NOT ЗАСУХИНО!!!

We're all familiar with no smoking signs and no parking signs that have a picture or a letter or a word with a diagonal slash through it. Well, an interesting use of that here is city signs. Instead of having signs that say entering or exiting such-and-such city, they have signs like those above. This sign happens to be for ЗАСУХИНО (Zasukhino) which is a very small town between Ulan-Ude and Lake Baikal. When I think about it it makes a lot of sense, but because of the context I associate it with it feels harsh like, "this is Zasukhino," and, "this is NOT Zasukhino," or, "we are anti-Zasukhino." I feel like I can't really put in into words, but hopefully you enjoy another little taste of Russia, and can laugh with us.

Siberia Impressions from Erin

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(Jami writing) A common question that people ask here is: "What are your impressions of Siberia?". Since Erin has fresh impressions, we're giving her this chance to write about them on our blog. If you come to Siberia to visit us, you can write on our blog, too.

(Erin writing) It's been a long time since I've even been able to think about Siberia without a smile. Places that friends love, I start to love. That's especially true now. When Jami first told me (in our dorm room @ CWU) that she was going to Siberia for the summer I couldn't imagine it at all. 8 years later, here I am. Here are a few of my impressions:

• It's not that cold. : ) (At least in April)
• The birch trees outside the city gleam in the sunlight; it's just beautiful.
• The fruits and vegetables here are lovely.
• They serve fish to you here with the head still on.
• The Marshrootkas (mini-busses) are a fantastic & efficient way to get around town.
• Ulan Ude is much more casual than Moscow (fewer polished-looking women in heels).
• It's poor; people seem to live just fine with what they have.
• The babies here are very very bundled; the kids are adorable.
• People don't smile as much as people generally do in the States; the Christians smile more.
• The roads are bumpy (ie: I will never again complain about the potholes in Seattle).
• There is a lot of paperwork, for a lot of things...and it's copied & re-copied by hand.
• Sometimes the shops and Post Office close in the middle of the day.
• The tea, piroshky, salads and soup here are delicious...and a great deal!
• A person can buy just about anything here, but maybe not consistently at the same store.
• Locals are nice to non-English speakers after a short while.
• The music is unlike any I've heard in the States; I like it.
• Most people live in apartments; the older (wooden) apartments remind me of Dr Zhivago.
• There are not flowers yet in the city in April, but there's hope it'll start to turn greener soon.
• The painted window shutters on the houses all over are a favorite thing of mine.
• It doesn't feel like Europe or like Asia...maybe it feels like its own continent.

You should come. : ) The travel is an adventure. The food's yummy. Leif and Jami's apartment is beautiful & comfortable. The company's great (Jami and Leif are awesome, as you agree) & their friends here are quite wonderful.

Erin

Happy Day

Today two very exciting things happened. The first (and most exciting) is that our friend, Erin, arrived for a visit!! It's been SO fun to catch up today and to have our close friend here. The second exciting thing is that we saw our first flowers of the season! What a welcome sight after a long winter. Spring is officially here. Erin says the flowers look like crocuses with fur on them. Leif says that the fact that the river is completely unfrozen is also a sign that spring is here. I say "howdy do".

j

We Live in Hollywood!

There's something we failed to mention, when we told you about our new neigborhood. It's really quite a special neighborhood because it's "Hollywood"! We definitely feel like movie stars living here (just kidding). We're not really sure what this building is (it's empty) or why there's a Hollywood sign, but it's fun. And it's what you first see when you enter our area.

There are English signs all over the city, and many of them are perplexing. Sometimes people will have strange English sayings on their clothing and we wonder if they really know what it is saying. It definitely adds humor to our days, though.

Christ is Risen!

Happy Easter!! Something I LOVE about this holiday in Russia is that many people say (in Russian), "Christ is Risen"... on the street, in the stairwell, on public transportation.... and the reply is, "He is risen indeed!" It is so interesting to me because most people here don't have faith in Jesus. Many people don't even know what they are saying. But I love hearing those words all around me, and I pray that people will come to know this Christ that they speak of once a year.

We had a lovely Easter. Our church had a social after the service, where we drank tea, and ate different treats. We brought colored eggs to contribute (most people bring sweet things, and it's nice to add something not-sweet to the mix). The pastor held up the eggs and told everyone the Christian symbolism behind them. Unfortunately, I didn't catch the meaning. But apparently, a few years ago, there was great debate within the church of whether colored eggs should be allowed because they are associated with paganism. But they found some religious meanings, too, and it was all okay. Phew! I'm glad we didn't cause an uproar!

