Day Trip Cancelled

Our church had a baptism scheduled today in the forest near a river. Spencer and I got up and got dressed and were over at the church precisely at 7:45am. We waited along with the others for about a half an hour. I was curious as to why the bus was not already there but I just thought that the bus was late. Around 8:20 the rain started to come down pretty hard.

Around 8:30 Volodya called us all into the church for a meeting. He told us that he had been calling all evening to find a replacement vehicle because the bus we originally scheduled broke down. Late last night he found another vehicle. The driver arrived at the church at 7am and called Volodya to let him know he was there. At 7:30am Volodya went over to the church and the driver was not there. Volodya called to find out what had happened. He found out that our driver had a heart attack. He tried to find a replacement driver all morning with no luck.

So our trip was cancelled. Please pray for the driver and for those who were going to be baptised. Some of the young people have parents who don't want them attending church. Nathan says that there was a debate last night at youth group about obeying parents. How long is that supposed to last and does it apply to all situations? If some of these young people were to obey their parents they would not be in church.

Sometimes people can be superstitious. I pray that noone takes this as a sign that they are not supposed to get baptised and go to church.

Sharp Family Mailing Address

Lost marathon is over!

We finished season two last night. Tom and Nathan stayed awake to watch all the bonus material as well. We can hardly wait to see season three!

Spencer is over at Andrew's house. Tonight is Bill's birthday party but Tom and I couldn't make it. Today was a hard day for me. The weather is changing and when that happens my fibromyalgia acts up. Today the left side of my body was very achy. Tom said his knee hurt on Tuesday... aren't we a great pair? But, at least we can tell what the weather is going to do!

Nathan is at his youth group. He says that there are new people attending now. Which is good. I don't think Spencer will get involved with the youth until Nathan leaves. They try to give each other space when they can.

We got a phone call tonight asking us to attend a baptism in the forest tomorrow. We have to meet at church at 7:45am. It may be a little early for Tom and Nathan but I think Spencer and I will go. It would be good to get pictures and be part of the fellowship.

Lost Marathon Season Two

Last night we had a marathon of watching LOST. We didn't finish all the discs yet. It was hard to go to bed knowing that we were only on episode 14 and still had 10 left to go!

We all went to bed around 2am last night and this morning Lena was here right on time at 10 am. We were all awake and worked with her!




P.S. Happy Birthday Bill!

There is a first time for everything!

While we were in Ukraine, it was common to see a grandfather (dedushka) pushing a child in a stroller. After living in Russia for 17 months, we finally saw a grandfather out with a little one. That doesn’t mean it never happens here. It just means we saw it for the first time today. When asking Russians about this we have gotten different answers. “Maybe the grandfather is an alcoholic”, “maybe the grandfather is dead” and so on. It was interesting that in Ukraine the men seemed to live longer there than they do here. On a daily basis, older men are not as visible here as older women are.

The little guy who was out with his gandpa today looked very happy. And grandpa appeared to be very patient with this little one.

Ice cream

When we were out on Saturday we saw at least 6 ice cream stands along the street we were on.

Here in Russia one of the beliefs about ice cream is that if you eat it when it is cold outside it will make you sick.

Saturday was still warm enough that noone seemed to be worried about getting a sore throat from eating it!

City Day!

Spencer and I went strolling down on Krasnaya Street on Saturday. We enjoyed the sights and sounds of the day. Many people were out eating ice cream, watching the concerts in the parks, and shooting off fireworks.

Tom had his AA meeting on Saturday and I baked a cake for him so that he could celebrate his 19th year of being sober. I used a box cakemix that we had on hand from America and Tom said that one woman was insistent about getting my recipe! I was glad that it was well received... sometimes Russians don't like cake if it is too sweet!

Marilyn Murray celebrates her 70th birthday!

Marilyn is here to teach level two of her training. She had just finished up teaching at a university in Moscow and is here in Krasnodar for the next two weeks.

Joy put together a great party for her consisting of her teaching team here in Krasnodar and a few fortunate friends (like us!)


We had food, fun and great fellowship. It was exciting to hear Marilyn speak of all the work she has been doing and of her future plans.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could bottle her energy!

You can see more of her party on the photo blog starting here:
http://sharpmomphotos.blogspot.com/2006/09/joys-neighbor-spent-week-making-this.html

Christmas List

Last year I just did this list in the sidebar of the blog. This year I thought it would be nice to spice it up a bit...

We have three cake mixes left and half a container of vanilla frosting. We like vanilla frosting on cinnamon rolls... yum!

