McFlurry heaven

On Monday, my companion and I left at 2 in the morning on a train bound for PETERSBURG!!!! I LOVE that city! OMG, I LOVE IT! We had all these fun plans for when we got there, but what did I get to do the whole time?... chill in the office while my comp ran around dealing with visa issues... Luckily we are going back in 3 weeks and I get to be in a threesome while Sosyak goes to Finland for a day or two, so I can really get out into the city maybe then. :) And luckily there were elders cruising in and out of the office that day, because I made a bunch of friends and we had so much fun!

Two of the elders took Sosyak and I to a MALL!!!!! A freaking mall!!! I feel like such a stupid girl, but when we walked in, and I realized where we were, I almost cried. It was beautiful. hahahaha ANY form of normal life is kind of a dream to me at this point, so it was fun. AND I bought a mcflurry at McDonald's! It tasted like all the other dairy tastes here, but it was cold and had oreos or something in it so I was in heaven. :) And I got Subway. Wow. Real food. :)

On the train ride home, ALL the men were naked. It's just what they do here. When it's hot, they just cruise around in short shorts, and that's IT. No matter where they are. Hm. But we met this 21 year old guy who was way cool and he talked with us the whole time! We basically gave him a 4 hour lesson, and he believed ALL of it, which was AWESOME!

But any self esteem I had left flew right out the train window when he said that I looked older than 21 because I wear too much makeup and then went on to tell me that I wasn't skinny.... but then tried to justify both comments by telling me I was naturally beautiful and didn't need makeup and he didn't like how skinny all the Russian girls are. Somehow, that didn't really boost me. haha He's full on married tho, which means nothing here. He explained it to me as, "Would you want to eat eggs, all day every day for the rest of your life?" And I said, "Not eggs. But if I choose MY favorite food, then yea." But then I told him the real reasons for why being faithful to your wife is important. He says he wants to come to America and have 10 children with me... I don't think I got through to him. :) But everyone on the train ended up calling me the CA Princess because that's what he called me, and everyone knew who we were by the end of the trip, because you had to walk by us to buy beer and go to the bathroom. This guy, his name was Meesha, looked at my family pics and loved them. He just stared amazed at you guys' pics, like it was so foreign to be happy.

Did i ever tell you about my first time on the metro? Yea, it started going and I fell.... taking 20 people with me. hahaha. at least I learned my lesson. :)

So you know how I teach the advanced English class on Thursdays? Well, I guess they want me to teach Spanish now! WHAT THE HECK!? Having to translate and teach from Russian to Spanish.... probably not gonna work out for me.

I love the Russian people. they're so beautiful! Well, a lot of them... the rest... um. ;) But you can totally tell who Russians are.

The work is going amazing here! I love my mission! We have some new investigators and it's so fun! We're getting a lot from me cutting hair. :) Can i just tell you how much prayer works? Because it totally does. I prayed to learn to language and I think it's coming along this week. Little by little, it's coming. :) Maybe i should pray to improve my sports skills because this last week was horrible in soccer. haha! I think it's mostly because I was tired, but I would just stand there, and if the ball came at me and I would duck and shriek.... like a stupid girl. wow. it'll go better next week. :)
My companion always ALWAYS says "a dime a dozen," like every other sentence... "I do not think that word means what you think it means." :) just an odd little tidbit about her. (written Aug 15, 2007)

FAQ #2: Mish Girl "isms"

To clarify some of Mish Girl's "isms" and general missionary lingo:

Ad = "hell," in Russian

comp = companion, or in other words, the other half of the missionary duo

p-day = Preparation Day; the one day a week when missionaries can write home, do laundry, sightsee, etc...

bab = babushka

District = the combined missionaries in any given area, usually about 6 or more

Zone = the combined districts in any given area, usually 3 or more

Cectpa = "Sister" in Russian, as in "Cectpa Sosyak"

Sister & Elder = What missionaries are known by during their missions. First names are not used, just Sister or Elder and their last names

AP = Assistant to the President; there are usually two of these, a companionship, who assist the mission president, helping oversee the spiritual and physical workings and needs of the missionaries and the mission itself

basic mission hierarchy: missionary - district leader - zone leader - AP - Mission President

Lost in Russia

I live in Ad. Need I say more? Hahahaha, just kidding, I love it here! And Hell is way nicer than here anyways, so I can't compare. ;)

K, so we had our mission conference this last weekend, and it was a total blast! We had to take a 4 hr bus to Novgorod where there are 6 other missionaries and the Prez came with his wife and the APs and it was basically one big party. :) Of course we learned and were spiritually inspired, but it was a party nonetheless.

The real story comes after. We got on the bus to go home, but after riding for 4 1/2 hrs and not recognizing anything, we checked to see where we were.... We were in Pestova... we went in the COMPLETE opposite direction!!!! Oooooo, it's a good thing Elder J. wasn't there... he booked the tix.... we wanted to murder him! I'll tell you more about him later. :)

So it was a TOTAL DISASTER. Elders D and A decided to return to Novorod, cuz they had to go back on Monday anyways, and we... well we (Sosyak, me, Elders J and S) got in a taxi and drove for 2 hrs to Voldie. We had to walk in the dark to find a bathroom. I walked in and was like, "I can't go in here! it's so dark, I can't even see the toilets!" and the Elders were like "...There aren't any..." There were big scary holes in the ground! Thank goodness I didn't walk in any further! Needless to say, I refused to go and ended up holding it for over 24 hrs! Sosyak went, no problem tho...

