changes come

howdy blog-world. i took to heart A's comment about my blog background. i've been thinking the same myself for quite some time now, but just couldnt find anything else i liked, even though i have hated the way the background interferes with my photos. so anyway for now i have just gone simple, deciding less is more, and we'll see what happens in the future.

чайкофф кафе

каппучино


цбеты


сахар


я

Late and even later

Its 2:08am and here i sit. Sam is, and has been now for some time, sleeping peacefully - his contented steady breaths my soft soundtrack. It's raining outside - cold, but not quite cold enough to turn it all to flakes. i actually heard the slightest roll of thunder a little while ago. it made me yearn for warm, dark heavy spring clouds filled with lightning and thunderous claps from the skies. Anything apart from the status quo would be welcome right now. as it stands, we've had weeks of temperatures hovering right at the freezing point - dipping above and below like a child's teeter-totter. which leaves us with wet, dreary skies, and intermittent snow flurries that turn to slush hours after falling and piling up enough to cover over the mud. Think mid 30's F and wet. i believe the word you are looking for is SLODGESH. i am aware this is not a real word. but it does, quite well, encapsulate what the St. Petersburg area feels like these days.

I'm eating a сочни, which is a pastry whose dough tastes somewhat like a thick, softer version of Pop-Tart dough. it looks like a turnover, and is filled with sweetened cream cheese.



its one of the unique things I've found here in Russia that i like and isnt available elsewhere. Oh and speaking of not available elsewhere, in case you're not aware of how companies tailor their product for the palletes of any particular country, may you be taught now. for example, in Namibia some of the popular potato chip flavors were: chutney, ketchup, and sweet chilli. in Russia, some favorites are сметана(sour cream), and краб. the crab-flavored chips are Sam's pick for a treat now and then. and till recently i shied away, but today i decided to give them a try and they are quite good. and of course to make Amber jealous, I must tought the wonders of fiber yogurt.

so thanks to an american friend who recently wrote some things in Russian to me, i found an online alternative to actually having to set up our laptop for multilingual use. So now i can very easily and quickly type out some words so you can experience a little of what i do in reading signs and grocery shopping here. so you can look forward to more little Russian lessons from Amanda as my language skills improve more and more.

До свидания

Feeding the hungry in Greece

SPERO NEWS - Thursday, January 17, 2008 By Kathy Tzilivakis

"No cash? No cards? No problem for hundreds of jobless, low-income families and senior citizens who can now shop for free in Greece.

At first glance it looks like any other supermarket. Housewives, senior citizens and couples with young children busily browse aisles stacked high with brand-name products, filling their shopping carts with cornflakes, fresh milk, eggs, canned foods, frozen vegetables, soft drinks, diapers, shampoo and cleaning supplies.

But look closer, and you'll spot the difference.

There are no cash registers. Not even a debit card machine. In fact, all money transactions are prohibited..."

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE.

Carl Warner's healthy art

Everything you see in these images can be found in the kitchen! These still lifes by photographer Carl Warner blew me away.

You can see more of his food still lifes HERE, or at HIS OFICIAL WEBSITE. if you check out his site, there's a lot more to look at as well. but to see the foodscapes, click the second box - "photographics" and then click the second file, which has the foodscapes. enjoy!

Russian Christmas

Some photos from the Russian Christmas outreach program our Fellowship group put together for students in the hostel:

The turnout was really good. The members from the Fellowship group invited their friends and groupmates.


Sam was the narrator for a dramatic reading. He did a great job.


Loyson, Owen, Gracewin, and Pooja put together a dance. Everyone in the crowd really got into it.


I played guitar and sang a song called "Papers and Boxes" written by the band "The Rainchildren". I have always loved this song. The words are so great. And just because i know you've probably never heard this song before since this band was a local band when I was growing up in PA, here are the lyrics:

"Was it a night like this when You were born?
Cold sky painted dark, and the stars so unclear
And while You were sharing with the animals their room
did they smile and look at You
like they do in the coloring books and cartoons?

