On the Bus-Part 2

Praise Dad! I made it. I just returned from my trip to the bus stops and it was GREAT! Honestly, it couldn't have gone better (in my opinion). I got to talk to 13 different people (and one group of 4 ladies twice!). Here are the highlights:

The four ladies are awesome-they sit by the bus stop and sell fresh produce. They are all around 70 years old, and were so sweet and helpful-maybe they'll become my friends! I plan to go back to visit.

I met an older woman (Baba Tonya) and I got to show HER where the market is! We walked for a little while together and she could totally understand me! And she said that I look German :).

I talked to several other people at the bus stops and on the bus (yes, I did actually ride the bus twice). Not everyone was up for small talk. Next time I'll have to maybe get braver and just keep talking until they walk away ;)

на автобусе (On the Bus)

So . . . you can "thinkk" for me as I head out today. I'm embarking on a little adventure to explore the city's bus system and to get to practice my Russian at the same time. I'll be talking to people and asking the following questions:

Do you know where "Southern"-the home store-is located?
Which bus goes to Central Park?
Do you know how to get (by bus) to ______?
Can I take bus number _ to get to the mall?

I'm a little nervous but excited, too-I'm typically a pretty outgoing person, but operating in a different language results in my being more of an introvert. I'll let you know how it goes . . .

Я пошла! (I'm gone :)

Amy for the Brakes

A Break for the Brakes

Well, Amy's feeling a bit under the weather today. Her stomach isn't feeling all the great and seems like she's a bit nauseated.

This is just an opportunity for me to try to be a great husband and take care of her. So we're laying low today. I've answered about 200 emails, and we're finally catching up on the blog.

We've had some ramen-type noodles for dinner and they didn't settle as well as we'd hoped. Amy's temperature is 37.3 (about 100) so we're going to break the fever with some Tylenol and hope for the best. I picked up a couple items from the pharmacy, but it's always nerve wracking until someone I know here in Russia says that they know what it is, or that it's a good medicine.

I think that G0d knew we needed some rest.

Trust, a great topic of discussion

This was our topic for the second interpreter discussion. There were only about 14 of us this week, many had to go back to work, and some are just out of town for the summer.

We had a GREAT time though. This week's taste treat was banana bread. Russians don't have anything like it - and it was more popular than Grandmother's.

We had an incredible 2 hour long talk where several nationals shared their stories and how they've learned that the father can be trusted. It was an emotional time, but we think quite useful for all in attendance.

We wrapped up the night with an hour of charades!

Blini (Russian pancakes) and Happiness

Our friend Tanya came over to teach us to make Russian pancakes (blini)

Toppings for blini! Sweetened condensed milk (sorta) and the same, carmelized

A Russian saying, "the first pancake is always spoiled." первый блин всегда комом
Here's the cup that I dropped on the floor while we were cooking.

The good news is that breaking dishes in the kitchen is a sign of happiness!

Amy's first FULL day of Russian

We've obviously been immersed in Russian for a month already. But there's nothing like HOURS of Russian without end.

We had our first Russian lesson today (2 hours with Masha!) It's going to be great.

This was followed by a visit to the hospital to see a homeless man. He's struggling with lots of things in his life and Amy's new friend Sveta asked us to come to visit him. So that was about 1.5 hours of Russian. Maybe 2.

These are the shoe covers that you wear in the hospital here to keep the floors clean

Then we had dinner with Natasha and Misha... it was delicious and we were HUNGRY. Then we had about 3 hours of conversation and chatting... so that was another 4 hours. Whoa.

Amy at the table for dinner!

Our brains were fried when we got home. I think we went straight to bed.

Forgotten bags, traffic police, rugs & Russian language devices.

And the washing machine is about to take off! Sounds like a plane landing and it’s 12:30am! I freaked out for a moment and then turned it off. I think it’s better to choose to have the laundry wet for now vs. risk a call from our neighbor again…

We were again a flurry of tasks today. We had a task to accomplish. When we left camp, we accidentally left behind one of our bags. Yes, the one full of shoes, blankets, towels and many household items. It’s out at Gurino – where camp is. About 1.5 hours from Tyumen.

