March went out like a lion....

as i walked to work yesterday late in the afternoon in the blowing, whirling drifting snow, i had this song stuck in my head and it just repeated over and over...

"March went out like a lion
a whippin' up the water in the bay
Then April cried and stepped aside
and along came pretty little May"

for those of you who don't have a history of being a musical theater freak like me,(and aren't my parents) you won't know that this song is from "Carousel" by Rodgers and Hammerstein. and until now, you'd probably never heard of it, much less known that i was once in this musical, spray-painted yellow hair and all. and at the strangest of times little bits of lyrics from my past life as an aspiring actress climb into my brain and won't let go...strange times like the one yesterday as i clomped through more snow on March 25th than we seem to have gotten all winter. it was only the above snippet that replayed and replayed itself. i think subconsciously i couldn't even allow myself to think the lyrics to the chorus because at the time they just seemed so preposterous and well, impossible...

"June is bustin' out all over
All over the meadow and the hill!
Buds are bustin' outta bushes
And the rompin' river pushes
Ev'ry little wheel that wheels beside the mill!

June is bustin' out all over
The feelin' is gettin' so intense,
That the young Virginia creepers
Have been huggin' the bejeepers
Outa all the mornin' glories on the fence!
Because it's June...

June, June, June
Just because it's June, June, June!"

sigh. maybe someday. but for now....it just seems LIKE A LOOOOOOOONG WAY OFF.

enjoyment

things i'm finding enjoyment in these days:

teaching and getting to know my students
Sunday night Hebrews Bible study with Pooja, Gracewin, Amadu, Sam and myself
working out with Deepthi
Sam not studying as much this semester
thinking about finding an apartment and hopefully moving next month!
emails from Amber and living vicariously through their summer plans


a few things i've read or heard this week that i find share-worthy:

something a visiting pastor at All Nations Church said that just struck me as truth: "Our children are our investment into a future we ourselves cannot enter."

From the movie "Starter for 10" (which is only ok) but there was this good line that stayed with me: "The people who really care about you don't mind if you make a mistake. It's what you do next that matters."

From an email A sent today. it gave me a great start to my day and it seriously makes me smile when i think about how awesome it is that i know someone so creative and talented in many ways, but specifically as a writer and more importantly as a friend. this just cracked me up and still makes me laugh when i re-read it: "Let's definitely set up a gtalk time. Just let me get through the week and I'll have my people talk with your people. Only my people will be wearing jeans and sandals and your people will be wearing fur hats."

i realized that i've talked a little about the church sam and i are going to, and i've talked more about the fellowship group we're a part of, but never have given much info on either. well, there is a website for All Nations Christian Church and at the site there is info of SFC (the fellowship groups) as well. i actually just looked at the site for the first time today. its a nice little site with a small photo gallery and info about the church and events, history of how it started, etc. so if you're interested you can give it a look. the site is pretty new but is well put-together. and in fact it was designed by Manyo from Nigeria. (my friend Deepthi's fiance') i don't agree with every point of their statement of faith, most specifically numbers 14 and 16 of the points listed there, but this is the church God has placed us in and we have been given good opportunities with individual believers from ANCC in pouring over the Word, to have good discussion on these points. it's funny, but as you look at the photos on the website you might start to think that St. Petersburg isn't nearly as white and mono-cultural as you thought...but really, when you walk on the street it is...i think probably 90% of all the african's, indians and other people of color in this city go to church there! but it does at least make me a feel a little bit like i'm back in Namibia when i'm at church and my white face is in the minority again.

http://allnationschristiancenter.org/

happy belated Easter to those of you in most parts of the world. we here in Russia don't get Easter till later. crazy orthodox calendar...

almost halfway....

Women's Day

To compliment the Men's Day in the end of February, Russia also celebrates Women's Day on March 8th. (I think it's genious that Men's day is first because that way, in whatever the women do for the men, the ladies get to set the bar for the guys. The friendly competetion of the guys trying to "outdo" the ladies is certainly welcomed! Smart, huh?) Here are some pics from the Women's Day celebration the guys threw for us. They did a great job and we all had a lot of fun.

Pool halls and tacos

Sam and I enjoyed a busy day on Saturday. We got together with some of Sam's groupmates to go bowling. it turns out there's this really nice new bowling alley inside a huge new mall at сенная площадь, which is just a few metro stops from here. (inside you forget that your'e in Russia!) We got there and got our bowling shoes only to discover that their computer was down and they told us that it should be fixed in 5 mins. so we waited about 10 mins. and then asked again, to be told that it would take an hour. We waited another 20 mins to only then be told that the technician was coming in about an hour and then who knows how long it will take to fix it...? Needless to say we turned in our shoes and took plan B. We saw that there was a pool hall there, so we went there and played pool for the next 2 hours. There were 5 of us - 3 guys and 2 gals - so we got two tables so 4 of us could play at a time. I have to say that the ladies triumphed. We each played one of the guys for 2 or 3 games and both kept winning, so we finally decided to play each other. That was a fun game. I won the first game, then Lola won the next game because I scratched on the 8 ball. Lola and her boyfriend who came with us are actually not Sam's groupmates, but friends of one of sam's groupmates. they both go to this medical school, but are in the Russian-medium course, whereas Sam and his group are in the English-medium. After our pool-playing afternoon, Olli-Pekka (Sam's groupmate from Finland) invited us back to his place to make tacos. Sam was torn because the Manchester United game was going to be on tv, but we persuaded him when Ollie Pekka told him he could also watch the game at his place AND get free food. so we all went to the grocery store and got the taco supplies and ice cream for dessert. (O.P. showed us a store that actually carried taco spices and shells...salsa too! there's only one kind and its kind of expensive, but good to know when we are craving Mexican food!) Back at Ollie Pekka's we ate and watched the Man U. game (unfortunately they lost!) then another of Sam's groupmates came over and we had ice cream and coffee. by the time we were finished it was 7:00 and Sam and I needed to leave to go get groceries for the week. After shopping we got home around 9:00. it was a long day, but quite a lot of fun too. We're hoping that soon, maybe next week, we can go back and actually be able to bowl this time.

weird...

it's a strange feeling to have your husband come home at the end of the day and make the statement, "Ooh, don't touch me, I smell like dead bodies"

...and its true.

and yet somehow its a perfectly normal thing to say.

Men's Day

In Russia February 23rd is a holiday called, Men's Day. Every year the ladies in the fellowship group do something for the guys and give gifts to them for Men's Day. This year, we made a personalised mug for each of the men in our group. Each mug included pictures or phrases that reminded us of him. Here is Sam's mug.