Since we're foreigners, we are sometimes asked to do strange things. Everything from jump into the freezing Siberian winter waters to visiting English classes around the city.
One of our Discussion Club friends is a student at the architecture academy here in Tyumen and she also works for a local restaurant management company. She invited us to a restaurant food tasting.
Well, we knew that it would be videotaped, and we assumed it would be a group of people eating a meal and discussing the food while eating and then it would be video taped.
Turns out that it was a local tv personality with a food show, visiting a restaurant to talk to just the two of us. And it was only appetizers (we had assumed it would be our dinner before I went to teach for the evening).
But the appetizer... Beef steak a la Tatar! Ooooo.
Turns out, this is raw ground beef mixed with spices.
We did it. I was so proud of Amy. Not only we're we able to keep up with some banter, but we were able to choke down the raw beef and smile. We literally thought it was a joke on us at first....
If you don't really think about what you're eating, it really didn't taste so bad. A lot of spices, garlic... Not bad. I'm a pickier eater than most (I can't do tomatoes or mushrooms very well to this day. I try every year, but I just hate them).
Our life is truly and adventure...
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Life balance - John piper
The other day I wrote about John Piper and his different downloadable messages online (www.desiringgod.org)
I was listening to one about how to keep balance between working in ministry (which often occurs in the evening and on weekends, when many other people are not working) and family-life/rest.
He has an incredible method. The typical person has a day that can be divided from breakfast to lunch, from lunch to dinner, and from dinner to bedtime. This divides your day into thirds or three blocks.
The typical worker has evenings off (a third of each day) and two days off (3 blocks in a row, twice a week). Ministry almost always happens on Sundays, this day is out for an entire day off for most. So what they do is they have 10-11 blocks of time per staff member (11 is normal with 5 weekday evenings and 6 blocks on the weekend). So they have their staff plan their weeks accordingly. Take 10-11 blocks of time, scheduled, with at least one day of three blocks in a row!
I think my life schedule planning has just taken another awesome turn for the better.
I was listening to one about how to keep balance between working in ministry (which often occurs in the evening and on weekends, when many other people are not working) and family-life/rest.
He has an incredible method. The typical person has a day that can be divided from breakfast to lunch, from lunch to dinner, and from dinner to bedtime. This divides your day into thirds or three blocks.
The typical worker has evenings off (a third of each day) and two days off (3 blocks in a row, twice a week). Ministry almost always happens on Sundays, this day is out for an entire day off for most. So what they do is they have 10-11 blocks of time per staff member (11 is normal with 5 weekday evenings and 6 blocks on the weekend). So they have their staff plan their weeks accordingly. Take 10-11 blocks of time, scheduled, with at least one day of three blocks in a row!
I think my life schedule planning has just taken another awesome turn for the better.
John Piper - a great encourager
Have you ever read or listened to John Piper? This guy is truly amazing. As Amy and I continue to develop our Russian language skills, we understand how amazing it really is to speak and understand another language. The issue is, however, that there are multiple levels of understanding.
For example: in a conversation, we understand probably 90% of everything. People choose their words for us, they speak at a pace that we understand and because of all of the non-verbal queues, we're able to keep up pretty well. When we're in an audience for a sermon that lasts for an hour or two.... It's a completely different story. The lexicon is very advanced and specific. The pace of speech is faster, especially if the person is reading something. And the stamina to keep your brain engaged at that level (although building) is not that high.
Enter John Piper. His sermons, talks and messages since 1980 are online. They come in one hour, 30 minute and 5 minute blips... It's incredible. Sometimes I'm disappointed in myself that I understand English so much better than Russian, but let's face reality - this takes a lot of time. One of the most interesting things for me is retention of information. I retain English facts better than Russian facts. If I hear and completely understand something in Russian.... I forget it faster, what a bummer.
More later on Piper.
For example: in a conversation, we understand probably 90% of everything. People choose their words for us, they speak at a pace that we understand and because of all of the non-verbal queues, we're able to keep up pretty well. When we're in an audience for a sermon that lasts for an hour or two.... It's a completely different story. The lexicon is very advanced and specific. The pace of speech is faster, especially if the person is reading something. And the stamina to keep your brain engaged at that level (although building) is not that high.
Enter John Piper. His sermons, talks and messages since 1980 are online. They come in one hour, 30 minute and 5 minute blips... It's incredible. Sometimes I'm disappointed in myself that I understand English so much better than Russian, but let's face reality - this takes a lot of time. One of the most interesting things for me is retention of information. I retain English facts better than Russian facts. If I hear and completely understand something in Russian.... I forget it faster, what a bummer.
