tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14960118591473770922024-03-05T10:47:35.829+02:00Life Abroad with the NovacksOur stories about travelling and living abroad with our two pups and travel tips we have picked up along the way...Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324078241746770217noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1496011859147377092.post-40261490605748843322015-01-05T00:01:00.000+02:002015-01-05T00:02:28.632+02:00Fight Like Hell and Win
This has been in my notebook to write about for a while, but
for obvious, or not so obvious, reasons the time seems right now.
Last year Stuart Scott, long time sports broadcaster best
known for his work on ESPN, was awarded with the “Jimmy V Perseverance Award”
on ESPNs annual award show, The ESPYS. At the time he received the award, Scott
had been battling cancer for seven years. Scott hadMarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06845065816946205132noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1496011859147377092.post-30916208361770373142014-06-24T21:09:00.001+03:002014-06-24T21:09:46.457+03:00Keep Your Edges
Here we go again. I’m off on another international
adventure. This time, however, I am without my partner in crime. I am tackling
this part of the journey on my own, without Danielle. For too many reasons to
cover here, Danielle staying home is what makes the most sense for us right
now. And, for the record, we are good, perhaps better and stronger together
than we’ve ever been. Although, I Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06845065816946205132noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1496011859147377092.post-70398696493567893592014-02-27T23:43:00.000+03:002014-02-27T23:43:06.378+03:00Operation Puppy Drop
Our first night on the - job - was an interesting one. The
same day that Danielle contacted LAPA and got in touch with their contact on
the ground here, we found ourselves up late helping care for a litter of pups
that were no more than four weeks old.
Danielle contacted LAPA and found out that there was a
fellow expat, Natalie, on the ground here that has been helping at a local
shelterMarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06845065816946205132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1496011859147377092.post-2839719192132079462013-12-06T23:07:00.003+03:002013-12-06T23:09:24.186+03:00Sochi Expat Thanksgiving 2013...Oh Russia! TGIF!
Holidays are always a hard time of year when you live
abroad, away from your family (friends at home fall in to the family category
in our book). But we are going to make the most of our holiday season and do as
much as possible to enjoy the winter in Sochi. There is still a lot to explore
around here so we better get on it! As of today, it is 62 days until Opening
Ceremonies. It's getting SO Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324078241746770217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1496011859147377092.post-33964306324530439742013-11-01T22:52:00.004+03:002013-11-01T23:47:43.700+03:00Unity Day...Oh Russia! TGIF!
November
4th is always a special day in our family. Hint: It's my birzsday! In
Russia, November 4th is a national holiday. Shouldn't everyone get a national
holiday on their birthday? The holiday is called Unity Day. According to some
quick research I did, Unity Day is a day that calls for tolerance between all
ethnic and religious groups that reside in the Russian Federation. This day
Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324078241746770217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1496011859147377092.post-62099728873030488832013-10-20T01:25:00.000+03:002013-10-22T19:31:26.628+03:00Finding Roket (Part 2)
He will live! After what I had just experienced, these words warmed my heart. It helped make the past couple
of hours all worth it. I paid the money due to the vet for the treatment and boarding.
I said good bye to the little guy for the night. Finally, I thanked everyone at
the clinic for their help. Before I left, I agreed I would return at 09:00 the next
morning to speak with the doctor and Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06845065816946205132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1496011859147377092.post-8789736063129554632013-10-18T22:57:00.001+03:002013-10-19T00:21:03.085+03:00Sochi Winter Theatre...Oh Russia! TGIF!
Since moving
to Russia, we have created a bucket list of things to see while we are here.
One of the items on our list was to see a performance in the зимний театр
(Winter Theatre). Mark's colleague and friend gave him two tickets to the
theatre as a birthday gift. We are going to the theatre!
The theatre
is an impressive old building which you can tell is very loved and well
maintained. TheDaniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324078241746770217noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1496011859147377092.post-44124786818623775092013-10-12T00:22:00.004+03:002013-10-12T00:23:45.222+03:00The 50 Ruble Coin...Oh Russia! TGIF!
I am not really a coin collector. I do love a good pressed
penny machine where I get to manually press the penny by twisting the crank. OK, I also confess to having a little pressed penny coin book from Sea World
from back in the day. I remember dragging my brother all around Sea World to
help me find every one of those darn pennies with Shamu on them.
