home again

Coming home...always an adventure and a shock and a pleasure. From Rostock I took a train to Leipzig and met up with Konrad after he was done with class and it was, as usual, so good to talk to him! We had a nice chat while walking around the city and then met Mohammed at Lukas and talked with him for a while. It just so happened that one of his friends (also named Mohammed...don't be stereotyping! nicknamed Mimo) was there as well and we all 4 went to a place to play pool for a while and Carolin met us there. While I do have a pool table in my house, I wasn't as good as Mimo. We played for a while and then when the place closed we walked some more and sat in an Irish pub for a bit and then Mimo invited us over to his place. He was, as is usual with most from the Arabic culture, generously hospitable and welcoming. We stayed there all night just talking and listening to music and having an excellent time. Konrad left at about 500 and then Carolin and Mohammed walked me to the train station.
May 17th was a holiday in Germany. Yea...usually things in Germany work almost flawlessly but on holidays apparently the rules relax a bit. The train to Frankfurt was supposed to leave at 7:05 on the computer where i bought my ticket. However, it wasn't posted on the normal train schedules. So we started to worry a bit and asked the info guy and he assured us that it would come to track 10 at 7:05. Well...it did come, if a bit late. So, train was fine and arrived at the Frankfurt airport about 11:15. My flight left at 1:10 and i thought i had plenty of time....i was wrong. I walked into the main hall and I have never seen so many people in an airport. I started to get into one Lufthansa line that was probably 100m long after the snakey part...yea. then i realized that Lufthansa flights to the US were in another place...good, maybe it was shorter...well, it was, by a little bit. By the time I got up to the counter and fixed my bag so that I could check it instead of carrying it on like i wanted (the lady wouldn't let me), and got my boarding pass, it was 12:20. Encouragingly, the lady giving me my boarding pass told me "you had better run" great. So...i ran. The security is monstrous. I had to get my boarding pass checked to get into the B hall, then go through carry on baggage security. Then, you have to show your boarding pass again, then go through passport control....another line. Then, there's another security checkpoint just like the first one, except in this one you get manually checked with a hand wand by an actual person. Finally, you go past a counter and they look at your passport and boarding pass again and if you are a US citizen you get a form to fill out. Wow. So I made it though, and the flight was just beginning to board when I got there. Our gate was the kind that you give your boarding pass to get into an area loosely barriered off. So, i sat next to the barrier and started to read. All of a sudden, this young guy vaulted clumsily over the barrier and fell on the floor next to me. I was tired and i didn't care. He looked at me, and tried to show me his boarding pass...i just told him "i don't want to see that" I realized that he was comnpletely drunk. Poor guy, they wouldn't let him get on the plane...but i was glad they didn't. He said he had a wedding that day, but who knows what he was thinking getting that drunk!
So, it was a long flight but it wasn't that bad and got into denver alright and then my flight to nashville was on time and everything worked out.
It is GOOD to be home. Give me a call if you are reading this and want to chat or hang out! =)
I'll post some more reflections on the trip soon i hope.

ferries and deutschland

Well, i never thought it would work out this way but i am going to be taking the ferry to Rostock, Germany tomorrow afternoon...it is an overnight ferry and i am looking forward to it because i love the water! From Rostock i have a few options but my flight has been changed to fly out of frankfurt on the 17th...yep, coming home! Anna has been SO helpful.
Church this morning was great...it is good to just be with Christians. We ate lunch after church and had a great time talking about all sorts of things
sorry again this is short and kind of boring but...well, can't help it. hope to see some of you soon!

been too long

Well, sorry everyone for not posting in such a long time. there is WAAAYYY too much to put in this post so i will just give an overview:
my last few days in tomsk were wonderful. being with friends and just having fun, eating my fajitas like we ate blair's last year (thanks blair) the last night was excellent as well. On monday, Denis and i went to look for my ticket to turkey...there wasn't a single ticket for less than $700. so...i decided that i would go back to tallinn via moscow. i took a plane to moscow and then a train to tallinn. my mistake was that the train didn't actually get to the border of russia/estonia until the 11th, about 4am...which is 4 hrs too late for the russian officials to stamp my visa because it expired on the 10th. yep, don't overstay your russian visa...they don't like it...long story short, they did let me out of russia on the next train...after a rather hilarious runabout trying to get something called an "exit visa" crazy russian rules...but i am now in Tallinn!! I'm staying with a family here--nikolai, the dad, is one of the ministers for the church here. so...future plans...anyone have any ideas? i'm still trying to figure out what to do, but as soon as i know, i will post it on here...possibilities include flying to turkey, flying to frankfurt, other things...who knows. i will give more detailed and funny stories in the near future hopefully!!

