Asto_Di

33rd Day

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 00:33:54 GMT

Hello, Friends! Howdy?)

My American Vacations are in progress and fortunetely i started to work because i felt uncomfortable when all the people around are working and i'm just relaxing and having fun. Work at SubWay is not difficult for me and it take me busy so hours @ job passing by very rapidly. Usually i'm working 3 days per week from 8am till 4pm. Officially my position is Sandwich Artist( the one who makes sandwiches), but most of my time i'm spending @ registry [za kassoy]. They said i'm good in it and it is pretty easy for me indeed since i'm "addicted to clicks" and like to count( especially money=)). Plus it is good for me to practice my language with all kinds of people because here you can see great variety of different different people. Their accents, pronunciations and the ways of speaking are diverse indeed.

Also i'd like to notice that SubWay is pretty good option to eat in because of 1)natural food and 2) great variety of ingredients you can use in your sandwich. So, for US it is really good place to stop for a lunch or dinner and to pay av. 5-9$. Here in the US McD is not as popular as in Russia and people here who do care about their health won't eat junk-food just because it is cheaper. Though americans do really care money. Sure, their av.salary bigger than av.salary of a russian but life here costs more as well. And what i really like that they do save money [ ekonomyat den'gi ] and they do not afraid to show it, and they do care about each dollar and even each penny(so they call 1 cent coin) and they(i'm talking about people around me and with whom i'm communicating here but i'm not talking about all the americans since people are different in general) totally agree with our proverb [kopeyka rubl' beredjet].

Family Portrait... Here is Kia and her youngest brother Benjamin(or just Ben). He is extraordinary person and great guy to hangout with. He is open to the world in a sense of trying new things and gaining new experience and he does not afraid of new and so do i. We have mutual interests like music, computers and so.

And here is view from kitchen window one morning. You can see several deer. They like McClain's garden and visit us rather often and, you know, it is incredible to have your breakfast when these creatures having their breakfast( grass and flowers and Therese(Kia's mom) does not appreciate it) just several steps from you. Wonderful Nature...

...and here is Jason( Kia's oldest brother) and his former Mechanical Wonder. This Dodge Ram 2500 is extremely powerful vehicle and it consumes extremely lot of gas that's why Jason decided to trade-it in( which means to buy new car and to sell your car 2 the same dealer. Kia was working that day and i had a chance to see how "trade-in" system works and to spend time with Jason and his wife Tracy.

So, we went to Portland. We spend there whole day and were completely tired at the end. We saw many different options and offers and we had tested 2 Toyota's RAVs, Dodge Durango and Kia Sorento.

And thing is that i didn't like Kia, hehe, i'm talking about the car=)
Don't know why but this(at least the one we were testing) south korean car is pretty bad if to compare with her japanese and american "brothers". Any way thing about trade-in is that it is like russian market and dealers trying to make a trick on you by playing on prices and so, they are foxy and not nice. We were pretty close to buy Dodge but dealers value our Dodge extremely low( 15.000$ only which is pretty loss in money for a extremely powerful truck of 2003). Somehow Jason and Tracy bought white Toyota's RAV the other day.

And here is Jason's daughter Abbieguel( or just Abbie).

She is 6 y.o. and she is addicted to kitties.

And she is just a very nice kid.

And here are 2 nice little girls...

...and a little boy)

Actually i like this playground a lot and especially this tire.

And here is Astoria's famous bridge(we are still in Oregon state).

Thing is that i like bridges very much. No, i just love them!
1,5 years ago i said to teacher that i like bridges and it was kind of a joke, but it i do love them indeed, i found them beautiful and amazing...

...where we now?...good question, since you can see Washington state and Oregon state is behind us...

Now we are definetly @ Long Beach, Washington. Nice seaside town with lots tourists.
You can see Lewis and Clark and Maslov, they are discoverers of West America...

During 40's and 50's it was kind of tv for adults nowdays)

...these are strange animals

and here is reptile-man...

"Move your body, Dude!" )

World's Longest Beach sounds great and I've been there!

and here is My World's Ever Seen Best Girl!

