Merry Christmas from Russia!

     Merry Christmas everyone! I didn't send any Christmas cards out, so we'll pretend this is the card! We have moved to a new home and having less space and three cats (we are cat-sitting), we were unable to set the large tree up. So, we used a small one. And I found a perfect place for the tree and our stockings. Russians celebrate Christmas on January 7th, so tomorrow is just another day for most of the country. We were lucky to get the day off work! I am excited to have a whole day with my husband and just relax! And eat good food of course!

     Christmas is one of my favorite holidays, I love the lights, music, presents, colors, tree, you name it, I like it. I love the warmth that comes with this holiday. I am thankful God allows us to celebrate like we do! Especially because the holiday is really all about Christ being born in a barn in Bethlehem so long ago. And it had nothing to do with lights, colors and a tree in everyone's house. It had to do with God coming down in human form, as a little, lowly, helpless baby. In a barn even!! I think sometimes we all need little reminders about Christ being born and what it must have been like on that night.

Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace

Philippians 2:8-10 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth 



Have a wonderful holiday my friends and and family! May you truly believe in our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Party in the Cold

Wendy and I had our Christmas/New Year's party at work. It was quite different than any American party we have gone to. Instead of everyone showing up and eating dinner then talking and maybe a game or two. We got there and started eating and then a show of dances and skits and songs started up immediately (done by co-workers). We were a little confused if we should focus on eating or on the entertainment. There were little breaks, but for the most part it went on for about 4-5 hours!!! We had a good time and it was very fun to party Russian style. 

Wendy won the contest of "who is Father Frosts gradndaughter?" so they made her dress up like Снегурочка (Snegoorachka) I was so proud. 

This is a very small sample of the foods that were at our party. Fish egg biscuits, potato salad with mayo, meat slices and tomato with cheese on top. 

We were blown away at the amount of alcohol at our party. This was served at our table for 4 people. There were 5 other groups of bottles just like this. Co-workers kept trying to get Wendy to drink Vodka so she could be a real Russia girl. 

Our co-workers sitting at there table. Left to right Irina, Rushana, Natasha, Oksana, Anastacia, Olga, Katya. The boys were outnumbered at our party 19-5. 

  Also the temp. has dropped to around - 20-30 degrees Celsius ( - 8-15 F) As a result our walks have come with some humor as well as frozen body parts. 

This morning I snapped this picture of Wendy's frozen eyelashes and hair. Our breath over time begins to freeze onto parts of our faces.
                                                

We also went down to the Kremlin today and saw some really awesome ice sculptures that begged me to play on. 

And Wendy couldn't resist either. 

A Cold Winter Walk

 After work today I took a quick walk down to the Kremlin and around. Quick ended up being about 50 minutes out in ZERO degrees F. BRR. Everything stayed warm except for my face and fingers.

Here are some of the sights along the way! They have put a large tree up in the middle of the square next to the Kremlin. I am excited to see it at night all lite up!

I also found some men working on some ice blocks! I couldn't quite tell what the sculptures will be yet, but we will for sure go down again and look later!

 Here is the mighty Volga River! Almost frozen over. It was covered with ice, snow and frost. But, you can see in the left of the picture there are a few spots where the water is still moving freely and no ice is covering it. Brian really wants to do some sort of polar bear dip in the river if they have one. I think he is crazy. But, I already knew that didn't I?

Looking back at the Kremlin, all the trees were completely covered with frost. I don't think the sun rises high enough in the sky to melt the ice!
At this point we have a little over 6 hours of daylight everyday. Very similar to Juneau, Alaska when we lived there.

Our average temperature for the last week has been at about Zero F. It has dropped to around -10 F during the night. But, with the cold, comes blue skies! And I really enjoy the blue skies during the day.  

Marshrutka Madness

Hello everyone!!! Today Wendy and I would like to write a little post about one of our favorite little things (yet not really a favorite at all) of living here in Russia. For those of you who have ever ridden public transit outside the borders of the United States, you know that we in America have the extraordinary system set up. Most other countries do not have the amount of cars which America owns, which results in more citizens relying on public transit, which results in buses being cram packed to the doors of people standing up and sitting and basically trying to find any amount of space available just so they can get to work or opposite, home. 

The popular mini-buses here Маршрутки (marshrutki) and they are a bit bigger than a van yet much smaller than an ordinary bus. They say the total number of people that can fit in them is 43, but I know that is not true, I am pretty sure we have been squished in with more than that. 

