I have received recent complaints that there are not enough pictures on my blog. Enough complaining! I, like such great men as Neville Chamberlain and Pontius Pilate give in! So, for those of you who prefer picture books to full-length novels, below are a few pictures that I think will satiate your ravenous hunger by presenting "Russia: in Living Color (or lack thereof)"
This is my bedroom. I fall asleep here at night and wake up in the morning. It is normally too warm so I keep the window open. There is someone downstairs with a loud stereo or television that stays on as late as 2am.
This is the most Russian photo I could find. This is what Russia looks like. It was taken outside of Eric and Liza's apartment some months ago.
This is what downtown Petrozavodsk looks like - one of the main squares. Despite the hugeness of the intersection (or maybe because of it) there are no crosswalks. Megaphone is the biggest mobile phone company around and -5 C is not a bad temperature for a walk, especially with new snow and long underwear.
This is another main square in Petrozavodsk, juxtaposing an old Lenin statue with the St. Petersburg style architecture. Everything in pre-revolution urban areas looks like this: Huge, austere, plain, intimidating, and light yellow.
This is how Russians have been building apartments since the Brezhnev era - with prefabricated concrete blocks. The upside is that they last forever - have you ever tried knocking over concrete? It hurts - the downside is that it is difficult to modify and properly add such commodities as outlets on outer walls (they are only on inside walls), sound insulation, controllable heating, ventilation systems, level floors, etc. This is next door to Eric and Liza's new apartment, which I think is quite nice.
This is a normal-looking market a short walk from Lyceum #1. No matter what the weather, the sellers are out there, the only variant being the products available and the layers worn by the merchants. You'll see in the background a new Orthodox Church, as well as evidence of evening. Have no fear, this photo was taken at about 1:15pm. That's right, 1:15. The sun is like this for about 4.5 hours a day and then it's night. I am becoming nocturnal very quickly.
What is this? Do you see the duck with McDonald's arches for eyes? It looks like some sort of cloned child of Ronald McDonald and Scrooge McDuck. I need to investigate, if only to find the man who came up with this fantastic combination of McDonalds and Duck Tales.
This is "Blagaev Yest," the church I attend on Sunday. The pastor is a missionary from South Carolina and a really nice, intelligent, stand-up guy. I play guitar every Sunday and I enjoy how much time they spend praying during the service (seriously, each part of the service is divided by a sort of prayer time)
If you made it this far, you get to see me practicing my new skill: Beating rugs! Every Monday or Tuesday I go out in the morning to beat the living dust out of Vera Petrovna's floor ornaments. I will say without reservation that this activity is going to make me an unstoppable hitting machine when I come back to the US. Do you have any idea how many reps I am getting each week? Oh man, it's so great!
So there you have it, so many pictures that I will not have to do this again for a few more months. Please pray for me as I begin my rigorous Christmas schedule next week. I will have something like 20 presentations in a week and a half, so pray that my voice holds out and that we are able to both get some students thinking about God and that they might come to the Christian Center.
Until later,
Peter.
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