snow days

School was canceled for Monday afternoon, Tuesday and Wednesday. It is now Thursday noon and I have to go back to class. It's okay. The break was nice, though. There was a lot of hanging out, slowly driving to each others' houses, watching TV shows and movies, etc. Pretty low-key altogether. The only real sad part was when RUF got canceled on Wednesday night. But then someone had the idea to plan a hymn-sing. Around 6:30 last night the phones started ringing and by 8:30 we had thirty or more people in our house, singing hymns.

It was wonderful. We were crammed in the living room, we only had some of the words printed out, we didn't all know each other, it was icy outside. We passed around cookies, Katie called out the words, and we prayed and sang hymns together. I am sad there was no RUF, but that was the best replacement I've been to. Welcoming fellow Christians whom I love into my house to worship together is an awesome thing. I was so encouraged, and just so happy to be here. To be back.

Some photos.
Two guitars and a mandolin:
Some of the group, before Maggie moved and before some people came. I couldn't really get everyone in the shot:
People:
Conversation:

second of the year

I fell victim to the Come Home From Study Abroad and Find that Having a Life Again Means No Time for Blogging curse. Have you noticed that one? It is a very real danger. In case you have been holding your breath, you may now exhale when you read that I made it back to Norman with no major problems. I have been here for a couple weeks now and am enjoying myself. Last night was RUF, for which when I tried in my head to come up with an adjective, all I could think of was a Russian one. It was...uh...great. That's an okay translation for what I had in mind.

It has been good to come back and see church friends and RUF friends again. I miss my Russian church, but it is nice to hear English at church again. Living with the RUF intern has meant lots of people at our house a lot, which is great. It is good to catch up with people and slowly meet all the new people that have shown up in the last few months. So, it is one new roommate and one old, a new living location and a new bedroom color (we painted. My room is chocolate brown. It is delicious), a new semester and the same community. I am thankful to be back.

I just realized I have been using lots of bland adjectives: great, nice, good, thankful. Lame. I'll pretend it was the time in Russia which deadened my English capabilities. Or I'll just stop talking and leave you with some photos.

Last view of the fam, after boarding the train. My dad loves that hat. I may not see the two on the left for a full year:
Last view of the chilly St Petersburg airport, at 6am:
Sunrise in Nalchik:
Nalchik horizon:
The best family photo attempt. We used a self-timer. Isaac is cuter than that, I promise, when he opens his eyes.

first of the year

Sixty-eight posts in 2007; 101 in 2008.
One in 2009, so far.
It is Saturday night. I am battling, through sheer force of will, the family stomach flu that has been circulating for the last week and a half (Russian has a word for one and a half that is really convenient). It involves feeling sick, puking, etc. I have succeeded in feeling sick today, but haven't barfed. In fact, I haven't thrown up in ten years, so I'm not looking to break the trend. But this comes at an inconvenient time.

The New Year celebration was pretty underwhelming. Here in the former USSR people set off fireworks, and in Kazakhstan it was pretty huge. The celebrations were somewhat disappointingly subdued here, but that's okay.

Anyway, on Monday I leave here to embark on my six-day journey. Here is the run-down: leave around noon, take a van to a nearby city. There I get on a train to Saint Petersburg. I arrive FORTY SIX hours later, Wednesday noon. Some friends from church are picking me up at the station, and I fly out at 6 the next morning. This may include staying the night at the airport. I take three planes to get to Nashville, where I get on a shuttle that takes me to Monteagle, TN. There I am picked up and driven ten minutes to Sewanee. A few hours later the brother flies in also. We go to bed at 2 am, spend the next jet-lagged day hanging around Sewanee or exploring Nashville, and I get up next Saturday morning and make the 12-hour drive to Norman, OK, at which point I am HOME!

It is a marathon. I'm not looking forward to it a whole lot. The biggest problem in being bored, not having a cell phone, and being on a train with a disgusting bathroom for two days.

But just over a week from right now I will be pulling into Norman, and it will be over.