The rowdy ones tend to be my favorites...

Some of you may know about a little boy that I have in my class right now named, Vanya. He is very difficult to deal with. He tends to be violent and cannot control his impulses. He will react in anger, but then will regret it. He knows its wrong and knows all the rules, but still continues to misbehave. He also is prone to using bad words. He knows more than he should for being only 5. We can't seem to figure out how to help him. It's so hard for me because all I want to do is talk to him. I want to know why he's so angry and why he acts the way he does.

I've come to really care for him and I just want to see him get help. I was told on Tuesday that they are going to hire someone to work with him all day. It will be his/her job to stay with him and make sure he does not hurt anyone. If he does, this person will take him out of the classroom so that the lesson can continue. I was SO happy to hear this and I started praying right away. I just knew that God allowed this to happen so that someone new can come and will actually help him. They won't have any other responsibilities. Just help Vanya. Right now, I am praying that the school will find the right person and that the Lord's hand will be in this decision. I am confident that God will use this opportunity to bring someone loving into Vanya's life and someone that knows what to do. Please pray about this too.

Story of my life...

I don't know if it's the sudden drop in temperature or the lack of sun but lately life has been a little...I guess I could say...lonely. I think we're all prone to those times in our lives when we feel lonely, even when we're surrounded by friends. And no, don't go worrying yourself sleepless about me, that I'm sad or depressed. I just thought that I would share some thoughts that I had yesterday. Walking 2 miles in -15 C weather by myself long after sunset, gave me sometime to think. So here's the story...


I've decided that it's time to go see a hockey game again. Even though the last Russian hockey game that I saw was a big disappointment. You would think these Russians would be fighters..but there were no fights at all. Not that I go to hockey games to see fights...but I think we all enjoy a friendly hockey tussle now and again, know what I'm sayin? :) But I digress...So, I was on way to buy tickets. I went alone because frankly no one wanted to go with me. lol. I mean...who would want to walk 2miles in the frigid Moscow air for hockey tickets? So I got there and realized I had no cash but I thought, "There's always ATMs in the metros." But...there wasn't. I walked outside and saw a bank across the street. "Perfect," I thought. "This is going to be easier than I thought." I walk into the bank and the ATM is broken...of course. I ask the woman if there is another one nearby and she says no. Then I think to my rational self, "Since I'm already here and it took a little while on the metro, I mine as well walk to the arena. It's a big arena...they have big events there...surely they will take cards." I thought this to myself as if trying to reassure myself that this was a good idea, knowing fully in the back of my rational mind that they probably would not take my Visa. But, I walk on. 15 minutes later, I get to the arena. I ask for 6 tickets for 300 rubles for the Ak Bars Kazan game on Saturday (feeling very proud of myself for being able to do this in Russian.) I take out my card and she says in Russian, "I'm sorry, only cash." I think she felt bad for me because she told me their working hours and told me to ask people where an ATM is. At this point, I can't feel my legs and I would rather not walk any more miles. So I ask if there will be tickets on Saturday and she said, "Yes, I think, yes." So, I walk away feeling proud of my conversation in Russian...but also a little degected. I told everyone that I would by tickets for the game and I didn't. This was not a huge deal but seriously, stuff like this happens to me ALL the time. Ask my mom. She'll tell you. My taxes get messed up and now I'm being investigated by the IRS...I accidently get in a car ACCIDENT and the guy sues me for $50,000...I'm sick for one day after my trip to Egypt and the school doesn't let me come back for 2 weeks. I'm forced to go to the hospital 8 times, having blood drawn, samples taken, an ultrasound, and some other stuff...only to find out, when I return to school, that the Russian government no longer pays foreigner's for sick days. That's another story...but it's just an example of the story of my life. Haha..oh man. What a crazy life it is. But back to the first story...so I was walking in the Minnesota-like weather back to the metro. I started thinking. (Keep in mind, I am not sharing these thoughts for you to feel sorry for me. I hate when people feel sorry for me. Also keep in mind that my pity-party self was exaggerating, but I really did think this. Just keep reading.) I started thinking, "This stuff ALWAYS happens to me. Nothing EVER works out. What am I supposed to learn from this stuff happening ALL THE TIME? Here I am again, like ALWAYS...by myself. Not just today but in life I'm always alone. (Note the exaggerations. :) ) I went to college alone. I went on all my mission trips alone. I came to freezing cold Russia all alone. I just wish...for once...that there was someone who always wanted to spend time with me. Someone who I am completely comfortable with and tell them anything." And as soon as these selfish thoughts streamed through my head...my selfishness turned directly into guilt. I heard the quiet voice of the Lord saying, "Well, what about Me?" I stopped...sighed...and felt like an idiot. How could I say those things with God standing there right next to me? It was like I was saying those thoughts out loud and God was standing next to me and I didn't see him there. And he was like, "Hello...what about me?"