Which means we have to drive the car. Which means we have to get it out of the garage. So that much took almost 1.5 hours. So, Jim left us keys. They didn’t work in the lock. So we went back to our apartment. Got keys to Jim & Sally’s apartment. Opened their apartment, turned off the alarm. Got the original set of keys. Pr@yed that the garage would open. It did. Started the car, filled it with gas for the trip. And we’re off.

I felt so smooth and suave. I know where the traffic cops (the Guyee) hang out, so I took a different street to not encounter them. I was worried about them once we got on the main path though. There’s some kind of checkpoint. So we made it through the checkpoint, no problems… they weren’t even working!

So we were just moseying along minding our own business, when I suddenly see the baton swinging and pointing me to the side of the road. Yep, stopped by the Guyee. So, they come to the car, ask for documents, ask me to get out of the car, cross the street and get into the squad car. This is the NORMAL procedure for Russia. I remembered this from Jim telling me in 2006. Amy didn’t know that this was the normal procedure and she thought they were taking me away. It was a stressful time that we’re hoping to laugh about later.

In the car, he takes my license and tells me that I’ll get it back in 4 months after I speak with a judge. I’m stumbling over myself in Russian at this point, because they are not speaking slowly – and really aren’t using language that I’m familiar with. Ugh. Well, I asked him, “Excuse me sir, How am I supposed to get the car home with no license?”

He says, “who’s in the car with you?”

“My wife.”

“You got any kids?”

“No. We’ve only been married for one year. Yesterday was our anniversary.”

He hands back my license. And says, “I won’t hold you any longer.”

PTL.

We get the bag back from camp. We make it home with many pr@yers. We get a rug for our apartment… and then:

Sasha meets us at a store called Arsenal so that we can finish off our office needs. We get a great deal on a palm for Amy that will allow us to sync our calendars, translate a LOT of Russian – it’s an incredible tool that I couldn’t live without, and many other things (including converting temperature and distances). We also got a printer/scanner so we’re set up for our home office. I know it may sound silly, but having the office set up is a huge comfort for me. I feel like we’re really ready to move forward… once there’s internet, things will really be moving. The 200 emails in my inbox are looming.

One year today! годовщина

Happy First Anniversary

Today marks one year in our marriage! What a cool day. We can't hardly believe it's already been a year. It's been so wonderful. We have learned so much about each other, about ourselves, but most of all - I think we've learned that love is here to stay.

We spent the day (Monday - our day off!) walking around the city, having a delicious dinner and walking to the Lover's Bridge.

Dinner at the Italian Restaurant!

It's a tradition in Tyumen to put a lock on the Lover's Bridge on your wedding day. Well, we weren't here on our wedding day, so we thought to do it on our anniversary. We haven't managed to buy a lock and have it engraved yet though... so it'll have to wait.

Sunset on the Lover's Bridge

Lover's locks

There was a really neat sand sculpture as well. The city's 421st birthday is Saturday - so they're using the skill of the ice sculptors to make sand sculptures.

Friends at our place - At LAST!

At last! Sasha and Zhanna were able to come over and have dinner with us. We've all been so busy that we were in town for over a week before we all got together to spend some time. It's so wonderful to have friends, to just be with you and love you for who you are. There are no strings - it's just a mutual enjoyment of each others company. We had a small dinner together and parted ways with plans to see each other soon!


Our first anniversary present! A set of matching china tea cups! They are so great! Thanks Sasha and Zhanna. They're on the shelf in our living room on display right now.

Bumping into folks

for a city of nearly 1 million people, Tyumen feels pretty okay. Amy and I went for a walk tonight and on the way home - blam! We bumped into two people we know and haven't seen yet since we've been here. The Bratsev brothers! It was really fun... and Pasha is getting married! Exciting news, you may remember Pasha as my language helper at camp in 2006. It was really great to chat with them, and I think we'll be catching up with them a bit more later on.

Interpreters, catch phrase, and noise ordinanaces

There’s nothing like a Russian woman calling you at 11pm and telling you that you’re breaking the law. And that’s what happened to us today. Did you know that there’s a noise ordinance at 11pm in Russia? There sure is. And 22 interpreters playing catch phrase in your living room is loud enough to get a call from your neighbors. Alas.

