The Russian word for "apple" is "яблоко," which is (roughly) pronounced YAblacka. The word is kind of dear to us because it's one of the first things that Elena spontaneously asked for that we understood.
Our September 2011 flight back from Moscow to Washington DC was a grueling 11 hours. That's enough to make adults fidgety, let alone a then-two-year-old. However, we tried to keep her occupied. and she actually did very well, especially by two-year-old, cooped-up-on-an-airplane, lacking-sufficient-sleep standards.
One thing we were concerned about, though, was what she would eat. We weren't really aware of what she liked or didn't, and we were kind of at the mercy of whatever the airline chose to serve. We had a few snacks to fall back on - raisins, for example - but that was a little sparse.
I forget exactly what the meals were, but one of them came with an apple, and when Elena saw it, she immediately reached for it, with an excited, "'blacka! 'blacka!" Teresa knew exactly what she meant (thanks to a little study of basic Russian food words) and Elena got her apple.
I was reminded of this story because the preschool that Elena goes to held a small bake sale to raise money to help another kid's learning center. They were selling small bags of cookies, brownies, slices of cake, etc. for $1.00. Since they were small, an only $1.00, we had Elena choose her favorite. She chose... an apple. Over a chocolate brownie, or a frosted slice of cake.
I know darn well she loves chocolate and frosting, and it's a bit of a surprise that she loves apples more, at least at that time and place. Maybe apples are something special from her past, something that has a unique, important meaning. Or maybe, with my sophisticated adult sensibilites, I'm underestimating the attraction of a crisp apple. Or maybe she just felt like an apple - she happily bit into it, and actually finished the whole thing over the next 20 minutes or so. But in any case: hooray for the 'blacka!
Our September 2011 flight back from Moscow to Washington DC was a grueling 11 hours. That's enough to make adults fidgety, let alone a then-two-year-old. However, we tried to keep her occupied. and she actually did very well, especially by two-year-old, cooped-up-on-an-airplane, lacking-sufficient-sleep standards.
One thing we were concerned about, though, was what she would eat. We weren't really aware of what she liked or didn't, and we were kind of at the mercy of whatever the airline chose to serve. We had a few snacks to fall back on - raisins, for example - but that was a little sparse.
I forget exactly what the meals were, but one of them came with an apple, and when Elena saw it, she immediately reached for it, with an excited, "'blacka! 'blacka!" Teresa knew exactly what she meant (thanks to a little study of basic Russian food words) and Elena got her apple.
I was reminded of this story because the preschool that Elena goes to held a small bake sale to raise money to help another kid's learning center. They were selling small bags of cookies, brownies, slices of cake, etc. for $1.00. Since they were small, an only $1.00, we had Elena choose her favorite. She chose... an apple. Over a chocolate brownie, or a frosted slice of cake.
I know darn well she loves chocolate and frosting, and it's a bit of a surprise that she loves apples more, at least at that time and place. Maybe apples are something special from her past, something that has a unique, important meaning. Or maybe, with my sophisticated adult sensibilites, I'm underestimating the attraction of a crisp apple. Or maybe she just felt like an apple - she happily bit into it, and actually finished the whole thing over the next 20 minutes or so. But in any case: hooray for the 'blacka!
