It has been snowing for days now, and Moscow is at its prettiest. I asked an American who has been here for 9 years if she ever got sick of seeing the snow fall, and she said no, it is always beautiful. You just get tired of the dirty way it becomes in a city of 14 million.
A city of 14 (or so million). That’s big for a girl who grew up in a town in the mountains of Cali and then went to school in Arkansas. And the vast size of the city hit me this week, as I wandered around downtown, realizing all there is to see, and how much of it I haven’t seen yet. Today marks three months that I have been in Moscow. Seems crazy and not possible. I have made so many friends, seen, and learned so much. During my week off of school, I had great plans to see all of Moscow; those plans were inevitably tossed out the window though, when Monday rolled around and the temperature was -4 c. Like I said, I became so overwhelmed with the size of the city, and so uncomfortable with myself alone in this city, (and cold) that I decided to wait a while, say maybe till it is warm again outside, to become the brave lonely tourist. Or maybe until someone will come and join me on some touring. But I did enjoy myself, and I found two terrific malls in the meantime!
I spent a lot of time with Lydia this week, my new friend from Pennsylvania who has been here about three weeks. If you thought I was adventurous, listen to her story: She is 18, just graduated from high school, living with a family from our church that she didn’t know before she got here, and working in orphanages around Moscow. She has been here about 9 times before, including one trip to adopt her two sisters. And she wanted to do something long term in the country, so here she is! By far, the most mature 18 year old I have ever met. I had ice cream with her on Tuesday, at the underground mall (four stories underground!) under Red Square. On Wednesday she left to join a Russian Youth Retreat at an abandoned military camp (like I said, she’s adventurous). For three days, she ate nothing but bread (the staple of the Russian diet -- we think they are making up for lost time when there was a bread shortage), listened to Russian lectures (her Russian is just a bit better than mine), and tried to make friends with Russian girls who didn’t know any English. Needless to say, she was exhausted when she returned on Friday night, but we hung out and tried to relax and be Americans for the next day and a half. I took her to hang out with some Young Life girls on Saturday night, which was a lot of fun for us all. Lydia, and everyone who is reading this I suppose, would be absolutely blown out of the water by the standard of living for ex-patriots in this country. I grew up in pretty nice area, but the homes/flats that some of the oil executives from the states live in rival Park Avenue. Think "Different Strokes" apartment (bad example I know, but its true!) Anyway, after leaving a worn down Russian camp, it was fun for Lydia to see an American style home. Let me just brag a little about these Young Life kids for a minute too....
One girl I met on Saturday just moved to Moscow from Mexico City. Her dad works for Reuters -- he’s British and her mom is Spanish -- and she has lived in Italy, Spain, DC, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Mexico. And she’s only 16!! The house where we got together is a family that is from Southern California...the dad works for an oil company and they have lived in Moscow for four and half years. I was struck by them because they have two boys who are Zack, my brother’s age. And they acted just like him!! I told the girls that I was jealous of the travels, but then remembered that I wouldn’t have liked living all over the world when I was in high school...I liked growing up in the same town. These kids are truly amazing; they will have more stories to tell from their youth than many of us will have in a lifetime.
And then Monday came and I went back to school. Most kids in the states watch TV for a week when they have a break. But not my students: they went to Turkey, Italy, London, Morocco, Kazakhstan, and United Arab Emirates (wherever that is!) They all returned tan and tired from their journeys. Poor kids!
And when Monday came, I found comfort in my job. Even though I am worn thin at the end of the day, I am grateful that I have something to do. I would go mad if I spent everyday cooped up in my house, wondering what was happening in the world! Yes, work is stressful, demanding, and overwhelming. But I enjoy the challenge that it brings. I enjoy the laughs I have during the day, laughs about this backwards school! I guess for that reason, the break did exactly what it was supposed to do for me -- I was ready to return with energy to my work.
I still wonder what I am doing here; and then I reread my journals, read about my determination, my attitude, my desire to know another culture, and I remember that I am living my dream. And that is a knowledge not all of us can possess....
Finding His joy
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