It was an incredible evening. Our Logia (sorta a summer room attached to our kitchen -- one of the best features of our apartment) was packed with college students who were interpreters at summer camp.

Our Logia

We had tea and coffee together, we baked more than 70 chocolate chip cookies (no small feat in the heat right now) and they were all demolished with relish and enjoyment at the new taste treat.

We retired to the living room to play catch phrase (in English) with them all. Here are a few highlights. Tanya, Dima, Jeff, Scott, Andrej, Mary, Masha, Tanya, Veronika

Lena, Galya and Tanya

Julia stole the show with her gestures as she was describing words!

Water Filter / Hair Dryer

Today was another eventful day. We’ve been purchasing water on a daily basis (we drink and or cook with about 5 liters a day). You see, the filter that I had in 2006-2007 doesn’t connect to the faucet in our new place. So we thought we could just get an adapter, or a new faucet. Long story short… we can’t. And the faucet is rusted into the sink and really difficult to remove… so Brita to the rescue. Actually it’s a Russian water filter, but looks almost exactly like a Brita. And we have WATER! I’m not even kidding. The first day and we’ve already put more than 15 liters through it. That’s because we had 22 people at our apartment tonight! (See next entry)

While we were searching for the water filter, another little miracle came our way – a hairdryer. I know it seems simple, but it’s pretty incredible that Amy can be even more beautiful, but watch and see what she can do with a hairdryer… it’s just too hot to use it now!

Screens!

A special little gift from Jim & Sally (and oh, so very valuable).

It's been about 8 million degrees here since we arrived. Very little rain and it's sweltering inside. You see, there's mosquitoes if you open the windows. So Jim & I spent a little time installing some screens in 4 of the windows!

Now there's a breeze that actually passes through the apartment and the swelter has decreased significantly!

PTL for such small gifts as screens.

We installed them in such a way so that they don't need to be removed when the windows are closed (except for the one on our balcony -- where we hang the laundry).

Raining inside.

Busy day today. We started off with a quick trip to the property where we’re building Dad’s house. The foundation is finished and they’re starting to build up the walls. Sometime next week, they are supposed to pound the ground to make the basement floor. We ran a bunch of errands, including exchanging money, buying a few items to set up our place (including power outlets, a microwave, a shower curtain, shower rod, and AIR FRESHENERS (there’s just a general stink about our apartment).

I (Jeff) set up a meeting tomorrow with a Brit named Rufus, who might be able to get us residency by teaching English. Seems like it might not work through the University where I was before.

The shower curtain is an interesting purchase… seems as though there is a pre-existing condition in our bathroom (we have a toilet and a bathroom that are separate rooms – so one has a commode and the other the bathtub and washing machine). So we’re doing laundry and I took a shower. No big deal, right?

Well, our neighbor from downstairs came pounding on our door – sorta shouting. Seems as though it’s RAINING in their bathroom! Yeah, our bathroom floor has a leak somewhere, and the hot water from the washer has a hose leak! Ugh – the temporary solution a la Jeff? Turn off the hot water, we don’t need it to clean the clothes anyway. So far this is working great. But every time we shower the floor is wet – must be a seal or something. We’ll need to settle this up with the landlady when we meet with her in a week or so!

It’s the little things like this that make life a continual adventure in Russia. Please keep asking for additional patience for us. It is sometimes hard to remain patient. And we really want to set a good example of who we really are – not the stressed out, undersleeped version of ourselves.

Organization and Cleaning.

Today’s highlight… um. Scrubbed the bathroom until it shines? Finished cleaning the kitchen? Got half of our clothes put away in the closets? It was a big highlight to be finally cleaning in our place and unpacking. We’re starting to feel like humans (a little bit). It’s funny how living as a suitcase nomad gets difficult after about three weeks. We’re so happy to have a bit of order.

You know, when you’ve got to run over to someone’s house and have dinner – and you realize you’ve got shorts, t-shirts, and a pair of sandals that you can find, but you’d like a button down shirt? Well, now there’s some order and we know which way is which.