God wants to spend time with us. He craves it. We should crave Him to. Sometimes we think these thoughts: Why is life so hard? Why don't I have more money? Why don't I have a family? Why don't I have a husband or wife? But really...when you get down to it...All we need is Him. That is hard for our puny human brains to fully be content with, however. We know this truth, we study it. Maybe your pastor will speak about it on Sunday. We will get teary eyed and nod our heads in agreement. Thank the pastor afterwards and then we go home and balance our checkbooks and think, I need more money. Right?

It's a difficult thing to do. To be completely content in every situation. Paul claimed to have attained it. Job must have mastered it a little. But still, we are human and so were they. The Lord knows this and forgives us for it.
I share these thoughts because some of you may by feeling the same way. Life gets hard or life gets lonely...but He's there. I'm praying that I may understand this idea. I'm praying that you will too. I'm praying that the Lord will bring me contentment...even as I'm about to stand outside in -20 C weather, waiting for the bus. Lord help me. :)

Thanks for reading.

yours, Kristin

oi, oi, oi...

I don't know why I'm finding it more difficult to keep this updated this year. Sorry to my couple of faithful followers.

So I've been back in Moscow for 3 months now. I can't believe that it is going by so quickly. I feel like we just got here. I haven't told you about the new school year at all. I am still in the kindergarten. It's been great working again with the same teachers and most of the same children. It's also been great because the teacher who did not like me very much quit over the summer. :) I think she moved to America actually. I hope she realizes now how hard it was for me to be living in a new place and not being able to speak the language. She gave me a hard time but I think I'm definitely growing from every difficult person that I come across. I hope she's doing well in America but...I was also very happy to hear that she was gone. :)
I am working in the same grade as last year, but they have also made me the native English speaker for the Preschool as well (which is the same age as American kindergarten.) So the children that moved on to the next grade still get to see me every day. I felt a little overwhelmed at first when I realized that I would be running around all day in two grades. But it has actually been good. It is a little crazy and I feel like I don't have much time to plan, but it's good to see the children grow and learn more and more English. Whenever I come to the 5-6 year old class, they run up to me and ask (in Russian), "I am in your class today?" (Because I only work with a third of them each day.) They actually enjoy being in my lessons. Possibly because they know they can get away with a lot more...but still. It's nice to feel like a teacher and that the children want to have English.
My Russian is coming along. I'm still just teaching myself. I understand most of what the children say to me. If I don't understand a word they will ask, "You don't know that word?" and then I say, "No." And then they will try to explain, still in Russian but with actions. :)
Work has also been great because of new friends that I have made. Our little group consists of 4 American teachers and also 2 new Russian teachers. It is their first year at the school. They speak English very well so it has been great getting to know them. I like that us, Americans, don't just hang out with each other or just eat lunch with each other. Their names are Lelia and Vitaly. They are fun to have around and also good for my Russian. I am constantly asking them questions about grammar or for different words. I recently asked them to speak to me in Russian. I really need practice speaking. I've gotten to the point where I can almost evesdrop on their conversations in Russian. They will look at me and say, "You know what we're saying, don't you?" :) It's fun. But I'm still a very long way from knowing the language.
Being back has been strangely comfortable. I am familiar with Moscow and I have a routine here. There's not as much culture shock or adjustment involved in a second year overseas. It is still difficult at times, but I know what to expect and I don't let things bother me. I know that if you don't have exact change, the woman at the cash register will get upset. I know that in some places, if they hear you speaking English, they might follow you around the store. I know that if you're on the bus with other teachers, you don't let your shoes touch the seat because you will offend the old ladies. I also know that some days are harder than others. Some days you just want to stay in or some days you just want to talk to your family. The hardest adjustment for me, I think, was not having 2 very good friends from last year here with me again this year. I was used to going places with them and seeing them. Different places around the city brought back memories from last year and I would wish that they were here. But..that's life. We are always missing someone somewhere right? Once I leave Russia, I will miss the good friends that I've made here too. Speaking of leaving...No, I don't know about next year. I haven't decided. Three years in Russia? Maybe...maybe not. But you faithful blog readers will definitely be informed. :) Thanks for reading. Type at you again soon!

it's strange isn't it?

Walking to school one day, the following string of thoughts wound their way through my head:

Behind me, I can hear the footsteps of someone I don't know.
The footsteps of high heels. I can tell.
Have you ever listened to high heels marching behind you?
Isn't it strange they have two differnt sounds?
Same person. Same feet. Same shoes. Two sounds.
The stranger behind me bought the shoes at the same store.
These shoes were made in the same far away factory.
What makes a shoe have a higher pitch and another lower?
So I walked, listening to this two tone cadence behind me urging me to walk faster.
Next time you hear them, listen.
It's strange, isn't it? It is.

