Thanksgiving Week- Part 1

It's been a long time since we have been Stateside for Thanksgiving. When we were in Russia we never really celebrated Thanksgiving on the actual date. Jon went off to teach and I usually had small group on the fourth Thursday of every month. We would try to get together as a team to celebrate but that was usually a few days after.

Of course it's good to reflect upon all that we are thankful for during this season. Today I wanted to share some things that I'm thankful for that perhaps some people may not be so thankful about, particularly things I learned from living in Russia.

I'm thankful that I lived in another country for over 8 years. I've learned so much both spiritually and culturally. I'm still transitioning in my mind and thinking over all the changes we went through during that time. It wasn't easy living overseas and yet I miss it terribly. 

I'm thankful for the days I had to walk home from the store in the freezing snow carrying several pounds of groceries. It built endurance in me and taught me not to complain. It also humbled me because there were so many times I looked like such a fool. For example the time we had a huge snowfall and I had to go buy diapers and baby food for Nathan at a store that was 1 mile away. There were no paths whatsoever and I had the genius idea of taking our sled with me. I basically ended up carrying the sled home with all the items on top of it while the snow literally came up to my knees. 

Can't forget the times I had to walks on sheets of ice.... it taught me balance and to walk slow!

I'm thankful for all the long lines I waited in, all the layovers and missed flights, and in general the whole ordeal with getting our 3 year visa. This taught me, actually forced me, to become patient in all circumstances. I also learned to just go with the flow and that worrying never got me anywhere!

I'm thankful for all the times I couldn't communicate in Russian. This taught me to hold my tongue and to just become an observer. There were plenty of times where I wanted "to give someone a piece of my mind" but thankfully it just stayed in my mind because trying to communicate what I was thinking into Russian would have sounded awful!

I could probably go on and on but all that I have learned in Russia has helped me tremendously to make the transition back into the United States. 

Saying Good-Bye Part II

The weekend before leaving just got busier and busier and more and more difficult. Saturday evening there was a going away time at the church. It was a real nice evening and I'm so thankful for the opportunity to say good-bye to so many good friends.

I have a bunch more of the above photos........



Then Sunday morning came along.

 The boys with their Baba Vera. Sweet little old lady who gave the boys candy. Every. Single. Sunday.

 Nathan in his Sunday School class with his little friends.

Jojo and one of his Sunday School teachers.

Sunday evening was our last team meeting.......sniff, sniff.

I'd show you what we did Monday and Tuesday but I lost our camera en route to the States! I am so disappointed! I can tell you that there were a ton of tears shed as we said good-bye to our closest friends Tuesday night. My dear friend Christina planned a surprise dinner for us and even sent us on a scavenger hunt beforehand giving her enough time to get everything ready and for all our other friends to arrive. 7 1/2 year of our lives wrapped up in a few days of good-byes.

Saying Good-Bye

No matter how much one tries to prepare themselves to say good-bye to friends the end result is always sadness. The last week before leaving Samara we said way too many good-byes and way too many tears were shed.

These are some of the friends we made when we first moved to Samara. They are probably the ones we've been the closest with.

 These ladies are such a true joy to me. They were the most difficult group to let go of. I miss them dearly but am thankful for all that we have learned together.

The weekend before leaving we were busy with one event after another. This evening was a banquet and we got to spend some time with the men in the program and their wives.

We even managed to squeeze in a family photo session.

List 2: Ten Things I'll Miss About Samara

I can't believe it but our time here is closely coming to an end. I have quite a range of emotions right now. It all seems surreal. I am depending daily on God's grace to get me through! I know after some time I will be fine but for now it is just hard. Here are some things I will miss about living here.

10. Walking.
We do a lot of walking here. We only have one car and Jon usually has the car. Even when the car is available the truth is that I am too scared to drive here. I've only driven a hand full of times. So, instead we walk everywhere. It's really great exercise. Even though I admit I sometimes can get tired of the amount of time it takes to do something, but for the most part I enjoy it.

9. Transport
In addition to walking we also take a lot of transport. Mainly we travel by tram or a marshrutka which is a big van. Jojo prefers the slower pace of the tram while Nathan prefers the fast and super bumpy ride of a marshrutka. Often times we also travel by bus or even a trolley bus. In Samara I have only used a taxi three times. It's quite adventurous for me to travel by transport....I don't know why but it just is. In California I have only used public transportation twice in all the years I've lived there but here in Samara riding public transportation is a necessity.

When we first moved to Samara we lived on a street with

a tram line. The noises of the tram running would wake

us up around 5:30 every morning.

