Flooding and Pel Meni

After getting back from church on Sunday, the director of the house here told me the basement was full of water and we needed to bail it out. I was thinking it was an emergency, but apparently the house we live at was built on top of a water hole so about every 3 days the basement gets about 5 inches deep in water. So I began bailing it out and dumping it into another area with a working sub-pump.

 THIS IS ANDREI THE NEIGHBOR BOY WHO WATCHED ME BAIL OUT THE BASEMENT... IT STILL IS WEIRD TO ME THAT LITTLE CHILDREN SPEAK PERFECT RUSSIAN, I ALWAYS EXPECT TO HEAR ENGLISH AND THEN I'M ALWAYS SURPRISED... BUT THEY ARE CUTE.

After finishing bailing out the basement I was excited to find that (пель мени) Pel Meni were made for dinner. These are Russian dumplings filled with really yummy meat. Back in Juneau, Alaska they have a diner to eat these however they are Amercianized and nothing like the real thing. The real way is to put sour cream and mayonaise on them and I must say they are really good this way.
                                   
THAT'S RIGHT ALL YOU FAKE PEL MENI LOVERS IN ALASKA, THIS IS THE REAL DEAL!!! ALTHOUGH I MUST ADMIT BOTH WAYS REAL AND FAKE ARE BOTH VERY TASTY. 

Finally a post from Oregon!!

Yes, that's right folks, I (Wendy) am finally going to post. Brian keeps bothering me about posting. He says, "it is OUR blog Wendy, not just mine." But my reasons for not posting were that nothing fun was happening in my world of Oregon.
This weekend is Memorial Weekend; and as tradition goes I head off white water rafting with my friend Sarah and families from her church. This spring has been unnaturally cold and wet (imagine that) and sadly, we didn't end up rafting. Just couldn't find enough people to go in our rafts!!! CRAZY! I mean, it was a little cold, and the river was a little higher and more rapid, but who wouldn't want to go?

Here is our normal spot to start!! Looks a little daunting huh? Anyway, we did have a great weekend and it was slightly, every so slightly nice to not get cold and wet. Below are some pictures of what we DID do this weekend, besides just hanging out and playing games!

We were in a really pretty spot in Washington, about 10 miles north of the Columbia Gorge and The Dalles, Oregon. So, my second favorite thing to do was take a hike! It was a nice day and a good 5 mile or so hike. There was a ton of poison oak though and I really hope I didn't get any. 

Jessie, me and Sarah

Today we spent a few hours on the golf course near our campsite. I have never played before and did hit my first two golf balls on the course. I was a caddy for half the time. :) And Sarah's husband, Dan caddied the rest of the time. Above is Sarah showing off her swing. 

Sarah and I

The three golfers: Jon, Sarah and Mike

Golf is an interesting game, I found it hard to not swing the club like a bat as hard as I could. But I may have to ask Brian to take me golfing a few times when he gets home. A few things I don't understand about golf though.   1. When the ball is hit in the wrong direction or maybe the wind blows it (wink, wink) and it is heading towards humans, one is supposed to yell, "FOUR!" or is it "FOR?"  That does not make any sense to me at all. What does yelling four have to do with a ball coming at your head????

2. There is a club called a pitching wedge. Hmm, don't you think golf needs to come up with their own labels for things instead of stealing another sports? (baseball, softball). 

Okay, well that was my weekend, now back to work and then I pack up for Russia! Then I'll really have some exciting stories to tell. I hope my husband is proud of me for finally posting!!

MEAN VS. EVIL

   Yesterday I was walking to the store and I saw this sign on a fence and it made me laugh really hard. It's English equivalent would be " Beware of Dog" however the word in the middle is "Zlaya" which could possibly be the word used for mean of "Evil". So this sign could be translated "Watch out for the Evil Dog!!!" Also, he doesn't really look evil in the picture. He looks more like he just went for a run and wants some water. My Russian friend also told me that is the same dog they use on every sign. The sign company must have a contract with some German Shepherd breeders to boost popularity of their breed, but I really doubt it. 

