Dearest Friends,
Spring is definitely in the air even though a teacher lied to our class that it was going to snow today. Silly woman. The grass is turning green and people are spending more time outside. Now I can actually see what people have looked like all this time under their fur coats and hats. Most are less intimidating and but some are more:)
I’ve always found people watching very interesting. That may sound slightly creepyish to you but its true. I tend to be more of an observer than someone who is right in the midst of things. I enjoy watching what’s going on just as much as the person who is in the center of all the excitement. Anyway, people watching here is just as interesting to me here as it is back home. I love to start a conversation in a public place with someone in English and then watch the people’s expressions around us. They usually have the same look on their face like “I don’t want them to see me looking at them and have them think I actually care but I do wonder where they are from and how they know English and if they are American why are they on this bus.” Usually I get the strangest looks because I obviously don’t have a Russian accent. It’s quite fun although there are days when I feel like staring right back. Probably not the best idea in Russia. Or anywhere really.
One of my New Year’s resolutions was not to get sick this year. I failed when I got a cold my first month here. Well this past week was an epic fail. I caught a bad cold then got some kind of stomach flu on top of it. I have no idea what I ate or if it was a bug… No idea but whatever I did I don’t want to do it again. After getting home from class Tuesday I went straight to bed and didn’t leave my room till Thursday morning. I was basically either in bed or the bathroom. And let me tell you, authentic Chinese food is one of the worst things to smell when you are at your worst. Pretty sure I was thinking of never eating Chinese food again. Praise God by Thursday I was well enough to go to class although I was still tired and weak. I’m still being careful of what I eat. Yogurt has been my best friend. Although, I accidently bought some yogurt with mangos in it…. If you didn’t know, I’m really allergic to mangos. My allergic reaction to a mango is on my “When I Died” top ten list. And pretty sure it’s in the top 5. Thank God I saw my mistake before eating it and gave it to my roommates. They actually ended up trading me for a strawberry one. Huh I thought that was cool of them.
On Friday, we had a substitute teacher because my fav. teacher took the day off. I didn’t say she could so I don’t know what’s up with that… The sub was the one who thought I was from Belgium and I hoped she would just kind of keep talking nonstop like she did last time and I wouldn’t have to do anything. After our lunch break, she came back in the classroom and told us that she just heard that she won a contest. Apparently, she wrote a song about Khabarovsk and its upcoming birthday and entered it in a contest. She won first place! She even sung a few verses for us…. That was interesting cause she is kind of old... But she said that she needed to be somewhere that day to accept an award or hear the song… I’m not sure which but she said that she was going to let us go at 12pm instead of 2pm so she could go do this thing:) Not only that but if the other teachers asked about us leaving early she was going to tell them that she took us to see the Amur River. So we literally tiptoed out of the classroom, down the hall, and out of the building. Hahaha good times, good times. It’s a once in a lifetime thing so what are you going to do? AND the best part was that we got out early:)
Thursday night I had the unexpected pleasure of going to a ballet. Riles and Aurora Hinson were performing along with all the other groups from their program. It was movie night but I was excused to go to a cultural event:) They were definitely legit performances and we had awesome third row seats. One of the numbers really reminded me of the ballet in the Shirley Temple version of “The Little Princess”. Yes, I watched Shirley Temple. And I loved it. Anyway, it was great to relax and hang out with the ladies of the Eshelman household and the Hinson fam. And hooray for supporting Riles and Aurora!!
Recently, my roommates gave me a food gift of friendship and I hadn’t repaid the favor. On my first trip to the store after being sick, I picked up some candy bars to give to them. After the ballet, their door was open so I went in to give them my new gift of friendship. Marsha was there with only a reading lamp on which I thought was curious. She took and thanked me for the food and then took my arm apparently trying to tell me to wait a minute. She then stood up on her chair and started messing with the light bulbs in the light fixture and had me turn the light switch on and off to see if they worked. I was pretty sure she was just switching around dead light bulbs so I asked to see them. I shook them and, yes, all of them were burnt out so I told her that they were ALL burnt out. She was really confused and asked how I knew that they were… I thought everybody knew that when you shake a light bulb and can hear something jingling that means it’s burnt out…. Well, I was wrong cause she didn’t:)So I guess she learned something new that day. And if you didn’t know about it then you did too. I think that gifts of food are an international love language. That’s quote worthy. Just saying. Make sure you give credit to me.