We have found peanut butter here and of course we could always use more poptarts and popcorn! Looks like I forgot to add poptarts and popcorn to the list... oh well!

Nathan and Spencer have other ideas about what should be on this list but Tom and I reminded them that this was for items we cannot find here in Russia and it won't be a waste of anyone's money if we get more than one of each item... it will get used!

blame the French!

Hard, rough, uneven sidewalks...

cause us to have to either buy new shoes or get them repaired. I have several pairs of shoes that need to have the heel repaired and Spencer needs to have the sole repaired on his tennis shoes. We started with one pair of my shoes.

When I showed up at the little kiosk (pictured here) to give the guy there my shoes, well, um, they were dirty on the soles from the last muddy day I wore them and lost the heel of one shoe. At first he was not going to accept them because they were dirty. I apologised and said I didn't realize that they were so dirty. He wrote out a claim ticket, I paid and then left.

At five o'clock I went back to pick up my shoes and he was there smiling! I thanked him for the shoes and he said "in French it is Au Revoir right?" choosing not to correct his thinking that I am from France (I get that a lot) I just smiled and told him he was correct and said "Au Revoir" in return and left. When I got home and told Tom what had just happened he said "that's great! Then he can think that the French have dirty shoes and not Americans!"

so there you go... blame the French!

a grip on reality

Joys of the big city...crowded buses, expensive taxi’s, fast moving cars on the streets and people everywhere you look. This is true of many large cities in the world. In Kiev, my phone was stolen on a very crowded marshutka. (a public van) It was so crowded on the ride that day that people who were standing nearest the door had to get out of the van so others behind them could get off if they needed too. Most of the riders were standing because there were not enough seats for everyone.

I ran errands that day with Spencer. We were still trying to get everything sorted out with our visas. When we finally got back to the boat, I was going to text message Tim and Joy to let them know we needed additional funds to cover the new cost of the visas. That was when I discovered the phone was gone. I honestly did not want to believe that the phone was stolen. I believed that I had lost it. The rest of the time we were in Kiev, I kept searching various places in our room. I just knew that a monster inside the couch had eaten it or something.

Today I have to deal with the fact that it was indeed stolen. Lena told me that she heard from Judi H. about my phone. She decided to call it anyway. A man answered. She asked for me. He told here I was not available. This makes it official. The couch monster I was accusing didn’t eat it. I didn’t lose it in our room. It was swiped from my pocket on the marshutka.

Lena asked me if I was sad. I said yes. I felt out of touch with the world around me. I couldn’t send anyone a text message or call to chat. I missed Judi, Lena, Erin and Joanie. These are the people I usually text message or talk to on the phone. I still cannot communicate with people unless I borrow a phone from Spencer, Tom or Nathan. Lena noticed that I was calling her from Nathan’s phone. She asked me if I was going to get a new one. I am. Right now, our passports are with Madina. She is getting us registered again in the city. Without a passport, I cannot get a new phone. Everything sold in Russia has to be registered. Even the small alarm clock Tom purchased last year is registered!

pictures are up!

You will have to check out my photo blog to see our memories from our trip. I think this photo is self explanatory... Spencer is being Spencer and Nathan is spying on me!

We all returned to school today. Tom and I were unable to attend the seminar that was next on our schedule. So we trooped off the school! Our school day started with a meeting of the second year students and the founder. It was good to see Diane again. We attended the hour and a half meeting... Ran over to the supermarket to get some food and got to class on time at 1:30.

This weekend is the 213th anniversary of the city. All over the city repair work is being done to pretty up the place for the weekend. Next month the Kuban Cossack Choir will be performing again and this is their 195th anniversary. I don't know if Nathan and Tom will go to the concert but Spencer and I are always ready for a show!

Before school began I got a call from Pastor Vadim at our church and he wanted to borrow our copy of the church video. I made arrangements to leave it at Olya's house. She is home with 3 week old Yana and 2 year old Ira. Spencer and I went down to her apartment and saw Yana. She has one of the most beautiful faces I have ever seen. I saw her smile and I don't believe it was gas. I was in a hurry so I didn't get photos. Yana is a brunette and her older sister is a fiery redhead!

here they come!

I took this photo as we were waiting for our taxi to the train station. This is the front of our apartment building. We didn't have much luggage... thank goodness there was a washing machine on the boat!

home at last!

I took this photo on the way to Kiev. This is the inside of a Russian train. After just completing a 24 hour journey we are all glad to be home! Thanks for your prayers.

