Some things old, some things new

Just a note before I begin: since I will have limited email access for a while, my postings will be less frequent but (much) longer…

I am finally able to sit down and type up a post (it is Sunday night, Sept. 18) as Julie and I have finally reached the point where our apartment is no longer a disaster zone. So let me catch you up to our goings on.

Upon arriving in Tver on Thursday night, Julie, David, Brent (my boss) and met a young lady named Tanya who led us to our apartment. That night, after unloading our suitcases, we did a bit of exploring and bare-bones shopping. Thankfully, most all apartments in Russia come furnished—although that can be a two-edged sword as sometimes the furniture they provide is junky. In our case, we were welcomed to a bed, nightstand, three huge wardrobes, a desk, fridge, couch, two hutches, a table, three chairs and a couple of stools. So, our shopping was to get us towels, bedding, pillows and a bit of food.

The next day (Friday), we explored the downtown region a bit as Brent took us shopping for more essentials: washing machine, microwave, iron, hair drier (yes, in the cold climate of Russia, this is an essential—especially for Julie), dishes, silverware, and more food. Let me tell you, Brent was a life-saver. He speaks Russian quite well and was able to help us figure so much out that we would have never done on our own. It is funny how helpless we are in communicating right now—which is good motivation to learn Russian.

After Brent left on Friday afternoon, Julie and I began the arduous task of unpacking our suitcases, not helped by the fact that we had David to care for which limited the speed at which we could get settled. Saturday was a bustling day at our apartment as several people stopped by: our landlord, Nicholi, to help us with the translation needed to communicate with the washing machine installer; Pastor Sergei Shawnin, the local Lutheran pastor; Jaroslav, a member of the church whose wife, Tanya, we met the day before; the deliverer of the last two suitcases which we still hadn’t received from our Wednesday flight. I must say that I was most thankful for the last guy, for he delivered the suitcase carrying most of my clothes—I was really in need of them!

Today we got up and met Jaroslav who took us to church—quite an experience as the four of us, including David, made up 80% of the congregation. The fifth guy was not even a member-he has been attending the congregation for the last 3 weeks. I don’t know why none of the other members of the congregation were there-pastor said that there are 30 members with an average attendance of about 15. Pastor Sergei went on to say to me, as he pointed out the window to an adjacent building, that before the Communist revolution of 1917 a Lutheran church used to be where that building now stands. The church was torn down, and the numbers have definitely shrunk. It was a sad reminder of the effects of Communism of Christianity in Russia as well as a motivating call to share the Gospel.

After church, Jaroslav and I went shopping, as Julie and David returned home. We went all over the city, to 3 sort-of malls looking for items that had so far eluded Julie and me-trash cans, hangers, a shower curtain, bath mat, and a good but cheap umbrella. After striking out at all three locations, we headed to the flea market that is held every Saturday and Sunday and started looking. I had almost given up when we stumbled upon 2 stalls that had all that I wanted, especially the hangers. HANGERS-I never thought I would be so happy to see hangers. We needed them because both of our wardrobe closets had about 3/4ths of the space devoted to hanging clothes. Before I found that flea market stall, the only hanger I had seen was a very nice wooden one which cost about 400 rubles, or $14! So, seeing hangers for 10 rubles each was fantastic-so I bought 50 of them, enough to fill our closets.

So, the other big thing that will be happening starting tomorrow is language school-I will write more about it later this week.

To wrap up this post, I will go back to the title:

SOME THINGS OLD (that I didn’t expect here in Russia):

-Mountain Dew
-Baskin Robbins Ice Cream shop, only 3 blocks from our house!
-Honey Nut Cheerios
-“Pepsi Ice Cream” i.e., Vanilla Pepsi
-Tabasco Sauce
(Can you tell we did some major grocery shopping today? :)

SOME THINGS NEW:
-seeing our driver to Tver bribe a cop so as to avoid paying a speeding ticket
-moving into the 4th floor of an apartment building-a much more daunting task since each of our 13 bags weighed about 60-65 lbs. and there was no elevator!)
-buying a washing machine that also functions as a dryer (once the washing cycle is done, we simply start up the dryer—all in one machine!)
-buying a microwave that also is a grill, a kind of convection oven, and also a spit roaster