post from eastern europe...

I have arrived! After a very long 24-hour period of travel, at 4 airports and on 3 flights, I made my way to Minsk. The city greeted me with green grass and blue skies filled with puffy white clouds. I was told this was the prettiest day all week. I was grateful for the warm welcome. My friends picked me up from the airport. Though exhausted, I was not yet sleepy. My adrenaline was still flowing and kept me alert for a long while. As I sat in this van, driving to the city center (tsentr gorada), talking with friends that I had not seen in a long time, watching the scenery fly by… there was still unbelief that I had arrived! The surreality of the moment has not left me, in a way. My first stop was to meet my roommate, Yulia, and have her take me to our temporary living. The apartment we are in is a 4 room flat that is furnished by an American and Australian couple in Minsk. We can stay here a little while, but it will not be our permanent arrangement. In fact, this place is much nicer than my future living. I will not have so many American appliances and furniture. For now, it is a nice way to transition to Belarussian living. The flat is on the sixth floor of an apartment building, and I am surrounded by many other buildings. I feel as though I am in a suburb of the city, since I cannot see the city’s downtown from here. Did I also mention that the building is purple?
My first night here, I went to the grocery store, their equivalent of a supermarket even though it is still small by American standards. I followed around as my roommate picked out some things to eat. I was not in a position to really know how to make decisions, so I was a lemming for the evening. Back at the flat, there were four of us and we fixed a meal that was pretty American if you asked me – a veggie stir fry. Dinner was followed by chai, of course, and some tasty cookies. Later I went with Yulia to her parents’ house, met her mom, and helped her get stuff to bring back to our place. It was late, after 11:30pm, when we finally got off the bus and came home.
The first morning here, I woke up and thought, where am I? I’m not in KY…. I’m not in AL… I’m not on a plane…. And then I remembered. Oh yea…. I’m in Belarus! …. There was joy at the thought. “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” –Neh. 8:10.
Wednesday I had to go to the university to get things organized. I met Andrei there. Yulia showed me how to navigate the bus system and the metro. Luckily, I remembered enough from last fall to know how to get to my university. Luckily I can also read signs in Russian, even if I don’t know what they mean. It took about 30 minutes to arrive at my university from this flat – 3 stops on a bus, 6 stops on the metro, switch lines, then 1 more stop on the metro. Lastly I only had to walk 2 blocks. The afternoon was really productive. At 1pm, we met up with Krista, another American girl studying at my same university. I will be in her language class, so that is a huge relief to have another American girl who can show me the ropes. Her and Andrei helped me immensely as I filled out paperwork and talked with the university officials. Andrei and I had to get on the metro and deposit my tuition in a bank. Without him, I don’t think I would have ever found this bank. Even Andrei had trouble figuring out where to go. Then we go back to the university. Then I had to get pictures taken. So we go across the street and have my picture taken. Then I get my student ID filled out and ready for approval. Then I have to request admission from the dean… I do so by writing a form letter in Russian. The woman helping me complimented me on my (Russian) handwriting…. (HAHAHA…. Are you laughing Karen???)
After this we are escorted to a different building where I have to hand in my passport and paperwork to get a multiple entry visa – hooray! In the meantime, I have a piece of paper that acts as my registration with the university while my new visa is in process and I am without a passport. It was a very productive day. Afterwards, I was famished with hunger. Andrei and I met up with Natasha at a Slavic restaurant called Lido that I had been to before. We enjoyed lunch and then they helped me buy shampoo and food at the rinock (market). It was getting late but I was not looking forward to going back to my flat – I was enjoying the company so much! - so Natasha invited me over for chai. I saw her place, and we talked for at least an hour… finally my eyes were getting tired and my body was struggling to stay awake… so I left. It was a good time to leave, at sundown, but not yet dark. I found my way on the metro and the bus back to my flat… phew! Long day!
Thursday rolled around. I was going to be by myself the whole day. I had to go to the university to pay more money for my visa and to pick up my student ID. First I had to exchange money. I went to the same place I went with Yulia the first day, but it was 9:40am… and they did not open until 10:30am. I was at a loss of what to do. I walked around the area, and found another bank… it also was not open until 10:30am. Then I walked outside for a bit. But it was raining and I was just getting wet. So I took refuge again inside the market place where the currency exchange was. I decided to wait. I knew if I got on the metro, went to my university, I would have a good chance of finding another place to exchange money nearby…. But I was too nervous…. Afraid that I would not be able to find a place. 10:30am finally rolled around… and I exchanged my money. Back to the metro…