Ladies and gentlemen, yes it has been a long break. Since my last post, I was in Oklahoma for a week and then in Minnesota for the rest of the summer. I meant to blog over the summer, but it just didn't happen. Summer was good, relaxing, a little stressful too, and really fast. I spend most of my time hanging out with my brother who was out of school. I guess you could say it was babysitting, but he's really not a baby anymore and if you have seen him you would agree. Instead of watching cartoons...ok wait, I take that back. We did watch cartoons. Spongebob. Ok, instead of doing the things we did when he was a toddler, we went to Target together, went to Starbucks and Caribou. :) He got smoothies. We went mini-golfing. We sang songs in the car, driving down Pokegama. We joked around. He is seriously one of the funniest people. It's strange that he's not so little anymore. He's in 6th grade now. Officially a middle schooler. Alex was good to have around. Coming home, I was a little sad thinking about how I spent the past 3 summers. I worked with an amazing girl named Jenna. We became best friends, but last fall she passed away. I kept thinking of all the things that we would do together and all the laughs we had. It was hard not having her in Grand Rapids. But I am so grateful for all the time spent with Alex. As my mom will tell you, Alex and I do not always get along but any time spent with him is good time. Since he was 5, I have been away from home. We only see each other over summers and Christmas. Whenever I come home, he is taller and older and different. I'm just waiting for the day when I come home and his voice is low. ugh....

I also got to spend time with my amazing sister. Having a sister is a very special thing. We shared a room together and shaved our eyebrows off together. She is the only person I have been in a fight with and the only person I have called a curse word to their face. She is my best friend and I miss her all the time. I am so happy that I got to go out for coffee with her, go walking with her, and watch movies with her. Toward the end of the summer she and Jason made the big move to Colorado for grad school. It was sad to see her move but I'm super proud of her. But honestly, I am kind of used to goodbyes. I don't know if that's good or not. maybe not? i don't know.

I also got to see my parents. Of course, that was super. Fishing with the dad, coffee with the mom. OH and before I came home for summer, my parents came to Russia! That was so great. It was good to show someone what I experience every day. It's really hard to explain living over here. And they got to see it. It was fun to see them on the metro and walking around. My mom said that everyone seemed like zombies or robots. "I feel like I'm in a movie," she said. "No one looks at you or says hello." haha. We went all over the place and they wore me out. My dad could have kept going for another week I think. I'm so grateful that they wanted to come and see me over here. It was amazing to spend time with them in my world. It is really another world.

Well, that's most of the summer. I meant to blog about what I'm doing now but that will have to wait. Starbucks only will let me stay online for one hour and it's about that time. Also, I don't know why my background is ugly. I tried fixing it and I couldn't figure it out...so it will just have to be like that for now. thanks for stopping by! more to come soon....

From the 'Cow to the 'Bul and back again....

One of my absolute favorite things in the world is to travel and see new places and I have been absolutely blessed to be able to do so this past year. Some of my friends and I decided to make a trip to Istanbul, Turkey this weekend. (AKA the 'Bul) We left Thursday morning and got back late last night. It was strange, because before I left, I wasn't really excited about it. People kept asking me, "Are you excited about Turkey?" and I would answer yes but I really wasn't. I was excited to go somewhere and not have to work a couple days, but I just wasn't that pumped to go to Turkey. Turkey has never been on my "Places to See and Things to Do Before I Die" List. (yes, i do have one of those.) But after being there, I would recommend it to EVERYONE. It was incredible. Let me tell you a little bit about it....

So we flew in Thursday afternoon, after stopping in Moldova (a country that I, sadly, didn't even know existed). As we drove through the city we saw green grass and tulips and the blue sea. Right when I saw Istanbul, I was finally excited. This is what I love. I love seeing new places and listening to new languages and having to figure out a new city. The first night, we found a unique Turkish cafe with delicious coffees and pastries. The name is pronounced Star-buks. :) Ok, so we went to Starbucks. We decided to go there and figure out the game plan for the next few days. Old Istanbul is a maze of narrow cobblestone/brick streets with shops and cafes everywhere. It was just so quaint and relaxed and happy. It was so refreshing. About ten minutes from our hotel was the Blue Mosque as well as Hagia Sophia. These buildings are beautiful! Even more amazing in person. They are basically across the street from each other and it was amazing to walk by them each day. The Blue Mosque was built between 1609 and 1616. It's nicknamed the Blue Mosque because of all the blue tiles inside. It is still used as a mosque and is closed to tourist certain times during the day.

