Hello friends!

So, last Sunday was Woman’s Day – a very important holiday here. The men shower the women with flowers and little gifts – which is always a good thing. Now, I’m not much for cheesy lovey holidays (which, side note, the level of PDA in the metro is ridiculous some days including Sunday), but it was so fun to see! Flowers, balloons, and chocolates everywhere… And everyone was in such a good mood (i even heard laughter on the metro) – and rightly so – everyone knows that if the women are happy, everyone is happy. haha.

Anyway, the best part is that Russians love holidays so much that even when the holiday is on a weekend, they still manage to squeeze a day off work the following Monday! So, for the 2nd time this month already, I had no classes on Monday!

Now, here’s the best part of my week… I found a church last Sunday!! Whoop! I finally called one of the people whose number my friend who goes to my church in College Station and used to live here in St. Petersburg gave me a while ago. The girl who answered the phone was actually the sister in law, but she was so nice and offered to meet me at a metro station so we could go together. The singing was in Russian, but they were a lot of songs I’ve heard before so that was a fun way to learn new words…

Then, the actual service was in Russian AND English… The pastor would say a sentence or 2 in Russian, and then another guy would translate. It was great because I could listen to the Russian and see if I could understand and then sorta check myself. I couldn’t have asked for better… it was so great… practicing Russian AND hearing the Word all at once!

They’re teaching through the book of Ephesians, which is one of my favs! I agreed with what they were saying, they seem to have pretty sound doctrine, and they love Jesus! Not just It was so refreshing to be surrounded with other believers!

Some other events from the week include:
– The 3 Aggies here taught several others the Aggie War Hymn. Whoop! (BTW, I am officially classified as a senior, and can get my Aggie Ring at some point in the fall!!!!! – I forgot to fill out the dumb form in time to get it next month – oh well i won’t be there anyway)

– Making roasted and boiled peanuts with Ellie from Georgia… it all started when we realized that the peanuts you buy here are actually raw and not even roasted at all… so, we threw some in the microwave with some butter and we threw some more in a pot of boiling water, and we came out with some pretty amazing “roasted” peanuts and boiled peanuts. Then we walked up and down the hall with them, sharing with all who passed… there have been several requests for us to make them again. Fried pickles is next on the menu as well!! Mmmmmm!

– Roommate dinner with my awesome roommate Chrissy from Germany! We made pasta with egg and then tried steaming carrots in apple juice – some friends I met at the weekly Office parties recommended cooking carrots this way, and let me tell you… from a kid that has hated veggies most of life – these things were so amazing! Like, I actually found myself craving a remake of this dinner. I’ll try almost anything these days, but to find something I’d make again for myself – hard to do.

– Me and Jessica (2 Texans) gave Dee (from Chicago) 5 Texas words she has to use every day this week (including “fixin to” and “yall”); Dee gave us 5 Chicago words we have to use every day this week

Last on the menu… I GET TO SEE KAILEY, LAURA, AND JOANIE IN LESS THAN 3 DAYS!!! We’re meeting in Amsterdam, staying for a night, going to Ireland, staying in an amazing little cottage, then going to Germany for the last 4 days! I’m so exciteD!

The only bad news is, I don’t actually have my multiple entry visa yet… 3 weeks ago, they had it, I saw it with my own eyes, but still 3 weeks later I don’t have it, so I went to find out… Apparently, they put my pictures on Jessica’s visa and Jessica’s pictures on my visa… not a huge deal… but somewhere in the mix of fixing that, our visas got lost! So they had to resubmit all the paperwork and such. They told me I’ll definitely have it tomorrow (Thursday) or Friday. I hope this will be the one non-shady thing so far!

Well, that’s plenty of words for today… keep you busy reading for a few days hopefully! haha. Bye! Miss you all!!!

(posted from laureninrussia.blogspot.com)