Very Almost the End

So this last week has flown by and I'm scheduled to be back in America in just about 62hours from now, but you don't really care about all that. Here are the stories from the last week or so:

Last wednesday, right after I posted my last blog post, I headed down to the grocery store to pick up some, you guessed it, groceries. Now you have to understand that the clerks at the grocery stores here are very angry people. I'm pretty sure there is a box on the application that asks if you have anger issues and if you check it you automatically get the job. Well the cashier I had this day somehow managed to trick them into thinking she was an angry person, when in reality she is very nice. So when I got to the register she gives me a big old smile, which kind of threw me off guard since that had never happened to me before, and then she started talking to me. Now I still don't understand enough russian to understand most of the things people say to me, but by her tone and the few words I could make out she wasn't asking me for a bag or if I had exact change, which is what all the other cashiers ask me. My only logical conclusion was that this rather attractive young cashier was flirting with. I figuratively punched myself in the face for not being fluent in Russian and had to tell her that I didn't understand what she was saying because I don't speak Russian. She giggled and gave me my change. STUPID LANGUAGE BARRIERS!

Later that afternoon an american couple invited me over for dinner. I had met Ken and Heather back when I had spent the night at camp. Ken has lived in Russia for 12years now, 7 in Siberia and 5 in Kursk. Heather married Ken and has now been living in Kursk for 5years. They've got two kids, Kyle (4) and Vera (2), who are pretty hysterical to watch. So I spent the afternoon over in their apartment and had a wonderful dinner with them. Another guy ended up showing up, his name was Andre and he turned out to be a rather interesting character. He served as a paratrooper in the Red Army, when he got out he somehow ended up in jail where he became a Christian. When he got out of jail he ended up marrying a gypsy and starting a gypsy church of which he is now the pastor. We ended up talking mostly through Ken, but a few times we were able to talk a little between ourselves. Andre didn't know any english but through my limited Russian he was able to tell a little about his wife and children and we also had a little conversation about sports. Once again, the conversations were very basic, but it was fun to be able to speak a little!

Thursday: The only thing I remember happening on thursday was that I went to buy some more cornflakes from the grocery store and the cashier (not the same one as wed) asked me something and I had no clue what she said so I told her I don't speak Russian. She had a pretty good laugh at me, but I still got my cornflakes. So in a way, I won.

Friday: My big accomplishment on Friday was asking one of the guys I work with, who speaks zero english, for a key I needed. I was able to say that I would like the key and I needed it to get some of my stuff out of that room. I'm sure my grammar was a bit off, but he understood me and I felt smug.

Saturday: I don't know if it really was, but Saturday felt like the hottest day I have been in Russia for. I don't know the actual temperature, but it was far too hot to do anything so I just messed around the whole day trying to find a way to stay cool.

Sunday:  I went to church in the morning and hung out a tad with Andy Petrov afterwards. At church I had remet one of the girls I had met at camp. She had lived in Florida for three years so her english is impeccable. She told me that a bunch of youth get together at the main church in Kursk after that church's evening service and that I should come. So when the time came I went to the bus stop to catch a bus to the church ... and I kept waiting. I ended up waiting for an hour and a half before I gave up! Buses had passed me, but none to the area near the church. God must really not want me to find a Russian wife! haha

At some point in time someone had told me that for every 5sec between seeing the lightning and hearing the thunder, that meant that the storm was 1mile away (5sec=1mi). Since I was disappointed by not being able to be at Grace Church, I went back to my room and figured out if that was true. In case you were wondering, it is actually 4.69seconds, but that is assuming this all happens in a vacuum which isn't possible because then there wouldn't be sound. So yeah, it's about 5sec.

Monday: I don't really remember special happening on Monday so I'm going to take that as nothing really happened.