On the road again…

As we rode the train to Kiev from Krasnodar several vendors got on and off the train to sell their wares on the different cars. We saw people selling:

Ice cream (two different women)
Tools (one man was selling a complete drill set)
Coloring Books
Fried Pies (meat or potato)
Magazines
Newspapers
Hot Water
DVD’s and VHS videos
Art supplies

We board the train in Kiev this evening at 11 pm and it will take 24 hours for us to reach Krasnodar. It will be fun to take note of who boards the train this time… and what they will have to offer. The guys joked about someone coming through selling pets, cars or houses. The possibilities do seem endless!

where should we go?

This is our final day to sightsee and enjoy the beauty of Kiev. Spencer and I are having a hard time deciding where to go. There is still so much to see!

Tom is on the boat studying his Russian lessons that he has not had time to look at for the past two weeks. He and Nathan are staying on the boat today to enjoy the quiet provided by Spencer and me leaving!

delayed until sunday...

Our new visas are dated for the 17th of September so we cannot enter Russia until that date.

We had to go to the train station and stand in one line to wait for information on where to change tickets... then a second line to get a refund for the old tickets and a third line to purchase new. We lost about 12 per ticket in the refund and the new tickets were about 10 dollars more per ticket. So we came out okay.


We leave here now on Sunday at 11 pm and get to Krasnodar shortly after midnight on Monday. Or you could say Tuesday morning!

That is life... always adjusting and redjusting!

Family Night

I found this photo on the internet... it is a path not far from the boat we are staying on.

Tom is speaking at tonight's family night service. So he is back on the boat preparing (taking a nap). Nathan, Spencer and I are venturing out to see a few more sights beofre we leave.

Last night we had dinner again with Sharon, Bayassa and his wife Miga. This time Jillian joined us as well. Bayassa and Miga cooked so we had Mongolian food. They made three types of little fried pies that had meat, veggies or just mashed potatos inside. Bayassa and Miga say that Mongolian Bar-b-que is an American thing. There is a new restaurant that opened up in their town that sells Mongolian Bar-b-que and it is run by an American.

Jillian asked what our favorite food was that we had been served by the students. I said it was difficult to answer that question because we have had such different meals. We have eaten, Mongolian, Korean, Ukrainian, Russian and American (one group fed us pizza). How do you compare and choose which is the best?

I can answer which dessert has been the best... vanilla ice cream and fresh fruit for topping. yummm! That was Sharon's contribution to our mongolian dinner!

People watching??

Going for a stroll on Kreshatik Boulevard is always an interesting experience. Languages from all over the world can be heard. English is spoken with many different accents and for us as English speakers that seems to be the language we hear the loudest. Are English speakers actually louder than speakers from other countries? It is hard to say. Americans seem to be the loudest to our ears. We can spot them in a crowd anywhere.

Yesterday Spencer and I decided to sit down on a park bench and rest. We got into watching the crowd as they milled by. People were eating icecream, smoking, laughing and talking. We sat down near three guys with monkeys on their shoulders. They were getting people to stop and have a photo taken with a monkey for a fee. One man seemed to be trying to pick up girls with his monkey. At one point we saw the monkey pat himself all over as if to look through his pockets and then pull a cigarette out of his diaper. Who would want a cigarette so bad that they would accept one from a monkey's diaper? Well this young lady did.

People watching.... interesting!

Postcards

We have several postcards addressed and today we need to go out and find a postoffice. Last year our trip to a Ukrainian post office was pleasant. Much nicer than our experiences in Russian post offices. This year the difference is that many of the official forms and offices around here have switched over from using Russian on all documents to using Ukrainian. Unfortunately, we cannot read Ukrainian.

As we listen to TV programs we are realizing that they are not using Russian words we have not learned yet. They are speaking in Ukrainian. We tried to watch a movie that was originally in English... you could hear it in the background. And then it was dubbed into Russian. And then it had subtitles in Ukrainian. We gave up because it was too confusing!

Yesterday, felt like such a somber day. Spencer and I went down to the conference room after everyone had cleared out and we figured out how to getthe big screen TV on CNN. We watched the memorial services that were held around the world. Then we tuned in to BBC to watch news.

Right now we are watching TV and we can see Oprah. Normally, this would excite me since this is a program I watched faithfully since it's inception. However, since it is dubbed into Ukrainian we cannot really enjoy it! Oprah speaking Ukrainian... I wonder what she thinks of someone else's voice coming out of her mouth!