To Тверь (Tver) and Back.

I got the chance to go to two different orphanages with the power lifters so I took it. We took off from Snegiri at like 9 in the morning and drove half way to St. Petersburg to a town called Tver. We dropped off our stuff at a hotel and got on the streetcar to go to the orphanage there. We were first greeted by only older kids so we didn't really know if they were going to want to hang out with us or not. Then I saw three of them had futbol stuff on so I immediately grabbed a futbol I saw and that was all it took. We must have played for 2 hours then went inside for чай (tea) and snacks.

We sat and talked with the kids for maybe about 30 minutes, then it was back out to the futbol field. I think the main reason the kids loved playing so much was because they put the hammer down on us so bad. The teams were me (who doesn't play very often) and 3 power lifters (who don't "run" very often) against 4 kids who play everyday... if you had to put money on one team...hmmmm... I wonder who would be the smart pick? I think the final score was 28-2 home team.
                                           
THIS KIDS NAME WAS TYRMAN AND HE MOST LIKELY COULD HAVE BEATEN US SINGLE HANDED... BUT HE HAD HELP, SO IT WAS REALLY HOPELESS FOR US AMERICANS.

After soccer I got to play with the little kids also which was so much fun to chase them and tickle them. The big hits were coloring, drawing, tickling, and badminton. All of these kids are living here in temporary because their parents drink and this place is just a holding spot until they can find a different relative, if none exist who want the child, then they must do to a permanent orphanage.

                                      WE HAD TO PAY HOMAGE TO THE SOCCER MASTERS

CHASE (BIG ONE) PLAYING BADMINTON WITH MARINA AND RINOK. THE KIDS LOVED BADMINTON BECAUSE HMMM GUESS WHAT, THEY WERE REALLY GO AT THAT TOO!!!

I didn't know the emotions I would go through being there, however I knew it wouldn't be easy to deal with them. Even as I'm writing this blog right now I can't say that I am over the sadness of having to leave those kids back in that home. After we left the kids home I felt this extreme sense of clarity of what I want to matter in my life and what is complete vanity. I could have been King Solomon writing Ecclesiastes at that very moment questioning humanity and why we chase after such meaningless things when there are so many of God's beautiful creatures sitting at orphanages waiting for someone to care for them and love them. All of a sudden walking back to the streetcar I saw advertisements and all I could think of was disgust at myself for being one of the target market for profiteering by big companies instead of giving up truly my life in order to make these kids lives better.

GALYA, IRINA, AND NATALYA SITTING DRINKING CHAI... ITS PRETTY FUNNY TO ME THAT BUNNY EARS ARE FAMOUS ALL OVER THE WORLD

I felt as though I had much clearer picture of what the "gospel" really is. At the moment of leaving the orphanage, I would have given everything and I truly feel everything just to try to make their lives a little better. This to me is what Jesus was talking about when he said "whoever wants to gain life must lose it." I felt disgust within myself for wanting the American dream of comfortability when there are beautiful children who have so little they are happy to get candy as a present. I guess I could go on but I hope you get the idea of the things that hit me from going to the orphanage. It truly was "life changing".

After the orphanage we ate some dinner and then set off for a 20 minute walk to the Volga river so I could swim. It was one of the things on my "to do" list in Russia, so I was so excited to get the chance. There is so much history in this river (like most things in Russia) I was so honored to be swimming in the spot where possibly czars boats crossed over as they were traveling to other towns to seek alliances or start wars. I was just so stoked to go swimming in such a cool spot.

THE WATER WASN'T AS COLD AS I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE... SOME RUSSIANS ON THE SHORE THOUGHT I WAS CRAZY, BUT I KNOW THEY JUST WANTED TO SWIM TOO.

The next day I got up early and went for a walk through Tver trying to still think through some of the stuff I was going through the day before. I laughed at myself because I could not figure out when to cross a street. You see cars in Russia "do not" stop for walkers so I am always on guard walking around anywhere. But sometimes they do stop and I still can't figure it out. All the бабушки (babooshkas) have got it down but I can't seem to figure it out.

