Christmas is near us...

So..finally...the big holidays are almost here....I wish all the stress would be gone now...need to learn how to relax....

Anyways...

Our girl is 6 months old...That is so great..She is so lively and it is so much fun to show her of... :)

We went to a Christmas Party at Raggi's work...Was great. Tamara Lind was not afraid of an Icelandic Santa Claus...they can be scary, you know...

So, now all we have to do is to buy some food so we will not starve during 5 days of straight holidays....finish packing some gifts and just enjoy the season of holidays and time of sharing the joy with the ones we love...

Elections in Russia. How we did it in Iceland

So...
Finally...another elections came and gone while I am still here in Iceland. This time, though I did not get a call from the consulate about the elections...I guess they figured out since I have been here for some time, I need to stay a responsbile Russian citizen and come to vote no matter what..

So, we went to vote, my grandmother and I. Well..my daughter came as well and Raggi as observers.... So...what can I say - grandma was not impressed with the building of the Russian Consulate, too simple...Some people tried to speak to Raggi in Icelandic but he could not understand them... I did show off my cute girl.... :)

Grandma voted for Putin, justifying it by the fact that he rose her pension...Since I did not get any raise from Putin, so I just voted for old Communist party, being once a Komsomol member....Trying to remember the past, how fun it was, for some of us at least :)

But in spite of everything...Putin won (who I wonder doubted that....) so the new period...or the continuation of the previous is ahead of Russia...Does not make a difference to me I guess since I am not there....

Party of Kasparov (Kasparov.ru) was not represented in the elections...so....what can we say?

But, at least it was a nice day here in Iceland...sunny and warm and in a Christmas spirit....

Post in Russian

Ну вот, по просьбам трудящихся, пишу по-русски...

Ну хотя бы чтобы просто попрактиковаться и посмотреть как тут он будет светиться этот блог. А ещё у меня картинка новая и новый вид тоже...А еще - нашей дочке уже сегодня 5 месяцев и 12 дней...Во как, растём и хорошеем, едим кашку рисовую и в бассейн ходим.

Прошлый раз правда, я одна с ней плавала, у Рагги была встреча на работе. Но моя мама помогала мне Томусика переодевать, а также своими советами - все говорила, как мне лучше плавать Томусика учить..Ну что поделаешь - бабушки, они такие - считают, что все знают - особенно наша бабушка....Но зато она хорошая!

Вот, наконец-то Рождество близиться..Радости - много! А дел - ещё больше....

Вчера со своими бывшими МВА студентами встречалась - вот такие мы были когда-то и сидели учились :)

Swimming

So..our little girl is growing...she will be 5 months after 3 days...wow...

So, just to add more excitement to her life, we have started the swimming lessons with some other crazy/smart parents...It is great actually...I hope that it will help her development...
She seemed pretty happy to swim and was fun for her to see other babies as well...

Still no snow in Iceland

So...
It looks like we are not having any snow this winter..well..there was some...for one day...and of course, everybody got crazy and had to change the tires on a winter ones...including myself..

So, I went and waited for an hour in line, changed the tires and now - there is no snow..there is like +11'C here today....almost like a summer day, just raining....

My favorite game

So, lately I have been hooked on that online game that I discovered with the help of Raggi's son....Teenagers these days, know everything...

So, the game is a puzzle..very simple...But so far, I have been able to progress two first easy levels..And I am stuck on level "normal"...I got down to 26 figures...if someone overrides that - my respect...

I even got my Mom and her husband hooked on that game... It takes your mind off and trains your visiual memory as well.

So, here is the link to my favorite game

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Another favorite activity - figure skating. We went last weekend. Raggi's work offered its employees to come and have fun, so we came too. Here is the video of my skating. Raggi took it while taking care of the girl. We skated in turns.

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Baptizing ceremony

So, it is official...Our girl has been christened this last Sunday.

We were so lucky with the weather, it was very beautiful...Sunny and warm...Which is rather unusual for Iceland :)

Girl behaved very well, did not cry at all...Was smiling and observing everything.

So, here we all are - Raggi, myself and the priest..(not sure how they are called in the Lutheran church).

Reception afterwards went well too. Lots of cakes, presents and smiles...Everyone was happy. We have ordered a special cake for the celebration, with our daughter's name on it.

So, now we can relax til Christmas for the special gatherings and other similar activities...

Another week

Well..

Fall is here in Iceland, in our little country in the middle of the Atlantic...

And with fall, come all the beautiful colours. Here is the picture from a local newspaper....

Also...with fall comes the thought of Christmas - it will be arriving soon..And we all are looking forward to it...Our daughter will be already 6 months by then...

This weekend we will have a christening ceremony for her. Here are some info regarding this tradition in Iceland:

Here in Iceland they do not have baby showers where parents/mother are showered with gifts...but they have a Christening. Sometimes it is done in the church, sometimes right at the hospital - and the baby is given the name. Before that, the name should not be revealed. So, on this Christening ceremony - at the reception afterwards everybody usually brings the gifts.

Then, at the age of 14, the child - or better to say a teenager, can decide himself to have a confirmation of faith or not...That is mostly just another big celebration for your child - getting into another phase and opportunity to get more real gifts - something like computers, laptops, furniture, some other cool gadgets, and some money as well...But we are not at that stage yet...

So, I am looking forward to this weekend, ordering the special cake for our girl, and other things...

I have also updated Tamara Lind's home page..so, start to expore it!

Birthday Celebration

So, the big B-day is over...Now I can relax and wait until next year. It was nice, small and with a very nice cake that my Mom baked.

Our American friend Matthew was also invited since his birthday is surprisingly on the same date and the year as mine...only three people so far I know that have this date as a birthday.