I had a frustrating call today with the language department where I’m supposed to be teaching in the Fall. It’s become pretty apparent that they don’t usually hire foreign teachers and that they didn’t realize that a humanitarian visa for one year brings about the same problem that we had with the cultural exchange visa. Just 90 days in Russia and then 90 days back home, rinse – repeat. So… we’re hoping that something else will work out. There is already one option – one of the interpreters who has worked with us in the past contacted the CEC about an opportunity for me to teach elsewhere.

Please be thinking about this for us!

The AT departs...

Up at 5am today. The Americans who were here for camp headed to Moscow on their way back to America. It was so early, but we managed to move all 24 of them to the airport. It was a hard good-bye. Especially since we got to spend so much time together at camp. The Prieskorn family was incredible to just be around. 6 kids (all well behaved) and a wonderfully kind and gentle set of parents. We had so much fun working together at camp and touring around Tyumen. It will be sad to be without them.

Now some sleep and the beginnings of organizing our apartment and getting it cleaned up!

Stay tuned for more camp blogs...

I'll be working on some more camp blogs, but they're not ready for posting...

just a teaser...

And it begins...

This morning we arrived at camp at about 5 a.m. We've been told that no one expects to see the whites of our eyes (or reds for that matter) until lunchtime at 1pm. Campers will be arriving starting at about 10:45am.

I'm asleep in my metal hammock and lost to the world on the veranda porch where Amy and I are blissfully sharing a room TOGETHER (it's a rarity and a special gift for a married couple to be able to share a room). When something wakes me up.

I have no glasses on and there's a strange red haze in the corner of the window.

You see, Amy and my lovely veranda room is at the front of one of the American cabins, it's the entryway really, but there is a separate door... and nothing to cover the windows. So it seems as though we're being watched while we sleep.

It's Zoya. One of the interpreters who I've now known for 7 years. Her son, Nikita joined the family in 2002 and we've been in contact ever since. Nikita is training to be either an interpreter professionally or an English teacher. He LOVES technology and computer games and he had asked me to help him acquire an iPod touch. I found a used one for him on eBay and he was so excited to see me (um... maybe get the iPod) that they showed up only hours after we landed!

So in a haze and fuzz of jet lag, I tried to remember where it was. We had 10 bags! It was where I thought it was and thankfully, all the parts were there. We had a chance to talk for about an hour before he had to return to Ekat for his final final exam... (yes - university and his last exam was in July!)

I think I'm going to need some more sleep --- and naps are forbidden for the first three days to the jetlagged traveler. I'm gonna need some help here.

Moscow

What an amazing day. As we arrived at the airport, we first went through passport control. As we stood there in line, I was telling Amy about being nervous about meeting up with all the Americans (2 teams, 21 people!) The airport isn’t THAT big, but it’s still an airport. So as we’re talking, Amy says… “There’s Josh!” and voila we’re connected to the Knox team, who had already seen the Cornerstone team. How cool is that? So we all gathered together in a big room and settled in to wait for 10 hours.

Don’t tell anyone that Amy and I were nervous… it really came from the fact that we thought we had to find a bus to get all the Americans from Domededova airport to Sherametova airport on the other side of Moscow. After we hadn’t found the bus at the airport, we finally called Jim on the phone. That’s when we found out that the plan had changed at that there was NO bus! So we went and picked up tickets for all 23 of us to fly to Tyumen! It all went off without a hitch. In fact, there’s a LOT better customer service than there’s really ever been before! I spoke with someone about what time check-in started… they let us check in about 7 hours early AND there was a GROUP check-in! How amazing is that? It was wonderful. So we didn’t have to babysit all of our bags for hours.

Sometimes you just know with certainty that G-d is looking out for you.

Leaving Day

Today’s been a blur for sure. We haven’t slept longer than 5 hours in a single night for at least a week. We’ve been all over the U.S. and now we’re traveling to Moscow through Frankfurt. Seems like it’s been a blur traveling this time. I didn’t really sleep a whole lot, just read and watched a few movies. We’re a bundle of excitement and nerves.