                                   
 One morning on the way to work, I snapped this picture of a "normal" crowded marshrutka. As you can see it is difficult to figure out where one person ends and another begins. This however is not a "ridiculously" crowded marshrutka. That is when you are stuck in the middle of the bus with two stops left to go and you try to get to the door and you say извините пожалуйста мы выходим (izvinite pozhaloosta mi xotim vixodit/ Excuse me please we want to get off.) However the people standing in your way inform you that "it is not possible". As a result you must squeeze through as tightly as you can rubbing every part of you against every part of them just in an effort to get 2 feet closer to the door, which is still impossibly far away.

 Here is what they look like empty. It must have been some strange time that we rode this one. This is quite a lucky marshrutka to take because you actually get to sit down.

This has only happened to us once where the mini bus was almost empty. It feels really strange like all of a sudden it's going to stop and 46 people will be waiting to get on and then it will be normal again. 

I liked this little sign next to the button that you must push or the driver won't stop. The sign says "The bus stop can be anywhere here or anywhere there." They have general bus stops, but it isn't uncommon for someone to yell "open the doors" while we are stopped in the middle of the road in traffic or something. 

Tram across the Volga River

We have a tram in our city that crosses the Volga River. Brian and I waited to ride it until my mom was here to visit back in October/November. So, when she was here, we took her for a ride! Not quite as spectacular as the tram in Juneau, but MUCH longer! 

It was very modern, and another passenger told us it had just opened up in the last year. Cost about $2.50 to cross one way, for one person. 

The middle of the crossing, a slightly colorless view, but it was fun anyway. 

The whole crossing took about 17 minutes! Quite the trip, one way. There is a little suburb of Nizhniy or village on the other side of the river, so this tram is quite helpful for the residents there. Prior to the tram's existence I think they took a ferry. 

The view on the way back to our city. 

Here is a little color! This is from my walk home today. We had a lovely blue sky filled day and some sunshine! Quite a delight after clouds and gray weather for weeks. And I can tell you all that the sun now sets at about 4:30 PM. Just another two weeks of darker and darker days and then we will turn it around and get lighter again! 

Brian and I are moving apartments! We have the opportunity to cat sit/apartment sit for 5 months! So we took it. We will save a ton of money and be closer to work. Once we move, we will be able to walk to work and church. So, no more crowded bus rides in the morning! Hooray!! I will miss our little home here though. I realize it is quite nice in Russian standards. And updated! But, hey, it is all a fun experience. So, please don't send anymore packages or letters to us at this point until I have a new address. Happy December everyone!

Thanksgiving Fun!

I just want to start this post off right. Brian really wanted to get this loaf of bread. It was huge! We used most of it for our stuffing in our Thanksgiving dinner. Nice looking head huh? I should have fixed him some eyes I think. 

Happy Thanksgiving! We had a wonderful time celebrating with some new friends we have made here in Nizhniy. The family on the left is from Arizona, living here until May (hopefully for us!).  They are a lot of fun to be with and I am ever amazed at Neeley (the mom) because she came here with three kids! Ages, 4 (not pictured), 2 and 7 months. WOW, and I thought I was brave! Her husband, Tom, is also brave, :) He works daily and gets to enjoy having his family here with him. 

Next up, our favorite Russian family. Valeriya, Asya, and Danik are three siblings out of four who also came to our wonderful meal!

We cooked the works: 2 chickens (no whole turkeys anywhere we could find!), 3 turkey legs, mashed potatoes, corn, stuffing, salad (the wonderful orange salad from Lisa), rolls and rice pudding. 

Dessert included pumpkin pie, apple crisp and some pumpkin bread. 

I have to fit in some Christmas pictures too. Here is the mall closest to us with their large, fake Christmas tree they put up. Even complete with a little snow!

And here is our tree. Warms up the room. I enjoy it every day! I just need to find a place for our stockings. I brought them from home, made especially for us by Pam Welstad! Thanks Pam! Know that your stockings made it all the way to Russia!

We are looking forward to Christmas! I am planning a party with a mixture of new friends we have met in the last few months. My friends, Sarah and Darla, sent me a tree cookie cutter so I can make some sugar cookies! 

More posts to come! Thanks for reading!

A Little More From Our City.

When my mom was here, we did tour around our own city a bit. We took mom to some sights we hadn't seen yet! It was a beautiful day, but, oh so cold...