Time to come back home. You can see Astoria, is not it great?

Here is a school where Arny was teaching kids in Kindergarten Cop[ Detsadovskiy Policeysky] movie

And here you can see Astoria's just build houses they are pretty...and pretty expensive (starting from 500.000$(and i thought they cost twice less but here is truth of the life you have to pay for all the good))

We are finally home and could relax little bit by playing pool, but first we have to teach this little energetic battery how to play)

And here is Man's Pride in the house. Real Man's Bathroom sounds cool, is not it?

here is me trying my SubWay uniform

4th of July...Independence Day!

Now i have to go by bike to town and to meet My Honey after her work day and we will go somewhere to hangout and spent one more evening together. I have many hundred of photos and many thousands ideas&impressions but i have lack of time. Time!

p.s. we had internet connection problems for a while and i was not able to write here or to communicate with you, now everything is fixed!

Thank You! Have a Great Day!
And Remember about the Time!

got accustomed to the US

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 09:48:17 GMT

My 13th day here is done and i can't imagine myself somewhere else but in the US. Everything is very good, must be even too good.

i'm addicted to everything what is around me right now, - people, nature, weather, lifestyle, cars, sport games, food&drinks...

during the weekdays when My Baby is working i used to wake up at about midday, to prepare something for breakfast/lunch, to stay on-line for awhile, to go by bike to the town, to meet Kia at the end oh her work day, to go shopping, to have dinner in a cafe/restaurant, to rent a movie, to come back home and watch it or play a game, to kiss My Honey and to wish her Sweet Dreams.

my breakfast is usually pasta or pizza or cereals with tea/juice/syrup

when being on-line i used to check up e-mail, read some news in RUnet, to write here, or play game(i found this one very something)

to go by bike into town is very something indeed. Here most of the people have cars, but you can see many people using bikes just to be in good form. I found it very interesting and good for me, since i was not biking enough after my operation. And in general here you can easily found lots grounds for football, baseball, basketball, soccer, - for whatever you want. As for me i really like [freesbee](have no idea how to write it correctly) but i liked it very much, - a game with a flying plate, 2 teams, 2 bars and one goal, - to rock your rival! Also i found bucci ball very interesting and intellectual. And of course i have to work on basketball, - i am really really weak in it. Plus for sure i have no chance to win in the pool against My Honey.

shopping here is pretty close to ours, the only differences are prices and sizes. Something is much more cheaper(like chips, pops[gazirovka] and sweets), other things are more expensive(like meat, cheese and fruits). Plus clothes and footwear is cheaper and better quality. Also many many things you can buy [melkim optom], like 12 pepsi cans for 3$ or 24 different chips in on bag for 5$. And...their sizes, they are much more bigger in everything(from food (chips in bags 10 times bigger than the biggest one i've ever seen in Russia) to clothes)..and of course for me it such a pleasure to go into stores and buy quality brand things from jeans(Lee or Levi's) and sweaters to sunglasses for very sweet prices.

today we were on the ocean coast and it was wonderful weather but my camera's charge was dead.

on Saturday we were at Portland. We were shopping and visiting Kia's cousin Jessica and her husband Chak. Everything was wonderful but Kia beat me on WWF(wrestling) game on ps2. I still can't believe it! Portland is really big beautiful city but unfortunetly that day i forgot to take out sd memory card from laptop and took camera without it.

Also i've meat many Honey' friends. Most of them are married and even remarried. Once we visited Jason(JJ)&Cari and their newborn baby Faith who have not celebrated even her first month on the Earth. JJ is really interesting and funny guy who fond of computers and other devices. He has his own studio where he making video, music and graphics. His pc is the most powerful thing i ever seen but he wanted improve it even more up to 16gb(!) ROM. He has most of adobe's software(like photoshop and illustrator) and he told me that he was really lucky to get adobe's package only(!) for 1500$ and when i said to him that in Moscow he could buy for 4$ or even for free(from internet or local network) he was so surprised and confused. Here is JJ in his studio:

On Sunday we played we played [freesbee] 4 on 4. My team won first part 7:5 but we lost the second one 6:7,- so it was draw(but if to consider points...;) Then we played 3 on 3 Girls vs. Guys. We won 3:1 twice. After the game we went to mexican restaurant with Earl and his wife Valery. I tried their pizza and i liked it, but it was something you won't eat everyday. After lunch we came to our place and played Trivia Pursuit(name of their [viktorina]) and Kia and I beat them 7:5. That was so much fun!

