This week has gone so fast. It started with our great evening trip to the Vienna's Boy Choir which I covered in my earlier blog post.
On Tuesday our day started with a meeting of all the teams and all the clients so we could update each other on where we were at. After that Kaldeep and I did not have meetings until the afternoon so Kataya showed us where there was a very nice cafe that we could work from for the morning.
The walk to the cafe was through one of the many parks in Ekaterinburg. I have not been in a city with so many green areas or tree lined streets.
The Cafes here are also great as they are not just one large room but most of them are divided into many different sitting areas which are decorated like little sitting rooms/dens.
The coffee is always nicely presented. At this cafe it was a bit like home as they cappuccino came with a fern on top. Unfortunately, it is did not taste as good as the coffee at home - but it was better than coffee I have had many other places in the world
Tuesday night we went back to one of our favourite restaurants; Basilica. We have been here a few times now and the service and food are both good. The Decor is also very pretty and they present all their food and drinks beautifully. This was the latte that Divya ordered.
One of the things we are always commenting on is how colourful Russia is particularly the clothes people wear. I also notice that the boards they have around the City where people can post adverts, noticies, etc are also very colourful.
I had developed a very sore and swollen ankle on Tuesday evening and was not sure if it was an infected bite or the result of something I did on Sunday. I was so relieved to get to the bottom of the stairs in the tower that I missed the bottom, very shallow, step and went over on the side of my foot. At the time it hurt a lot but only for about 2 minutes and then I was back walking, feeling absolutely fine. I had also walked back from the Vienna Boys Choir on Monday evening - over an hour's walk.
On Wednesday we had more meetings but by Wednesday evening I was in agony with my ankle and although I could walk, I could not stand on both feet - I kept standing like a stalk - practicing using my core like I learn In Pilates and the gym to keep me balanced :-) It was so bad I thought I better go and see a Doctor so I called SOS who provides us with advice on which Doctors to see, etc. SOS made an appointment for me on Thursday morning with a Clinic here.
Thursday morning my ankle was still bad but a bit better than Wednesday evening. I went to the Doctor and he took a look at it and decided it needed an x-ray. Luckily nothing was broken but I had done some damage to a tendon ... so it was a good job I went. I know have to wear a support of that ankle for 2.5 weeks and he also gave me a heap of medication. SOS checked it and said it is all appropriate treatment... but I am not sure you would get this in NZ. Oh well - better to be safe than sorry. The Clinic I went to was amazing - so professional. When the Doctor handed me the x-ray to take back with me I joiked that I now had a souvenir of this trip ... and he said "from Russia with love"
On Thursday we only had one meeting and that was at the time I went to the Doctor so Kuldeep did that himself and, after I got back, we spent the rest of the day working here to start planning our recommendations/presentation to our client.
On Thursday evening the whole team went to a really nice Middle Eastern Restaurant called Suftra together with Katya so we could plan our weekend.
By Friday, my ankle was feeling much better - mainly because of the support bandage. It was a good job as we had three meetings that day - one with the head of Yandex (Russia's equivalent to Google) in Ekaterinburg, one with the Palace of Youth an organisation that provides optional learning activities for children outside of school hours and the last one with the Head of the Foundational Learning Department at Ural Federal University ... all very interesting meetings.
Our visit to the Palace of Youth was great. We had previously me with a representative of the Palace of Youth but this time we actually got to visit the school - which is amazing. It includes its own full size theatre, gymnasium, swimming pool, etc ... and student can study anything from sport to the arts such as acting, ballet, etc to IT studies and entrepreneurial skills .... all at not cost to parents.
They also organise school holiday programs for the childrent and while we were there one group was coming back and another was leaving .... as it is summer holiday time now.
One of the interesting things in the school was a mural they have which is made of mosaic and depicts some of the key events in Russian history between 1917 and 1973 when the Palace of Youth opened up.
Our last meeting was at the hotel ... and it was also time to say goodbye to Max who had been helping us organise all the meetings and escorting us to and from them. Max was off to do his compulsory time in the Russian army
Kuldeep and I had not had lunch so once we finished our meeting we got changed and headed out to find something to eat and to have a walk. Most of the others were away on a bus trip with their clients but when we were walking along the river bank we did bump into the three others who were not on the bus trip but they had already eaten dinner so it was just the two of us this evening.
We decided to head back to the cafeteria where we had lunch on Saturday. We walked the long way to get there an managed to see some more sites on the way.
We head home around 10.00 p.m. and the light was really fantastic at that time for taking photos.