More later on Piper.
Monday, September 19, 2011
teaching this fall: leadership!
I had a meeting today at the University to see if they accepted my proposal to teach a course on leadership. I am more than thrilled that they are not only interested that I would teach the course, but they are thrilled. Some of the staff have expressed interest in it. We haven't even started to advertise the class, and already there are students signed up (they just want a native speaker as a teacher of course!)
I'm really excited about this, because I've been involved with leadership development for years through various courses at the University of Michigan and the LeaderShape program. It's so cool that I get to design this course and that I'll be able to engage in dialogue about leadership from a completely different perspective (Russian). It will be really interesting, for example, to have students write reports or give presentations about who they respect as a leader. I have no idea if I'll even know the names of the people that they'll mention.
I'm also excited, because leadership topics lead to really great conversations about things that are really important in life: family, beliefs, values, how we spend out time and why, etc.
It's gonna rock! They want more hours than I wanted to teach (75 for this course), so it's going to stretch all the way into February, but I'm still really happy to be able to offer an opportunity like this. It's funny, because it's a cool opportunity for them, but I really feel like the opportunity is for ME!
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Residency and migration service process
So we've had our residency for a year now, and we now have to prove that we've been working and have enough money in the bank to survive. So this process can be easy or difficult.
For us, so far it's turning out to be NOT difficult for us. We went to the bank and opened a ruble account - one hour and twenty minutes... Our teller was really sick, so we gave him some Dyquil. Who knows if he took it or not.
Two days later we returned to deposit enough money (that we borrowed from everyone we know) and get the official forms printed.
On Monday we're going to try our luck with the migration service to see if we can complete the process on the first try.
We'll keep you all posted
For us, so far it's turning out to be NOT difficult for us. We went to the bank and opened a ruble account - one hour and twenty minutes... Our teller was really sick, so we gave him some Dyquil. Who knows if he took it or not.
Two days later we returned to deposit enough money (that we borrowed from everyone we know) and get the official forms printed.
On Monday we're going to try our luck with the migration service to see if we can complete the process on the first try.
We'll keep you all posted
Friday, August 26, 2011
Opening a bank account in Russia
In another post, I wrote that Amy and I opened up bank accounts here in Tyumen. The hilarious part of the croft really doesn't have anything to do with culture or language errors or anything like that. W stood in line, just like any one does at the bank. We got up to the counter and showed our documents to get the process started.
The guy says, you want migration paperwork, before we say a word. So this is a good thing, because for sure we'll be getting the correct document from the bank (unlike Jim and Sally who had to return a second time for the correct form).
The funny part of our story is our clerk. He had a horrible head cold. Red eyes, runny nose, congestion, the whole bit. But he was there at work faithfully. He went to. Make photocopies of our documents and the copier was broken. It was like a scene from the movie office space. The poor guy just wanted to hit the machine with a baseball bat, unfortunately no baseball in Russia.
He finally returned with copies, I might add that I wasn't really satisfied by how he shredded our bad photocopies of our passports... He kept getting up and leaving the room to blow his nose (it impolite to blow your nose in front of others in Russia, you should go to the bathroom and snot rocket into the sink if you have proper manners..)
Anyway, we felt so bad for the guy that I offered him DayQuil that I happens to have in my backpack. We don't know if he took them, but we felt that we wanted to help him to survive his work day!
So now we have bank accounts and in two weeks we'll have our ATM cards.
The guy says, you want migration paperwork, before we say a word. So this is a good thing, because for sure we'll be getting the correct document from the bank (unlike Jim and Sally who had to return a second time for the correct form).
The funny part of our story is our clerk. He had a horrible head cold. Red eyes, runny nose, congestion, the whole bit. But he was there at work faithfully. He went to. Make photocopies of our documents and the copier was broken. It was like a scene from the movie office space. The poor guy just wanted to hit the machine with a baseball bat, unfortunately no baseball in Russia.
He finally returned with copies, I might add that I wasn't really satisfied by how he shredded our bad photocopies of our passports... He kept getting up and leaving the room to blow his nose (it impolite to blow your nose in front of others in Russia, you should go to the bathroom and snot rocket into the sink if you have proper manners..)
Anyway, we felt so bad for the guy that I offered him DayQuil that I happens to have in my backpack. We don't know if he took them, but we felt that we wanted to help him to survive his work day!