We then drove about an hour to a different orphanage in a town called Starstkaya. There we were met mostly by younger kids so I knew I was going to have a fun day of chasing and tickling. We played games like
утка, утка, гус (duck duck goose), ошибал (dodgeball), and горячая картошка (hot potato).

THE TWO GIRLS I AM HOLDING IN THIS PICTURE WERE TWO OF MY FAVORITES. I WOULD HAVE TAKEN THEM WITH ME IN A SECOND IF GIVEN THE CHANCE.

 I was wearing a green t-shirt, then one girl found that if she called me зелёный огурец (green pickle) that I would chase her and tickle her... that is all it took and all of sudden I was chasing about eight kids calling me green pickle for about a two hours. I would have taking about 13 kids home with me if allowed.
IRA (GIRL IN RED) WAS THE ONE WHO FOUND OUT IF SHE CALLED ME GREEN PICKLE I WOULD CHASE HER AND TICKLE HER. KIDS SURE LOVE BEING CHASED AND TICKLED.

 They were all so beautiful and I just wanted to be the one to help them have a better life. So to say the least the orphanages changed my life for the better, most definitely.

Power Lifters

Apologies for no pictures on this post. We took Johns camera and his memory card doesn't work in my computer. But know that pictures will come soon. We went to Dedovsk so that the guys could do some lifting at the gym there. We were greeted by tons of kids sitting outside and this girl wanted me to read to her some English homework. Then we found the weightroom and the trainer named Sasha greeted us. He was quite huge himself and he was so excited that Americans actually came to his gym. I thought about it later and realized what a big deal that most likely was for them, that was the only time professional American  lifters came to his small gym in really the middle of nowhere. He showered us with gifts which we are not used to but that is the Russian way. He gave us a horseshoe from the 18th century that was used in the Franco-Russian war. He really wanted to make me tea and layed out a huge spread of meat, bread, and cheese for me while the guys lifted. I got to translate for all of the guys and I felt so horrible but I truly had such a great time doing it. (once again more pictures later)

Екскурсавод с Амереканцами/Touring Guiding the Americans!!!

Yesterday I got to help take the "Americans" down to red square. However these are no ordinary Americans. There names are Johnny, Chase, and Andy. They are from Long Island, New York and they have these cool NY accents and they are so funny to me for so many reasons... oh yes and they have a combined weight of just under 1/2 ton. They are power lifters and they came to Russia for a lifting meet in St. Petersburg and then they wanted to go to villages and do lifting shows and go to orphanages also. They crack me up because they don't even care to make an effort to assimilate into Russia culture for example this is there list of restaraunts they have visited in Russia: МакДоналдз, Собвей, Сбарро, Карлз Джюнёр. If you can't read that it's McDonalds, Subway, Sbarro, Carls Jr.

THE GUYS DROPPED 1600 RUBLES AT MCDONALDS... IT WAS CHAOS LOOK HOW CROWDED THE PLACE WAS. LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THOSE GUYS... THEY ARE'NT SMALL.

They speak loud English everywhere we go and everyone looks at us and it makes me laugh. When we try to teach them a word like "good - хорошо (pronounced hor-o-sho)" they said " hey that sounds like our friend Harry Shaw, so they just said Harry Shaw anytime something was good. I got one of them to talk to me seriously about how he became a Christian, but other than that I have yet to hear something besides joking around out of these guys. Last night they spent about 20 minutes razzing one of the guys because he uses a loofa in the shower (keep in mind he is like 295 pounds) to me it paints a funny picture in your mind.
We went to Red Square to show them the area and their was a sports festival going on in the middle. It was so fun to walk through the square looking at all the different tents and seeing the exhibitions.


THIS WAS THE SOCCER SHOW... I THINK IT WAS THE MOST POPULAR SHOW AT THE FESTIVAL.

They had just about every sport you could think of being played in the middle of Red Square. I had such a good time walking around and watching everything.


