Oh, What a Night!

After packing during the afternoon, we stopped around 5:30 pm to visit with Avgust and his family. We planned to return soon and eat supper. The six of us got into the 2' X 2.5' lift to go down to the 2nd floor. When the elevator stopped, all of the lights on the panel went out and the door would not open! I had to laugh. This would make for a memorable last night. Caleb was upset at first, so we tried to keep the mood light. Thankfully, when we banged on the door and yelled "Help," Avgust answered. So, we had made it to the 2nd floor, and he was by the elevator to take us through his gate, which was kept locked. Otherwise, who knows how long we might have been in the elevator. Avgust tried to pry the door open while we played music and phone rings on our cell phones to entertain Caleb. At one point, I was standing there with my arms crossed, as I often do. Caleb looked over at me and folded his arms. That tickled me. Later, at Avgust's I took a photo of him folding his arms again. He now does it often and says, "Mom!" ( See Carrie's blog at nofoolindulin.blogspot.com for a more recent picture and Carrie's comments.) Avgust was not able to open the door more than a few inches. Jon's cell phone would not work in the lift, but he yelled to Avgust the elevator repair number, which was handwritten on the wall. Some people came and worked for a while on the elevator. After being in the very small space for an hour, suddenly the door was forced open by 2 women in their 50s. We looked down and saw a man on the first floor. The women pulled us up and out onto the 2nd floor.
We gratefully went into Avgust's apartment and sat around their kitchen table and talked. Natasha served us a yummy torte with our tea. Next, we feasted on sliced ham, cheese, bread and fruit . For my 2nd cup of Russian black tea, I reused my first teabag, and Avgust said he thought only Russians did that. Caleb enjoyed playing with their children.
When we were about to leave, they brought out some vanilla ice cream, after also offering us some soup, which we declined. What gracious hosts! Obviously, we had been gone much longer than the 30 minutes we had planned, but we had had a beautiful visit. And we had eaten enough so that we did not have to eat supper, just a bedtime snack.
We will not soon forget that night!