Also i'd like to say that nature here is really incredible, everyday i can see many different animals and birds. Twice i have seen deers came into our(!) garden and just stayed there in 10 steps from us. Here is one which was on our way:

So, everything is fine here if not to consider the fact that i still had not started my work(guess, must this week;)

Have a Nice Day!

19th of June

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 08:39:37 GMT

Due to Artem i learned how to use text tags, - so now you don't need to wait till all pictures are loaded, - you can just click Read More at the day you are intersted in! 10x, Dude!)
19th of June. We decided to go and have our breakfast @ PIG'N Pancake. Another nice thing was that we decided to go by bikes.

On my breakfast i had a meal called something like "3 little pigs". It appears to be sausages wrapped in pancakes + apple jam, - so it was kind of funny for me to try sausages with apple jam)

Here is My Girl

That is how they prevent accidents on roads when repairing them.

and here is me.

We are closer and closer to our house

Finally, we are @ home

Here you can see part of garden and me)

Green house[teplica], daddy' play house, barn and RV.

Here is Butch. He is living outside and he is old guy(11 years)

Green House closer

Here is Daddy's playhouse which is kind of [masterskaya]. There so many different tools inside!

Here is RV, kind of house on wheels

Here is barn and there i found even more interesting things than in daddy' playhouse

We cleaned our car with vacuum cleaner(you know after such a long trip we just had to do this). When it was gone we decided to go swimming since weather were wonderful.

Here is Astoria town again, - houses are much more decorated than in southern Oregon.

I love this Bridge!

Lake was is close to city, so after awhile we were @ Lake. Here are some american kids for you! Cute, huh?

Here is the place we stay @, the gross we lay @...

...and the lake we were swimming in...it was rather cold there but lots of fun as usual!

Another nice day is gone! And i'm looking forward to the Future!
^Artem, here is my second try with tags)

Last Day of the Trip

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 10:57:29 GMT

Our Last Day of Trip

Wow, that is so wonderful! Mean, everything here! I Love It!

Look, these girls don't know how to use it in the right way, - i'm gonna rock them!)

Have you heard about Dunes? Here we go!

Looks like a real desert, hopefully it is not so large

Or is it?

Worth to see, huh)?

kind of mix of forest and desert

Ok, continue our travelling...

You know, i am addicted to such things...

And finally, we reached Pacific Ocean, - i've never seen it before!

That is Something!

Here are more sea lions for a cat lovers) - there many babies and they even don't know how to bark yet, - but they will one day!)

A seaside town

For those who do like bridges like i do

Welcome to Lincoln City!

Must be interesting inside!

Famous Tillamook Cheese Factory

It is really beautiful there!

{I'm On My Way Home...}

You can see Astoria!

Home, Sweet Home...

WOW, that was incredible and now i'm about to fall asleep!

Have a Nice Day!

3rd Day of the Trip

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 10:27:47 GMT

3rd Day Sunday morning. We visited Church and We Are Ready to Adventures. Here is My Love

After putting everything into car we continue our Trip, - now we're on our way back but we wanna try another way, along the seaside(actually ocean side for sure;)

That makes me laugh! I guess, if you are little bit familiar with arithmetics you will realize why=)

Now we will have to go through mountains

Trees, trees, trees...everywhere...

Honda CR-V 2nd edition - Our Vehicle!

Forest....seems like we are the only alive here..
where are other people?

Hopefully, we were able to find nearest town...

Our way
is a Good Highway)

Theatre in Coquille

Hi, Daddy!)

Very typical small american town

Our last night stop. My Lover is cooking pasta for me!

We have to have a good sleep before going home...

