Hello everyone! Well, it has been a while, but I have been enjoying myself, relaxing at home! I have now been back in England for just over 2 weeks, and in just under 2 weeks, I will be jetting off to France for the rest of my year abroad. It is crazy!
The last 2 weeks in St Petes were amazing. I managed to fit in a quick trip to Moscow, a Church picnic at which one of my East Asian Students was baptised, a leaving party (see pics on Facebook as well as a few here, 2 trips to the theatre, a banya (an extra hot Russian sauna - very nice) and lots of meetings with people to say goodbye. Luckily it was easy to multi-task, and a few of these doubled as meetings to say goodbye, and I was able to meet people for food which helped! I did sleep, if considerably less than usual. A highlight was seeing Jing, one of the new believers who had been away for 3 months on the day before I left.
So, to expand some of that. I decided to hold my leaving party on the Sunday before I left, so that I could arrange to meet some of the people who didn't make it there in the last few days. I decided to give people some activities, so Luke designed a quiz about England for the Russians, Americans and also the British people there. It was surprisingly hard. But then, the Russians got their revenge by preparing a quiz about Russia, and the people there for me. We also made some French bread pizza and had some other snacks. I also gave people a copy of my testimony to take with them, and got them to write me a message in
my leaving book. It was all good fun! We also managed a team trip out to Misha and Meredith's dacha (Russian name for a summer house out in the country, with no running water). The weather was lovely, we had shashliki (kebabs) and chicken on the barbeque and afterwards we did some work in the garden (Misha's ulterior motive for the trip). It was brilliant, and we certainly felt very Russian afterwards. The last thing to expand and explain further would be the banya (especially to carry on the theme of feeling Russian). This was my second banya of the year - I think I descibed the first one earlier. This one was a lot less tame. It was a public banya, as there were only 3 of us, and it wasn't worth trying to rent out a private one for that number. The place was very Soviet in style, and I think probably the hottest place I had ever been to. We stood out at the start, as the only people wearing anything at all. Sheets are for wimps! We were soon told off for our modesty by all the old ladies there which was absolutely hilarious, and a good opportunity to pretend that we didn't speak any Russian. It was really bracing, going from the hot to the cold, and I wish I had been there
more often during the year. I certainly felt very clean afterwards! Back in England, I have been slowly adjusting to the weather (!), the quiet of our village, and generally the Englishness of everything. I got laughed at on a visit to Durham when I tried to get in the wrong side of a taxi (which has been repeated without the audience a few times), expected public transport to be reliable and operating until late, and scared my hairdresser with stories about the mafia. All good fun. I really miss St Petes though, and all the people there - I did promise Indira that I would go back soon! Have a good day. Lots of love Sarah xxx
The last 2 weeks in St Petes were amazing. I managed to fit in a quick trip to Moscow, a Church picnic at which one of my East Asian Students was baptised, a leaving party (see pics on Facebook as well as a few here, 2 trips to the theatre, a banya (an extra hot Russian sauna - very nice) and lots of meetings with people to say goodbye. Luckily it was easy to multi-task, and a few of these doubled as meetings to say goodbye, and I was able to meet people for food which helped! I did sleep, if considerably less than usual. A highlight was seeing Jing, one of the new believers who had been away for 3 months on the day before I left. So, to expand some of that. I decided to hold my leaving party on the Sunday before I left, so that I could arrange to meet some of the people who didn't make it there in the last few days. I decided to give people some activities, so Luke designed a quiz about England for the Russians, Americans and also the British people there. It was surprisingly hard. But then, the Russians got their revenge by preparing a quiz about Russia, and the people there for me. We also made some French bread pizza and had some other snacks. I also gave people a copy of my testimony to take with them, and got them to write me a message in
my leaving book. It was all good fun! We also managed a team trip out to Misha and Meredith's dacha (Russian name for a summer house out in the country, with no running water). The weather was lovely, we had shashliki (kebabs) and chicken on the barbeque and afterwards we did some work in the garden (Misha's ulterior motive for the trip). It was brilliant, and we certainly felt very Russian afterwards. The last thing to expand and explain further would be the banya (especially to carry on the theme of feeling Russian). This was my second banya of the year - I think I descibed the first one earlier. This one was a lot less tame. It was a public banya, as there were only 3 of us, and it wasn't worth trying to rent out a private one for that number. The place was very Soviet in style, and I think probably the hottest place I had ever been to. We stood out at the start, as the only people wearing anything at all. Sheets are for wimps! We were soon told off for our modesty by all the old ladies there which was absolutely hilarious, and a good opportunity to pretend that we didn't speak any Russian. It was really bracing, going from the hot to the cold, and I wish I had been there
more often during the year. I certainly felt very clean afterwards! Back in England, I have been slowly adjusting to the weather (!), the quiet of our village, and generally the Englishness of everything. I got laughed at on a visit to Durham when I tried to get in the wrong side of a taxi (which has been repeated without the audience a few times), expected public transport to be reliable and operating until late, and scared my hairdresser with stories about the mafia. All good fun. I really miss St Petes though, and all the people there - I did promise Indira that I would go back soon! Have a good day. Lots of love Sarah xxx