8. Slower Pace Of Life
I think most people who have been overseas can really relate to this one. It just seems like everything is so fast paced in the States. If you go to a restaurant here you are allowed to sit and dine as long as you would like. Jon has sat in a restaurant in meetings for close to 4 hours. The waiters won't bug you. Also when we are out walking we just enjoy the walk. The kids stop and explore and if we're not heading somewhere I just follow their lead. Sure there are periods where we are overwhelmed with a lot of responsibilities but for the most part we are able to have a slower pace.

7. U Palicha
U Palicha means handmade or literally "from the fingers". They are a company with several cafes and one restaurant. They also have stores where they sell their food products, chocolates, desserts, and cakes. They make our favorite cake and you can bet we'll be buying a couple to eat before we leave. Their restaurant is amazing and they make the very best soup I have ever tasted. I plan to go at least once if not twice before we leave.

6. Tulips
Every year around the end of April and beginning of May the tulips begin to appear. It is a for a brief period of time since they don't last too long. I look forward to it every single year. I try to buy as many as I can, especially when they are really in bloom because they are so cheap. There's a memorial close to where we live with blooms of beautiful red tulips but I think we may miss it this year. Jon says that he walked by there the other day and the tulips are just barely beginning to come through the soil.

Jojo by the tulips in 2008

5. Victory Day
This is my favorite holiday (aside from Easter and Christmas of course). On the 9th of May, Russia celebrates their victory over Germany putting an end to World War II. This period of history is one of my favorites and so I think that is why I enjoy the holiday so much. We usually go out as a family to  a square where military hardware is displayed and veterans of the war walk around with their medals pinned on their coats. I cry every time........I'm sentimental that way. Sadly we will leave before May 9.

4. Long Summer Days
Summer days last forever in Samara. When Russia participated in the time change it would still be light outside around 11:00 pm. I remember once being outside on a walk with some friends and losing track of time because it was so light out.

3. Babushkee
I will definitely miss all the sweet babushkee (grandmas) we have had the privilege of getting to know at church. For some reason the Lord has given me a heart for them. We've also expressed to the boys how important it is to honor them and try to encourage them.

2. The Market
The "rinok" or market is probably one of my favorite places to go. I have often blogged about it and how much I enjoy the market culture. I've been faithful to my vendors and I'll definitely miss my Saturday morning routine. I only have a couple of Saturdays left to go there so I am hoping to get some photos with a couple of the vendors......we'll see if they oblige.

1. Friends
I've made some amazing friends here. They are absolutely what I will miss the most. I knew the day would eventually come when it would be time to say goodbye but obviously one can never be too ready. My heart is broken about leaving mainly because of the friends I'll leave behind.

List 1: Top 5 Questions We're Asked

 Since we are in the countdown mode of our move back to the States and since I love making lists, I thought I'd periodically do a round-up of lists. Today's list contains the top 5 questions that we have frequently been asked.


1. Which country is better, America or Russia?
This is probably the most common question I am asked. I don't ever give a solid answer. I just tell people that there are great things about Russia and there are great things about America. That's it!
 
2. Do you like Samara?
This is a tricky question. It is much like the which country do you like best question. In all honesty, most Russians would answer, no! Truth is I do like Samara, actually I love it. Sure, it is a very dirty city. There isn't a whole lot to do here. Russians who move here from other cities are constantly complaining about it. The air quality is awful. But, I do love it.  A lot of people I care about live here. There are some great stores here. The Volga River is in Samara. This city actually has some amazing history. There are some real beautiful sites and museums. I strongly believe that you must make the best out of everything. 

3. What do you miss the most?
This is an easy question to answer.......my family! There are a lot of other answers I can give but what I miss the most is my family. Target comes in a close second.
 
4. What has been the hardest thing about living here?
Another easy question with another easy answer..........the language! Russian is a very difficult language to learn. Even Russians themselves agree that the language is quite difficult.

5. Is your wife Russian?
All the times that Jon has been pulled over by the police, the officer takes one look at his passport then peeks into the car and asks Jon, "Is your wife Russian?" They assume that an American man living in Russia must be married to a Russian. I am also asked if I am from the 'stan nations.....such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tarjekstan, etc. I think it's because of my darker complexion and dark hair.

 

Samara Opera and Ballet Theatre

For Jon's birthday I bought tickets to go see a Mozart concert put on by a string orchestra from Vienna. We have never been to the Samara Opera and Ballet Theatre so we were really excited to see what the theatre was like. It was closed for several years due to remodeling and the outcome is just amazing!

