Had a nice quiet night in Olga’s drive. Starting to feel colder now … In the morning Tanya had invited us in for coffee and pancakes, cooked with her own fair hand.
At one point when we had distracted her by talking we thought one was burning …. Graham rushed over to toss it forgetting that the handles are cast iron and directly connected to the pan!! Luckily he threw it on the floor before it burnt his hand … after a good telling off from Tanya Graham sat down and stopped interfering …. not easy for him! Tanya asked if we wanted jam or marmalade with the fresh cow’s cream. We asked for jam expecting her to reach for the cupboard …. instead she disappeared under the floor with a look of extreme concentration and a cry of ” Oh man!” when she could not recognise the contents!! I thought for a minute that I was going to have beetroot on my pancakes …. luckily it was jam!
The breakfast was excellent thank you Tanya … and we enjoyed your company.
After breakfast we went for a walk around the village with Tanya and Olga. It is not as small as we first thought and has a good sized school that serves some of the neighbouring villages, a new hospital (nearly finished) and new kindergarden. The play equipment was amazing and the children so well behaved and dressed so smartly. We were invited in to take some photos and for Graham to have a game of football.
The children go to kindergarden from the age of 1.5 to 6 yrs old.
On the way back we saw another free range pig …. he was happy!
When we got back to the garden Tanya’s father was busy with the vegetable plot. He obviously works hard. He is really nice but we could not chat to him as our russian is so limited and he does not speak german.
And a nice russian truck …. great project!
Olga had gone back to work and soon it was time to say goodbye to Tanya.
I am sure that we will meet her again in England as she only lives in Germany, where she is studying.
We then drove back to our favorite coffee shop in Gorno where we updated the website and talked on skype to the Treadways (family who were planning to drive with us through China). Unfortunately they have a problem with their Land Rover Defender and are not sure if they can continue …. we will see, but in the meantime we wish them luck and hope that they can find a way to make it happen.
The evening will be spent in the supermarket stocking up for Mongolia. Not long now!
Once the shopping had been done (including another thick duvet for the cold nights) we headed back to the hotel where our friend Elvira works. Rather than stay in the hotel we asked if it was OK if we parked outside by the security building. You can see why Marjool felt right at home!!
troopytracks 