4:48 PM
Nelmitravel - Nelieta Mishchenko
Birthdays are special occassions and it was no different when Andrey celebrated his birthday on the 15th of April.
He really wanted a new DVD writer as his stopped working a couple of months ago and needed to be replaced. For days he was searching the internet for the best prices and eventually found one in Buenos Aires. But what to do? We are 780kms from Buenos Aires! Luckily Hendrik and Laura (friends of ours) came to our rescue and offered to buy the DVD writer and bring it with them later in the month, Andrey was so excited!
But shame when the DVD writer arrived it did not work. He batlled for a full day to install it, without success. Luckily Hendrik and Laura were still in Cordoba and we arranged for them to take it back to Buenos Aires and have it exchanged. He will have to wait a little longer before he can use it.
So with that in mind I did not know what to do to make the day special for him. I knew he wanted Vodka, his favourite breakfast, a braai, cheesecake and a traditional Russian Salad. I went to town the day before and bought all the ingredients. I stopped at Barillin, a chocolate factory and bought him a box of chocolates. I love to go there because the shop is beautiful and they always wrap the presents beautifully. They really have excellent chocolate and they are not expensive. In the photo you can see some of the chocolate..it does not come with empty spaces! We ate some for breakfast. I like the white milk chocolate and Andrey the dark chocolate!
The morning of his birthday arrived and I decorated the kitchen with colourful balloons. Ru, our dog, did not know what was going on! She was scared of the balloons and were hiding underneath the table. Poor thing, she has never seen balloons before. Andrey got coffee in bed and then I called him to the kitchen where he got his favourite breakfast. Eggs, bread, viennas, fried onions and coffee. He loved it!
We decided to have a braai in the afteronon and I started with the preparations for the Russian salad. It is a very delicious salad but takes some time to prepare. I will gladly send anyone the recipe. We also took some pictures of the two of us together to email to family and friends back in Russia. It was fun!
We have not taken pictures of ourselves in ages and we really had a good time. As you can see from the picture it is getting cold. The last couple of days were very cold. Andrey loves the cold weather so it came as a birthday present. The rest of the day he took easy. He answered birthday messages, relaxed and just enjoyed the day.
Next was a late afternoon coffee with cheesecake - another favourite of Andrey. I bought it fresh from the bakery early in the morning. I know, I know it is going straight to the hips!!!! It was so delicious and creamy and did I mention fresh?
I love the bakeries here in Argentina. The people are so helpful and I have met a lady there who has started to study English. I have offered to help her so every time I go there she is so happy to see me. It makes my trips to the bakery special. I walked out of the bakery with everybody congratulating my husband on his birthday.
The salad was ready and we started to braai. Andrey is really getting very good at this. We had a lovely time around the fire. Talking, playing some music and just enjoying the late afternoon sun. Then we sat down for dinner and had a great time celebrating. According to the Russian tradition we always have toasts. One was to Andrey wishing him love, health and , happiness. The next toast was to his Mom for giving birth to him and for raising him to be the man that he is today. The 3rd toast was for family and friends not with us.
Andrey was speaking to a friend in Russia and became very sad. Even though the day was perfect for him I knew in his heart he wanted to celebrate the day with his Mom, sister , nephew and friends back in Russia. It made me sad too. When we celebrate special occassions we miss the people that are our flesh and blood. We miss our friends and the people back home that are part of our lives. That is why I am sharing Andrey's special day with you so that you know we have been thinking about our family and friends back home!