Tuesday: Ken and Heather invited me over again. Not being one to turn down an invitation I agreed. I really do love their apartment. They live in one of the high rises, just like everyone else, and you honestly feel as if you are walking into an ambush as you walk into the building. Imagine a building in a movie filled with drug dealers and junkies, etc, that is what every high rise looks like here. Honestly, you walk in the door on the ground floor and you notice the mailboxes all smashed, dirt all over the floor, grafitti on the wall. Then you get into an elevator that you expect to catch on fire, snap the cable and then plumet to your death. Then you get out of the elevator walk through a concrete hallway that is the exact same as the one you entered through up to a big steel door that you open and it's like walking through a portal into a nice sunny house. It's a pretty cool experience, you'll just have to do it yourself one day as my words can't capture the imagery. But yeah, once again we had a great dinner and some good conversation and entertainment by the kids before it was time for me to head out. 

Wednesday: I forgot to mention this earlier, but John Feinberg is here and has been since Friday. Starting on Monday he began teaching a class on the inerrancy of the Bible. Three hours a day, but it's only about 1.5/2 hours of information as everything he says is then translated into Russian by an interpreter. So I've been sitting in on that class each day, but this day we, for some reason, went around and introduced ourselves. I'm the only american sitting in the class so there was no way I was going to do it in English. Luckily they were only saying their names, where they were from and what they do/where they work and I had taught myself how to say all those things. When it came my turn I did it in Russian and evidently no one was expecting it because I got a sudden round of applause from everyone (I know everyone in the class)!

 Then after class I conned them into letting me off work and go into Kursk with Dr Feinberg, Larissa and Igor. We went to a museum about Kursk, which was actually quite interesting, and then hit up a restaurant for dinner which was the best food I have had so far in Russia. A HUGE pork chop, then some delicious soup and bread, followed by a lovely salad and even some fries on the side. Absolutely no complaints here!

Today, I once again sat through Dr Feinberg's class before coming into work (he teachs from 9.30 til about 1 each day and then I work after). The big news for today is that I finished editing Graham Cole's course on Biblical Theology. If any of you ever end up going to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School I highly recommend taking this course with him. Not only is the course extremely interesting, Dr Cole is hysterical. The best parts are where he imitates the american accent. Just trust me on this one, it's quite funny to hear.

Tomorrow (friday) night I am being taken to Moscow. For some reason, someone is willing to drive me through the night to get to the airport around 9am so I can check in and be ready for my flight at noon (saturday). From then it is 18hours of travel time until I'm back in PA.

Hopefully everything goes smoothly and I'll be back in PA soon!

Now those of you who know me, know that I like to doodle while I take classes so this few classes with Dr Feinberg have been no different. Here are two drawings I did in them.

This is Dr Feinberg's translator. I believe his name is Ole, but don't hold me to that ... especially the spelling.

Here is Dr Feinberg for those of you who want to know what he looks like.

Finally, a proper picture for you. This is where I work. That is my corner straight ahead (with the cameras and computers). To the right of this picture is Dima's work station (is that what you call it?) and to the left is Misha and then Boris work's behind on the other side of Dima. 

Oh and to solve a mystery for you. I found out that K3T3 is not actually a word. It is an acronym, like FBI. So you just say the letters and you don't need to try and pronounce kztz!

Well that's it from Russia. The next post on here will be from PA! If any of you care I will probably keep this thing going when I get back although it will probably not be as autobiographical as it has been these past few months.

Last Gypsy Video

Here is another gypsy video (I like this song a lot more!)

And here is a link to all my Russia pictures on facebook. You don't need to be a member of facebook to see them, so enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=268888&id=849515596&l=84287ba846

There is at least one more video to come, start getting excited!

Officially Offical: A Ruskie Month

So this past monday came along and that makes it officially a month that I've been living her in Kursk. Nothing special happened: no fireworks, parties or other such shenanigans. I just gave myself a nice pat on the back and smiled at my accomplishment.

Similar to my one month celebration, this past week has been rather low key. 

The most exciting thing to happen was that last tuesday into wednesday, I spent the night at a camp out in the middle of nowhere. Let me expound:

I left the school with Vitaly after work and he told me it's about a 40minute drive. What he didn't tell me is that is only about 20km (10-15miles outside of Kursk. So we drive for maybe 5-10minutes on proper roads, we cross some railroad tracks and then take an abrupt left into what I initially thought was a field. I had to look closely, but there turned out to be faint dirt road in the grass. The path (I'm going to call it a path since it was most definitely not a road) quickly led us into the woods and we continued. Now as soon as we got into the woods the path went haywire! The only thing I can relate this path to is a motorcross track, but instead of being on dirt bikes we were in a 10person van. Up and down, up and down the whole. Let me just say that this path is probably my favourite path/road ever, fun times.