2nd Day of the Trip

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 09:49:40 GMT

2nd Day ...wow, that is great to wake in the morning by birds singing..fresh air from river and your lover laying next to you;)
When i was just out of the tent i noticed something(or someone) in the bushes. It was so crazy fast. And it was really difficult to catch a picture of it. Somehow after awhile it freezes for a moment.

It was brown, with lines along its body and it has beautiful tail. So, i started to shout , -"Honey, there is a little squirrel right near me!". But she said that it is a chipmunk[burunduk]. I never saw them in Russia, so it was my first time meeting with Chip.

After breakfast we went to river. It was very nice there but it reminds me about russian rivers.

It was not very deep.

Kind of playing hide-and-seek[pryatki]
Can you find My Honey here?;)

Wanna swim there, huh?)

Then we moved on south. Weather was wonderful! Everything was wonderful! Also what i do like about America is that when people are close to each other, no matter where, - in a store or @ forest-path, - they will say 'Hi' or 'Hello' to you. It is just good thing to do.

This wonderful waterfall was a reason to stop. It is one worth to see.

We continue our trip and after awhile landscape started to change. You can see mountains are snowy. We were not far from Crater Lake, - which was a goal of our trip.

Very soon i realized that we are on mountains and that we had snow around us. I still have no idea about how it works, mean that i don't understand why it was not melting on a really hot sun. But that was so much fun for us!

Yeah, that was wonderful! To play snowballs during the summer, Just Imagine!

and what was really interesting about it that it was not cold there!

Well, you know i have been in several european countries and have been traveling in Russia but i never saw something like that.
This is crater Lake. Many many many years ago there was a volcano but it exploded and now you can see this incredible Lake.

No Comments, - you can see everything for yourself! Enjoy It!

And here you can see super photo , - another one for my wallpaper(or maybe yours;)!

Here are mexican bikers who made this super shot

And what about Crater Lake' hat? Nice&cool, huh)?

Beautiful Umpqua river. Beautiful indian name.

Here is place of our second night stop

Here we spend our 2nd night. And i became more experienced, - now i could make a tent myself! Is not is wonderful, huh?!

^Artem
guess, i got what you meant about text tags
don't know about rapidshare yet,because actually it is not useful to everybody due to different ip-situations

1st Day of Trip

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 08:32:03 GMT

1st Day of Our Trip Next morning we left home at about 11. Astoria is on the north of Oregon and we moved to the south. Somehow, in an hour or two we reached Albany(i always thought it must be somewhere in Europe;) Unfortunetly i forgot how to say preved po-albancki;)

here is typical albackiy town

Ok. That's a joke. Albany is a town in center of Oregon. Kia's grandmother lives there. Here is her house. Nice, huh?

In the house i've met Kia's grandma and aunt. After some stories about Russia me, My Honey and Granny went to King Kone, - kind of famous ice-cream cafe in Albany. And actually the ice-cream was too big for me, but finally i was able to done with it and to continue our trip. We said goodbye to Granny and went towards adventures.

Americans do like pets. And they always take their pets with them)

Nature was incredible indeed. There were many many animals on our way but they were so rapid so i was not able to shoot them with camera. On the center top on the picture you can see a Hawk. Hope i will take a closer picture of it one day.

This a Roseburg. Most small american towns are like this one. [Most of them but not Astoria]

It's Summer time and kids could relax for a little bit. "School's out for Summer, School's out Forever...{Alice Cooper}". And bus drivers could relax as good)

It was about evening so we decided to stay somewhere.So we found a place for camping.They do have nice traditions and so. Kind of they do trust each other. Here is Camp' Pay Station. So, we took their blank, fill it out, put into envelop blank and money(14$ for staying a night there) and lowed it down into post box.

Here is our lovely camping place. So, there is table with seats and place for a tent. It was getting dark so we set up the tent. When it was dark we made a camp-fire[koster] and we went to sleep...