So now we have bank accounts and in two weeks we'll have our ATM cards.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Superstitions
Schuyler, one of our summer interns, did a really great job leading a discussion tonight at DClub about superstitions. It always leads to an interesting conversation and talk of beliefs.
An interesting superstition that came up tonight is "don't show it on yourself"
For example, when I talk about the surgery my dad had in 1995, I sometimes show where the scars are and how they're really large. Our friends here in Russia often gasp in surprise and say, "don't show it on yourself!"
By showing it on yourself, it might happen to YOU.
You can just swipe your hand over this spot though and blow the curse away...just don't blow it onto someone else.
An interesting superstition that came up tonight is "don't show it on yourself"
For example, when I talk about the surgery my dad had in 1995, I sometimes show where the scars are and how they're really large. Our friends here in Russia often gasp in surprise and say, "don't show it on yourself!"
By showing it on yourself, it might happen to YOU.
You can just swipe your hand over this spot though and blow the curse away...just don't blow it onto someone else.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Book Club #7
DISCUSS MEMORY, CHOICE, AND SAMENESS.
Why does the attempt to create a perfect society fail?
What key factors make perfection impossible?
Are their aspects of Jonas’s culture that you would like to add to our culture?
Saturday, July 16, 2011
The interns both have blogs!
If you'd like to keep track of the interns impressions of Russia and the internship, you can follow them on their tumblr accounts.
Melissa's blog is posted at: http://russiablog.tumblr.com/
Schuyler's blog is posted at: http://tyumentravel.tumblr.com/
Melissa's blog is posted at: http://russiablog.tumblr.com/
Schuyler's blog is posted at: http://tyumentravel.tumblr.com/
Friday, July 15, 2011
Interns!
They're here! They're here! The interns have arrived. They got here to Tyumen this morning at about 5:00am. We made it home and everyone had a nice little nap. We then began our orientation with both Schuyler and Melissa. We're really excited about this opportunity to help the interns take a look at the next step in their lives as concerns missions. Both of them are really looking forward to more cultural immersion and knowing more about Russia.
They have both been to camp (in 2008 and 2009) and are excited to get a more real look at Russia.
Here we go!
Melissa is here for 4 weeks and Schuyler for 6 weeks.
They have both been to camp (in 2008 and 2009) and are excited to get a more real look at Russia.
Here we go!
Melissa is here for 4 weeks and Schuyler for 6 weeks.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Book Club #6
CHAPTER 20
1. What are Jonas’ feelings after obtaining this new knowledge?
2. What are their insights about memory?
3. Which of the senses did the Giver have? What was special to him that he hadn’t yet shared?
4. What is their plan for creating change in the community? (whole chapter)
CHAPTER 21
1. Why did the plan change?
2. What rules did he break?
3. What was their travel ritual?
4. How did he know they were looking for him? How did he hide?
5. What happened to his memories?
CHAPTER 22
1. How was the landscape changing?
2. What are new dangers?
CHAPTER 23
1. What was the weather like?
2. What happened to the bicycle?
3. How does this book end? Discuss it.
Additional Questions
1. Why would Fiona, a trainee in the care of the old, probably accept the practice of releasing the old?
2. Why was The Giver now ready to make a plan for change?
3. Why would Jonas’s departure from the community lead to possible change?
4. Why did The Giver decide to stay behind to help the community?
5. Why did Jonas and The Giver choose the December Ceremony as the time to implement their plan?
6. How did Father’s sweet, sing-song voice affect Jonas on their last evening together?
7. What would have happened to Jonas and Gabe if the searchers found them?
8. In what way was Jonas handicapped by his early departure?
9. How was Jonas able to use memories to foil the search planes?
10. Name two other ways that memories helped Jonas during the journey?
11. What might have been the source of the music that Jonas thought he heard behind him?
12. Why do you think the author ended the story as Jonas was traveling toward his destination?
13. List two questions that the author left unanswered at the end of the book.
14. Did you approve of the ending?
Thursday, July 07, 2011
Tammy and Interners and Connections, Oh My!
Well, we got up this morning at 4:45am. That's a big morning. And we proceeded to get pulled over by the traffic police on our way to the airport. I think at 4:50am, I might pull everyone over too. Just a document check, so we were literally stopped for less than 5 minutes.
The pall of a dark sky greeted the sunrise as we drove to the airport to pick up our friend and former colleague, Tammy. Some kind of fire. Scary very black smoke. Still don't know what that was.
Anyway, the traffic cops got a kick out of our blue passports.
Tammy arrived and only a few mosquito bites later were were home enjoying the start of our reunion. By 8am we were asleep again.