Well after about 30min on the path we got within eyesight of the island, the only obstacle left was the river which made the land mass an island. Now you're probably think, obstacles left? You're already there. Ha, that's where you're wrong. They don't have bridges to this island. We forded the river in the van! Mind you where we crossed the water wasn't what you normally think of when you think of a stream, but was still fun. The water was probably about 2ft deep at its deepest and vans could make it across, but there were a few little cars parked on the other side which would've flooded had they tried to cross. 

So we got to the camp safe and dry. I found that Inna (Alenna's twin sister) was working the kitchen at the camp so I hung out with her a little. I also got to meet Anastasia (don't hold me on that being her name, I find myself being introduced to people and then immediately forgetting their names ... I should probably work on that) who spent a few years living in Florida and goes to California for parts of the summer. Need less to say, she fluent, un-accented english, but it felt strange to admit to her that I had never been to any of the places she been to and I've lived in America for 6years! After a while I went off to explore the island while the kids were doing their thing and the kitchen crew were setting up for dinner. 

Dinner was ramen noodles and hot dogs with a cup of tea. No real complaints there, it was pretty good. Then there was some volleyball playing. I don't know if I was just on my game or Russians aren't the best at volleyball, but I felt as if I could keep up with the volleyball skills going on and wasn't left in the dust like I normally am (that's what happens when all your friends are super athletic and both one sister was the captain of the volleyball team in HS and the other plays!).

Next up at camp was their night program, I just sat in the back for that and watched what was going on. Then it was snack time (crackers and more tea) right before bed time. I was put in a tent with a group of 8-10 year old boys and what I found is that when russian kids try and speak english with you they like to shout their words. So when I got into the tent I was greeted with "HELLO" and "WELCOME". I was able to "talk" a little with them aka ask their names, tell them mine On a sidenote, I am not going by the name Aaron (my middle name) as the russian alphabet has no real J sound, so Joel is a little difficult for most to pronounce.

Eventually everyone feel asleep and in the morning it was back to the school for work. Vitaly and a few others would commute every day, their families were staying and helping at the camp.

Vitaly and Misha went back another day and I was invited, but as much fun as it was I didn't really feel like going in the rain (the day I had gone turned out to be the only real dry day that week, score!) so I stayed back. Good thing I did. They made it to camp safely, but when coming back the next morning they came across a car that was stuck in the mud. This road is only one lane so they couldn't pass it and for some reason they couldn't go back to the island. So they ended up having to wait there on the road for a tow truck which ended up not being able to come until the next day. So their night was spent in the van. (disclaimer: while I am pretty sure that was the story Vitaly told me there was some ambiguity so I'm not 100% confident of that being the whole truth). 

In other news, the monday before my one month mark I successfully exchanged money by myself which I am rather proud of. I went into the bank and told them "Please, I would like rubles" in russian of course, handed them my dollars and they handed me rubles. Of course had they said something back I would've had absolutely no clue what they said, but they didn't and it all worked out! I then used some of that money to buy a russian-english dictionary which has been helping out a whole lot!

Hmmmmm, what else ....

Last saturday I went for a walk to a lake I had seen back when I had gone to the monastery with Sasha. Since that was a while ago I was kind of guessing at every turn on how to get there, but I made it safely and it was a fun little adventure. It was an hour walk there so I'm guessing it was about 6km away.

Sunday I went to New Testament Church in the morning (the main church that meets in the school) and then Grace Church in the afternoon. Grace Church is the biggest protestant church in Kursk. I believe they have just over 300members and while I didn't understand what they were preaching on the music was excellent. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but in russia multiple people preach each day. 2 or 3 people get up and give a sermon usually 20 - 30mins with some worship in between each sermon. So from what I can tell and have experienced, services go for at least 2 hours. 