I arrived at the university and had no problems. I even picked up my ID and started to learn my way around the building. I finished up everything by 12:30, and went home. I had the afternoon to myself, so I had some lunch, watched a movie, and did some reading. I attempted again to figure out the internet and unfortunately the computer here and my laptop are unable to connect to the internet. This is frustrating because there are many emails I need to look at and respond to. So instead I type this on my laptop and will try to send it from someone else’s computer. These are the early struggles of living here, but if internet connection is my only trouble here, than I have it good when you think about it… but I know my struggles are just about to begin. I was reminded that I need to enjoy this down time by myself, not having things to run around and do. I spent some time reading the beginning of Isaiah and journaling. I talked for an hour on the phone to my friends Andrei and Lyosha and made plans for Friday and Sunday. Then I watched Pride & Prejudice with Yulia because she loves that movie, as do I, and I had brought it with me. I got to explain some of the jokes to her… but I was immensely impressed that she could follow that fast talking British accent through the whole thing and only had to ask me about maybe 5 things.
Saturday I have no plans again, but perhaps Yulia and I will start looking for a flat together. This morning I made another big hurdle: I did the grocery shopping by myself. I opted to walk home rather than take the bus from the metro station. Then I grabbed a canvas grocery bag and my iPod and trekked the block and a half to the market. I slowly went up and down each aisle, looking at the selection. I picked up some basics: pasta, soup mixes (looks very similar to ramen), frozen veggies, some white French loaf type bread, caramel tea, cookies for the tea, yogurt made in Russia, fruit juices made in Latvia, Lays sour cream and onion potato chips, and a bottled water. I think I did pretty good considering I can’t read most of the labels yet… but I managed thanks to the occasional English and the pictures on the labels.
It is times like these that I can’t imagine what it would be like to be illiterate. It would be a huge disability. It is hard enough for me as it is. But I am learning new phrases, some because I make mistakes. I learned that Vlashna means: it is humid. But Vashna means: it is important. I also learned that Strashna means: scary. But leave out the h sound and say Strasna and it means: passionate. When I was at the university I learned that Posh-lee means: let’s go. As I read signs and consult my phrase book I pick up a few more things. I will be excited for the day that I start to dream and write in Russian. That will be a huge breakthrough for me. I am already talking in jilted English over here. I don’t know if it’s because I am trying to talk as the Belarussians talk in English so they will understand me, or if they are influencing my own way of talking… maybe it’s both. But I am dropping the articles as I talk and it’s kind of funny. (There are no articles in Russian.) I wish someone could just tape record me when I’m not paying attention…. I think even after 3 days my English would sound a lot different. Typing, however, I think is separate from speaking. For now, I feel like my writing is pretty normal. Maybe over time this blog will sound more and more like a foreigner talking… 
Now you have a nice picture of my first few days. Don’t worry: I won’t drone on about the mundanities (did I just make up a word?) of life here in every post. But now you have a picture of how things are. I was told before I came… if I accomplish 1 thing a day, I have had a good day! Things take longer to do over here, partly because of getting around by public transportation, partly because I’m a foreigner, and partly because it’s just cultural. So, I feel good to have gone to the grocery today, even if that is all. I feel REALLY good to have done almost all of my university preparations already. I will start classes on Monday. Here is one problem: the class I am joining started in July. I will be 1-2 months behind. YIKES. I may be lost, but I will work hard. This is just how things are. I was told I could come at any time, and so I thought classes would begin in September. Well… there is a new beginner class in September, but it will only last for 4-6 weeks… and then I would have no class to attend. So it is better to go ahead and join this beginner’s class now… and hope and pray to do well. The other hurdle: the teacher speaks very little English… this will be… very interesting. I know I have other classmates from Japan, Nigeria and Austria, because I met them in the offices over the past few days. We’ll see…
To be continued…