So the second week has come to an end - I have no idea where this one went. But I do know I am looking forward to the weekend and what that has to bring.
On Tuesday our day started with a meeting of all the teams and all the clients so we could update each other on where we were at. After that Kaldeep and I did not have meetings until the afternoon so Kataya showed us where there was a very nice cafe that we could work from for the morning.
The walk to the cafe was through one of the many parks in Ekaterinburg. I have not been in a city with so many green areas or tree lined streets.
The Cafes here are also great as they are not just one large room but most of them are divided into many different sitting areas which are decorated like little sitting rooms/dens.
The coffee is always nicely presented. At this cafe it was a bit like home as they cappuccino came with a fern on top. Unfortunately, it is did not taste as good as the coffee at home - but it was better than coffee I have had many other places in the world
Tuesday night we went back to one of our favourite restaurants; Basilica. We have been here a few times now and the service and food are both good. The Decor is also very pretty and they present all their food and drinks beautifully. This was the latte that Divya ordered.
One of the things we are always commenting on is how colourful Russia is particularly the clothes people wear. I also notice that the boards they have around the City where people can post adverts, noticies, etc are also very colourful.
I had developed a very sore and swollen ankle on Tuesday evening and was not sure if it was an infected bite or the result of something I did on Sunday. I was so relieved to get to the bottom of the stairs in the tower that I missed the bottom, very shallow, step and went over on the side of my foot. At the time it hurt a lot but only for about 2 minutes and then I was back walking, feeling absolutely fine. I had also walked back from the Vienna Boys Choir on Monday evening - over an hour's walk.
On Wednesday we had more meetings but by Wednesday evening I was in agony with my ankle and although I could walk, I could not stand on both feet - I kept standing like a stalk - practicing using my core like I learn In Pilates and the gym to keep me balanced :-) It was so bad I thought I better go and see a Doctor so I called SOS who provides us with advice on which Doctors to see, etc. SOS made an appointment for me on Thursday morning with a Clinic here.
Thursday morning my ankle was still bad but a bit better than Wednesday evening. I went to the Doctor and he took a look at it and decided it needed an x-ray. Luckily nothing was broken but I had done some damage to a tendon ... so it was a good job I went. I know have to wear a support of that ankle for 2.5 weeks and he also gave me a heap of medication. SOS checked it and said it is all appropriate treatment... but I am not sure you would get this in NZ. Oh well - better to be safe than sorry. The Clinic I went to was amazing - so professional. When the Doctor handed me the x-ray to take back with me I joiked that I now had a souvenir of this trip ... and he said "from Russia with love"
On Thursday we only had one meeting and that was at the time I went to the Doctor so Kuldeep did that himself and, after I got back, we spent the rest of the day working here to start planning our recommendations/presentation to our client.
On Thursday evening the whole team went to a really nice Middle Eastern Restaurant called Suftra together with Katya so we could plan our weekend.
By Friday, my ankle was feeling much better - mainly because of the support bandage. It was a good job as we had three meetings that day - one with the head of Yandex (Russia's equivalent to Google) in Ekaterinburg, one with the Palace of Youth an organisation that provides optional learning activities for children outside of school hours and the last one with the Head of the Foundational Learning Department at Ural Federal University ... all very interesting meetings.
Our visit to the Palace of Youth was great. We had previously me with a representative of the Palace of Youth but this time we actually got to visit the school - which is amazing. It includes its own full size theatre, gymnasium, swimming pool, etc ... and student can study anything from sport to the arts such as acting, ballet, etc to IT studies and entrepreneurial skills .... all at not cost to parents.
They also organise school holiday programs for the childrent and while we were there one group was coming back and another was leaving .... as it is summer holiday time now.
One of the interesting things in the school was a mural they have which is made of mosaic and depicts some of the key events in Russian history between 1917 and 1973 when the Palace of Youth opened up.
Our last meeting was at the hotel ... and it was also time to say goodbye to Max who had been helping us organise all the meetings and escorting us to and from them. Max was off to do his compulsory time in the Russian army
Kuldeep and I had not had lunch so once we finished our meeting we got changed and headed out to find something to eat and to have a walk. Most of the others were away on a bus trip with their clients but when we were walking along the river bank we did bump into the three others who were not on the bus trip but they had already eaten dinner so it was just the two of us this evening.
We decided to head back to the cafeteria where we had lunch on Saturday. We walked the long way to get there an managed to see some more sites on the way.
We head home around 10.00 p.m. and the light was really fantastic at that time for taking photos.
So the second week has come to an end - I have no idea where this one went. But I do know I am looking forward to the weekend and what that has to bring.
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