October 29, 2010 11:38 am
It was -15 degrees Celsius today with no wind. Olga and I are going to walk to the gym so that I can run on the treadmill and then spend some time in the infrared sauna.
Continued…8:20 pm
I had a good run on the treadmill and spent half an hour in the infrared sauna. One of the things I love about Russia is the sauna. Many dachas and some apartments here have saunas. The Russians treat it as preventative medicine as well as a type of recreation.
Sensei Gerisamov boasts that he has the best sauna in the area. In 2006 he treated our group to a proper Russian Banya (sauna). This meant getting a flogging with birch branches. It is supposed to serve as an exfoliation and bit of massage. The guys were a bit apprehensive, so I through myself in front of the herd and went first. It was awesome. After I received my treatment, they each took a turn and did not regret it.
My experience today wasn’t quite like that, but it was very refreshing nonetheless. I had an entire sauna to myself for the entire half hour. Olga was nearby reading her a book. Over my years of coming here to visit, the banya has always been one of my favorite things. I have done a lot of research and came to the conclusion long ago that we need one at our dojo. Someday…someday.

October 30, 2010 11:39pm
Today was Olga’s and Vera’s birthday. We celebrated as is Yemelyanov family tradition by waking them with flowers and offering them birthday congratulations. The temperature today was -20 degrees Celsius.
Most of the day was spent with me taking care of Malcolm while the family prepared the house and dinner for the Birthday party. Tonight we just had immediate family. Tomorrow night is the big jubilee party. We are expecting over 30 guests…all in this apartment.

November 1, 2010 1:56 am
Well, tonight (Sunday night) we had Olga’s and Vera’s big birthday celebration. We showed the birthday video compilation to the friends and family in attendance. Everyone loved it. Thank everyone that contributed and especially those that took the time to video and email the clips to us. Luckily Polina and Vitya both have experience in video production and were able to take the clips and put together a quality video. We will be sure to put it on DVD and make copies for anyone that would like one.
We also took plenty of video and pictures of the jubilee celebration tonight. I will post some highlights after I get some rest.
I read a few posts on Facebook about the Dynamic MMA Halloween party. It sounds like it went pretty well and people had a good time. As I have said before, the Halloween party is one of my favorite events that we do. I’m glad everyone had fun.