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.