THERE WAS A BOXING RING AND THEY SAW IT WAS EMPTY AND CHALLENGED ONE ANOTHER TO THE DEATH. BUT WHEN THE TIME CAME FOR ONE TO DIE.. MERCY WAS GIVEN.

After we went to Red Square, the guys wanted to go look at a certain gym in the area for serious lifters. So Anton and I split off because we had a special mission... you could say mission impossible (duh...duh...duh.duh.duh.duh) that was the theme song for mission impossible if you couldn't guess. Well the wife of the director here at the college is having problems with her Visa, so she is in Omsk which is 2 days by train and we had some secret documents for her and we could do one of two things: 1 send it through the Russian postal system which could take 2 weeks, or 2 go to the train station and find a devushka who worked for the train company and give her a "gift" for placing our documents in a special part of the train to be received in 2 days by the wife.

AT THE LENINSKY VOGZAL COMPLETING OUR SPECIAL MISSION... 5 DAYS INTO RUSSIA AND I AM ALREADY DOING UNDER THE TABLE DEALINGS WITH GOVERNMENT WORKERS!!!
Anton taught me how to find the right woman because if you choose wrong and she turns out to be stingy you could pay way too much, but if you choose right all will be smooth sailing. I I would see a devooshka and think alright this is the one, then look at Anton and he would say. No not right hair, or no too young, or no too old. We finally found the right one and gave her a token of our appreciation. Anton explained this process to me like this " It's not xow you say break rules, more bend rules so get stuff done."

THIS IS A GOOD EXAMPLE OF THE NEW BUILDINGS GOING UP IN MOSCOW WHICH THE RUSSIANS DON'T LIKE BECAUSE IT SPOILS THE BEAUTY OF THE OLDER BUILDINGS.

After the mission had been completed we called HQ and reported the success. Then Anton and I went for a two hour walk through Moscow. Anton is a Sambo Trainer which is like cage fighting but a little more grace and finesse involved(but not much) so walking downtown with Anton I felt pretty safe.  We had a good day and headed home on the electrichka(which is like a metro).

Finally Made It To Moscow!!!

     Right when I arrived to Russia, there was a group of 30 or so people coming out to the house for a weekend retreat. I would say 50/50 on Russians and Americans, it was so cool to meet such amazing people. Many of the Americans are teachers at foreign schools here in Moscow and some teach English at Russian private schools. Everyone was very nice and we walked and ate together played games had a bonfire at a lake down the street.

THIS IS ALL THE RETREATERS AT THERE LAST LUNCH... THE CLOSEST PERSON IS ILYA, I BECAME GOOD FRIENDS WITH HIM,HE IS GOING TO BE A INTERNAL MEDECINE DOCTOR.

After the retreaters left my friend Yelena said she was going to go into Moscow for the day and Ilya who was a retreater had a car and he could give us a ride(which was really cool because that is not often you can catch a car into Moscow). The city of Moscow was so absolutely amazing, I was sure glad to have them as tour guides because I sure didn't know where I was going. We saw a big church first and saw people there so we went in and it happened to be an English service, which kinda was strange to me to be in Moscow hearing an American man preaching, but we met very cool people.

                                              
I SAW THIS MAN IN RED SQUARE AND IT REMINDED ME OF DAN EWING!!! ANYONE ELSE SEE THE RESEMBLANCE???

          Then it was on to Red Square. I was so in awe of the whole place. I felt like it was a scene from a movie or something. To see where Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin stood and made decisions that would change the course of the world was truly humbling. Then it was on to Гум which is the famous mall by Red Square. That mall was cool, I bought some мороженое (ice cream)... oh yeah andСбарро(Sbarro) pizza.
                                            
THERE WAS AN ARMY BAND PLAYING BALLROOM MUSIC AT THE KREMLIN... I WISH I HAD WENDY THERE TO "TEAR UP THE TILES" WITH AT RED SQUARE!!!!

 Then it was off to my favorite part... Arbat Street. Arbat is a historical street in Moscow, it is like Broadway or 5th Avenue to Americans. We stopped at a McCafe because Yelena has a coffee addiction that she needs to work on and we saw a big group of Americans and talked to them, they were from Nebraska they were here for learning about advertising and they came to the right place because there are ads everywhere it's nuts.