english clubs and friends

It is always fun to go to English Clubs for me. As long as you can get them talking about stuff they like, they overcome their shyness and then you don't have to do much work =) Yesterday Jim and I went to the one Rosa has been doing with him for a few years now. They used to only invite teachers but sometime last year they began to invite students as well. It is a kind of balancing act because when you invite students, the teachers don't want to come and when you invite teachers, most students don't want to come...wonder why? =) Well, so there were 7 guys from the electrical engineering faculty and one guy, Andrew, who is in computer science and had by far the best English and most outgoing personality there. He tended to take over the conversation so I had to actually direct questions away from him. The funniest part was when one of the guys, Dima, who conferred with all his buddies to make sure the English was correct before asking questions, asked me "Do you believe in love at first sight?" (gee, i wonder where this line of questioning is going??) i debated for a bit in my head about what to answer but then i decided to just go for the truth. Yes, i do believe in love at first sight. Next question from Dima: "What are you doing tonight??" (how original!) everyone laughed and i told him i was going to a bible study at oxana's but he was welcome to come. Best part: Jim had given my phone number to one of the female teachers, and Rosa copied it and then handed it to Dima...wonder when he'll call??
Played basketball with a bunch of guys at Tomsk state on Thursday...it was so much fun!! I haven't played in a while and it was great to get back on the court. I also helped Alex put up wallpaper that morning and that was messy fun as well. I love hearing russian spoken even if i don't understand most of it, it is beautiful to me.
this afternoon i'm going to another english club with andrew, from yesterday, and tonight going with denis to some concert of one of his friends...who knows what kind of music it will be but i'm sure it will be fun.
tomorrow is the one sunday a month that the church meets all together at akadem gorodok...how blessed am i!!?? How wonderful that i came at just the right time to see everyone. I really can't wait!

Tomsky

I love this city! I am having an excellent time here and it is mostly because of the people I know and love. The church here in Tomsk is...i pause here because there really isn't a word to describe how wonderful they are. Perfect they are not, but the love they exude and their passion for following Christ continuously amaze and encourage me. Seeing everyone again has been excellent. For those of you reading this who might have been to Tomsk and want to know how anyone is doing, please email me. I have told how Shaina, Titus, KT, Blair, and Chris are doing what feels like millions of times since I got here and lots of love has been sent y'alls way! Monday night I went with Sergey, Alosha and Ira to a homeless shelter that they have been visiting for a couple months. We had a little devo with some of the people there. More and more I am realizing the absolute importance of leading people to a relationship with Christ regardless of their economic status, rather than trying to give people a "better life." "For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world yet loses his soul?" I couldn't agree more.
Tuesday was Labor Day here in Russia. I met Denis and some friends at the main square and we walked in the parade there. There will be pictures on facebook. I now am the proud owner of a "United Russia" (dominant political party) flag and can say that I have participated in a real Russian parade...meaning that a crowd of people followed a bus playing patriotic songs that everyone laughed at for about a mile. =) Sergey came to my place at noon for lunch. For those of you who don't know him, I'm sorry :) Sergey is 18 years old and has such an understanding of God's love and presence. I enjoy talking with him immensely. We talked over bread and peanut butter (thanks AIM girls!) and apples and then walked to the Bible Study Center that the church now runs. We spent some time with the two girls that live there. The flat is centrally located and a good place to hold bible studies for individuals as well as groups. The "soup study" was held there last night and there were lots of people there that had been away or couldn't come for a while, not just me, and so it was a joyful time of reconnecting. After, Anya, Sergey and I went to Alex' house. He is remodeling and I am going to help him put wallpaper up tomorrow. We talked with him and Vasya for a while. Just being with these people is so wonderful for me!
I forsee much fun in the future!