The Hagia Sophia sits opposite of it. This was incredible to see. From the date of it's dedication in 360 (crazy old!) until 1453, it served as the cathedral of Constantinople (Eastern Orthodox). In 1453 it was turned into a mosque until 1935 when it was secularized and made into a museum. 1453 is when Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks and the Sultan ordered the building to be converted into a mosque. I think its history is amazing. This ancient building was once Christian, then Muslim, and is now a museum. (thanks wikipedia for some dates and what not)

We saw both of these on Friday as well as the Topkapi Palace. This palace was beautiful and was once the home to Sultans and their harems for 400 years, from the 1400s to the 1800s. This stopped when one Sultan decided to move to the newly built Dolmabahçe Palace (which we also saw on Sunday.) The Topkapi Palace was very interesting. It was neat to see where the old Sultans lived and it reminded us of Aladdin. Even though that wasn't even in Turkey we kept singing, "A Whole new world...." Here they had a lot of beautiful jewelry and ornate things. I don't know what to call them. Mirrors, pendants, boxes, swords, water jars, cups, etc. They all had diamonds, gold, pearls, rubies and emeralds. One diamond was the size of a large egg, maybe bigger! They also claim to have the cloak and sword of Muhammed. They also claim to have John the Baptist's skull. The last event of Friday was a visit to the Turkish Bath. I experienced this with my two good friends, Leah and Becca. If we weren't close before, we are now. If you would like to know more about a Turkish bath, I'm sure you can google it. It's kind of like a sauna but also with washing and peeling? I don't know, you can ask about it if you want. :)

Saturday was another full day. We decided to take the ferry to one of the Princess Islands. These islands are not too far from Istanbul. The unique thing about them is that there are no cars. To get around you have to walk, bike, or take a horse-drawn carriage. Of course, it was beautiful. I think we walked like 8 miles here. We hiked to the top of the Island where there was a monastery. Back at the bottom we had ice cream. My friends decided to try the Turkish treat which consisted of waffles, ice cream and many other delicious things. OH, I forgot about my feel good story of the trip. Ok so, when we were on our way to the ferry, we were walking across the street and I saw a camera laying in the crosswalk. I couldn't just leave it there to get run over, so I picked it up hoping that the owner was looking for it. We waited for a while, but there was just so many people and the owner was no where to be found. I didn't know what to do. I felt like if I give it to someone, the owner would never find it. But if I kept it, then what? We decided that it would be impossible to find it's owner and we had to get on the ferry, so we decided to just hang on to it. My friend Leah's camera battery died and she didn't have the charger, so we thought, "perfect, now she can use this and have pictures of Turkey." Sorry unlucky owner. We didn't know what else to do. Well, Leah used it throughout the day and on the ferry ride back to Istanbul (the Asian side) I was looking through the owners pictures. Invasion of privacy? maybe but it was worth it. All I found were pictures of buildings with an occasional finger in the way. We decided that it was an old man who was travelling alone because there were no pictures of other people. Until I found a picture of one man. He had a brown jacket and a grey scarf. I also found videos on there. The videos were only a few seconds. In one, we almost caught a glimpse of the owner but stopped short right at his neck. But we did know what he was wearing. Anyway, we exited the ferry and made our way through a crowd of people. Then I spotted him, the old man in the brown jacket and grey scarf. I knew it was him! I had just watched a video of him! This had to be a friend of the camera owner. We stopped him and he only spoke French. We tried asking him if he recognized the camera. He didn't know what we were talking about. Some of my friends were like, "it's not him, he doesn't know." But I knew. So I took it out and showed him a picture of himself! He was surprised and probably confused. I tried to tell him that it wasn't mine. We found it on the ground. Then he said ami, which is the only French word that I remember from French class. It means friend. I think he was saying, "this is my friend's camera." We were all very happy and he kept saying thank you very much. He asked us if we were English and I told him here were Americans and he replies, "Barack!" And I reply, "Barack Obama?" And he says, "Oui, Oui!" Then he says something about Michelle being beautiful. It was so amazing that of all the places we went, we just happened to be in the same place as this man, the only person in all those pictures. And I just happened to spot him. It was so great. I wish I had gotten a picture of him. But he has pictures of us, from our day with his friend's camera.

The next day, we went to the new palace. This was also beautiful and ornate. It had huge rooms and breathtaking halls. One had a ceiling that was almost 100 feet tall with a chandlier that weighed 4 tons. It was gorgeous! It reminded us of Beauty and the Beast and we kept singing, "Tale as old as time...." Istanbul brought us back to our Disney roots. :) After the palace we ate lunch. I had Iskender which is the most delicious Turkish dish ever! It was so good. Then we headed back to Old Istanbul and had Turkish coffee and Baklava! The coffee was not that good. It's not filtered and all the grounds are at the bottom. The baklava was really good though. After that me and Leah and Becca walked around until we found the sea. And when we did, it was so amazing. (i keep using words like amazing, incredible, beautiful, but there just aren't enough words for it.) Because when we looked out at the sea, we saw DOZENS of dolphins! They were surfacing all over and sometimes jumping out of the water. We sat on the rocks and watched them for maybe an hour. It was such a blessing to be there and to experience that.