I was not expecting so many flowers but I got four bouquets. Wonderful. So, they are all so beautiful that I decided to take pictures and let the world see.

Those are different types - some look more summery, others more like a fall...But all of them are pretty.

Birthday girls

So...this week is all about the number 3....

Our little girl just was 3 months old two days ago...And today, I am 33...so....great numbers....We both feel very happy and content. Our little girl is growing fast...

So, here is just one picture taken on her 3-month birthday.

Night out

So..finally...today in the evening I went out for dinner with my co-workers. It was the first time out since I gave birth to my little baby girl. One of the co-worker was leaving our company so we had a farewell party for him. Actually we just went to a nice restaurant called "Seafood Cellar" (Sjávakjallarinnn)- one of the best in Reykjavik.

So..of course it was difficult to leave my girl with the Daddy for 3 hours but somehow I managed it...I was thinking about her all the time and was looking on the phone waiting for the call from him saying that there is a big crisis and that I have to come home..But then I managed to relax a little bit. I do know that I need to have time for myself so I need to learn to leave the girl for a little bit.

Dinner was great...However I only had a limited time so I only stayed through the first course - but eve that meal was great...Here you can see the picture of the first course. In the middle of the picture - "toby beef" from Japan - supposedly this meat is from the bulls that are fed with beer and massaged twice a day to make meat very tender :) It was great beef, I have to say.

Then, I had to leave back to my girl since her Daddy was getting a little bit worried....So I ran to my car and drove quickly home just to find Daddy and the girl quite happy together...So, the first Daddy-daughter time turned out well....

My friend who stayed at the party sent me some cool pictures of the desert that was served at the end...So, here is another picture. It almost looks like something out of space :)

Just rain

It happenned....summer is officially over in Iceland :(



The weather forecast for next seven days is rain, rain, and more rain....The sky will get more darker, nights will become longer...but then the Christmas will be coming...Yes....Since here is Iceland, there is just Summer and then suddenly comes winter...nothing really in between.

But for now - this is how it looks right now outside of our balcony:


But..on the other hand, we were quite lucky with the summer weather this year...Very! And everything is still is green!

10 weeks

Wow..

Time flies fast...Today...my little girl is 71 days old already..

She can do lots of staff...Smile, speak (in her own baby talk, of course), even fall asleep without Mom help...play with some toys and raise her head..etc.

So..I guess it is all going well and good according to the nurse that we have visited last week. And another good news - I don't have that depression that some women get when they have a child...Well...

Of course I am tired and lacking some sleep but I am so happy and full of joy that it covers that all tiring feelings. Of course, my house in not in the best condition that I would like it to be...but still it is rather good and there it no need for inviting people from the show on "How Clean is your House?"

Seeing people with the new daugther

We have started to go out to see people with my little girl..


Lately I have been busy with visitors..and it is good, helps you to stay updated with all the gossips, etc. But a visit to a Russian grandmother is a must!



So, here are some fresh pictures - the first one is from the left - Oli´s parents, my Mom and my girl, myself and Raggi..the father...

Four days with Grandma

So...Here it was..My Mom and her husband went on a trip to the West Fjords for 5 days, my dear man/husband-to-be left to Akureyri (north of the country) for an exciting diving trip for a weekend and I was left alone to take care of the granny and plus my own daugther of 8 weeks old :)

So...I have to say it was a challenge at times but I think I did well...Of course there is a great gap between the generations and plus I had to explain everything to the grandma on how things work in the house - everything is so new to her in this social democracy world of Iceland which for now is represented by the little island of my Mom's house to her...WE have not taken granny to the downtown of Reykjavik yet shameless to say...

Luckily, my Mom has a satellite dish which provides some Russian channels so we can still face the reality of the Russian life - luckily only on television. But the greatest task is to teach grandma how to use the remote control and to change the channels...etc. We have accomplished 50% of it so far.

Grandma comes to Iceland

So..we did it! We have invited our granny to come and stay in Iceland for some time. She is 82 years old and for her, it was a first trip abroad ever.

Of course we did not send her alone on that journey, we had some trusted people to do that.

So, she is here now, enjoying the land, saying that it is a paradise on earth...

So..we better enjoy our life as it is.
But I guess I always liked it here and will be staying for some time now until our little girl will get a little bit bigger.

It is pretty here...in our land of ice and fire.

6 weeks - that is how old our little girl today

yes..I am a proud mother!
A great feeling that I cannot even compare to anything....I knew that I always wanted to have a baby..a girl...and I got blessed!

So, now the great task is to bring her up...Another challenge :) But I have strength and faith in myself and my man so we will bring up a great citizen :) to this civilization

On the other not so happy note -

- a crazy thing in Reykjavik happened - a man got shot in the middle of the day on the road while he was changing a tire....It is some kind of jealousy revenge..Since the shooter shot himself afterwards when he drove to Þingvellir....So...even streets of Reyakjvik are not so safe anymore...

OK..just checking out..how many blog pages I can have... So..it looks like one can have as many as one desires :)

So..maybe from now on I should just try to use that web page...

I like how it looks and how it works..and it is for free and contains no ads..well..at least for now...dont know what will be in the future...

OK..so..here I come..hello the world of Internet..one more time..at last!

P.S. on the picture - myself in person enjoying the ice cream during one of thouse few sunny days that we have on that pittle island in the middle of the Atlantic ocean....

Some photos

Well..

In May we had some visitors from Denmark - the older son Magnus with his wife and son of my step father Olafur..I was still pregnant and feeling weel..we had some little gathering with the Icelandic family and relatives :)

Just another web journal

Just checking how it works...