time keeps on slipping...

time feels like it just keeps on slipping away... I am on a bit of a countdown. in almost exactly 1 week, I will be beginning a new journey... heading overseas, studying Russian, meeting new people, living in a new culture... Before embarking on a trip, there is this element of surreality. Unable to grasp the pending actuality of being in a new place and seeing new things... I felt this while sitting on a plane headed to Costa Rica back in 2000. It was one of my first international travel experiences. Though I was on the plane, virtually en route, I couldn't grasp at that moment what standing on Costa Rican soil would be like. Likewise, I know about the country I am going to. I have been there before. I have walked along the downtown streets, rode on the metro, toured universities, taken pictures... but to live there for 1, 2 years?? I cannot grasp this pending reality. There is nervousness and there is excitement. There is joy and apprehension. But no matter what, there is always one constant factor: the Lord is with me wherever I go.

one of those songs that seemed like it was written for me, right now.

January 1, I’ve got a lot of things on my mind
I’m looking at my body through a new spy satellite
Try to lift a finger, but I don’t think I can make the call
So tell me if I move, ‘cause I don’t feel anything at all

So carry me
I’m just a dead man
Lying on the carpet
Can’t find a heartbeat
Make me breathe
I want to be a new man
Tired of the old one
Out with the old plan

I woke up from a dream about an empty funeral
But it was better than the party full of people I didn’t really know
They’ve got hearts to break and burn
Dirty hands to feel the earth
There’s something in my veins
But I can’t seem to make it work…won’t work

So carry me
I’m just a dead man
Lying on the carpet
Can’t find a heartbeat
Make me breathe
I want to be a new man
Tired of the old one
Out with the old plan

Can you find a beat inside of me?
Any pulse?
Getting worse?
Any pulse?
Getting worse?
Inside of me, can you find a beat?

So carry me
I’m just a dead man
Lying on the carpet
Can’t find a heartbeat
Make me breathe
I want to be a new man
Tired of the old one
Out with the old plan

- Jars Of Clay - Dead Man (Carry Me)
From the album Good Monsters

true geekhood.

Come on everyone.... take the GEEK test!
My results:
27.21893% - Total Geek
+ Geekish Tendencies................................≥09%
++ Geek.............................................≥15%
+++ Total Geek......................................≥25%
++++ Major Geek.....................................≥35%
+++++ Super Geek....................................≥45%
++++++ Extreme Geek.................................≥55%
+++++++ Geek God....................................≥65%
+++++++! Dysfunctional Geek.........................≥75%

I'm sure at least one or two of my friends could get over 65%... ;) Take the test and put your score in the comments.

in honor of hawaiian shirt day at the office....

Bob Slydell: You see, what we're trying to do is get a feeling for how people spend their time at work so if you would, would you walk us through a typical day, for you?
Peter Gibbons: Yeah.
Bob Slydell: Great.
Peter Gibbons: Well, I generally come in at least fifteen minutes late, ah, I use the side door - that way Lumbergh can't see me, heh - after that I sorta space out for an hour.
Bob Porter: Da-uh? Space out?
Peter Gibbons: Yeah, I just stare at my desk, but it looks like I'm working. I do that for probably another hour after lunch too, I'd say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bob Slydell: I'd like to move us right to Peter Gibbons. We had a chance to meet this young man, and boy that's just a straight shooter with upper management written all over him.
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Ironies abound.

I'm definitely watching Office Space sometime in the near future...

the deed is done.

I've handed in my 2 weeks notice at my employer. I will be leaving shortly... depending on their needs, my last day will be either July 28th or August 2nd.

Three cheers for the end of a vocationally long 14 months, the beginning of a new phase, and freedom (in many of its forms).

"It is for freedom that Christ has set you free..." - Galatians 5:1

God is good! Support raising continues... a struggle though it may be.

Until next time, as they say in Russian, "Paka!"

2447

I was the 2447 person to finish the Bluegrass 10K. I tied with a 10 year old girl. That makes you feel good, doesn't it? ::cough, cough::

I will say this: I achieved my goal! I was not aiming for speed or running against the clock... I was aiming for endurance and running against myself. It was kind of a solitary affair, which is ironic, considering I was surrounded by roughly 3,200 other people. But I drove myself to the race, leaving a quiet, sleepy house behind. I arrived and walked to the starting line by myself. I don't think I said a single word to anyone for at least 2 hours. The whole race, I was by myself. I saw 1 person I knew: my friend Rachel was calling out times at the 2nd mile marker. I caught her eye and waved, but ran on. I didn't stop to walk once. I kept a very slow pace for running. I was overly cautious in the first mile and it took me over 14 minutes. My average pace was around 12.5 minutes overall. I think miles 3 and 4 were the worst: a lot of uphill running, and for the first time, I experienced leg muscle fatigue. Usually it's just the breathing that takes me out... this time, breathing was ok, but the muscles were starting to get to me. They kindly kept fairly silent until the second day after the race, and then they started screaming at me. I am incredibly glad that I did it, and hope I'll be able to participate in a slightly shorter Midsummer Night's Run.