Inside the Kremlin (our city also has a Kremlin) is the Archangel Cathedral, built in 1631. 

Just a portrait so no one forgets what we look like. 

And then we ventured on to check out a few more churches in the area. 

Brian is actually warming his hands on these small candles...Not sure if that is appropriate or not. 

This is our very own onion dome church. As I like to call it. The Church of the Nativity of our Lady. Started in 1697, consecrated in 1719. 

I love the colorful domes! 

Possibly the biggest Sand Castle Ever!!!

This is really our first blog about things in our hometown of Nizhny Novgorod. We jumped right back into the routine getting up in the morning and hopping on a bus or Маршрутка (Marshrootka) and going to work pretty much at the same scenario every day of teaching kids. Our weekends we usually do one of two things: 1. Hang out by ourselves, 2. Hang out with people. So to sum it all up... hanging out on the weekends.

 Wendy snapped a shot of the sunrise a couple of days ago. Guess what time the sun is coming up now.

 For the holiday of День Единство (Day of Unity) some group of artists carved the biggest sand castle at least we have ever seen.

 The detail on this thing is insane!!! The old woman has all the wrinkle in her face that you would expect to see. It was very very amazing.

 This picture gives a pretty good idea of the size of this thing. When I first saw it, all I could think of was the hours spent carving this thing.

 Here is a football field sized flag of Russia being held by many different types of people who call Russia their home. Although I didn't see any Americans, I guess they wouldn't have been against us helping hold it as well.

 You gotta love Russia folk clothing. I like the guy in the middle all decked out with his outfit and the converse sneakers to match.

The design on the outfits is really quite spectacular. I saw a couple of my Garmoshka accordions at the parade and really wanted to ask to try them, but I chickened out.  

Our Train Trip with Mom

We finished visiting Saint Petersburg and got on the train to Nizhny Novogorod, our home for now. The train trip was about 14 hours.  Luckily, for the first three hours it was still daylight, so we could watch the scenery. After that it was playing games, reading, waiting, eating, and attempting to sleep...

The picture below is Mom and Brian tucked into our spot. We took the cheapest sleeper train which ended up being about $45 per person. This is the Russian third class, called Platzcart. I was rudely introduced to it last summer (2011) when Brian and I were in Russia. I say "rudely" because I was expecting our train trip would be something like the train rides in the "Harry Potter" movies. A nice little cabin with some seats that turn into beds. And doors. And maybe the candy cart?  Not quite. Well, it makes for a funny story now. 

Anyway, we still like to save money, especially since we are only making so much per hour here. Platzcart it was again this year!

Platzcart is made up of 50 bunks in one train carriage. No doors, No curtains, No privacy. I am used to it now. I make sure to have a few things with me: earplugs for the noise, something to cover my eyes (they don't turn all the lights off) and lite clothes, because it gets incredibly HOT! This trip around we weren't so lucky with our position in the carriage. We were right next to the door. So, every time someone wants to go smoke or to the toilet...the door opens, and SLAMS shut. All day, all night.  Lets just say, the three of us didn't slept much. 

The views were fun, flat of course, but we went through quite the weather change!!

A few hours later we were passing through snow! It was lovely!

My mom enjoying her tea as she looks out the window!

Our next train trip I hope to ride "kupe", Russian second class. Four berth compartment. Of course, then you never know who your neighbor will be!! 

The Hermitage

Most people don't know what the Hermitage is. I didn't as of a year ago. Last yea,r when Brian and I were in Saint Petersburg, we opted not to wait in line and go inside this very large museum of art and culture. It is one of the largest and oldest museums in the world, founded in 1764! Wow. This year, my mom showed an interest, so we headed in! Plus, being off season, the lines were much smaller!!
Now I have to admit, neither Brian or I are art fanatics. We can only take so much in visually before we burst! But, over all, I think we both enjoyed it.

The outside of the Hermitage is just as impressive as any palace in Russia! 

The first staircase was incredible! My mom is the tiny figure in the middle of the picture. Massive!!!

For all you art lovers out there. Here is one from Picasso, 1901

Another lovely room in this palace! Many of the rooms were equally as beautiful as the art in them. 

Rembrandt turned out to be my favorite painter in this museum.  This beautiful painting, Descent from the Cross is dated from 1634. 

We enjoyed walking through the many rooms!

And we will complete this blog with a painting from Van Gogh, 1890. 

To really see everything in this museum, one would have to spend a few years in it. It was that big!