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