The day progressed in interesting ways. Amy & Tammy worked on our upcoming internship, I dropped off her registration paperwork and replaced a lock in our door so both Tammy and the interns will be able to access our apartment (our old lock had a key that is currently NOT copyable). I felt like such an amazing handyman, that I also (finally) repaired our filter so that the hose doesn't suddenly pop off and spray the entire kitchen (and any hapless user).
Having accomplished many awesome husbandly duties, I set off to meet with Sasha from camp 2001. It was really cool to get a chance to meet with him and reconnect. He's 24 now. Served in the army for 2 years (can't tell me what he did, which means it was something totally cool).
Amy met with the women's group from church (until after 10pm!) and after I returned home, I entertained the kids who'd come with moms. We watched the Disney/Pixar film Cars.
We ended the day properly with a walk and collapsed into our dreams.
The pall of a dark sky greeted the sunrise as we drove to the airport to pick up our friend and former colleague, Tammy. Some kind of fire. Scary very black smoke. Still don't know what that was.
Anyway, the traffic cops got a kick out of our blue passports.
Tammy arrived and only a few mosquito bites later were were home enjoying the start of our reunion. By 8am we were asleep again.
The day progressed in interesting ways. Amy & Tammy worked on our upcoming internship, I dropped off her registration paperwork and replaced a lock in our door so both Tammy and the interns will be able to access our apartment (our old lock had a key that is currently NOT copyable). I felt like such an amazing handyman, that I also (finally) repaired our filter so that the hose doesn't suddenly pop off and spray the entire kitchen (and any hapless user).
Having accomplished many awesome husbandly duties, I set off to meet with Sasha from camp 2001. It was really cool to get a chance to meet with him and reconnect. He's 24 now. Served in the army for 2 years (can't tell me what he did, which means it was something totally cool).
Amy met with the women's group from church (until after 10pm!) and after I returned home, I entertained the kids who'd come with moms. We watched the Disney/Pixar film Cars.
We ended the day properly with a walk and collapsed into our dreams.
Wednesday, July 06, 2011
Did anyone think to ask us about this?
Pretty funny story today... (this story written with humor and a little bit of surprise sarcasm)
Tuesday morning (yesterday), I was awakened with a phone call from a mysterious woman named Olga. She said that she had my schedule for teaching at school prepared and wanted to know some more details.
As I was hazy, I said I'd take her number and call her back later.
Well, today was later. She was calling from a local school about their summer camp program. She has a friend who knows someone who knew someone at the University where Amy and I teach during the school year. They had said that I wasn't teaching there for the summer and was therefore free to teach English at their school camping program for the summer!
She already knew my hourly wage and was prepared to offer me the same salary for working with their kids for the summer. She gave me the dates and asked me what TIME would be good to work with them each day...
... I thought. Did anyone think to ask us if we were available?
We would love to help out, to visit and talk with the kids, but to take time away from our ministry to teach only English at summer camp while we have our internship and our own English camp would be a little bit of a tight squeeze. I know I like organizing, scheduling, and my task list, but that would have been a real feat! ;)
So - keep us in your prayers as our internship starts next Saturday and our English camp (hopefully will work out!) and will be the second and third weeks of August!
Tuesday morning (yesterday), I was awakened with a phone call from a mysterious woman named Olga. She said that she had my schedule for teaching at school prepared and wanted to know some more details.
As I was hazy, I said I'd take her number and call her back later.
Well, today was later. She was calling from a local school about their summer camp program. She has a friend who knows someone who knew someone at the University where Amy and I teach during the school year. They had said that I wasn't teaching there for the summer and was therefore free to teach English at their school camping program for the summer!
She already knew my hourly wage and was prepared to offer me the same salary for working with their kids for the summer. She gave me the dates and asked me what TIME would be good to work with them each day...
... I thought. Did anyone think to ask us if we were available?
We would love to help out, to visit and talk with the kids, but to take time away from our ministry to teach only English at summer camp while we have our internship and our own English camp would be a little bit of a tight squeeze. I know I like organizing, scheduling, and my task list, but that would have been a real feat! ;)
So - keep us in your prayers as our internship starts next Saturday and our English camp (hopefully will work out!) and will be the second and third weeks of August!