In the afternoon, Leif and I delivered cupcakes to different store workers in our neighborhood. The response was mostly positive, although one sweet lady felt badly that she didn't have anything to give us. I didn't realize this, but culturally people feel like they need to return a kind act. We need wisdom to know how to reach out to people without them feeling indebted.

In the evening, we had some of our teammates over for dinner. I had read online about "resurrection eggs", where you hide 12 eggs, and each has a symbol inside (along with a Bible verse) that shares the Easter story. Of course, they don't sell plastic colored eggs here, but we bought some chocolate "Kinder Surprises" that have a plastic egg inside and used those. Us girls hid the eggs in really hard places and the guys had to find them. It was fun to watch them search! Then it was neat to reflect upon all that our Saviour has done for us. It really is amazing that He would choose to suffer and die in our place. It really makes no sense... but I am so thankful!

We pray that your Easter is filled with God's goodness.

Our View

People have asked to see our "view" from our new apartment. This is it! We live in a region of town that's not as congested. And actually, our rent is about half of what it would be if we lived more in the center of town! We see kids playing outside a lot. In the back are "garages" for the people who have cars. Everyone tells us that we will eventually want a car. I don't believe it!! I LOVE not having a car! I think cars are stressful and expensive (especially in Russia). I feel like more time on public transportation keeps life from moving too fast. It gives us extra time to pray and to think. For this season, I'm enjoying being "carless".

Last night I was encouraged in my language. The Wickers had us and a Russian couple from church over for dinner, and the whole time was spent talking in Russian. Even though it is still effortful to compose sentences, I realized that my comprehension of the language has grown leaps and bounds! I found that I understood almost every conversation. This was especially encouraging after a difficult week in class (where I felt stupid 60% of the time). I feel like I'm more able to relate with people and understand their hearts. This helps so much.

Of course, we still have a ways to go. We heard a statistic that if a non-English speaker wants to learn English, it takes about 600 hours of study... but if a non-Russian speaker wants to learn Russian, it takes about 4,000 hours!!! I believe it! I've started reading Russian outloud because I heard that this is supposed to help. I feel kind of silly (and only started this week), but already I feel like it's helping some. Of course, the best way to learn is to talk with people.

20 Minutes of Terror and You're Home

This sign was posted in a marshrutka recently, and it adequately describes what it is like to ride in one of these vans used for public transportation. Whenever I ride up front next to the driver, it becomes all the more clear the miracle it is that we are alive and that we can get places so quickly. Here are some of the driver's job descriptions:

- He keeps an eye on the side of the street for people who are flagging him down.

- He keeps his ears open inside the van for people who tell him they want off at the next stop.

- He collects everyone's money.

- He makes change for their money (or sometimes he just receives a lot of change that he counts out).

- He dodges potholes and obstructions in the road (these are numerous).

- He dodges people who are in the middle of the road (also a common occurance).

- He avoids other marshrutkas and cars that are also darting and weaving.

- He listens to loud music.

- He drives very fast.

It really is impressive to see a marshrutka driver in his element. However, it can also produce this kind of terror that the sign talks about. You should come and visit us in Ulan Ude and go for a marshrutka ride!!

Our New Home

We officially moved into our new apartment this past week. After cleaning the floors multiple times to get rid of wallpaper glue and dust, it now feels liveable.... and sooo nice to be in our own place! We couldn't have asked for a better apartment. We see God's hand all over finding this place. We're still getting furniture (so that our clothes and belongings won't stay in piles on the floor). But we have a kitchen table and a couch, so we now feel that we can invite people into our new home and develop relationships with people from our new church and neighborhood. What a blessing!

Speaking of blessings, our teammate, John, and his son, Matthew, came over this week to help Leif assemble our bed and nightstands. They were delivered in tiny little pieces! I think the guys had fun doing it, though, and it saved us the cost of assembly. We will post more pictures as our rooms are more in order (and our clothes are off the floor!) I think our kitchen is the nicest kitchen in all of Ulan Ude! The landlords really did a nice job with the cabinets, tiles, and flooring. The only thing we still need for this room is curtains.