I wish I could've held You
And I wish that You would hold me now.
And i wish i could've carried You,
just like You carry me
just like You carry me
just like You carry me

So here we are around this Christmas tree
Seems so out of place, a little one in straw and in hay
And the beautiful papers and boxes that its so lovely to receive
Did we forget the One, baby, Savior, King?

And I believe,
And I wish i could have held You
And i wish that I could hold You now
And i wish I could've carried You,
just like you carry me
just like You carry me
just like You carry me"



Sam and Chuks performing the skit, "Neither Do I"


Dianna shared her testimony which was very powerful. i don't have any pictures because I was too engrossed in what she was saying to remember to take any! but my engrossment was not unique. the whole room was quiet, intently listening, which is saying a lot considering the room was full of non-Christians - many Hindus - many of whom have in the past told their Christian groupmates they "aren't interested" in hearing about Jesus.

And afterwards we served our guests dinner and all ate together.


Sorry i haven't been posting regularly recently. I shall try to rememdy that. Well at least i have an excuse for this week...i am fighting off a sore throat/cold and havne't been motivated to do much of anything. but today it seems that i could be on the mend. here's hoping.

Christmas excursion, adventure and the like

A few weeks ago, after church Sam and I decided to go to Mega to grab some lunch and do a little shopping. Mega is a nice mall with a food court, a huge grocery store - Ashan, and IKEA. Getting there requires a trip on the Metro to the 5th stop, then taking a free bus from there to Mega. Sounds easy. But it's a much bigger adventure than one might think - especially this time of year - as we discovered. When we arrived at Prospekt Brosvechenya - the stop where the free bus picks up - there was already a MASSIVE crowd waiting for the bus. When i say massive, i mean several hundred people. Now, when it comes to queing in Russia, there are some rules. However...there are different rules for different sorts of queues. For example, let's say you arrive at a bank lobby and want to see a cashier. All cashiers are busy with one person standing there at their desk. There are a number of other people in the lobby, some sitting some standing randomly about the lobby, but you see no one in queue. One might assume that these other people have already been helped or are waiting for someone else who is currently being served and you should so stand behind the person being served. But, if you did this, you would be be comitting a big social faux-pas and you would most likely get reamed out. What you are supposed to do in this sitation is this: When you arrive in the lobby, you are supposed to ask, "Who is last?" The person who is last will identify themselves and then you can sit or stand wherever you want while you just keep an eye on who is being helped. When the person ahead of you gets helped you know you are next. Now, this is the rule for banks. But buying Metro coins is a different story. At the Metro cashier there are strict queues and you have to stand very close to the person in ahead of you so no one else steps in front of you. Now...Getting INTO the Metro or a bus is another story altogether. At this point, it is every man for himself. Which brings us back to the massive crowd at Prospekt Brosvechenya. The crowd had gathered by the sign for the free bus, stretching about the length of three busses and as it grew, the width spilled out into the street, blocking one lane of traffic. The logic here is, the closer you are to the door the more likely you will get in, so people basically put themselves in the path of the bus, trying to be first, even if it means having the bus nearly hit them when it pulls up. The traffic was particularly jammed and so it took the bus about 15 minutes before it pulled up, even though we could see it approaching (very slowly) for about half of that time. Once the bus crossed the intersection and aimed itself at the pack of people, the wave began. (This is where people begin anticipating the bus arrival, and begin pushing from the back and it feels pretty much like it feels when you are in the ocean caught in the current.) The first bus arrived and stopped very far to our right, so we knew we would never make it in that one. Half of the crowd swarmed that way the other half repositioned themselves as we did, waiting for the next one we could see coming up. Sam and I jockeyed to position ourselves in the crowd. Being in the front of the pack is never ideal, as you have to worry about being hit by the bus, especially considering the crowd pushes so much and you could get pinned up against the side of the bus. Being in the middle can be good because you'll probably get in, but you end up having no control and just getting pushed around by whatever the back is doing. being in the back is the safest because you have control, but you have to really push people and you may not even get in. We usually end up in the middle. As the bus stopped, the crowd surged toward the three door-openings in the side of the bus. This is where having played sports comes in handy. Ever hear of "boxing out" in basketball? this is pretty much the technique one needs to adopt to get in. You start pushing forward, "boxing out" and as soon as you can stick a body part in the door, you throw you body forward or grab on and pull yourself in. sam and I just made it in the door. he was half on the step and half on the floor of the bus. You might think that at this point the bus was full, seeing as we were already pressed aginst people on all sides, but you might be surprised to know that 4 more people pushed themselves in after us. After about 10-15 minutes of riding like this we finally arrived at Mega, where the doors screetched open and everyone poured out. We had a lovely afternoon - treated ourselves to Subway for lunch, strolled through IKEA, and bought a plant!