Instead of the old fashioned,Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324078241746770217noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1496011859147377092.post-42865300741947711922013-10-09T15:36:00.001+03:002013-10-09T16:00:42.705+03:00Matryoshka Bottle Cap Crafts
I love to craft and be creative. I haven't had many chances to craft while being here in Russia. Plus, it is very hard to find the
supplies that I need. They do have things like fabric, knitting supplies and
cross stitch. But those don't warm my heart as much as making a good paper
craft or gift. It just so happens that I brought the supplies from home to make
one of my favorites...bottle caps.Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324078241746770217noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1496011859147377092.post-14887424014608425062013-10-06T13:48:00.003+03:002013-10-07T12:33:15.122+03:00Sochi Storm Watch...Oh Russia! TGI...Sunday? :)
So, a couple of weeks ago I wrote about the storms and the
flooding we had here in Sochi. Well, I wrote about it a bit too soon. My
parents came to visit last week and, wouldn't you know, we had the craziest weather
I have ever seen in my life. Let me preface this by saying that I am from
California. I lived in Idaho for a while and weather there was a little wacky, but not
like this. I have Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324078241746770217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1496011859147377092.post-9307303811202856912013-09-14T14:21:00.000+03:002013-09-14T17:41:51.334+03:00Sochi Traffic - Oh Russia! TGIF!
Everyone hates traffic. And it seems that any where you go,
there is traffic. We have driven in quite a few different countries and every
single one has their traffic issues. Sochi is, by far, the worst traffic we
have ever had to deal with. Mark works less than 10 kilometers from our flat.
Within the last month, traffic has increased so much that it sometimes takes
him 3 hours to get home. 3 Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324078241746770217noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1496011859147377092.post-84201458279773893482013-09-12T00:11:00.002+03:002014-03-07T23:23:14.087+03:00Finding Roket (Part 1)
So, I bought a watch. Then, I started counting. I started
changing small things here and there in an effort to maximize my daily ‘turns’
and, perhaps, improve my existence. Blah, blah, blah… I've written all about that
before here. What I have not written about is
what I experienced on the night of my first day of counting.
There I was, minding my own business, reflecting on my daily
Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06845065816946205132noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1496011859147377092.post-38065596012148767492013-09-10T23:16:00.000+03:002013-09-11T11:13:30.557+03:00A Day in Adler
Every day I
walk my two corgis, Suay and Crash, down the street and a new adventure begins.
Every street is lined with hundreds of trees; Magnolias, Palms, and Evergreen
trees stand side by side like they belong together. In the mornings, I stop in
our corner produkti (market), dogs in tow, to buy the rare can of iced coffee.
"доброе
утро" (Good morning), I say to the two young shopkeepersDaniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324078241746770217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1496011859147377092.post-74876340577804442012013-09-06T22:19:00.000+03:002013-09-06T22:19:15.632+03:00Stormy Sochi - The first post in my "Oh Russia! TGIF" series
This is my first weekly post in my "Oh Russia!
TGIF" series. Every Friday I will post something that we experienced that
was unusual, or something we caught on film that we would only see in Russia. I
hope you enjoy it!!
This week we have had crazy thunder and lightning storms
along with buckets and buckets of rain. We were not in Sochi in early September
last year so I am not sure this Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324078241746770217noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1496011859147377092.post-66618972731954356302013-08-25T03:27:00.000+03:002013-08-25T03:29:11.839+03:00Are you counting?
This was originally just meant just for a FaceBook rambling (posted August 22) to get some thoughts out of my head. However, it is apparent that it is more than that. So, I decided to share it here as well.
I purchased a new watch that uses mechanical movement, instead of the typical quartz movement. Of course, this requires me to wind the watch each morning. Two days Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06845065816946205132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1496011859147377092.post-42111678203504985442012-12-05T12:52:00.001+03:002012-12-05T12:52:24.474+03:00Danielle's First Impressions of Sochi
My very first look at Sochi was at night after our 29 1/2
hour train ride. Mark's generous boss picked us up and drove us around a bit
before taking us to see our flat for the first time. The first thing I remember
is driving down one of the busy streets and noticing how beautiful this place
is. The amount of trees was surprising. Many of the streets in Sochi center are
covered with tree Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324078241746770217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1496011859147377092.post-67283536546480716692012-11-28T22:47:00.002+03:002012-12-05T13:34:56.318+03:00We Moved to Sochi
We moved to Sochi on September 13, 2012. We made the
decision to take the train from Moscow to Sochi instead of flying. A couple
factors went into this decision. Mark had quite a few business trips to and
from Sochi before we moved. He discovered that the planes are very small and
usually hot. We didn't want the girls to have any issues in the baggage area.