This is the outside of the theatre. It is located on Kuibashev Square which is the main square of the city of Samara.

This is looking out from the theatre onto the square. The statue is of Kuibashev.......a former governor of Samara during Soviet times. The city of Samara was actually named Kuibashev during Soviet times.

 After checking in our coats I headed to the ladies' room.......wow! It is probably the prettiest bathroom in Samara. I loved it and could have spent all night in the bathroom. It's very rare to find a nice bathroom in Samara.

We then found our seats and goofed around with the binoculars we borrowed. We probably didn't need them but it was fun. I felt very classy looking through them every once in a while. They also reminded me of some movies I have seen where a certain character goes to the theatre to spy on someone.

This was the orchestra. They are dressed in period costume with white wigs and all. They were excellent. For any of you reading this post who know me very well...........you know that I am not exactly a fine arts type of gal but I have to confess that I really enjoyed the whole concert. I am sad to say that out of all the Mozart pieces they played I only recognized three! Two were real popular ones and the other one is from one of my Jane Austen movies!!!

Saturday Adventure, Part 2

After our time at the post office we headed to KFC. This is one of our favorite places to eat and thankfully there are a few located around the city. During our lunch we discussed the Colonel's secret recipe. A while ago Jon told the boys that KFC has a secret recipe and for some reason the boys are so curious about it. Today Josiah said during our lunch that no one on the earth knows the Colonel's secret recipe but that God knows it because nothing is a secret to Him.  Then Nathan said that Colonel Sanders and his mommy were the best chefs ever! The boys have been saying some pretty funny things lately.

From KFC we headed out for some dessert to a brand new Baskin Robbins. There have been several Baskin Robbins around the city but I noticed recently that several have closed down. This one has it's own store whereas the other ones were just small stands at the mall. They even had Jojo's favorite flavor..........ROCKY ROAD!!!

We then headed to the market since Jon is coming home soon I thought it would be a good idea to fill my refrigerator. I haven't been there in a couple of weeks and the vendors I regularly go to were wondering where I've been. I took a couple of pictures even though you really aren't supposed to...I'm bad.......really bad.

This is the candy kiosk.....one of my favorites of course. I love

it because you can pick what you want and in whatever amounts

you want. Plus they also sell real yummy fresh cookies.

This is as we were leaving the market and as you can see 

there is meat on those counters. I have never bought any

meat from those vendors because I am terrified. It's always

a bit shocking to me to see slabs of meat on there or a pig 

hung up on the hooks. The boys are always so wide-eyed 

as we walk through that area. I love it though and the "rinok"

or market will be one of the things I will miss the most here.

Saturday Adventure Part 1

In order to make our weekend go by faster I thought we'd get out on Saturday and run some errands. So, we headed to the city center which on a Saturday via transport is only 10-15 minutes away.

We rode our favorite mode of transport.....the tram. In Russian it's called, "tram-vy" but I would always say it wrong and call it "tram-by". After hearing me say it wrong for a long time my trusty friend Heather finally corrected me. I suppose it must have gotten on her nerves. Josiah looks so serious in this picture because there was a person inside a big yellow inflatable hippopotamus suit advertising something on the corner. Everyone on the tram was laughing and pointing at the poor person.


Our stop was right in front of my cell phone carrier's store which was very convenient since going there was on my to-do list.

Our cell phone carrier is MTC (MTS in English). There are no monthly phone plans here, it is a pay as you go system which is extremely convenient. There are kiosk machines everywhere you go where you punch in your cell phone number on the screen and insert however much money you want to give. My balance was actually negative and after a certain negative amount you can't make calls or send texts so I wanted to make sure I deposited enough money. We always try to go to a MTC store because you aren't charged an extra fee to deposit money whereas the kiosks in the malls and stores will charge you about a dollar tariff.

Then we were off to the post office to mail our thank you notes from Christmas! Yep, I'm that late. In my defense though going to the post office is a pain here. I have waited up to 1 hour just to get stamps on my mail. There are no machines to buy your stamps from. So we went to the city's main post office which has had a total makeover and is probably the nicest post office I have seen anywhere in the world. I went to a corner entrance where there was a small counter in a store and bought my mailing stamps there but after I bought them she tells me I had to go to the main entrance and get my letters stamped! I was like, what? So, we went to the main entrance and waited 25 minutes just to get my envelopes stamped with something I couldn't even make out or read. But, at least we got to see the beautiful office. As you come into the door you go to an automated kiosk and get a ticket with a number on it. Then you wait your turn. We had L179 and I noticed the workers were on L173 so I thought it would be real quick......yah right! Oh well. Thankfully the boys behaved.