Monday, July 04, 2011
Book Club #5
Group 5
Chapters 16 – 19
CHAPTER 16
1. What are some good memories?
2. What is the Giver’s favorite memory? Explain.
3. How does Jonas feel about this memory? What are some advantages and disadvantages of this?
4. What happens when Jonas discusses this feeling with his parents?
5. What is Jonas’ relationship to Gabriel now?
6. How does Jonas break the rules at the end of this chapter? What implications will this have?
CHAPTER 17
1. How is Jonas changing?
2. What is his reaction to his friends’ game of “war”?
3. What are his feelings?
4. What is Lily’s talent?
CHAPTER 18
1. Explain what happened to Rosemary and its impact on the community.
2. Page 145, what do they contemplate?
CHAPTER 19
1. What is release?
Additional Questions
- Why did The Giver apologize to Jonas after sharing the memory of war?
2. Why were Jonas and his father worried about Gabriel’s fretfulness at night?
3. How did Jonas try to solve this problem?
4. List one advantage and one disadvantage of the family unit in Jonas’s community as compared to the family as we know it in our society.
5. How did Jonas’s range of emotions differ from those of his family and friends?
6. How did Jonas react to the children’s war game?
7. Why did Jonas feel powerless and alone when Fiona and Asher rode off on their bicycles?
8. Why did the community refer to the former Receiver-in-training as a failure? How did this failure affect the rules that applied to Jonas?
9. What shocked Jonas when he viewed his father “releasing” one of the newborn twins?
10. What did Jonas learn about the community’s rule about lying?
11. What feelings do you think Jonas had about his father and the rules under which the community lived after watching the Ceremony of Release of the newborn twin?
Literary Device: Euphemisms
a)What was the euphemism for death in Jonas’s community?
b) Name two euphemisms for death in our society.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Book Club #4
Chapters 11 – 15
CHAPTER 11
1. What is Jonas’ first memory?
2. What is Jonas’ reaction to the first memory? What about the Giver?
3. What happened to snow?
4. What is Jonas’ second memory?
5. What is Jonas’ third memory?
6. What is Jonas’ title?
CHAPTER 12
1. What is Jonas beginning to see?
2. How does the Giver help him?
3. What happens to color in this community (vs. in memory)?
4. What is Jonas’ opinion of sameness?
CHAPTER 13
1. What causes frustration for Jonas?
2. What is Jonas’ first startling and disturbing memory? What is his reaction?
3. Is the Giver married? Explain about his marriage relationship.
4. Why is a Receiver necessary in the community?
5. What does Jonas wonder about when he’s not with the Giver?
6. Why does the Giver sometimes send him away?
CHAPTER 14
1. What is the first painful memory and what is its effect on Jonas?
2. What do he and the Giver have to hold painful memories?
3. Why can’t everyone have memories, to share?
4. What’s wrong with Gabriel?
5. What happens when twins are born?
6. How does Jonas comfort Gabriel? What does he think of this?
CHAPTER 15
1. What is this memory and what is its result on Jonas?
Additional Questions
1. Why was the transmittal of the memory of snow so exhausting to the old man? What does this reveal about the community?
2. What two lessons did Jonas learn about the sun?
3. Why did the Giver appear a little sad at the end of the first day of training?
4. What do you think is the most severe pain?
5. How did Jonas’s relationship with his parents and friends change after he received his Life Assignment?
6. How did The Giver explain the visual phenomena that Jonas witnessed? What did this reveal about the community?
7. Why did the community give up the ability to see color?
8. Why was it important for the community to have a person who could “see beyond”?
9. Why did Jonas refer to Gabe as his little brother?
10. Why was The Giver bitter about the Council of Elders?
11. What do you think the Giver will transmit to Jonas to give him his first real impression of pain?
12. How was Jonas’s second experience with snow unlike the first?
13. According to The Giver, why did Jonas have to receive and store memories of pain?
Friday, June 24, 2011
Church Picnic
No church picnic is complete without rain, right?
Dima and his brother-in-law cooking shashlyk (shish-kabab) in the rain... with a marinade of pomegranate juice, who knew? Yum.
And then, the sun came out. Here's Dan playing football (uh, soccer) with little Dima and Agape.
The sun came out and we had a good time eating both the pork and chicken! Really delicious. Featured here from l to r: Natasha, Yulia, Irina, Masha (Irina's daughter) and Maxim. Maxim is tried and true. Never missed church or an opportunity to help out on a work day.
The rain returns! Jim and Dima holding up the shelter. Reminds me of the battle when Aaron has to help Moses keep his arms up so that the Israelites are winning the battle.
Waiting out the storm t come back inside after the picnic. It was really a great time of fellowship, even if the rain did try to spoil our day... it didn't work!
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