Sunday was our big museum day – we spent a half of it in the National Museum of Natural History.
National Museum Of Natural History
Author: Hettie D.
My name is Henrietta (Hettie) Dombrovskaya. I was born in Saint-Petersburg, Russian (actually, back then – Leningrad, USSR) in 1963, and immigrated to the United States in 1996.
I love Saint Petersburg, the city I was born and raised in, and I think it’s one of the most beautiful places in the world. Similarly (but differently) I love Chicago, and can’t imagine myself moving somewhere else in the observable future.
I have three children, Igor, Vlad and Anna, all adults living on their own, and one (so far) granddaughter Nadia. I also believe that my children are the best thing that happened in my life.
As for my professional life, I am working in the field of Information Technologies. When I was twenty, I’ve declared that the databases are the coolest thing invented and that I want to do them for the rest of my life. Thirty plus years later, I still believe it’s true, and still, believe that the databases are the best. These two statements together imply that I think a person can have it all, and indeed, I think so! Keep reading my journals to find out how I did it.
Hanami
There was one more thing which Anna and I did on Saturday. Vlad made a reservation for us for a Hanami experience in his bar. I had no idea what it was, so I came completely mentally unprepared. Since the whole idea was to come to DC for the cherry blossom season, Vlad wanted us to have a complete experience. As you can see from the pictures, the bar was decorated to look like a cherry orchard.
We were presented with picnic baskets with traditional Japanese treats.
We were also offered several other drinks and later an ice cream and some oyster-like jelly sweets.
Later, Vlad explained to us that the music was purposefully set loud enough so that people could not talk to each other and would immerse themselves in the experience.
https://youtube.com/shorts/V9tzWe30VRk?feature=share
And here is an article which describes the whole experience in detail.
Touristy Things In DC
The first day in DC we were mostly walking around the city center. The weather was beautiful, and way warmer than in Chicago. We had a late lunch with Vlad
In DC
Our family trip to DC planned six months ago, goes on as a combination of unique experiences and major disasters. The first thing that went wrong was that Kira got sick just 36 hours before the trip, and so neither she nor John was able to come. The rest of us got to DC safely and checked in at Riggs hotel. This building used to be a bank (you can read about its history here), and Vlad is a beverage manager at the Silver Lyan bar in this hotel.
Some pictures from the hotel:
Flight to DC
CSO Concert
Yesterday, I was at the CSO concert. Nobody wanted to go with me, so I returned one of the two tickets and went by myself. I almost forgot that I almost always went to concerts solo before the pandemic.
I had a physical therapy appointment at 4 PM, and it didn’t make sense to go back home and go to the concert an hour later. At least, I thought it didn’t make sense. I went straight to the Loop and found an open Starbucks on Michigan Avenue, and then I sat there with my coffee and my wrap and my laptop, facing the street and watching the people.
I realized that 1) I didn’t do anything like that for a long time 2) I missed the feeling of being all by myself in the city.
When I worked in the office and would go to a concert after work, I always had that time between work and the concert, and I would sit at Starbucks or some other cafe, sipping coffee and people-watching. There are not that many places these days where you can sit like this after 5 PM, and it was great to feel that something is returning.
The concert had Boris’ favorites. I still remember how he gave me the recordings of Mahler and Bruckner to listen.
The mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca was amazing! The most unusual voice I had ever heard—perfection from the first to the last note.
And one more thing – the whole orchestra wore little yellow and blue ribbons on their chests 🙂
Mom
It has been very difficult to communicate with my mom recently. More than ever, she chooses to complain about everything. Her apartment didn’t get enough heat. I called the office; they told me they would install extra heaters, but then the parts won’t come on time (supply chain crisis), and there was almost a month wait.
So first, mom complained that everybody ignored her. Then she was happy for a couple of days, and now she is complaining that it’s too hot. She does not remember how she didn’t have any control over the temperature in her apartment in Saint-Petersburg. Now she is saying that she could always open a balcony door in Saint-Petersburg, and here she is afraid to open the window.
Then comes a usual chain of complaints like she could always look out of the window and see how people were dressed outside and figure out what’s the weather. Nothing new; it’s just that she repeats it more often, without anything positive in between.