I wish I could have taken more pictures but I didn't want to get yelled at. Plus I noticed there were hidden cameras above.

This post has gotten to long so I'll do a part 2 tomorrow!

March 8th - Women's Day

This past Friday it was Women's Day which is a huge celebration everywhere except the United States. My husband likes to call it Feminist Day considering that the origin of this holiday was tied to the Socialist Party to bring about awareness for the women's suffrage movement and equal rights to women. Nowadays though it is generally a day to appreciate women even though it still has definite political ties.

Of course we don't really celebrate it plus Jon is never home! If you ride the tram on Women's Day though you don't pay the fare so we made sure to do that on Friday. So, Sharon and I headed out to the park and let the kids run wild around.

Most Russians give the women in their life flowers. The yellow flowers above are called "mimosas" and you see them everywhere on this holiday. The meaning of these yellow mimosas are "secret love". The van was selling tulips which are also very popular. I asked the vendor where the tulips were from and they are actually from a warmer region in Russia whose tulips have already bloomed! I wanted to buy some but the day before I got a bouquet of them so I didn't really need them! The pictures are pretty blurry........ I couldn't stop to take them because it was so crowded around there with men buying flowers!!!

Hoarfrost

We woke up this morning to a beautiful sight. All the trees were white! It's actually been so cold the last few days but sometimes no matter how cold it is things can sure look so pretty. It's too cold to use the camera outside so I snapped a few pictures on the way to church from inside the car.

Our Little Dental Adventure

This past weekend I noticed that Nathan had quite a large cavity in one of his teeth. I felt like a horrible mom for not noticing sooner. He just saw a dentist 5 months ago and his teeth were just fine. Anyway, we have a real nice dentist here who works within a 15 minute walk so I figured it wouldn't be a big deal since she usually can get me in the same day. I should never assume that things here will go easy for me!

So, I called her first thing Monday morning. She said sure I can see him but I've moved. It's hard enough for me to understand directions in English so trying to understand in Russian was quite impossible for me. I asked her to text me her new address and I would see if it was too far for us. According to the map it definitely wasn't walking distance but doable by car or public transport. Only problem of course was that Jon wasn't home and even though I could figure out what bus to take there I just wasn't familiar enough with the stop or the exact location of the building. So, I figured a taxi could get me there. Thankfully my sweet friend Masha arranged the taxi for Nathan and I while she watched Jojo. After 30 minutes in traffic we arrived to our destination for our 4:00 appointment but the driver had no idea which exact building it was. There were like 5-6 buildings with the same exact address - 70 Revolution Street. The only exception was that the address my dentist texted me had additional info - Litera 2........I had no idea what this meant nor did my friend Masha but after seeing all the buildings I realized that it is basically the number of the building in that maze of buildings. I asked someone for help and was guided to the correct building...........PHEW!

Poor Nathan did great. He had to get his gums numb for the filling but he opened his mouth big and didn't even complain.  By this time it was only 4:30 and I figured it wouldn't be too bad getting home.

As we were leaving I took a picture of the building just in case Jon ever had to go there. As we were walking through the parking lot, Nathan says, "Mom, why do I still have my regular shoes on?" DUH...I totally forgot to put his snow boots on so we had to head back to the dental office and get the snow boots. As we finally get out of the labyrinth we turn on the street to walk towards the bus stop. After about 5 minutes, I realize we are heading in the wrong direction.....DUH again. So we turn around and head towards the correct way. We were finally at the stop and after 10 minutes I realize that none of the trolley buses are stopping at this stop. I asked a lady why the trolley buses aren't pulling over and she says you have to go to the next stop and points me in the right direction..........DUH again. Thankfully after our many detours we finally walked in the door a few minutes after 6:00. We get to go back this Saturday but thankfully I know exactly where we need to go and this time I think I'll just keep his boots on.

We saw these icicles on our little adventure and Nathan

thought they were pretty cool. He wanted me to try

and get one off for him!

Fresh Snow

We've finally gotten some real winter snow. It's been snowing now for more than 2 days non-stop! It really looks beautiful outside when it's like this. So, today we headed out to the park to meet our friends. The kids had a lot of fun playing in all that snow!

                                                         Jojo chilling out in a fort the kids found.

 

Jojo still wants me to push him on our sled! He and Nathan took turns while we walked to and from the park. I'm not complaining though because I get a bit of a workout in!