And Now, Our Feature Presentation

I AM HOME!

Yes, I am home - safely and soundly!

Super happy to be silly and fun with all these amazing people!

At some point today, I need to unpack.... Or, I could just enjoy being home. :)

The Last Post - While in Russia

Things are closing up here for me. I got my backpack (with all of its internals still in place) for less than $5. I have done all my chocolate and tea shopping for this trip... I think. Tomorrow, I will go for (potentially) the last time to mall to wrap up my shopping.

Oh! I kinda forgot. I went a did a little touring over the weekend. We went to a mosque (Ben went to this "many moons ago"), to Victory Park, and a war museum (it focused on the Bashkir people's involvement in WWI and WWII), which is practically part of the park. Zukra* organized it all telling the museum that there was a US delegation - so we got a personal tour after hours. :) It was super interesting and (hopefully) I'll be able to put some picture up later of VP, the mosque, and outside the museum when I get home.

(Daniel is almost crawling
and has his first tooth showing. )

Ufa looks this a bit this way
both morning and evening -
that is, on clear days. :)

It is strange to me that I have almost been here for two months! I said goodbye to Craig, Lindsay, and Daniel today.





I am super excited to see my family and friends again. I am not excited to leave - who would be? "Content" is the only word I can think of; yet, "content" makes me think of something stationary and I am not stationary. I am content with the chapter of this book and look forward to the next. A good book will make you appreciate each chapter and give you the desire to keep reading.

I'm happy a lot of you understand what I'm thinking, 'cause it's awfully hard to put into writing!

Blessings on you all! Keep praying!
See you soon!
*Zukra - цукра

Taxi Issues....

Yes...
I've lost my hairbrush.
I've lost my sister's Kindle.
I've lost my shuffle.
I've lost my backpack.
BUT
I lost my hairbrush. I do have hair. What will be become of me? What will become of my hair?

I left my backpack in the taxi I was in. When I realized my mistake, my phone wouldn't call or text Lindsay or Craig to tell them my predicament. When Jeremy finished teaching (and was able to call Craig), the taxi company said they weren't gonna be able to get in contact with the driver till Monday. Oh, dear!

So, until then. "Take care of my hairbrush [and my sister's Kindle!]. Take care, oh my hairbrush. Take care, take care, don't dare not care. Take care [my] hair. No fair. Take care, take care... my little hairbrush!"

The End.

Chat House

After church and Subway on Sunday, we went to look at Craig's location for Chat House.

Well, there is a fast blog post. But now you know.
Apparently, Craig and I look like we are siblings. Their friends would walk up and say, "It's not hard to know whose sister you are." I could actually understand when they asked me in Russian if I was his sister. Well, I understood "sister" and I knew what they meant. :)

sister - сестра

Traditional Bashkir Dance Performance

On Friday night, I went to a Bashkir Dance Performance. Ben told me to make sure my camera had a full battery and was ready to take pictures and videos. I tried to heed his advice, but it didn't work.

So, here are some dances that I found. This first one was one that was performed at the concert I went to. It is called "Seven Girls". It is a legend of, well, seven girls who were going to be kidnapped as wives and, to avoid leaving their tribe, jumped off a cliff. A little strange, no?

I was trying to find a video of the men dancing with swords (when I went, they did fight with swords and you could see the sparks fly off their blades!), but I wans't able to. So, here's another one.

From what I can tell, these two are the most famous for men and women to dance.

One of the things that characterizes Bashkir Dance is that they move their feet quickly, even if you can't see them . The face pace is suppose to represent the briefness of life.

Craig and Lindsay took me to this and we met a girl named Galera (spelled phonetically). She didn't speak much English and I speak next to no Russian, so when we were left alone for a bit, it was very fun to attempt to talk with each other. We laughed as we tried to speak in the other person's language. Goalraw acutally lives in the same village I do, but she lives in Ufa during the school week (Mon-Sat). But, hopefully, we'll be able to see each other again before I go.  

I'll be posting again soon. Maybe before my Monday is over. Hope you all are staying (at least) mildly healthy!