     

A COMEDY TROUPE ON ARBAT THAT WAS LIKE THE RUSSIAN ABBOT AND COSTELLO... THEY TALKED SO FAST I COULD NOT GET IT ALL BUT PEOPLE LAUGHED A LOT.

       Arbat was so much fun to walk down and see the street artists and musicians who were absolutely amazing. Then we took the Electrichka (electric train) home and that was my yesterday in Moscow. Pretty stinking cool. 

My 2nd Day in Russia

ME WITH GALYA AND IVAN NIKOLAIOVICH, IVAN WAS SITTING BY HIS APARTMENT AND WE STARTED TALKING TO HIM AND HE JUST LOOKED SO STINKING COOL!!!

      So I have been in Russia for two days now and I feel as though I can't write it all down on this blog without it taking up the whole page. When I got off the plane in Sheremetyovo airport I walked right past Drew(the man who was supposed to pick me up) because he wasn't who I expected to see and I only was carrying a backpack and he told me that most Americans bring "everything but the kitchen sink" so I had to try to call someone however the payphones in Russia are all weird looking and they need a card so I asked " девушка, где можно купить карточку для телефона?" She told me somewhere on the 3rd floor so I went there to a kiosk and asked again and another lady told me "Они не бывают...those don't exist" So I am stuck at the airport debating wether to take the metro( which i don't know how to use) to a place that I don't even know the area. I know this post doesn't really do the justice, but I was genuinely worried about what to do. Finally after 1.5 hours a man that I recognized from earlier came up to me and asked if I was Brian. He was frustrated but we laughed later about it. The ride in the taxi van to our place was one of the most fun expieriences of my entire life. I couldn't believe what the Russian driving style was like, I can only liken it to

                                              
  THE TAJIKI MEN WHO LIVE ACROSS THE STREET, I WENT AND TALKED TO THEM AND I WAS INSTANTLY INVITED TO DINNER... I AM SO STOKED TO GO AND EAT THERE!!!!

a chase scene in a movie where the criminal will do almost anything, and i mean anything to get away from the cops. I was having so much fun and our driver named Nikolai loved talking to me about everything.
           There is a retreat at the Bible College where I am staying and I have met some absolutley amazing people so far. It would take way too long to describe everyone so just take my word for it.

MY GOOD FRIEND OLEG AND I WITH LOCAL BOY NIKITA WHO WAS SO HAPPY TO MEET         AN AMERICAN AND SAID I LOOKED LIKE A CHARACTER FROM A VIDEO GAME.

We walked to a war memorial today which marked the closest spot the Nazi's got to Moscow. I felt unworthy to be standing in a spot where so much blood was spilled and so many people gave their lives. I told my friends that it was the first time in my life I stood in a real war zone, they all gave amazing perspectives on what WWII really meant to Russians. These two boys rode their bikes and Galya bought them some ice cream. Today was truly a lot of fun!!!!

Portland Airport

He packed three months worth into a backpack. Amazing. He and I had a bit of haggling going on as to how many shirts, pants, socks, and so on to take on a trip lasting until August. He lucked out, because I gave in. Of course, little does he know I can always bring him a couple more shirts in about two weeks when I head to Russia myself. :) Anyway, I've sent him off. Dropped him off at the airport, only shed a few tears. Prayers are welcome for his safety! Also, be praying that God would really use him in Russia! Brian is a pretty willing individual, ready to help anyone, and I know that will come in handy. 

Getting Ready for a Big Trip!!!

Well Wendy and I are getting ready to go to the Olive Garden as our last dinner before I(Brian) am taking off to Russia. I think I will eat some sort of red pasta with maybe some sausage. Wendy thinks it is silly how they put all the calories next to all the meals "If you're going to eat at the Olive Garden then why in the world are you counting calories?" says Wendy. We are happy but sad also because today is the last day we will be in Portland together in a long time.