday Oksana went to the post-office to send a traveling notebook to the next participant and we asked her to take us with her. We went to the post-office by the Metro. It was very interesting!


When Oksana sent her notebook, she took us to the Pervomaysky garden for a walk. She likes that place very much.


By the way do you know what temperature was outsides in the morning on Sunday-April,6? It was -10'C! 



We could find a very old tree in the park with a deep hollow. We thought we could use it as our hiding-place 





Here is the newly-weds' tree. It's a new tradition in that park for newly-weds. After the official wedding ceremony they go to Pervomaysky gargen to hang a ribbon and think of their wish.



It's a stone sculpture of a mother and a child.
We like it very much!


Stone heart- one more symbol for people who are in love. At first it was clean, but then young girls and boys wrote their words of love on it



Our small company on the bench


I'm with the wooden sculpture of an elk.


The monument of heroes of the USSR:


We could see some birds in the garden:

Yesterday our host took us to her friend Guzel for a cup of tea with cheesecake.  We could see many interesting things in Guzel's house.
Guzel makes teddy bears and other toys, so we could make some photos with them:




And here we are with the woollen bag. Guzel bought it and decorated with woollen flowers. She made those flowers herself from water and wool.


Guzel brought us a wooden car and allowed us to play with it. It was so-o funny! ))



Guzel loves indoor plants so she has a lot of plants at home.
Here I'm with one of her plants and the wooden globus- Guzel decorated it with decoupage (I'm not sure how to write this word :


We also could play with a big bicycle. It stands in Guzel's bedroom.



We found an old clock- it was also rather big.


And here I'm with Guzel's cheesecake. It looks so-o tasty!
Guzel baked it herself.


By the way I liked the fridge in Guzel's kitchen very much, because there were many different toys and magnets on it's door


And this big cactus Guzel and her husband brought from Spain.


Some more plant. It has already reached the ceiling.




What a funny hedgehog! It's Guzel's first experience with oil paints:


We found some sports equipment and played there while Oksana and her friends where chatting.

Today is Rangler's last day in Novosibrsk with us. Tomorrow morning he will be on his way to England to Steve and Helly.
That's why we decide to have much fun today evening.
We played with Oksana's Guinea pigs and feed them with salad:


Then we watched the old Russian movie about children- how they were looking for the treasure. It was very interesting!


When the movie was over Budd offered to look for some treasure in Oksana's flat . We liked his idea very much!
And can you imagine that in the end we found the place where Oksana keeps her money! )) We were very happy, but then Oksana saw us with her money and we had to run away from her 8))


We found the scales in the bedroom and we sat down on it to see our weight, but perhaps that scales was broken, because it didn't show anything


After that we decided to read some very interesting magazine about teddybears:


When we finished reading, I continued to examine
Oksana's flat. Here I'm in the vase- Oksana decorated it with
crocuses:


And here's the fish clock. Oksana made it herself and
now this clock hangs in her bedroom:


Look! Here I'm with the fairies. Oksana made them
of cotton wool:


And here Budd and me are playing with a big toy dog:


It's late already and we are going to sleep. We had such a nice time here with Rangler and we will miss him!
I hope we can meet someday again!

Today morning Rangler went to England... We already miss him very much!
Oksana took us to the post-office and after she sent Rangler we went to walk in the centre of the city. At first we were very sad, but soon we felt better. The whole week was rather cold- about-5'C and it was snowing much, so today is the first
day since April, 14 when we have +11'C. We enjoyed such warm weather very much!
We could the the famouse Vladimir Lenin's monument and the Novosibirsk Theatre of Opera and Ballet:






The local museum:



Here I'm climbing up the tree in the garden near the theatre:




And who left these marks?..


Oh, it's a dove!

Yesterday a new TV came here. It's a small teddy bear- Hellen. She lives in England. She is so-o lovely! We all like her very much!


Russians have their Easter today, so I wish you Happy Easter!