Our past day consisted of more sun and last minute seaside sitting. I was sad to leave but really hopeful that I would return someday. It's my new dream to go back there with my sister. She doesn't know that yet. :) Now I'm back in the 'Cow or Moscow. During our travels back here, my friend Rick said, "Home Sweet Home?" and I said, "No, Home Sweet and Sour Home." haha. Moscow is my home right now and I do feel an attachment forming for the city and the people here. I'm becoming more and more used to life here and I am looking forward to returning next year. (yep, I'm going to live here another year. ah!) But it is a little sour returning from a trip like that. And I am starting to get into summer mode. I'm looking forward to my parents coming here and to going back to America. Before I know it, I'll be sitting at Caribou Coffee, updating my blog for all you faithful readers. :) thanks for reading and caring about my life. Sorry this one was so long, we just did so much! If you're reading this from Minnesota, I'll see you soon! If you're my parents, I'll see you even sooner! (sooner?....i teach english good.) Anyways, that's all for now. Dosvidanya, Kristin

to see all my pictures go here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2036230&id=79801790&l=ab07643119

why i love Him

It's been almost a month since the terrorist attacks here in Moscow. The world has moved on and news coverage has stopped and now covers some other bombing in some other nation. I woke up that morning (still out sick from school) to news about the bombing. All over the internet were articles from all over the world reporting on what had just happened in the city where I live. It didn't seem real. But in a way, it wasn't surprising. It's the world we live in now. As much as governments want to "crack down on terrorism" it doesn't seem to be getting better but the opposite. But I have thought about it before. While on the metro, I've pictured someone getting on and having a bomb or a gun. I've thought about what I would do. Would I hide behind someone or would I be the one to protect someone else? Would I even be able to help the homeless man that was sleeping next to me? Or would I hide behind the woman that just gave me a dirty look? It's strange to get on the metro in such a big city. Millions of people take the metro every day. I have seen SO many people that I will never see again. I will never see those people again. We shared a 5 minute ride standing shoulder to shoulder, or in some more awkward rush hour situations, face to face. We share 5 minutes together and that's it. It's such a strange thing for me, coming from such a small town. But just because their life has little impact on mine, it does not mean that their life is not important. I look at the skinny Russian woman with expensive clothes, impossibly high heels, and stone cold face and I am amazed that God knows this woman even though I will never know her and loves this woman even though I don't. I am almost overwhelmed by the unknown that I come across here. I watch the old man slowly walk past the Starbucks window, glancing in for just a second. What is his story? Is he walking home to see his wife? What sorts of amazing stories does he have to tell that someone may never hear? Does he know that the Lord loves him? The young man standing by the street repeatedly checking his phone...is he waiting for someone? Is the girl he likes standing him up? Is he sad? Does HE know that the Lord loves him? I honestly want to know their stories. I want to know about their lives. Dozens of these people that I don't know died that morning. It's somewhat horrible that in today's world, a bombing that kills only dozens isn't that bad. Now thousands, that would have been bad. The news would not have moved on quite so quickly and the world would have grieved a little longer. But even then, life must go on, right? Tell that to the mother of a young man killed on the platform at 8:00 that morning. Why was he killed when he had nothing to do with the anger of the woman with a bomb strapped to her? Why was the woman so angry in the first place? I'm not going to pretend that I have the answer to these questions. I don't know why people think killing themselves and killing others will make a government change it's mind or policies. I don't understand.
Recently someone asked me why I decided live here and to come back next year. I couldn't really say why. We started talking about Russia in general. He said something like, there is no real hope here and he didn't see much hope in the future. I actually agreed with him at the time. Later, I was thinking about it and I couldn't disagree more. How could I say that a place has no hope?? How could I possibly know what the future holds? As dark and corrupt as Russia can appear at times, God is still in control. No matter who the President or Prime Minister may be, God is still in control. Proverbs 21:1 says that the heart of a king is in the hand of the Lord. God controls the king and controls that nation. Like the song by Chris Tomlin says, "You're the God of this city. You're the king of these people. You're the Lord of this nation." God is still at work in Russia. He is at work in the lives of the people that I walk past every day. He is at work in the life of the man sitting alone at the table next to me. The thought of this simply AMAZES me. Millions of people that God is working on. Millions of people that He loves and knows everything about. He knows when they sit and when they rise. He knit them in their mother's womb. They were all fearfully and wonderfully made each with their own specific purpose. (Psalm 139). Whether or not they love Him back or choose to acknowledge His existence, He loves them like no one else in their lives can ever love them. So as long as God is still God, there is always hope. I love God for that. I love God not because I'm told to or because I need some sort of made up comfort or made up sense of security. So why do I love Him? I love Him because He first loved me. I love Him because He loves the old man resting on his cane outside. I love Him because He loves the drunk man walking down the sidewalk whom everyone ignores. I love Him because He's real and I can feel Him. I love him because He loves you. That's why I love Him.

i've been avoiding you all...

For some strange reason I've been seriously avoiding my blog. No real reason other than I always feel like I have so much to say and it is difficult to sit down and say it all. There are 2 big topics that I would like to discuss here today. The first being my trip to Egypt. (the good news) The second being the bad news..the multiple bombings that have happened this week in Russia. Let start with the good news.