Then it was time to do it all over again - the bus ride. If you can imagine it, it was even worse on the way back. Sam and I had to split up - i aimed to get in one door and he aimed for another. we both managed to get insde, but just barely. the only reason i made it inside, is because i got my leg in the door, my foot on the step, and grabbed the doorframe to pull myself in. Luckily for me, the door is a sliding one, not an unfolding one like some busses, therefore didn't crowd me out when it shut. so, i ended up wedged between a handle, the door and a 4 ft. Christmas tree. This picture does not do justice to the actual situation. Just on the other side of the handle is a raised area over some mechanical bus stuff i presume(where this little girl is sitting) so it looks spacious, but isn't. and the little girl is blocking the veiw of all the people jam-packed in. but I didn't have room to move and so couldn't get a much better veiw. the arrows depict the door to the left, the handle in front, and the tree to the right. so this is what the ride looked like for me:



Then some genious behind me decided that this would be a good time to rearrange her bags. (there is literally barely enough room to stand, i have people pressing on me from behind, a handlebar pressing into my front and the door, the tree, pressing on either side, and here she is half bent over rearranging things, pushing people tighter and tighter together! argh!) the ride back was even longer due to bad traffic. the one positive of being next to the door was that it was slightly cooler there. (Remember: everyone is layered with coats, hats and scarves with no room to take them off because of the sardine-tin effect) because of being smack against the cold glass, i have a little relief. the downside to being wedged against the door became apparent upon our arrival when the door had to slide open...into the space i was occupying. my foot received the brunt of the force before i could push myself back against the people behind me enough to get out of the way and shove my way outside. SIGH. Relief. Thus, our Christmas Excursion, Adventure and the Like.

MMMMMMM.....

Photo time...

Deepthi's Birthday

Date with Sam to St. Peter and Paul's Fortress here in St. Petersburg
(Click on the slideshow, then put your cursor over the pictures to read the captions)

Random Bits of Life

Schmap for Schmanda

Ok. So...i got an email about a week ago from the Managing Editor of Schmap Guides. For those of you who aren't familiar with Schmap (as I wasn't) Schmap is the publisher of free digital travel guides for destinations throughout Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The company’s travel guides are available for download at www.schmap.com Here's the email:

Hi Amanda,

I am writing to let you know that one of your photos has
been short-listed for inclusion in the fourth edition of
our Schmap Helsinki Guide, to be published mid-December
2007.

It went on to tell me how I could see which photo was up for possible inclusion in the guide and how to agree or decline inclusion of it in the running. The photo was one I took at the Helsinki Vantaa Airport a few months ago, and it was discovered on my Flickr, since I have Geo-tagged all my photos. So I figured what the heck, and agreed that they could include it if it was chosen. Well, I just got another email and they chose it. Its one of the pictures included in the "public transportation" section of the Helsinki guide.

I was going to include the Schmap widgett along the side here, but i'm not having success with it at the moment. For some reason the window that is supposed to show the map and photos keeps coming up blank. If I get it figured out, I will post it later. But for now, I'll just have to be content posting the pic they chose. If you saw my Helsinki Photos you've already seen this. It's the one of the sculpture inside the airport. Here it is:

Why I hate going to the grocery store

Don't get me wrong, its not everywhere that i hate grocery shopping. I seem to have acquired this dislike here in Russia. You might think its because everything is written in Russian, or that the cashier people inevitably ask some question or yell something I dont understand and I feel completely stupid, blankly standing there, or because we have to load our backpacks to the breaking point then carry these monstrously heavy things back on the Metro hoping that maybe, just maybe, I can actually get inside quick enough and find a seat before all the sitting space is gone, then trudge home through the sloppy, coldness for 20 minutes to finally arrive at our building and walk up two flights of stairs before collapsing in exhaustion and throwing the backpack down loathing the day when I'll have to put it back on again for the next trip. You may think this, but you'd be wrong. The reason I hate going to the grocery store here is that no matter what day it is, no matter what time it is, the place always seems to jam-packed with tons of people, crowding every aisle with carts, which because of the ultra-slick floors always seem to be impossible to control, and slide every which way except of course the way you want them to go. Just walking in to the place makes every muscle in my body tense up. Its enough to give even the most socially resiliant people social anxiety disorder. I used to enjoy crowds, big celebrations and large gatherings, but this has indeed waned over the years. Combine that with living for a year and a half in the wide open spaciousness and relaxed, slow-paced environment of Namibia and you can see why this type of situation puts me near overload. Pair me up with Sam, who loathes social situations and is a self-proclaimed introvert who would be perfectly content to stay in his room and not see anyone for weeks, and its like throwing 2 cats into a river. Sometimes we work together and cling to each other to make it out alive. Other times we have ended up trying to stay afloat by using the other as our personal life-ring. And the life-ring unfortunately didn't fare too well. But thank God for self-revelation. It doesn't make grocery-shopping any more enjoyable...but I think it does make our marriage more enjoyable. I still dislike grocery shopping here. But at least Sam and I don't end up disliking each other through the experience. Knowing our weaknesses may not make us less weak, but like the great philosopher G.I. Joe says, "Knowing is half the battle."

Thanksgiving and such

As a follow up to my previous post, Thank you to those who voted. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough and Loving Vs. Virginia didn’t make it into the top 6. Sadness.

I haven’t posted in a while, I know. Not much has been going on I guess. It has snowed more. Yesterday in particular. We have several inches on the ground now. And since the temps don’t really get above freezing anymore, it pretty much just sticks around on the ground indefinitely. Sam is nearing the home stretch of classes for the semester. He’s getting antsy. Ready to have a reprieve. December 25th is not a holiday here, so Sam will be in classes that day. Most Russians don’t make much of Christmas, but rather celebrate New Years. For those who do celebrate Christmas, it is celebrated by the Orthodox calendar – January 7th. So, the first week in January will be a holiday week , and then exams begin. How quickly Sam clears his exams will determine how much of a break he has between semesters.

Sam and I did celebrate Thanksgiving. We invited a few good friends to come share dinner with us. I cooked, and had a great time baking things and being able to play host. I baked chicken in a homemade honey-mustard sauce (no turkey available and if there was, probably way too expensive) mashed potatoes, corn, stuffing, baked pineapple, deviled eggs, and apple pie (couldn’t find the spices needed for pumpkin pie!) For dinner there were 5 of us – Sam and myself, Deepthi and Mokshaa from India, and Faisal (Sam’s roommate from his 1st and 2nd year) who is from Jordan. Everybody was kind of tentative at first. Mokshaa told me, “You have to go first to show us what to do. We don’t know how to eat Thanksgiving food.” Sam laughed and said, “We use forks.” Everyone laughed a lot at that. (For those of you who aren’t familiar with Indian food and eating, Indians typically use their hand to mash together their rice and curry or whatever sauce and eat by hand.) The “Thanksgiving food” was of a different variety than most of our guests we accustomed to. Faisal, when putting food on his plate, took the tiniest portions of food and went to sit down at the table. I looked at him and said, “You want to make sure you like it first, don’t you?” He laughed and admitted, “Yes!” Well, thankfully it went over well, and very quickly he was back at the serving table filling up the plate. Everyone filled up and in typical Thanksgiving fashion was very full by the end of the meal. Since Thanksgiving is an American holiday, I was asked to share the story of holiday and its history. It was a very enjoyable evening and I had a great time sharing my favorite holiday with my few friends here.

You can see pics from our Thanksgiving celebration to the right in the slideshow, or you can check them out by following the "My Photos" link to my Flickr site.

I hope you are staying warm! Or to those of you in the southern hempisphere...i hope YOU are staying cool!

With A Little Help From My Friends

Are you singing? you should be.

Ok, so maybe you have noticed my newly acquired addiction to BBC World. if you haven't, you're probably not paying attention. Anyway, right now BBC World is doing this "Best of the Year" thing where you can vote for your favorite documentary that ran this year and they will replay the 6 documentaries that get the highest percentage of votes. As I said, I'm new to this wonderful channel and so therefore I've missed anything that ran before September. In checking out my options on their webpage I came across the episode of Our World entitled "Loving Vs. Virginia". I REALLY want this to be one of the winners because I really want to see it!

Here's the description -

Our World: Loving Vs Virginia
Our World shows BBC journalism at its best, as it exposes and evaluates global issues. It's just 40 years since the United States overturned the ban on interracial marriage following the landmark civil rights case Loving v. Virginia. Sean Fletcher goes on a very personal journey to the United States to look at that historic Supreme Court ruling and the mixed race couple who fought to change history.

Please vote for it so it gets into the top 6 picks! Go HERE to vote.

Voting ends December 2nd...that's next SUNDAY. So please vote for it and ask your friends to vote too!

Punishing the Victim…

"…According to the Arab News newspaper, the 19-year-old woman was gang-raped 14 times in an attack in Qatif in the eastern province a year-and-a-half ago.

Seven men were found guilty of the rape and sentenced to prison terms ranging from just under a year to five years.

The rape victim was punished for violating Saudi Arabia's laws on segregation that forbid unrelated men and women from associating with each other. She was initially sentenced to 90 lashes for being in the car of a strange man.

On appeal, the Arab News reported that the punishment was not reduced but increased to 200 lashes and a six-month prison sentence."

Read the full story.

Amber, I don’t believe it…

Tagged.

Ok.

What I was doing 10 years ago:
It was my 3rd year as a Theater major at Wright State. I had a belly-button ring, shoulder-length straight hair and wore lots of thrift-store clothing. I was living off-campus with two other girls whose lives revolved around their boyfriends and whom would eventually become great friends with each other and leave me feeling alienated. I went through a time of serious loneliness and illness that drew me closer to God than I had ever been. I began to journal. I met some new friends whose passion for Jesus woke me to knowing Him in completely new way. I became good friends with Meg and spent most of my time at her place on campus, avoiding my housemates, and having lots of crazy adventures. I was really into swing dancing.



What I was doing 5 years ago:
I had recently bought my first house and was living there on Creighton Ave with Kristi and Shannon. I now had long, curly hair and was at the end of my 2nd year of working as a case manager at Eastway Behavioral Health, but I was starting to think about looking for a new job. I was writing music; starting to play the guitar. I think we had started Grace Among Thieves, the most laid-back band I’ve ever known.
(May she rest in Peace…CD release/reunion tour…who knows)


One year ago:
I had super short hair and was preparing to have my first Namibian Thanksgiving…wearing flip flops and baking pumpkin pies. I had recently moved into my second house in Okahandja – the one nearby Spar. I was emailing Sam a lot and having G-chat dates 3 days a week. We had talked about marriage and had pretty much decided that the following summer was the time. I had just begun writing in a new journal – a gift from Amber. I was spending a lot of time with Maveja and Buddy – our regular movie-nights with Mexican food or homemade pizza. Maveja told me she wanted to be baptized. We were making plans for going to the village for the December holiday. I was reading “The Barbarian Way” by Erwin McManus. We were just beginning to go through the book of Acts in the Woodcarvers bible study. There were LOTS of Hairy Hairdressers in my house.

Hmmmm….I change my hair a lot.

Yesterday (Sunday - Because I started writing this on Monday)
We slept in, Sam started the washing then I hung the clothes to dry and folded them. I made porridge oats and coffee while Sam shaved his head (the weekly ritual). We watched BBC World News and a feature about the Brittish soldiers in Afghanistan. Sam went upstairs to keep an eye on the washing machine (its been tripping the power lately) and study with Faisal in his old room. I wrote emails and did some reading. Before dinner Sam and I played checkers and then started cooking. We made a spicy chicken stew with potatoes, onions, tomatoes and peas and poured it over Pap! Yes! Russia has this stuff that’s exactly like Pap (African milliemeal.) So sometimes we get to pretend we’re in Namibia. After dinner and dishes, Sam studied more and I read. Around 11pm, we got some helpers together to help us move the heavy, ugly couch from our room to a friend’s room upstairs. Then I swept and mopped the floor (and Sam studied still more) and then we rearranged the room because we finally have space! Sam crashed around 1am and I finished putting things away in new places. I finally tried sleeping around 2:30, but found it quite difficult seeing as our neighbor like to watch his tv at decibels louder than anyone should…ever – especially at 2am.

(Oh, and my hair is shoulder-length and straight again)

5 snacks I enjoy:
yellow kiwis, chips and salsa, Oshikandela, fresh mangos, pretzels

5 things I would do if I had $100 million:
become a photojournalist and travel the world as part of a medical mission or relief organization with Sam - traveling, taking pictures and helping people.

5 places I would run away to:
The Maldives, Egypt, India, New Zealand, the Amazon Rainforest

5 TV shows I like:
House M.D., CSI, Friends, BBC World News, Man vs. Wild

5 things I hate doing:
Leaving good friends in faraway places, lying awake at night unable to sleep, cleaning up after our neighbors, interrupting Sam when he’s studying, having cold feet and being unable to warm them up

5 biggest joys in the moment:
Introducing Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday) to my international friends, learning Russian, finally getting rid of the couch so we had space to rearrange our room, emails from Amber, spending quality time with Sam!

Your turn:
Husband-of-mine, Dad, Fellow Former Climber…

World Challenge 2007

A show I've really been enjoying on BBCWorld. Check out these creative projects designed to give back their communities around the world. Vote for your favorite finalist HERE.

Today....

Random Smatterings

Some things I have seen, found, learned or done this week:

No kidding. Who knew there was Pappa Johns in St. Petersburg? Sam and I got together with his groupmates on friday and went for take out! MMM...
Chicken Bacon RANCH!


Spending time with Sam's groupmates, Ollie-Pekka (Finland), Mortada (Syria) and Branka (Macedonia)


Found LIFEHACKER. Random bits of info. Ever wondered why ice cubes at restaraunts are clear and the ones you freeze at home are cloudy? Or, interested in how to get a First Class airline ticket for a Coach Class price? Interesting.

Yes, that's snow.


An early Christmas gift from my parents has allowed me to start learning THIS. I love it! Try the free online demo and see how you do.

Just beautiful...

This is a photo taken by one of my Flickr contacts, not me. I wish I had taken it though! Stunning, isn't it?

Fall in St. Petersburg

A collection of photos I've taken while walking around St. petersburg this season...