We had moved a lot of our stuff Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324078241746770217noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1496011859147377092.post-80301569434378349872012-07-10T16:28:00.006+03:002012-11-28T15:39:47.123+03:00Metro Challenge
Having to get around on public transit
has always been appealing to me. Once I learned that many of the Moscow Metro
stations are designed by artists, I gave
myself a challenge: Visit and photograph EVERY metro station in Moscow.
I have been constantly looking online
for things we need to experience in the city and I stumbled across this from www.essortment.com:
"The Moscow Metro
isDaniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324078241746770217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1496011859147377092.post-79202137567403362302012-07-02T20:28:00.000+03:002012-07-02T20:52:13.151+03:00Our First Month as Muscovites...
...Has been challenging, incredible and everywhere in between. For
the first 7 days we were without hot water. Moscow has a municipal hot water
system that uses large heating plants throughout the city to pump hot water to
residents. Typically, during the summer months in Moscow, the city shuts down
the hot water supply to one district at a time so they can inspect and fix any pipes that
wereDaniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324078241746770217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1496011859147377092.post-29199207015897153212012-06-20T23:47:00.001+03:002012-06-20T23:47:46.318+03:00I Made A Beet...
Well...I cooked a beet, rather. I have started embracing the
art of cooking. I am a self-proclaimed "terrible cook". It used to
be, if I was making you dinner, we were having pasta or rice...something you
can boil and call it good. Before a couple of weeks ago, I wouldn't even touch
raw chicken! When we moved to Russia, Mark and I decided that I would try to do
most of the cooking since he Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324078241746770217noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1496011859147377092.post-69624691681980740642012-06-13T22:23:00.001+03:002012-06-13T22:23:46.298+03:00Language Barrier
We knew the language barrier would be
difficult. We had no idea it would be as difficult as it has been. Using our
experience in Doha, and information received from current colleagues before we
arrived, we knew that getting around, and shopping and general life in the city
would be a challenge. But, Mark expected life in the office to be a little
easier, as the organizing committee is a Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06845065816946205132noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1496011859147377092.post-60382612888364177282012-06-12T22:09:00.000+03:002012-06-12T22:09:53.474+03:00Leavin' on a Jet Plane...
We planned on leaving for the airport
with plenty of time built in for the usual last minute packing, running late
and traffic. Mark’s mom met us at Danielle’s parents’ house and we all, with
Danielle’s parents and brother, were heading to LAX to meet Mark’s dad and
sister. We made it to the airport with plenty of time and we checked in with
minimal problems. Aeroflot Airlines (Russian partnerMarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06845065816946205132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1496011859147377092.post-76345897393377312022012-06-11T20:45:00.000+03:002012-06-11T20:48:03.619+03:00Visas...Part Deux
After nearly two months of couch
surfing, we finally received our official invitations to apply for our visas.
We were originally told to expect the invitations on 23 April. About a week
prior to this, Mark received notification that the invitations would not arrive
until 27 April. We planned to get our visa from the San Francisco consulate, as
Danielle has family in the Bay Area who were Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324078241746770217noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1496011859147377092.post-52257156583097437552012-06-10T13:49:00.001+03:002012-06-10T13:49:34.272+03:00Couch Surfing
On March 30th, our lease was up and we officially moved out
of our house in Boise. Our first night "homeless" was hectic, to say
the least. We decided to stay in a dog-friendly hotel and get some much needed
rest. We ended up staying in Boise another 10 days, couch surfing with close
friends. Our last days in Boise consisted of re-packing, tying up loose ends,
re-packing, spending time with Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324078241746770217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1496011859147377092.post-69924779134322994912012-06-06T21:01:00.000+03:002012-06-06T21:01:08.317+03:00And We're Back!!!
Well, this is our first blog in nearly 3 months and it's
been a ride. This post is to let everyone know that we (us and the girls) made
it safe and sound. We have a place to stay, internet and most of the necessary
creature comforts. We are back into blog land and will be posting regularly
because boy, do we have a lot to say! Stay tuned...
Daniellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324078241746770217noreply@blogger.com0