A Bit of Rest

I didn’t go to school this morning. I woke up, kinda hoping I had slept in, but I hadn’t. I told myself and God right before I looked at the clock that I’d get up if it was before 7:30. It was 7:27. Bummer. I got up and showered, ate, read the bible, put on make-up and was completely ready. Then my stummy started hurting. It was a lower abdomen pain, the kind that might go away in few minutes, but may be foreboding multiple, painful, and/or urgent trips to the restroom. I weighed out whether to tough it out or not and ended up deciding it wasn’t worth the risk. It sucks that it happened for the private Russian lesson, but I didn’t want to be stuck 20 minutes into my 40 minute walk to school feeling like my intestines are exploding. So texted the teacher, Inma, and Paige to let them all know I wasn’t feeling well and wouldn’t be in school. Inma said she had a stomach ache and wouldn’t be coming in either, and Paige said she’d just decided to sleep in, and the teacher told me to get well soon. So I watched the 30 rock and House episodes Paige had just given me, and then watched like 3 Arrested developments and took a nap. By 10 I was completely fine and realized it had been a false alarm, but maybe my taking it easy helped, and lord know I could use a mental health day. Then I met Paige at like 3 and we had lunch over by the consulate (which I have yet to go to btw, I feel like I should… I just can’t figure out why I should or what I might possibly need to do there). Then I went to Rehab. I gotta say my brain was mush today. I couldn’t even read the Bible verses when we went around the circle and split of the verses as usual. On my last verse I just gave up butchering the poor language and refused to read further. IT was pathetic and demoralizing. I also didn’t contribute anything to the lesson this time, which was disappointing because last week I really felt like I was contributing and had hoped it would be the changing of the tides for me. We all have off days I guess, and I think we are more apt to have them when operating almost full time in a foreign language that is drastically different from our mother tongue. I was relatively demoralized, but I asked for the scripture again from Aleksey and he was kind enough to write it for me (2 times… sort of, he wrote it down and left but RAN back like 2 minutes later telling me he had reversed the numbers and by that time I had all but lost the first thing he gave me to he had to write it on a different piece of paper and everything). I have been dying for some calla lilies lately and so I bought 3 on the way home. Ha, when I ate with Paige I told her that I’d been hoping to buy some for myself for over a week now because I see them at the metro station on the way form rehab almost everyday, but that people keep on walking to the metro station with me and I don’t wanna buy flowers for myself with some kind church goer I barely know so I always tell myself I’ll get some next time. Buying flowers for yourself feels kinda silly if you do it in front of someone who knows what you are doing. I told Paige I hope that they will drive me to the Metro station so I don’t have to walk in the slick woods and then that from there I am alone so I can buy the flowers in peace. That is exactly what happened, praise God! It was swell. I like them a lot. So I came home and Nonna asked me about my day and I tried to tell her about it, but she said she couldn’t understand me and that I should tell her in English. I am pretty that is the first time she has ever said that to me in my whole life (except when I haphazardly try to translate movie titles mid-conversation). I told her I haven’t been able to communicate all day and she said I might just need a one day break from Russian. That sounded like a pretty sound thing to say. So we talked in English from there on out. That was our first English convo we’ve had here that lasted more than 3 sentences. Then I came into my room and looked up that verse. It was like a double edged sword. It was beyond awesome and it blew my mind. Aleksey is like a freaking prophet or something because there is no way he could’ve just known that I needed that verse. I didn’t even know I needed that verse. Way to be, kid, and THANK YOU JESUS for sending that my way! I journaled and prayed until I got called to dinner of fish, cucumber, and potatoes. I never liked fish really ever in my life, except for granddaddy’s catfish (and I think I liked them more for the memory than anything), but Elena Borisovna prepares her fish very nicely and I am really starting to warm up to it. I think fish is an acquired taste and I’ve never had the reason to acquire it before. Right now Elena Borisovna and Nonna are fasting for Lent. I am very glad I took that Russian Orthodox Christianity class before I got here because I figured out they were fasting before they even told me. :) The orthodox fasts are pretty intense and they don’t eat meat (aside from fish) for the whole of Lent, as I understand it. Elena Borisovna keeps having me practice a song for a festival that is like April 10 or 11th or something. It is almost terrifying, but from what I hear, you are only young once.

Oh, and I finished Catcher in the Rye last night. I wolfed it down in like 5 days on top of a pretty busy schedule.