Yesterday we helped Oksana to cook cheese soup and to dye eggs for Easter.


There is a tradition in Russia to dye eggs with onion husks:


Our Easter meal:


One more tradition in Russia is to cook Paskha-special Easter meal made from curd. Oksana explained us that Paskha
means "Easter" in Russian. We didn't cook it, but Oksana showed us it's picture, so now we know how it looks like.



The traditional shape of paskha is a pyramid, symbolizing Christ's tomb. It is traditionally made in a wooden mould assembly called pasotchnitza that can be taken apart for cleaning, but more modern materials, such as plastics, are used nowadays. On the sides of the paskha are engraved (using the mould) traditional religious symbols, such as the "Chi Ro" motif (Labarum), letters "GW" (X and B in Russian letters, standing for Chistos Voskrese which is the Slavonic equavalent of the Paschal greeting "Christ is Risen!"), the Cross, eggs, and a lance, all symbolizing Christ's Passion and Resurrection.

Another traditional Easter food is kulich.
It is a kind of Easter bread, traditional in the Orthodox Christian faith — Russia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Serbia, Ukraine, etc.

Traditionally during the Easter service, the kulich, which has been put into a basket and decorated with colourful flowers, is blessed by the priest. Leftover kulich that isn't blessed is eaten with Paskha for dessert. Blessed kulich is eaten before breakfast each day.
It is baked in tall, cylindrical tins (like coffee or fruit juice tins), and when cooled is decorated with white icing (which is slightly drizzled down the sides), colourful flowers, and XB "Christ is Risen") is decorated on the side. Kulich is only eaten during the 40 days after Paskha (Easter) until Pentecost.


Today is our last day in Novosibirsk with Oksana, Budd and Helen. Soon Oksana will take me and Morado to the post-office and send to Moscow to Kristl. We had much fun here and feel a bit sad about our departure, but Oksana promises that we will have nice time with Kristl too and we will see many interesting things in Moscow. Hope to meet all together sometime again! See you!

Mousy Mouse has safely arrived to Moscow!

Mousy Mouse walking aong Varvarka Street:

Mousy Mouse visiting Kremlin and the Red Square:

Mousy Mouse watching 2 rainbows!

Saying Good Bye to friends and leaving to Aliah:

Mousy Mouse has arrived today

Berkeley, Little Ro & I are saying goodbye to Mukhsin. He's going to London.  Bye Mukhsin! 

Aliah said she needs help to unpack her luggage so I volunteer to help her. Am I a good boy Mum?


Look look who I met!

Siti Semut! No, she said her name is Seri. Because Aliah missed Siti Semut, she adopted Seri not to long ago. Then a cute pink teddy bear. Too bad he didn't has a name yet. Next to him is Raffles. He belongs to Isobel&Neil and will be released in the wild soon. And the last one is Yul-goon.
I help them to get out of the bag, of course 

I was trying to place the bag at the proper place but it's too heavy.
Aliah said she will do that... fuh 


Aliah treats us to Chocopie because we help her today! yummy~

Went to Putrajaya for a conference, well at least Aliah did.
Hopefully you can see The Prime Minister Complex & the Putrajaya Bridge at far because it's kinda hazy yesterday.



---

On Putrajaya
Putrajaya, a planned city located just south of Kuala Lumpur, is the new federal administrative centre of Malaysia. Several Government offices have re-located there to gain relief from the overcrowding and congestion of Kuala Lumpur which is Malaysia's largest city. However, Kuala Lumpur still serves as Malaysia's national and legislative capital for now. Putrajaya is a Federal Territory just like the city of Kuala Lumpur and the island of Labuan.

The city is named after the first Malaysian Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra. In Bahasa Melayu, the Sanskrit-derived words "Putra" means prince while "Jaya" means excellent or success.

Went to Kuala Lumpur and visited Kuala Lumpur Tower (KL Tower) today. There's haze in KL right now but the Petronas Twin Towers still visible from the deck.