On the work front, I am editing a course called Biblical Theology right now. At this moment I have forgotten the name of the professor, but he is australian and a very funny guy so it's a fun course to edit. Right now I am working on lecture 7 out of 13. I'm getting just about a lecture done a day and at this rate I will be able to finish editing this course right before I leave.

This friday John Feinberg arrives (yes that is the guy who's course I just finished editing) to teach two classes.  As a result I've been moved out of my apartment and into the dorms, which are really just a cluster of apartments with no kitchens. There is a communal kitchen across the hall from me. In actuality, I like my "dorm room" better than my apartment. Originally I was going to be sharing it with a guy who was describe as "the best theological interpreter in Russia" who was going to be translating for Feinburg, but something happened with his parents and is no longer coming. I was disappointed and relieved at the same time when I heard this. Relieved, because I like having my own room, but disappointed because this guy supposedly speaks 8+ languages including russian, english, polish and esperanto ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto ) which is pretty cool. 

It is a weird feeling as this whole time I have been thinking "When Dr Feinberg gets here, my time here is just about over" and now he arrives later this week so that means that I'm leaving in just over a week. While I am excited about seeing and talking to my friends and family again, there's that little part of me that is sad about leaving. Whenever I visit other countries and cultures I love trying to be a part of them as I've tried to do here. I enjoy learning Russian and then trying out my new little phrases on the people around me as well as just going out each afternoon for a walk. In no way do I miss rampand consumerism and capitalist abuses in America. I don't miss the over abundance of cars or the endless roads. And I'm definitely not looking forward to looking around me and seeing tidy and pristinely maintained surrounding.

Here, there are minimal chain stores. I have not seen a McDonalds or WalMart my entire time here. The grocery store I do most of my shopping in has a grand total of 8 aisles where my shoulders can just about touch both sides of the aisle. As for cars ... the majority of russians don't own one let alone 3 or 4. Public transportation is a blast. 10 rubles (30cents) will get me into town in 15min. Also on my walks around various places I love seeing the stands here and there selling pretty much anything as well as the Babuskas squatting against walls selling whatever vegetables they picked from their gardens that morning. Sure walls are cracked, paint may be chipping, grass growing high and tree branches hanging low, but these buildings and paths have character. Each day I take a stroll down the same route and each day I can see something new. Getting to be apart of this, albeit for a short time, is what I love about travel and I think that most of America is missing out on these things. 

While Ireland and New Zealand still top my places for living once I graduate (similar experiences and atmospheres to Russia, just in english!), Russia's a pretty fun place and I like it here!

Now that I got all that out here is a media overload for you, a video AND multiple pictures!!! Yeah, you should feel pretty special.

Here is the video of the gypsies. I have a few more videos I took of them, I'll see what I can do with them and if I get them uploaded I'll post them here as well.

If you double click the video that should open YouTube in a different tab or window. Do that if you want to 1) send the URL to someone else 2) favourite the video 3) rate the video or 4)comment on the video itself.

Otherwise, just clicking play will play the video here.

Oh, I decided I want to have a beard like the old guy in that video!

Now a few pics from this last week.

This is a picture I took at the lake I found on saturday. Seeing how warm it is this weekend, swimming is a possibility!

I found all these little birds just chilling here on my walk back from the lake. I liked the sight and though of you all, so I took the picture for you.

Here is a picture on the island the camp is on. And there is the road (it was flat once on the island) and the van we used to get here.

That's about all I've got for now. Thanks everyone for all your prayers and support in all of this!!!!!

The week that makes it a month.

Fourth week and I'm still alive and working!

Today I just finished editing the last lecture (lecture 14) of John Steinbeck's course on the Problem of Evil. 14 lectures in 15 days of work, not bad. Now to edit each lecture I had to sit through the entire thing so I basically just finished taking an intensive of the course. I wonder if RIT will let me count it as a liberal arts credit!?  .... I just checked with reality and they said no.

Now that I finished this course, I have another course to edit. I'm not sure of the topic or teacher yet but I was told that it was for students with a bachelors degree from a secular school so it is a little more foundational than the last one. While I enjoyed the last course there was SO much that went straight over my head! Hopefully I'll be able to understand just a tad more this time. 

