Пасxa

Did you know that we have not celebrated Easter here in Russia yet? Actually we did celebrate with our family last weekend, but Russian Easter is this coming week (tomorrow). Easter is the biggest religious holiday here in Russia. Since Russia follows the Julian calendar, Easter falls on a different day than in America.  

Easter is a big and fun celebration for many Russians, both Protestant and Orthodox. They do color eggs here, but the tradition is to use onion skins.  They boil the onion skins and turn the eggs a brownish color.  (see picture of eggs on the plate below)  We opted to use food coloring because I wasn't up to boiling onion skins...this year--maybe next year!  They also sell these cakes that are pretty popular.  Usually they aren't very sweet, but more like bread.  Sometimes there are raisins in them...yuck, um no thank you.  I decided to buy some to try to make...of course I decided to buy the sweet kind!  

They turned out pretty good.  I even read the directions in Russian...but of course double checked everything to make sure I was reading correctly. Basically you just mixed in 2 eggs and 100grams of butter and put them in the oven.  I made some for some friends we will be seeing tomorrow as we celebrate Easter (Пасха).  Of course I tasted it, just to make sure it was worthy of giving as a gift.  No worries, it was!

Our neighbor, who likes to occasionally pound on our door and come right in our house, brought us an Easter cake this afternoon!  We were thrilled to receive the kind gesture.  We chatted in our kitchen for a few minutes.  Adalynn was eating chips (which was actually a treat at the end of her lunch) and our neighbor was telling us how unhealthy they are for kids.  Great, she is probably thinking, "Those fat Americans!"  Hahah!  

As you can see Gwen was all about the hard boiled eggs.  And no, the cake did not fall off the plate despite what the picture may look like!

Христос Воскрес!  Воистину Воскрес! 

(Christ is Risen!  He is risen indeed!)

Above is the greetings you exchange on Easter!  I think I like it better than Happy Easter!

Blessings,

Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwen

Please pray for our outreach tomorrow afternoon!  Our church is having a dinner/tea!  We have invited many people!  Our friend, Anya and her family are coming, so we are really excited to share this special day with them!

Buses and Personal Space

Riding public transportation is actually not too bad.  If I think about leaving Russia, I actually think about how I would actually miss public transportation....in some ways, not all. Shocking, right?  Obviously there are some negatives about public transportation.  

Negative: It is really difficult to take 2 little girls anywhere with you if you have to take PT.  You have to carry them to the bus stop or take a stroller--which is really annoying in some sense because you have to figure out how to get the stroller on the bus along with yourself and the children.  You also have to keep them from squirming, crying, and talking in loud English (in our case singing in loud English). 

Positive: There is no taking in and out of car seats with big winter coats!

Negative:  The bus is crowded!  Sometimes you are so squished that you lose all sense of personal space.

Positive:  If you have children, someone usually gives up their seat for you--note:  always carry a child with you.

Negative:  Sometimes the trolly buses break down, and then you have to get out and walk to the next stop.

Positive:  You have no road rage because you are not driving!  I am never annoyed (ok, only once) at the bus because it is taking forever to get somewhere because I have no control of it.  I just sit and wait for the bus to arrive at my destination.  If we are late, we are late.  We can always blame the bus.  There is no being annoyed at the driver next to you or the driver who cut you off or ran the yellow light.  

Of course overall, I do enjoy getting into my car when back in the States and going anywhere I want in just minutes. 

Yesterday, I left the apartment to go to the art school again.  I left around 5:10pm.  I knew the buses would be crowded because it was "rush hour".  I prepared myself to lose my personal space.  I hoped on the 27 bus, and yes I lost ALL personal space and then some.  I am pretty sure my face was smashed to the glass and the person on the other side of the glass by the door had a pretty view for 2 stops.  Plus being crammed in a bus, traffic was busy too because everyone who had a car decided to go somewhere at the exact same time.  So, of course I was squished for an extra 10 minutes.

  I kept waiting for the lady who collects the money to come around.  I heard her money jingling in her pockets, but never saw her.  There was another couple standing by me who also needed to pay.  We all waited and waited, but there were so many people, and I had no idea how she was going to actually get through to the middle of the bus.  Finally, my stop came and I got off, still not paying.  I have no idea what I was suppose to do.  The couple got off the bus and went to the first door by the driver to pay.  I followed.  The lady just waved her hand and said something as the door shut and they drove away.  I guess I got a free ride.  I am still trying to decide if I am suppose to feel guilty for this act of "stealing" or not.  I'll let you know if they come looking for me.

Blessings,

Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwen