A very busy week!

Hello!
It is blog time again…
This week has simply raced past. We had a retreat day on Friday, which meant that we didn’t meet any students but just spent our time by ourselves in prayer and study. It was really great and useful, especially to consider where we have got to in our 7 weeks here! Then in the evening, I went to meet Kath Snelling, a lady who works in Moscow for Agape’s music ministry. It was really interesting, as I met her with some St Petersburg Conservatoire students, who are planning to start working with the students there. I found myself understanding quite a lot, despite the fact that the whole meeting was in Russian…
Then on Saturday, we took the electishka (suburban train, with wooden seats, that stops every 5 minutes and goes really slowly!) to a place called Zelonogorsk, which is in the Finish Gulf, about 1 hour from St Petes. We had 12 students from St Petes State Uni with us which was really exciting, especially as there were others there from the Polytech Uni as well. It was dark by the time we arrived at the place we were staying (after a bus ride), but the food was good, so we didn’t complain. We ate together, and then we put on our first “Soul Talk” of the year. It is in a café style format, and we show a film, a song, maybe a poem or some literature, and there are discussion questions after each one. The students here react really well to it, as they are very interested in cultural things. The theme of this one was “feelings”. It was another challenge for my Russian, as the whole thing was in Russian, but I was still managing at that point…just! We then had what is known as a “Vsolly Vecher”, or a Jolly Evening. I was organising it with Aaron, and we gave the students games to play. It was really funny, as although we started with a more conventional game where they could get to know each other, we soon moved on to a musical changing hats game (without hats as we didn’t get any before we went – we ended up using loo rolls as hats instead – the people who didn’t have a hat when the music stopped were out!), a display of a normal morning routine, where one person stands behind another and puts shaving foam on the person in front of them etc (thanks Kat – copied the idea from CU houseparty last year!), to crawling on the floor in a race where they had to blow a ping pong ball using a straw, and also wrapping people up in loo roll… All in all, they really enjoyed it, despite the fact that we committed a serious cultural error in getting people to crawl along the floor – Russian people won’t even put their bags on the floor, and the floor here is really dirty from all the dust.
After that, that was the end of the fixed entertainment for the night, although we then played Mafia until about 2 am. That was the biggest struggle on the language front, as I reckon my ability to understand or talk Russian switches off at about 11pm. By the last game I wasn’t even sure if I was alive or dead. Despite this, people still thought that I was one of the Mafia, and I continually had to defend myself!
After a poor nights sleep, in a freezing cold room with at least 10 other people, and on an almost non existent mattress, it was time to get up. Kasha (porridge) and huge scones greeted us, and then it was time for a mini film festival. We watched some short films and then discussed them together. Then we played the Big Game, which was mostly outside, with small challenges at different stations that we had to complete. Our team finished first, which was cool and I think that this was the favourite part for most people. Then it was lunch, followed by a walk to the beach, and then it was time to go home again. This time the Electrishka was packed and I was standing with some of the Russian students in the vestibule of the train. The journey was enlivened by games in Russian – great fun, although I should really learn to count properly! It was also made quite exciting by the fact that the door kept on swinging open as the train was running…luckily no one fell out!
Monday was my day off, and I met my friend Tanya to go to a souvenir market, and then for a cup of tea. Then that evening, we went for a meal with Chip and Diane, the people in England who are in charge of out team. It was great, and I haven’t eaten so much in a long time! Chip led my summer project to Krasnoyarsk last year, so it was really good to catch up. When normal conversation started to run out, we decided it would be a good idea to see who had the biggest mouth by measuring with some paper how wide we could each open…
Chip and Diane led our team meeting on Tuesday, which included picture drawing (CU Impact group eat your hearts out!), and then we headed over to campus to eat and individually meet with them. I spent the afternoon with Diane, and we met a girl called Lisa, who took us down to a market near Nevsky, via one of the orthodox Cathedrals. We had a really great spiritual conversation with her, and I will be meeting her again soon.
I think that is about all for this week – a long one I know! I’m impressed if you have made it this far.
Language error of the week: This was not one of mine, but too good to pass by – Anya, my language helper said last night that when she graduates, she will become a bachelor….
I should also mention our happy little washing machine, which beeps lots, and plays us a bit of Schubert’s Trout Quintet once it has finished!
Lots of love
Sarah
xxxx