Because space in my suitcases was limited, I wasn’t able to bring much summer clothes with me. Like pretty much none at all. I didn’t even have room for flip flops. Tragic I know. So on Friday, I was able to go shopping with Vika and her friend, Dasha. I came away with a few things. Hopefully, I can find more or what I have will somehow manage to get me through the bit of summer I will be here for. If you are really interested in how my shopping experience was, you’ll have to ask me about it sometime. Writing it all out would be extremely difficult and it’s just a better story to tell in person. But yeah, ask me and I’ll be glad to tell you about it:)
Pretty sure that everyone woman that works at the grocery store I go to is named Olga. I went on… Monday and the cashiers name tag said “Olga”. On Thursday, I was in line and all I could see was the cashier’s nametag which said “Olga”. I thought this must be the same lady I had yesterday. Nope, turned out to be a totally different person. And I know I’ve seen another Olga there… I told Tonya and she thinks that they are trying to save money on name tags:)
So everyone in my class, including me, has been hoping to visit the circus. Khabarovsk actually has a building where different groups come through all year round. We have let our desire be known to the teachers and my fav. teacher decided that she would check into ticket prices for us. So last week she found out how much they were, reported this to us, and offered to take us with another teacher if there would be enough of us that could go. At the same time, Tonya Eshelman invited me to go for Tim’s birthday. I told my teacher that I had someone else taking me and миша said he wasn’t going to go. That left only толя and иван that could go. My teacher turned them down and said that she wouldn’t take them:) She doesn’t want to waste her time on иван, who it sounds like is going to have to speak to someone really high up because of his poor student performance and many absences. That would leave толя which would be just awkward. Иван was trying to corner our teacher today trying to get her to take them. She just told him straight out, “I don’t want to.” If Иван does show up for class and it’s a beautiful day all the teachers say that it’s because he actually came to class. If he doesn’t come and it’s a beautiful day they say it’s because he DIDN’T come to class. Somehow they are always able to describe the weather based on whether he is there or not:)
So Monday is my third month anniversary here. I only have 2 months left because I go home the 2nd of July. It still is amazing to me that I’m really here…. I’ve been thinking, dreaming, planning, and hoping for this trip since I was 12 years old. I’ll be riding the bus and all of sudden I’m like… Wow, I’m really here. Yes, even after 3 months I still get that shock:) This has been such a big dream of mine to come to pass like this. It’s been quite a ride. I’m already getting excited for that next big dream to take form in my heart. I have other dreams, of course, but which one will really take hold for me? Which one will God lead me to pursue? This has been and will continue to be such an awarding experience to be in the midst of this long awaited time in my life. And the feeling of knowing that you know that you are where you are supposed to be is one of the best feelings there is. It’s still difficult at times but I know quite worth the work. And the wait. I serve a big God with BIG plans for me. And you. I encourage you to follow your dreams. Not like what they are talking about in the Disney movies like the follow your heart stuff… but the dreams that God has for you. In the past, I’ve let other people tell me what my dreams were. Even my family. But it wasn’t until I put those aside and really went for what God wanted of me that things started falling into place. And it wasn’t until I set aside my own selfish desires that things started to make sense for me. And again, I’m not talking about the Disney stuff even though I know you want to break out in a Disney song… Like I do... Allow God to revamp those lost dreams. Explore Gods treasure chest of dreams and find the one that He wants for you. And don’t just stop with just having a dream… With God’s help, go FULIFILL it! Take your own adventure that will take you to great lands unknown or maybe just somewhere in your own backyard:)
Thank you for your prayers, especially when I was sick. I’m still alive!! Happy 3rd anniversary to me! And to you!
You amaze me.
Didn’t end up needing a stomach transplant,
Leah
This for those who were waiting for the breakout in song, “We’re Soaring! Flying! There’s not a star in heaven that we can’t reach! If we’re trying, yeah we’re breaking free!... You know the world may see us in a way that’s different from who we arrreeeeeee.”
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