Great Start

I have been in Ufa for a week now. Days have kind of drug out because not much has happened during the days yet. School starts Thursday, so I expect that to change then. I don’t care though that the days seem like they have gone on forever though. They have been great. There is an American family that lives here who does many things with the community, and they have helped us meet people. There is also an American who is studying at BGU as well who has introduced us to many people.

There is a women’s club that meets once a month, and there was one on Friday that I was able to attend. I got to meet many great women. Then Saturday there was a picnic where even more people showed up. I was able to meet more people just by throwing a football and Frisbee and playing volleyball and soccer. Sunday I attended the church the American family goes to. The service was a little different than normal because the people who usually lead music were either out of town or sick. But that was ok because they just asked who could lead a few songs, and Chris, one of the Americans, and a woman in the church got up and led two songs. Then there were two messages. The second seemed more like a discussion. I’m not sure if that’s how it usually is, but I guess I’ll find out soon. Sunday night I had the chance to attend a Bible discussion group. Then Monday there was an English club at the Carr’s apartment. There were probably 40-50 people in that apartment. Two groups meet. One is a beginners group and the other is intermediate. I was in each group for about 45 minutes. I loved all of it. I liked the intermediate because everyone knew English pretty well, so I could easily talk to almost everyone in there. The beginner group was also fun. While I was in there, they played a game and sung a song, both of which were repetitive in some way. That helped them remember different words.

As you see, I’ve done a lot in the past week, but I have also had a lot of time to relax and spend time in the Word and in prayer. I don’t know how I would be able to be so far away from home for so long without my Father.

Well, as I mentioned earlier, I start school on Thursday. I’ll let you know how that goes. J

Things I am thankful for today:

All of the people I have met so far

Having finally figured out how to get everywhere I need to go walking.  (I know how to get to school on a bus, but 6 of the main roads are being changed to one way in just over a week, including the road I live on. So I’ll have to relearn that later. But I’m ok with walking while the weather is still nice.)

Beautiful weather

My home church

The MTSU BCM

Excuse Me

I wrote this my second day here. It's just taken a while to post.

Well, I have been in Russia for about a day and a half now. I’ve learned that as long as I keep TINA (This is not America.) in mind, I won’t get frustrated about the little differences as easily. It’s not that the differences are bad, it’s just that, well, they are different. Some of them I actually prefer.

The Airport

The airport in St. Petersburg was my first encounter ever with being in a country where I didn’t know the language and didn’t have a leader. Rachel (the girl I’m working with) and I had to figure out things on our own. There are two terminals in this airport. When we got there, we had to switch from the international one to the domestic one. It wasn’t like we just walked a few minutes to get from one to the other. They were completely separate buildings about a mile and a half apart, and we had to take a bus. When we finally got to the other terminal, we ended up going in the opposite side of where we were supposed to be. It took a while to figure out where exactly to check in, but we finally made it. When we got there we saw just one flight listed on the check in screens, and it wasn’t ours. We knew we were at the right place, but had no idea what to do. We tried to ask at the information desk, but the woman working knew about as much English as I know Russian- very little. She called someone to come answer our question and we got everything figured out.

Day 1 in Ufa

We arrived to Ufa around 4 in the morning. Our apartment wasn’t ready so we stayed with a girl named Kelly, who also attends the university I will be going to. I was finally able to go to sleep around 5:30 in the morning and slept until about 1:30. A few hours later we got to move into our apartment. It’s in a prime location. It’s on a main road, and everything we need is pretty close. Once we got settled in, Kelly gave us the option to just hang out at the apartment or meet some of her friends. Apparently they have wanted to meet us since they first heard we were coming. In attempt to get used to the time difference a little quicker, I decided going out would force me to stay up longer. Rachel agreed, so just a few hours into being into the city, we got to meet some people. Two of them spoke English really well and one of them is just learning. Communication was easy and hard, but I’m happy we chose to hang out with them. It was fun, and one of them said that next time they all hang out they were going to invite us.

There have definitely been some overwhelming times so far, but they only last a short time.

A few things I am thankful for today:

1. The English man at the airport who helped us switch terminals.

2. The English speaking employee at the airport. (3 hours after we talked to him, he was making his way through a crowd and as he passed us said, “Excuse me.” – it’s the little things like that that made our day)

3. Laughter

4. My apartment

5. The Carr family and Kelly

6. The chance hang out with Russians so soon after being here.