Hello everyone!
I hope that you have all been having a good couple of weeks. Things are really busy here at the moment, although it sometimes feels a bit like we aren’t really getting anywhere.
We have now moved into our new flat. It is really great, and I am really appreciating having my own room again, and not having to move a mattress off the floor every time people come round. It was also exciting, as it meant that we had a team trip to Ikea, to buy all the things we needed, like things for the kitchen, bedding stuff, etc. It was a very interesting experience, as it was so similar to Ikea in England, except there was a lot of maths to be done to work out how much it was going to cost. And the hot dogs were only 10 roubles each, which is the equivalent of 20p each. We had lunch before we started, and then had supper when we had finished about three hours later. So in total, we had 4 hot dogs, and an ice cream each. It was a very good day! We also persuaded Luke to buy a toy ferret (can’t remember why) and we bought some plants and cacti to liven up our flat.
We used lots of the crockery and glasses we bought last night for the Believers Group, which had a record number there – there were 9 students, 7 of whom are Christians. The other two are very interested, and I think they enjoyed it. The good thing, is that I don’t think we could have fitted everyone into the old flat comfortably. We seem to be growing week by week, which is awesome!
We haven’t had a lot of time this week to follow up the SSK diaries, but we are hoping to do some more there over the next week. So far we have had five meetings, which have all been with students ready to listen to what we have to say, and to have questions. We will be having a follow up Connect course (a bit like Alpha) for anyone who will be interested in that.
I have also been meeting with some of the students after church – we go to this café which sells amazing pies! (although they had sold out of the nicest one this week – annoying!) There is one Korean girl who is already a Christian, and another girl who is Chinese who became a Christian last summer. Last week we were joined by another girl, who isn’t a Christian but has loads of questions for us. It was a really great opportunity to share the Gospel with her and also some of our testimonies. We also managed to talk a bit about assurance of salvation, which is always good to hear. I think we will try to do that every week. It is great for my Russian, as I don’t speak either Korean or Mandarin!
I’m trying to take as many opportunities as I can to speak Russian, although sometimes I give up – it is so hard! I did make a friend in the cake shop a couple of weeks back, when I went in to get a cake for the Believers Group, and she wanted to practise her English. One marshrut (minibus type bus – they stop anywhere you want them to, and cost 30p to go anywhere!) driver thought that I was Finnish for some reason, and Anya my language helper helped me to say my ‘r’ s properly, although we discovered I can’t say my ‘l’s at all. And I say ‘law’ wrong in English. Hmmm.
Tonight we are having lots of people round to watch England beat Russia at football. Should be great fun, plus there will be lasagne and snacks! Luke has a new housemate called Chi-Chi, who is a Nigerian professional footballer. He is in St Petes to learn Russian before he goes to play for Dynamo in Moscow. I think he will be coming too, so it could be interesting.
Right, I think I had better go and learn some Russian!
lots of love
Sarah
xxx

PS I should have posted this one yesterday, then I wouldn't have to retract my words about winning against Russia. We tried to be inconspicuous to the room full of Russian boys, when they won!

A month already???

Hello from St Petes! I am suprised that it seems I have been here for a month already - it feels on one hand like I have been here for ages, but on the other hand like no time at all! The city itself still feels really enormous, and I'm not sure if I really know my way around yet at all, but it is really starting to feel like home. It is starting to get easier to talk to the people (although English is a very useful language!). I have made some friends, including a lady at the supermarket cake counter.

We took some of the students to a small town near the Finnish border called Vyborg last Saturday. We had a really great day there, even though we had to sit on hard wooden seats on a train for 2 1/2 hours to get there and back... It was a lovely autumn day there, complete with dry leaves on the ground to slosh through. We first went to the zamok, or fortress, which had amazing views from the top of the tower.

After that, we went for the obligatory blini (pancakes) in a cafe, and then went for a walk in a park, which was really beautiful. It was called Monrepo, a transliteration of the French Mon Repos, or my rest, and it was by a lake. The colours were all amazing!

The ministry side of things is really starting to pick up now, with appointments from our diary project starting to be made and happen. So far, I have arranged 4 appointments, made lots of phonecalls, and been sworn at once. It was very funny, as I had no idea what had been said, but when I asked Indira I was told to never say it again! Unfortunately, not everyone wants to hear what we have to say, but then we are only ringing and arranging to meet those who have said that they do want to hear the message of the Bible in 10 minutes.

Language Error of the week:

Well, this one is slightly embarassing, but when we have been handing out our student planners, we have been lending pens and pencils to the students. I realised only the other day that rather than asking for the "ruchka" (pen), I was asking instead for the "rubashka" (shirt). And no one told me!

Right, I think it is now time for me to go to bed, as Saturday is another work day for us, with Monday as our day off. We would normally have our team Bible Study followed by prayer time, but as Aaron and Jo are both away (Aaron in Finland, trying to sort his visa out, and Jo away at the church retreat they were both supposed to be on) we are meeting later just for the prayer part. And we still have about 40 diaries to hand out!

Lots of love

Sarah

xxx