^Anton,
you had studied css and java-script, huh? PHP must be more difficult but obviously it is much more useful tool. Sounds good, and for sure it is better for you to study(or handle) different technologies during summer when you do not have to care about university. Plus it is definetly better to learn something by yourself, i do prefer such kind of studying. When You know your weak and strong sides, and when You can control the process of education. Somehow there is minus in this way of studying, - you won't have so much fun at home as we do have everyday at university;)
I'm glad you finally gained applying-to-job experience, - this one is very important, no matter was you succeed or not. I think both positions you listed are interesting. I wish you Good Luck in finding interesting summer job!

^Artem,
So, Buddy, you darn-it will have exam during fall again(but hopefully that is gonna to be your last fall-exam, huh?).
Your next one, c++ sounds like something extremely complex(at least for me), but you can do it, i know it. Plus i hope you will be able to use your communication skills(but i doubt it since your teacher must be real programmer). Any way, Good Luck there!
Hehe, actually i don't understand about using tags in LJ, what did you exactly meant? Probably it easy and so, sorry but it is night right here and i'm really tired from Our Incredible Trip.

Have a Nice Day!

1st day and 2nd days

Fri, 15 Jun 2007 15:57:35 GMT

My 1st and 2nd days in the USASo, at my first morning here i woke up @ 7:15am and i was rather surprised by that because i was not sleeping for about 30 hours while i was at airports and on my flights. Don't but 4-hour sleep was enough for me, you know it is because of 11 hours time difference. First thing i saw was big russian three color flag above my bed, so it is just like in my room there is american one. I found it very nice. Then i started to examine the room, it is Kia's room and i will live here for the whole my time here. You know, i saw many rooms before but nothing like this!
So, and i've got a 3 minutes video when we are in the kitchen and then in the room i'm staying at. Thing is that its weight is 150mb and i don't know where it is better to upload for you to download it with ok connection speed. Any ideas? I can upload files up to 100mb to my ifolder, so now i have to find another service.

So, after getting up i was making a puzzle Baby gave to me, - a map of the USA' states. So, i was making them(states) together and it took about an hour to complete this task. Then i went to Honey and awake her. Then we went to kitchen for a breakfast. You know, these americans, they eat serials(hlop'ya) with cold milk. Kind of very unusual for me though it was very good taste. And you won't believe but they drink cold juice just from fridge. Hopefully there were some tea bags specially for me, so at least for now i prefer something warm/hot to drink.
Also i met her father Jim. And it is difficult for me to understand him sometimes, fortunetly it is getting better and better day by day.

@ 1pm we had an appointment with Mike Davies who is owner of several restaurants in Astoria . Mike seems to be very good man, kind of a common american upper middle class in my mind. I had no difficulties with understanding his accent and we had a good talk.

After that we went to harbour.

you can see sea lions here, they just live all the time near Astoria and they are funny big guys, but you better not to come close to them since they like to fight

after that we went to store and have bought some things for snack. So, i liked their stores. Prices are much more friendly and there is a great choice opportunity. Also i was surprised by their sizes, like i saw really big pack of chips which is even heavy to lift but Honey said it is not big if to compare with other. Then we went to the top Astoria' hill and there is a great viewpoint from there. Photos from there are in the previous post. here is 1 minute video from there. 48 mb for those who don't care about traffic of have enough gb. Downloading speed is annoying, so i have to find something better indeed.

Then we went home. I met her mom Therese. And i have no difficulties at all with understanding her. Then we had dinner(which is ug'in) with chicken, potatoes baked with cheese and ham and other things i don't know what they were actually, kind of salad with cheese and so.
After dinner we watched tv for a while and i found out that almost every our tv shows are "snatched". Then i went to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On my second morning i woke up at 5am. Everyone was sleeping, and so i was on-line.

We had blackberry pie(heated in microwave due to my request;) and french vanilla ice-cream and tea and for sure some sweets.
After breakfast i register at SEVIS on-line( necessary for Work and Travel program) and we went to give Mike copies of my documents.

Then we went to a store since we will go camping and i didn't took sneakers[krossovki] with me.

We visited this Ross Dress for Less store

these are my favorite white-blue color, but not my size, hehe. I have no idea how tall must a man who can wear them.