Then it was sort of anticlimactic. You finish, surrounded by people, but you crossed the finish line on your own. No friends or fellow running friends to greet or high five. So I got a banana, an orange, some water, and sat on a grassy knoll outside the courthouse downtown, and stretched. After 15 minutes, I got up, got in my car, and drove home. That was that.

However, props to my roommate Jessica who made a sign cheering me on and drove downtown to show it off... only problem: neither of us saw the other. I didn't find out until I got home, but she's an awesome friend to be so thoughtful and such an encouragement!

weird associations.

As I was driving to and from the wedding in MI last weekend, I passed this ginormous church with an even more ginormous statue out front:



I was not a particular fan of this statue. I'm still trying to figure out why - maybe it's my latent frustration and/or weakness in not being able to understand the motive or purpose for this, or judging the stewardship of their resources as poor or unwise. And maybe I need to get over that. Or maybe it's just because it reminded me of this statue:



Somehow, imagining Christ as a buried giant in mid scream is a bit disconcerting... and yet I believe there are more similarities here than we realize, if we just think of Christ at a different point in his life... but obviously the former statue is much more appealing to the masses, since after all, Christianity and religion is meant to comfort and not confront...

photos soon

Wedding was superb: beautiful and fun. Photos to follow...

You know what else was superb?? Nick Garklavs giving me 4 cds of mixed retro/80s music. My drive home from MI had spectacular accompaniment... Thanks, bearded mountain man! ;) or lumber jack man... or colonial man.... or... :) This 80s dance party is going to HAPPEN in a happenin' way.

"That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
-2 Corinthians 12:10

working 2 jobs.

I am learning what it’s like to work two jobs. In a nutshell, it’s madness.

In the midst of the insanity, I find that I have to spend time in completely non-work-related outlets. However, the irony is of course that these things require additional time to an already bursting stressful schedule. Last night, I regained some sanity by having a coffee break with Lauren to discuss the end of Appointment in Samarra and running for 5 miles. This took up about 3 hours of my evening, so naturally, it was past midnight before I went to sleep. But of course it was worth it. Coffee breaks with Lauren are the highlight of my weeknights. Running is a recent addition to my life. I must say, I am quite proud of myself for completing a 5 mile run. Previous to this, the most I ran at a time was 2 miles, and I was huffing it just to do it. But last night I just pushed on through, in what I hope was a great gear up for the Bluegrass 10K race that I will participate in at 8am on the 4th of July. :)

I am grateful that I am leaving on vacation in about half an hour. I will be trekking up to Michigan to see many treasured friends and join in the celebration of the wedding of MJ and LT. I will really enjoy my time there, but I also know that this uber-important second job will be weighing on me… and the reality sets in: I will have to work on my vacation. *Sigh.*

I am learning some other things too. I am learning that a big component of exercise is psychological – mastery of mind over body. I am learning that not all light beers are completely terrible. I am learning that poison ivy on days 3 and 4 is a lot worse than on days 1 and 2. I am learning that schedules are nice guidelines, but I can’t hold myself to it and more often than not, it gets tossed out the window. I am learning that I am a screw up and weak… that I am no good, but that God is good, and I am learning that that will be enough. I’m also learning not to trust Blogger with my blog posts, and will revert to typing them in Word beforehand… I am also learning that Firefox and Camino are way superior to IE.

the week's update.

My letter of invitation to study at the Minsk Linguistics University was mailed on June 2nd. I am now waiting for its - hopefully - safe arrival into my mailbox in the next 1-2 weeks. This is my CRUNCH TIME for support raising. As you see, I'm about halfway on my one time support, and only a fifth of the way with pledges. Hence, the phone calls... thus, I appreciate any prayer support offered up for me this week. I'm feeling a bit chaotic. Usually you'd describe your schedule or home as "chaotic," but no, the chaos is me. I meant what I typed. :)

Happy birthday to my friend Les. I didn't go to sleep until 2:30am thanks to a birthday related "prank" of sorts for the occasion. Heh... Ahh, the days of pranking back in college... many stories I could share, so inquire within if interested. :)

I am going to have an 80s dance party soon. I was more of a kid of the 90s then the 80s... I mean, how many 8 year olds really listen to the radio and buy music?? But either way... the early 90s sort of meld with a lot of the 80s stuff. SO... SURVEY TIME!! What are some of your favorite songs from the 80s and early 90s? The only artists I can recall listening to are MC Hammer, Paula Abdul, Tiffany, Vanilla Ice, NKOTB, Ace of Base, Weird Al, and a bunch of country that I got into thanks to a few of my Alabama relatives.... and most of those are probably 90s and not 80s. So I'm looking for your ideas.