In other work news, yesterday a "band" of gypsies game to the school and performed song and dance that we recorded. In each DVD the school sends out they included a little musical/cultural intermission. They do this to 1) give the viewer a mental break and 2) since many of their students are not living in Russia anymore (S. America, Israel, Australia, USA) it is a nice reminder of home that many miss. Overall, let's just say that gypsies are pretty good at music and dancing! I recorded some behind the scenes footage of a few of the songs, but my camera battery died and of course I forgot the charger back in America. I'll see what I can rig together so you can see it. At very least I'll post it when I get home. 

In non work related news, 

I went out with that American team again on Wednesday. Instead of going to an orphanage, we went to a day care centre and once again played with the kids and the team did their program for the kids. After that we stopped by the christian bookstore in Kursk. Not wanting to buy anything and disliking small spaces with lots of people I went outside and sat on a wall while waiting for them to finish up inside. As I was sitting on the wall minding my own business a russian man come walking down the path. He stops looks at me and says hello (in russian of course). A tad confused I say hello back (also in russian) and then just look at him trying to figure out what he wanted. He just stood their giving me a dirty look. I had no clue what he wanted so I just kept looking back at him trying to figure it out. He made no attempt whatsoever to say anything else, so we just kept looking. Still confused and feeling slightly awkward I jumped off the wall (it was about 8ft off the path and beside stairs leading up to the bookstore and apartments above the bookstore). After I jumped off, he said thank you, walked up the stairs and into one of the apartment buildings.  I guess it's rude to sit on walls in Russia, oh well.

Thursday passed uneventfully.

All I did on Friday was work, but since July 4th was the next day my coworkers got me an Independence Cake. I had myself a good laugh on the inside as I've never really been one to celebrate the 4th. I'm quite sure I've worked straight through the last 5 of them as Hershey Park offered time and a half pay on the 4th. This said, the cake was good and don't worry I shared with everyone there. 

Saturday I went back into Kursk with Andy and Aleena, two of the people I met this past week, and we just messed around Kursk. They tried to give me a tour, but I had already seen most of what they showed me as I'm a pretty good wandered. The Saturday I had gone in by myself, I explored a good portion of down town, alleys and all. We did end up finding a carnival and getting some cotton candy. I felt as if that was rather american so I counted that as my July 4th celebration. We also went to the main orthodox cathedral in town. Let me just say, the inside of that cathedral is BEAUTIFUL! I guess we walked in during the orthodox version of mass and since we were wearing shorts and t shirts we just stayed in the corners as there was a nice big sign on the door forbidding shorts, tshirts, pants for girls (skirts and dresses only) and girls had to have head coverings. We broke all of those rules, but no worries.

Sunday was church time. Once again I had no clue what they were saying, but enjoyed it none the less. I then met Andy in Kursk in the afternoon and we went to the main protestant/evangelical (I'm not really sure what it is) church in Kursk. After that we met up with some girls who Andy's mother had tasked him with entertaining. One spoke decent english and the other knew just about english as I know russian so it was an entertaining time for all. 

In general news,

I have found both my favourite and least favourite place in and around Kursk.

It is a place called K3T3 (I'm using the three key as I don't know how to make a backwards E).

K and T are pronounced just as they are in english, but 3 is pronounced like a "z". So yes, you say K3T3 like you would say KZTZ. Good luck saying that. K3T3 is also my favourite place as the bus from полет to K3T3 goes straight from the corner near where I live to the centre of town.

Also I found out that I, in Russia, cream cheese and butter packaging looks just about the same. I wanted butter, but ended up with cream cheese. I figured it out when I opened the package and did not see any butter. On a more positive note, I found that you can still make grilled cheese sandwiches if you spread cream cheese on the bread instead of butter!

My plan for this week was to upload a video of the gypsies instead of a picture so I don't actually have one ... I've done a lot of things that would have given good pictures but I didn't bring my camera. I feel that when I bring my camera places I spend more time trying to take pictures so that "I can remember it better in the future" instead of actually enjoying it and making extraordinary mental memories. So call me selfish, but I haven't been taking many pictures. I'll make sure I get at least one for the next update though!