Also, all the conversations related to the war are impossible. Last weekend, Igor brought some local Russian newspapers to her, which she could not ignore. She asks”not to talk to her” about the war, but this is becoming increasingly difficult. On top of it, she forgets more and more things and gets very defensive, if not aggressive, when I remind her. She’s saying that that’s me who forgets things and then “accuses” her. I think I need to message her doctor and ask what’s the right way to handle such situations.
Several other issues are very difficult to handle, but I will stop now so that I won’t do the same thing as she does 🙂
A Picture From Paris
People reminded me that I didn’t show this picture on WP:
***
Today, I talked to one of the organizers of an Open Source conference in Amsterdam – I will present there in September. At some point during this conversation, I mentioned that while I was in Europe, I felt that the whole of Europe was at war and that that’s not the case in the US.
She sounded like she didn’t believe me. And I understand – it is different in Europe. The Netherlands has accepted refugees for a long time now, and we are still waiting for our pathetic 100,000.
Last Days In Helsinki
My EDB hoodie arrived after both events were over, but it still looks great!
Initially, we planned a short trip to Tallinn on Saturday, mostly for the sake of the COVID certificate for my flight back on Sunday. But it turned out that after most COVID restrictions were lifted, only a small number of cruises provided testing on board, and there was no testing on Saturdays. Fortunately, one of my new colleagues told us about another budget option, “9Lives”, and I used it on Saturday.
They have multiple locations, including the one in Kamppi, and they open every day from 7 AM to 9 PM. I was very happy that I had this option, especially because the weather on Saturday was horrific, with exceptionally strong winds and some flurries. I didn’t want to go for a walk in this weather, but I also didn’t want to sit inside all day long. To have a purpose for getting out of the house, Boris suggested we go to IKEA – since I moved to the city, I lost easy access to the Schaumburg store and had to switch to online shopping. I can order almost everything online, but it’s nice when you can see how things look in real life :). So we went and had lunch there, and then walked from IKEA back to the train station.
This time, I had checked luggage because Boris wanted me to take home a bottle of cognac gifted to him a couple of years ago by somebody who didn’t know (or didn’t believe) he does not drink alcohol. And since I already knew I would have checked luggage, I bought a lot of dairy products to take home.
***
On Friday, one of the Nordic Day participants informed us that he tested positive for COVID. I was in very close contact with him, so I became nervous. Since I expected that something like that might happen while attending public events, I brought four at-home tests with me. Noth Boris and I were negative, and I took the test to enter the US; everything was negative. The organizers encouraged us to keep testing, and I took another at-home test on Monday when I came back home. At that time, I used a test from a different vendor, and I forgot that the colors in this test were reversed. Also, I had to orient the test differently. So at first, I thought that I was positive. I even speculated for a couple of minutes how it could possibly be if I had zero symptoms, and then I realized that there was only one stripe :).
Then, a day later, another participant, this time from PG Day Paris, informed us that she tested positive, and once again, I was in very close contact with her! And again, nothing wrong with me. To be honest, I think there were plenty of other opportunities in Paris to get COVID!
At least now, I think that it will be from some other place if I get it.
***
At the airport, I stopped at the kiosk to get my last cup of Finnish coffee with the last cinnamon bun. The cashier asked me whether I would like to round my total to aid Ukraine. I said – sure, why not, and thought that’s a good idea. The posters about helping Ukraine were everywhere in the city, and I felt that people were taking it seriously.
I am sure I didn’t buy a seat for my flight back, but somehow I ended up being in a preferred seat, which was nice. I sat very close to the aircraft door, and I had extra legroom, and very nice seat, and a kit with toothpaste, face moisturizer, and other nice extras.
However, the ORD was crowded, not even “as before the pandemic” but as ” I can’t remember when I last saw anything like this.” The passport machines were closed again, and there were lines to the border control. I was first sent to one line, where I had to wait a lot because there was a family of six, and then two other people, and then they said that they are closing that line/ And guess what – in the line where they sent me, another family of six just started their process!!! There was even a long line for agricultural control and a traffic jam outside the terminal.
On the positive side, despite the sky-rocketing gas prices, Uber’s cost was a record low.
Hettie's Reflections 