So I went to Egypt! It was absolutely amazing. For the weeks leading up to our Spring Break, there was a lot of confusion about whether we could even go or not. We heard from our school that foreign teachers would not be allowed out of the country and then let back in. So if we did go, we return and then be deported within three days. So...that's bad. I felt like the school wasn't being honest with us. There should be NO reason why we couldn't travel because we all have multi-entry visas. I started looking into it and asking around. A few of us contacted the US embassy (after my dad's advice) and they said that they would see what they could find out. After many unreturned phonecalls, the embassy told us that they had no idea why the school would say that. Finally, on the Wednesday before we were supposed to leave, some of us went to the president of the school to see if we could work this thing out. They said that they talked with Federal Migration Services and decided that we could go. I have no idea why they waited so long to tell us. We still don't really understand the reason behind it but we didn't really care...we were going to Egypt in 3 days!

Cairo was an absolute culture shock. It really was. It was surprisingly uncomfortable for me at first. I was used to blending in here in Moscow, where everyone leaves you alone. It was a little hard for me to adjust to the change in culture. Cairo is just as busy as Moscow...just a different kind of busy. It was the kind of busy that is chaotic and lively. Moscow's busy is structured and business-like. Once I adjusted, I was in love. I loved the city and I loved the busy. Things that we saw were: Coptic Cairo, The Citadel, The Pyramids, the History Museum, The Bazaar, The Nile, a beautiful park called Al Azhar Park and Erik Stapleton. For those of you who don't know Erik, he is a friend from my church back home. Erik is living in Cairo right now. Well not right now at this very second. I think he's somewhere is Israel right now. But he is studying there now and we had the opportunity to meet up to enjoy some Egyptian music. My friends and I found the MESP villa and got to watch some dancing and drumming. Then later that night we went with Erik to a jazz concert under a bridge on the Nile. There is a picture of us both by the Nile. The concert was so great. It was also a nice break from all the sightseeing that we had subjected ourselves to in the previous 48 hours. It was great to see someone from home and it actually made me a little homesick. But i'm fine now, don't worry. :)

Then we traveled to Dahab. This was amazing as well. We rented a small beach house right on the Red Sea. It was beautiful! Dahab is a really relaxed place where the people are very hospitable. The first night that we were there, we arranged for a car to come at midnight to take us to Mt. Sinai! We got there at about 2am and started climbing at about 2:30am. I, of course, was the straggler at the back of our pack of about 7 people. It was SO hard. Many thanks to my friend Rick for carrying my backpack. At one point I was so tired and frustrated that I wanted to cry. But I had to keep thinking...it will be worth it. And besides, Moses did it (multiple times) and he was like 90 or something! One conversation on the way up ended with the conclusion that Moses must have had some "mad glutes". Seriously guys. So...we made it to the top with time to spare before the sunrise. And I can't even explain the sunrise. It was gorgeous. My pictures don't do it justice. The climb down was also hard. My legs were so shaky and I was afraid that I was going to topple over and take some innocent Chinese tourist with me on my way down. I did fall but it wasn't quite so disasterous. I'm not sure exactly how I fell, just all of the sudden I was headed towards the ground in front of me. I had my camera in my hands so I just turned and plopped on my back and slid a little ways. A little embarrassing but not disasterous.

The rest of Dahab consisted of sun and wandering. Let me explain the wandering. So on our last day in Dahab we all decided to walk a ways down the coast to the sandy beach and finally go snorkeling. I thought it would be fun to rent a bike and ride it down the boardwalk. My friends went on as I rented my bike. I thought for sure that I would see them in a few minutes. So I hopped on the bike and never saw my friends. There was only one way to go to the beach and I never saw them. Turns out they stopped in a store at the exact time that I rode past. So I rode all the way to the end of the boardwalk and past it to the sandy beach. I waited and sat there and didn't know what to do. I didn't want them worrying about me so I decided to backtrack and maybe I would see them. This was a miserable failure. Backtracking meant riding into the strong Dahab-ian wind, on a sandy road with a bike whose chain kept slipping. I couldn't even ride the bike and ended up walking it most of the way back. I thought, "This is really the story of my life. Of course, I would be the one to think that renting a broken bike would be a good idea and then I would lose my friends on my last day of vacation. Great." I took the bike back and sat down at a cafe. I knew the man working there and he asked me where my friends were. He kept a lookout for me while I sat in the sun praying that my friends were having fun and not looking for me. I didn't want to ruin their last day just because we lost each other. So I didn't go snorkeling or swimming because I'm not so good with oceans and seas and I couldn't go alone. Besides, I didn't want my friends to come walking up after looking everywhere for me, and here I am, snorkeling away having a good ol' time. So I decided to go back to the house. As I walked, I thought of Charlie Brown. I thought of him walking, sadly with his head hanging like he does when he's lost his friends. I was Charlie Brown. But it didn't turn out bad. I finished my book, To Kill a Mockingbird, which was amazing. My friends also found me after my new friend at the cafe told them that I walked home. We had dinner that night at Ali Baba and packed our bags for Moscow.