I found another great pair for me, and they are my size(10 in their sizes). So, guys imagine i bought new cool brand Reebok sneakers for only 19.99$ (just 500 rubles!). Plus they are natural leather. So, i wonder how big is the difference, mean, in Moscow they would cost 100-140$(2500-3500 rubles). You know for a such crazy shopper like me it is very nice thing! And i hope it is only beginning, mean that i will find other quality clothes and shoes for incredible price.

Then we went to auto mechanics to change oil, since we will go camping and will have a long trip

here is my Honey, we are waiting in resting room while they are changing oil in the car

then we visited another store

and finally we went home,

//now we are leaving, we will go to Crater Lake and the trip will 4 days for us so, i won't be posting for a while
//but before that i will have incredible pasta prepared by My Honey. You know, i like pasta and when it is with chicken, shrimp and other delicious stuff[plus it is made by The Only One], - i'm addicted to such pasta!

Have a Nice Day!
And Good Luck to all those who will have exams soon!

-=America=-

Thu, 14 Jun 2007 15:56:39 GMT

So, my first day was rather outstanding mostly because everything is so unsual for me here. It just so much different you won't believe...

So, my 20 hours flight Moscow-Atlanta-Portland was rather good. Fortunetly i had an interesting guy from Kazan' siting next to me and my 12 hours Moscow-Atlanta flight was not as difficult because of good healthy communication. Also, on our way we were able to watch movies and listen music. For sure, everything in english. So, i've seen the movie(cartoon created with computers) which we do have at our cinemas at home, it is about penguins and ice-bergs)...so, it was difficult to understand because there so many songs and i have some difficulties with understanding songs, especially when they are in african style and so. For sure the cartoon is very very similar to our soviet cartoon with Lolo and Lulu(or something like that)..so, somehow i do not understand the main idea..could any one tell it to me, huh?

Also, we were watching a crazy comedy about afro-americans...it was with several famous afro-americans though i don't know their names...probably [Edi Merfie] and [Snoop Dog] and many others...and it was about a young man who had difficulties with his too heavy wife...
and almost all jokes were about her weight and so..you know i won't watch in cinema or at home but it was very in time because when you have 12 hour flight you need something to keep your brains busy and relaxed at the same time...

...Atlanta...must be the biggest airport in the world, it has it own metro and so...lines, lines and lines again, we are at custom and there is great number of people, they are divided into us citizens and visitors and i'm awaiting for serious checking with all your things vied and so. But nothing like that, you just have to take off your shoes and belt and backpack and to go through check point...it was easy indeed..mean, in Moscow russians were checking me much more longer and so..so, i'm on my second flight, Atlanta-Portland..the airplane at least is twice smaller than my previous one..i'm sitting on the middle sit, american men are on the right and left, they are not very talkative...one looks like a programmer or lawyer and i helped him with plugging his wires into right holes...on the other side, a man about 40, must be biz-man but he is reading something about Bible. Also he had got a blackberry, you know it is mix of smartphone and pda...looks to be a useful device...on this flight i was watching Wild Hogs and Robin Hood. First is comedy about funny bikers and guess, you must be similar with second one...sometimes i'm closing my eyes and trying to sleep since it is more than 24 hours without sleep for me...somehow it is difficult to sleep and i'm watching movies....

Finally, we are in Portland...i'm so tired and so...i'm on my way to take my luggage and here is my Baby...7 months you know...[then there is something you do you if you have love or you must have seen it in the movies(though it is better when real) and i won't give a description)]...we take my bag, take our car from parking and we're on our way home...the weather is wonderful and so is the nature...on our way i saw elks, raccoons and many many different unknown birds, air is awesome, like in a sea you know...2am we are in Astoria...wow, that is really big house...

//now my Only One is awake, so i will continue writing later

here are photos taken from Astoria' top point -

you can see Columbia river and this famous bridge, - so closest side is Astoria(state Oregon) and opposite side is another state, - Washington

here is an indian boat

that is Astoria Column, kind of the symbol of the Town

that is my Baby waiting for me

bye for now)

comments and questions are welcome!

So, finally i registred here

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 08:59:36 GMT

Hope it will be interesting and not just for me)