Reason #29 why it's better to be married:
You are less likely to oversleep...

weekend recap

I shouldn't be writing this. I have two projects to work on at my day job, and well, they are both getting so frickin' tedious that I needed to take a candy bar and blogger break. :) My new boss also started work today, which has made work a bit more busy than usual. He's from Venezuela, speaks 5 languages (Spanish, Italian, German, French, English), and has lived in places like Munich, Milan, Vienna, NYC, Miami... and now he's moving to northern Kentucky... I hope he likes it.

My weekend was fantastic. I help throw a block party Friday night for a bunch of kiddos and neighbors. We had dogs, hotdogs, and water balloons among other fun stuff. Leo had a fantastic time, and made a few friends, like with this guy named Joseph.




Saturday, big day!, I turned 24. Birthdays are just days. But this was one great day. I started it off by going for a jog with my friend Katie. She's a great friend and we had a great time.



She treated me to breakfast at Great Harvest. Simple, but so good. The owners of the one we went to are Christians, and they are super generous. They freely give you massive slices of bread - your choice of maybe 5 or 6 kinds - that you can slather up with honey or butter. MMMM. Then you get a cup of jo, and you're ready to go. Their house blend is excellent, for all you locals. After breakfast, I met up with mi madre, who kindly took me shopping to buy me clothes. I had a couple great finds - like a cheap kelly green sleeveless boatneck shirt and a calf length denim skirt. Super cute. We met up with mi padre to have lunch at Abuelos, the newest mexican place in town. Their salsa is HOT, their food is a lot of bang for your buck, and they're the only place in town that features Dos Equis beer on tap, which I naturally indulged in. I had my favorite cake made by my mom, Boston Cream Pie. It's heavenly, my friends.


That night, I met up with a lot of great friends for dinner outside at Cheapside downtown, swing dancing on Main Street, and beer and floats back at my place for the rest of the evening.





Among these friends were the SUPER Ferrell Bros. They drove from Cincy just for the occasion of my birthday. I have some pretty swell friends, don't ya think?

It doesn't get much better than this, really. Good food, fun, fellowship, friends, and of course, dancing.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn speaks

Today it is 06.06.06.

I just finished reading Warning to the West, a series of lectures that Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn gave in the U.S. and Britain after his exile from the Soviet Union. He speaks of Communism, the suffering of Russian and Eastern European peoples, and the danger that the West faces in growing weak and complacent in the face of the rising nuclear power of Russia, a power that seeks supremacy over the West. (Though the Soviet Union has dissolved, I would say its values and ideologies are still very much alive in Eastern Europe.) Here are some interesting quotes:

"The primary, the eternal concept is humanity, and Communism is anti-humanity. Whoever says "anti-Communism" is saying, in effect, anti-anti-humanity. A poor construction. So we should say: That which is against Communism is for humanity. Not to accept, but to reject this Communist ideology is simply to be a human being. Such a rejection is more than a political act. It is a protest of our souls against those who would have us forget the concepts of good and evil." (July 9, 1975)

"The true antipode of peace is violence. And those who want peace in the world should remove not only war from the world but also violence. If there is no open war but there is still violence, that is not peace." (July 9, 1975)

"Alas, such is human nature that we never feel the sufferings of others, and they never darken our temporary well-being, until they become our own." (July 15, 1975)

"...But I return to that terrible statement of Bertrand Russell's: "Better Red than dead." Why did he not say it would be better to be brown than dead? There is no difference. All my life and the life of my generation, the life of those who share my views, we all have had one viewpoint: Better to be dead than a scoundrel. In this horrible expression of Bertrand Russell's there is an absence of moral criteria. Looked at from a short distance, these words allow one to maneuver and to continue to enjoy life. But from a long-term point of view it will undoubtedly destroy those people who think like that." (March 1, 1976)

"Just as mankind once became aware of the intolerable and mistaken deviation of the late Middle Ages and recoiled in horror from it, so too must we take account of the disastrous deviation of the late Enlightenment. We have become hopelessly enmeshed in our slavish worship of all that is pleasant, all that is comfortable, all that is material - we worship things, we worship products. Will we ever succeed in shaking off this burden, in giving free rein to the spirit that was breathed into us at birth, that spirit which distinguishes us from the animal world?" (March 24, 1976)