Things I love about Russia # 211

Everywhere we've lived we've had the blessing of making "friends" with the local vendors near our homes. Today, I was reminded that this is one of the things I love about this country... There are still fruit/veggie vendors and little kiosks along the streets. Every few days we stop by "Our" fruit and veggie stand to buy some fresh produce. She always knows exactly what kind of apples we want and which tomatoes we like best. She waves and yells "hi" to us when we past by her stand when we are out walking and often gives Gavin a free banana and wishes him "good health"! Today when I walked up to her window with Gavin, she knew that it was time for us to buy tomatoes, apples and onions! What?! She had even set aside some really good apples for us! The fact that we're finally getting to know our neighbors after living here a year, makes me sad that we have less than a year before we'll be back in the states for our year of Home Assignment... It's taken so long to get to know people enough to just earn the right to have them over- and now we'll be leaving so soon. More the reason to make the most of every opportunity!