Okay this is now Thursday evening. I haven’t uploaded this because I quite shamelessly slept in today and thus didn’t go to the institute at a time suitable for internet use. I didn’t even care that I slept in. I know I can afford the absences, I figured it out a couple days ago, and this morning it was a stressless rest of refreshment. Delightful. I laid around and slept all morning. Delight of delights. And Paige slept in and slipped too. She called me at like 10 and said she was sleeping in and I told her I was still in bed and it looked like I was too. She said that she appreciates our cross-city, psychic connection and is glad we are on the same page. Late she called and asked me to meet her so I could run errands with her. I got ready for the day and spent some time with Jesus and then left to meet her. We met up and I was hungry so we went to KFC. I cannot describe how good it was. IT was our first time there in Russia, and undoubtedly not out last. We did our errands and did a bit of shopping. Paige got an ADORABLE purse and a cute Hello Kitty wallet. They were each shockingly cheap. Then we went to the institute because Elena Borisovna wanted me to watch their “spectacle” and then practice my song and Paige needed to give them photos for their visa. And I watched the show which was just a dress rehersal I guess and it was Anton Chekov’s A Wedding Proposal which I directed at Memorial way back when (but I did it in English of course). It was nice to see it. Then I was forced to practice in front of them like 3 times. I still don’t have the words down. It is annoying. Then I went to the BibleStudy over Revelations. That was nice. I love my rehab boys! They attend too but they are in their own group and I am in a women’s group. Afterwards Dima and Mihail came up and talked to me. Okay, when I first got here I really felt like Dima reminds me of Karl Dowell, and he still does but now he is evolving into his own person in my head and not just my Karl Dowell replacement. Anyways yesterday Dima had commented on how I always stand in a ballet position and asked me if I ever did ballet. I told him yes and he said he did too. We swapped ballet terminology and stuff for a while. It sounds like he was pretty serious about it before he was an addict. Oh, and he also always sings various old school American songs everytime I see him and the one I get the biggest kick out of it “Ice, Ice Baby.” So, after the Bible Study when Dima and Mihail came up Dima again commented on the fact I was standing in 1st position and then said he had something to tell me but he forgot because he thought he wouldn’t see me until tomorrow. Then Mihail sang “Ice, Ice Chicken” which totally cracked me up beyond all reason. Dima explained that they had made up this new version called “Ice, Ice Chicken” and Mihail sang it a little more but as far as I can tell the only words are “Ice Ice Chicken to go.” I love it. I am imagining that Dima and Mihail made it up while transporting or cooking a frozen chicken, but that is just a guess.
Oh, I guess I didn’t tell you last week cause I wasn’t writing! Well, last week at this Bible Study I met a few girls in their 20s. 2 of them are named Masha and I forget the rest of their names. They were very nice and we walked to the metro together afterwards talking about what have you. Anyways the Masha, the one that is in my group for the Bible study, was there again. We started talking about all the strange ways God communicates to us and has throughout our lives and it was really cool. She asked me why I wasn’t at church on Sunday and when I told her I slept in again she said she’d call me Sunday morning to wake me up. Hehe. That made me happy. We talked non-stop all the way home. Oh, I am pretty sure I was supposed to tell Aleksey something at Church today, but I was passive and didn’t. Naughty me. Hopefully I ‘ll tell him tomorrow or Saturday. Oh, also, yesterday when Seryozha was talking to a heroin addict who was coming in for the first time and the heroin addict’s mom the mom asked about fasting (because it is lent). I am passionate about fasts and their importance (although I am a lazy bones and probably don’t fast nearly enough), and since we are protestant I was totally expecting Seryozha to say something I would totally disagree with in my heart. But no. He hit a homerun. He didn’t downplay the importance of fasts he just said that our church doesn’t fast for lent but that we encourage fasts, but tend to do them as individually compelled by God. So that was nice. I am so used to going to a church that I frequently disagree with theologically and it is SOOOOOO nice being at one that I have yet to find anything to tiff about. I mean, the language barrier may be helping that since I may have something to disagree about without understanding that I do, but still, it is wonderful. It helps me trust my church and my brothers wonderfully, which is good because I really need the tight fellowship and I rely on them a lot. I love this church and I love these people! PRAISE JESUS! I think I am going to try again to read Mere Christianity, so if you are reading this Aaron Wright you should message me. OH! And class is cancelled for tomorrow and we are going on a little excursion instead, so that means I’ve got a 6 day weekend since I don’t have class on Mondays and I didn’t go today or yesterday. And let me tell ya this little vaca was much needed and appreciated!!  Thanks, Jesus!