Now here I am back in Moscow sitting at a Starbucks 4 metro stops from my apartment. The same metro system that was attacked by terrorists a few days ago and the same metro that I will get back onto to go to my doctor's appointment soon. I think my thoughts on this will have to wait until later. I don't have enough time right now. But I will say that life in Moscow carries on. Bad things happen but the world keeps turning and I must not live in fear of something that may or may not happen. Thanks for your time and thank you even more for your thoughts and prayers. Pray for Russia and it's people and for the Lord to be with us all.

If you would like to see all my Egypt pictures go here -> http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2035354&id=79801790&l=1d89bc6aea

knock on marble...

Ok, so I'm sitting here on my marble window sill, thinking about what I need to blog about. I don't really know what to update everyone on. So I guess I'm going to ramble if that's ok with you.
So, I've been back for over a month. Since then I have read 3 1/2 books. I finished The Wednesday Sisters, The Road, A Million Little Pieces, and am currently reading No Country For Old Men. The Wednesday Sisters was an alright book. It was a little too predictable and corny but it was still good. Now, The Road was an amazing book. I can't even say enough about it to express how much it impressed me and broke me heart. I think I feel in love with it and it broke my heart when it was over. :) It was SO well written and I would encourage anyone to go to Walmart right now and buy it for $6. My third literary endeavour was A Million Little Pieces. This book comes with a lot of controversy. Apparently, Oprah loved this book and had the author on the show. Then, it turns out that this "memior" was hardly a memior at all and most of the stuff in the book never happened. So then Oprah, being the sneeky devil that she is, brought the author back on her show and "raked him over the coals" and made him confess to all his lies! I read the book anyway and still was not very impressed. I guess it was a good description of what addiction and recovery would be like to endure, but if he never did all those things, then how would he know?? Where did all the emotion come from if he never really had to experience 6 weeks of terrifying and intense rehab in a clinic somewhere in Minnesota? But that's just what I think. SO, now I'm reading No Country For Old Men which is by Cormac McCarthy, the same author of The Road. It is just as good and well written. An interesting twist on the Western genre.
What else can I babble about? Oh, I recently went to an orphanage 4 hours outside of Moscow. It is an orphanage for children ages 8 years to 10th grade. I think. They live there and also go to school there. Most of them are "social" orphans which means they don't have parents because they were either taken away from them or their parents are in jail. Some of them where found in Moscow, living on the street or in the metro. We left at about 8am with 15 person van and a truck full of clothes and presents. Once we got there, we had a little time to hang out with the kids. They were a little shy at first and I didn't really know what to do. It's hard getting to know someone without a common language. So I tried as much as I could with the little Russian that I know. After lunch we had a huge Christmas/Birthday party. First we played games and then we had a huge dinner. But it wasn't really a dinner it was just tons of candy and cake and cookies. They loved it. It was hard when we had to leave because I felt like we had just started to warm up to each other. It will be great to go back and see familiar faces. It was a very humbling experience to be around children that have been through so much and yet they are still children. They still need love, they still love candy, they still can be happy with a small stuffed animal that most children would toss to the side.
Oh and in about a month from now, I'll be in sunny Egypt for Spring break!! I am so excited! It's going to be amazing and WARM. The plan is to fly to Cairo on the 13th of March. Then I will hopefully meet up with Erik Stapleton who is currently living in Cairo. I am planning on seeing the Pyramids of course and museums and all that stuff. I'm really just going to enjoy being in the sun which might be a bit of a shock to my system. :) Then on the 17th, we will travel to Dahab, Egypt. Here we will spend a few days swimming in the Red Sea and climbing Mt. Sinai! I think I'm most excited about being somewhere that is in the Bible. It might not be the exact place that the Lord parted the sea, or the exact place where Moses climbed to receive the 10 Commandments, but just to be in the place where God freed His chose people is going to be amazing.
School is good and the kids are good. :) I'm getting a little sick, though. The other day I thought, "I'm the only teacher who hasn't been sick yet...knock on wood." I guess knocking on marble just doesn't cut it. cause i'm sick now. Hopefully not for long. I'd rather not have to go to a Russian doctor so he can give me a stamped document saying that I do, in fact, have a cold.
P.S. can someone please send me some peanut butter??.....just kidding....kind of.

