Pressing Forward

Hey friends and family!

Sorry I didn't write a post last week.  We had a busy Sunday.

The past two weeks have been a little different.  The four of us decided to take three weeks and eat only vegetables, fruit, nuts, beans, and some grains... no bread, no meat, no dairy.  We have one week left.  It's a challenge, and honestly I've been craving a ChickfilA chicken sandwich.  But, I think all of us have become more focused on the task at hand because of this "diet".

Last Saturday, we had two friends come over for a couple hours.  We played card games and talked with them.  It was a little difficult because only one of them could speak fairly good english.  Then Sunday, we had a couple other friends come over.  Both of them can speak english quite well.  We played more card games and had a lot of fun with it.  During one of our card games, Jessica suggested that the winner tell a story.  So once we started telling stories, we started talking about our families.  We showed each other pictures of our families and got into other conversations.  And somehow we ended up sharing with them and I told them a little of my life story.  They didn't really ask any questions, but they enjoyed hearing the stories.  I can't describe how much I love these girls... it's times like these I know coming to Russia is truly worth it.  Please keep these girls in your thoughts.

(can you tell we played spoons??... haha)

Something I've stuggled with this semester is pride.  I know it's something everyone deals with, but it's a little different for each person.  There are days when I've been annoyed by something one of my girls said or did; other days, I simply was putting myself before them; other days, I really just didn't want to be here.  I guess I didn't realize that the hardest part of being here would be dealing with my own selfishness and arrogance.  Although they're not fun to deal with, struggles are necessary and should not be avoided.  I've been shown how weak I really am.  I'm constantly forced to rely on the strength of my Father, which is my greatest priviledge.  And he constantly provides.  I can now press forward with joy in my struggles.

So this past week, we put together a little video about our transportation here in Russia... enjoy!
Episode Marshrutka (youtube link)

Well, that's all for now.  Happy Easter!!

INTERNET!!!!

I have great news!  We finally got the internet fixed!!

Not that internet is the best news in the world... but it's nice to have.  You should have heard us last night... "I've given up on the internet." "Yeah, it's good to not be distracted by the internet all the time." 

And what do ya know, we got somebody to fix it today.

So in other news, the weather has been crazy.  Last week was fantastic!!  It was warm, a little sunny, and perfect for walks.  On Saturday it got up into the 70s!  Then Sunday, it rained.  Then today, Monday, it snowed... which of course turned into slush since the warm ground wasn't ready to handle it.  

So remember how I said Saturday was in the 70s?  Well, it also happened to be the day that we took a trip up into the mountains for a chicken shashlik (which is similar to a shishkabob) cookout.  A bunch of our american friends came as well.  We piled in 2 vans and 2 cars to take the 45 minute drive up there.  Upon our glorious arrival, we jumped out, and hurried into a flat open space for an epic game of Ultimate Frisbee.  I've never been so happy to run.  Some of the guys set up a really cool zip line too, which inspired me to finally bring out my GoPro camera.  It was a great day.  But, we had to rush back to the city for an english club spring party.  Jessica got to share part of her life story with the Russians.  I think it went very well.  Then we hurried home to make Mexican burritos for dinner (how many people can say they've eaten Mexican food in Russia?  exactly).  

I've been enjoying spending time with our local friends at english club.  It's been so good and I have a feeling the next three or four weeks are about to get really good.  

Keep us in memory.  

Stand firm and press forward.

I love you all!!  Bye!

Mountains Everywhere!

Wow.  The mountains here are mind-blowing!

Our friend drove us up into the mountains this week.  There was over a foot of fresh snow on the ground.  And what made the day even more beautiful was the sun.  The previous 3 weeks' skies have been gray and slightly ominous.  But this week there was a lot more blue and some much needed sunlight.  Here's some photos... prepare to be mind-blown. (photo and editing credit goes to Jessica)

We also got see the outdoor climbing wall that we will be using soon... since the weather is warming up.  Here's a picture of the awesome walls we'll be scaling:

It's a lot bigger than what it looks like in this picture...

After seeing the climbing wall, we drove down to a popular tourist sight.  It's this really lovely waterfall... which has a name that has sadly escaped my memory.  Anyway, it's so cool because most of the waterfall is frozen on the rocks.  Check it out:

Oh, and we met some ladies selling their handmade socks/mittens/scarves/etc.  I bought some... They're made of goat hair I think.  Pretty cool.

You know what's crazy?  It snowed and got up to 60F all in one week!  So there were a couple really clear, warm days this week that were perfect for taking walks.  Jessica and I took a few walks together to look for pretty views of the mountains and adorable stray dogs.  Haha.  Taking walks seems to be the thing to do around here.  You can ask any local here what they like to do for fun, and taking walks is always on their list.  

Well, I guess that's all I have for you this week.  Keep us in memory!  Continue to press forward and stand firm.  I love and miss you all!  

Food Adventures...

Hey friends and family!!  

The internet is still not fixed, but today I’m at a friend’s house.  

This week has been very good.  We worked out, made a bunch of Nutella cookies (that didn’t bake very well I’m afraid), built our relationship with our friends, learned some more about the culture, and got better at speaking Russian.    

I was going to post a couple short video clips, but they don't seem to be uploading.  

The stray dogs here are everywhere!  Many of them are dirty and probably not sanitary to pet.  But there's so many adorable ones hanging around.  Here’s one of the puppies.  If I lived here, I might have just taken it home...

The other day, Joanna and I took a long refreshing walk around the park.  It was a lovely fog-filled day.  Yeah, we couldn’t see 40ft in front of us.  It gets unbelievably foggy here some days.  Here’s some pictures of the fog...

Have you ever heard of Pelmeni??  It’s my favorite Russian food.  Pelmeni are dumplings, each one filled with meat.  And they taste very good with a little sour cream to dip them in.  And yes, I have a picture of this too:

Story Time:  So Joanna and I were on our way back from a nice foggy walk, when we spotted a shwarma place near our apartment.  We love shwarma, so naturally we bought some and took it back to the apartment to eat it.  For about the first 5 minutes, it tasted fantastic in all it's greasy saltiness.  But halfway through eating it, my stomach started to get nervous.  I took a couple more bites then decided I couldn't eat any more.  Joanna felt the same way.  After our interesting lunch experience, we could only lay on the couch and watch a movie... we are NEVER eating at that shwarma place again.  

Well that's about all I have for you today.  

I'll talk to later!  

P.S.  Hopefully we'll be rock climbing soon.  There's a wall being built at the institute that we help with.  We hope to bring our new friends to the rock wall when it's finished.  Keep that in mind when you're thinking of us.  

I love and miss you all!  Stay strong and press forward.