the sunset one night here!

Hey friends… well, heres an update.

The bad news first – I’ve been a little sick this past weekend. I slept pretty much all day Saturday, Sunday, and Monday and made it through all 3 Lord of the Rings movies – a guy down the hall brought them here. Just a bit of a cold though… No reason to worry… Nothing that won’t cure itself… I forgot the joys of living in a dorm and when one person gets sick, everyone ends up getting it. Our floor is droppin like flies. One of my professors started bring Strepsils to class – throat soather things. Haha.

Now the good news – and there’s a lot of it! First, I possibly found a church! Whoop. One of the things I was really wanting to do while I was here – get plugged in with other believers! It’s a bit of a long story – but I ended up emailing this girl who goes to my church back in College Station… I dont actually know her, but several of my friends are friends with her and apparently she used to live in St. Petersburg while her parents were doing missions I believe. Anyway, she was so great – she gave me the name of the church she went to and loved while she was here and the names of people I can contact that speak some English and their phone numbers. Also, she gave me some information at some places I could volunteer at, and then, she gave me some of her Russian friends’ phone numbers that she said would love to hang out with me! I’m so excited… So, within the next week, I have several phone calls to make! This is such a blessing!

So, then, last night, Jessica and I went to the city and met our Thai friends for dinner… They took us to their dorm (they study at a different university here) and cooked for us! Yay! On the way when we were on the metro, we met this Russian lady who spoke fluent Thai, English, and Russian of course. After talking for a while, we exchanged numbers and she said she would love to meet up sometime and show us parts of the city – since this is where she’s from and all.

Our Thai friends – Vishy and Prang – made a great blueberry cheesecake for dessert. Of course there was too much for us all to eat, so we brought it across the hall to their Russian neighbors – Natasha, Nadia, and Nastia – who then invited us in for tea and jam. It was great. They didn’t really speak any english, which was wonderful because Jessica and I were forced to speak in Russian… it’s really hard to practice Russian when english is there as an option. And only when absolutely necessary our Thai friends translated. Anyway, they were all so great. They were really kind and patient with us and our lacking russian skills… they even taught us a few new words and phrases! They invited us to go to eat sushi with them sometime in the near future (possibly tonight) and to stop by and visit any time. It was so great. There was a lot I didn’t understand, but there was a lot that I did, so that was encouraging! Hopefully we’ll continue hanging out!

Here’s a few pics! Enjoy!

after it snowed the other day

at the park when it was snowing all day… and no i didnt take this picture in black and white

(posted from laureninrussia.blogspot.com)