welcome back

So I am writing to you from Russia once again. I flew home for Christmas and am already back in the crazy city of Moscow. Being home was great. I left my apartment here in Moscow at 2am. I trudged through the snow and ice for almost a mile with my suitcase to catch my ride to the airport. My mom was very worried about me walking in the middle of the night with my suitcase, but I made it safely. I shared a ride with my friend Jeff whose flight was leaving at 7am. Later, I found this to be a very bad idea. I stayed awake all night to get to the airport at 4am, to be left by Jeff at 5am as he went through security, and then had to wait until 7am for my airline's desk to open, and then wait another 3 hours for my flight to leave at 10am. It was TORTURE. Ugh, I usually like being in airports but I was SO tired and just wanted to be in Minnesota. My exhaustion got the best of me when I was going through security. I had put my things on the xray machine thing. Then I had to go through the body scan (the same body scans that are in the news right now. My personal opinion is that airports should get them. Why not? They are fast, make us safer, and are way better then getting patted down.) But anyway, I was ready to do my body scan and the lady started saying something to me in Russian. I didn't know what she was saying! I was tired and crabby and thought, "Isn't this an international airport, and isn't this the international terminal? why don't you speak English?? Shouldn't these people speak English??!" Which may or may not to true...But that's what I thought. I just looked at her and said, "I - don't - speak - Russian!!" I was holding up the line all because this woman didn't speak English..haha. Ok...all because I couldn't understand Russian. Another passenger ended up telling me what she wanted and I proceeded to get scanned and headed to my gate where I had to wait 3 more hours.
My plan was to stay up all night and then fall asleep right when I got on the plane. My plan was to ultimately "beat" the jet lag. My plan failed miserably. When I got on the plane I decided to stay up until I ate lunch. So I ate but I couldn't fall asleep! Why? I have no idea. I should have been out right away. So I watched some movies and by the time we got to Houston, I had maybe dozed an hour or two. My next flight was delayed, making my next connection in Detriot a really close one. Once I got off the plane in Detriot I stopped at the desk for my next gate number and I heard, "Kristin Boyd, please come to gate A13 within the next 10 minutes for a timely departure." As I ran through the airport for the next 7 minutes, I pretended that I was on Amazing Race and I had to make it to this plane so that I could win the million! I made it just in time. I was all out of breath and red in the face but I made it. At about 11pm I made it to Minnesota. It was a relief and I slept all the way home.
My time home was great. I saw a lot of people and heard no Russia at all. Some highlights were: coffee time with my best friends, coffee time with my mom and sister, going to a hockey game with my brother (and seeing a brawl, you know the fight the everyone goes to the hockey game for, and all the players on the ice were put in the penalty box. 5 players in each box! I've never seen that), taking a crazy family photo, driving through a blizzard to Duluth, playing with Slinkies with Dexter, and celebrating Christmas with family. I was a nice break but it is also nice to be back. I feel like I will always be torn between two places and like I'm scattered throughout the world. So, I said goodbye to family at 7am on Thursday. Once through security, I had to wait a while for the plane to come in from Iowa. Once on the plane, we had to wait in line to be de-iced. That took a long time. But soon, I was on my way to Houston. Security did seem a little tighter since all the Christmas stuff that went on. Houston was really slow. I even got pulled aside and had to stand up against a wall while a dog sniffed my bag for drugs and bombs. Good thing I didn't bring any of mine...just kidding. I found my friend Julie, who happened to be on the same flight as me back to Russia. Then we boarded the plane and were on our way back to Mother Russia. The flight was not my best. I usually don't get sick but I did this time. I didn't have to throw up in front of anyone but I did in the tiny bathroom. It was not a fun flight. Once we got to the airport, we were welcomed by dozens of cameras and press people. I'm not sure who they were waiting for. We didn't stay to find out but I probably wouldn't have known them anyway. Once we found our driver, we got in the car and thought we would be home soon. That's what we thought. But never think in Russia. Your thoughts never turn out like what you thought they were going to be. When we left the airport, I saw that it was 2:37pm. At about 2:40, I started to feel sick again. I was trying to hard not to feel that way. Mind over matter, right? I tried praying about it, I tried thinking about school, I even tried thinking about what I was going to write in my blog. But it didn't help and I had to make the driver pull over. It didn't help that it was snowing really hard. So we pulled over and it was a false alarm. My stomach changed its mind. So we were on our way again. Traffic started to build up and I made sure my door was unlocked just in case I needed to lean out and puke. Just then, a car tries to sneak out in front of us. Our driver tried to stop but we ended up hitting the other car. Great, I thought. Actually it did help because I now had time to throw up and calm my stomach before we started to drive again. The Russian procedure for car accidents is as follows: once you've been hit or hit someone else, turn on the hazard lights and look to see what damage was caused. Do not move the cars, leave them in the middle of the street blocking everyone else so that the police can come and look at the scene of the accident. So then, you wait for the police to come. This can take a long time! Our accident happened around 3pm. The police came around 4:30. The driver filled out papers and then we drove to the police department so the driver could fill out more paperwork. It's so ineffecient. That's why traffic in Moscow is so horrible. People get in accidents and have to block the road for hours. So we left the airport at 2:37 and didn't get home until 7pm! So now, here I sit, back in my soviet apartment. A friend of mine just walked in and told us that he was pick-pocketed. "Welcome back," I can hear Russia quietly saying, "Welcome back."