Then we cruised this ghost town in the middle of the night and finally found a 24hr shop where we stocked up on weird, sad food and then we had to wait for 4 hrs in the train station where we were entertained by a harmonica and guitar playing gypsy. Dad would have loved it! The train.... well, it was an adventure. We got on and there were walls and walled of people stacked sleeping.... it was so so weird. But we got cozy and took our 7 hr ride back to Pstov, got home just in time for church..... wow, I was dying. :) But what a rad time huh! haha

I've been cutting people's hair and last night i did a pretty rockin' haircut to one of my investigators! She loved it, I'll send pics.We have some awesome investigators! One of them that we've been teaching, I LOVE her! Sosyak and i have 2 other baptisms in the works and we have gotten some other miraculous investigators this week. it's amazing how things happen.

Have I told you about all the young soldiers walking around EVERYWHERE!? Here and in the city. My gosh, they're on every corner, every bus, everywhere! it's weird, but I'm getting used to it.

For service, we went to bath a babushka. This woman was so sad, she totally looked like a Holocaust victim... her body was so mangled... and she was sobbing the whole time, I think mostly because she was so embarrassed. but she had a baseball sized tumor on the side of her head and it was bleeding, a lot, the whole time we were there. They're too poor to get it removed... When we had to carry her to the bath and back she screamed bloody murder. Basically I was traumatized, so I'm trying to just scan through it. Sosyak and I silently sobbed when we left... it was horrible. But we took the elders back to bless her and it was way better that time. They cried after tho, and they didn't even see how horrid it was before...

Sad, let's talk about something else.

So I teach the advanced English class and I love it! It's so fun! And last week I got an investigator, Anya, out of it. She's totally rad, and punk rock! :) I told her all about you guys! All my friends and family. :) I miss you so much! I'm teaching again tonight and we'll see how it goes.

K, random things....

did you know they wear wedding rings on their right hands here? rad!

i was bit really hard the other day.... but not by a dog... by a little girl.

I'm still eating horrible things at member's houses, but I'm really good at it now. :) The other day we were eating at the same bab's house we did before and she set what looked like a pile of steaming caviar or rat poo in front of me. I prayed it was caviar, even tho i hate it. It wasn't. So then I just prayed I wouldn't die. I'm really good at pounding food down in .2 seconds.

tell my sister that she would obsess over the jeans here! they're amazing! We met the slumlord, I think I told you about them. but the landlady came and Sosyak fights with everyone, so of course she fought with her. But the landlady loves me for some reason and thinks I'm a "funny girl". so guess what... WE GOT A NEW OVEN!!!! yay!!! it's a gas oven, but hey, it's an oven! And she said she'll fix anything else we need. Today I've been throwing away EVERYTHING! All the junk everywhere! It's gone! hahaha it's so fun and feels good. I think I might love my apartment, after all :) (written Aug 9, 2007)

Still Saturday

still Saturday

Today we went to teach a first lesson but the woman wouldn't open her door. So then we taught one of the girls in the branch about the Holy Ghost. Then we went to have a picnic in the scary, trashy woods and we we PEELED and ate hot dogs we cooked over a fire. who knows what kind of meat they were.... I got asked out by an ex-convict, he got out last month. He wouldn't leave me alone. And he wouldn't stop talking about my "Gollyvood smile". He also asked me how to get to America. Eleya gave me a huge photo album because he said he loved my pictures so much. I love that kid, so sweet. The ex-con took us to see his mom which i did NOT want to do. Bad feelings--- but luckily at the end we couldn't for some reason. Now I'm tired and wet and need sleep.

Sunday 7/29

We had sport night last night and i played soccer and it was insanely fun! I'm soooo dying this morning. more later...

so last night was way fun. I'm not bad at stealing the ball. :) Everyone here is pro at soccer. I accidentally body-slammed Elder S, who is actually the branch prez here, cool huh!

I've been so tired today. More tired than I've ever been before and church was kind of torture. I bore my testimony in sacrament mtg tho. There were us 6 missionaries and 5 members. Wow. Talk about small. Tonight we went and visited this cute girl who has diabetes at a scary hospital. I took pics for you. Then we went to find some lady we had contacted and it was right by a military base... scary. but there was this rad building across the street so we took pics (because Sosyak told me it was fine) in front of it. scary people ran out and yelled at us and told us to delete the pics and that they had called the police. They were probably the Russian mob or something. We should have guessed seeing as there was a way nice car in the driveway and you don't see that around here.

Then, there are kids who skateboard by our apartment and love to hear me speak English. So we invited them to sport night next week and they want to come.

Amway is big here, which i think is hilarious. Have i told you that my comp is soooooo Arena Arevko! Wow.

The babushkas here are like, seriously miniature. They come up to my bellybutton. I know they have to have been normal sized at some point and i wonder why they shrink. But seriously, they're tough. They look all crippled, but could totally pull a Yoda in episode 3 and rock anyone's butt. k I'm tired.

Monday morning was pretty cool, we went to the branch for a missionary mtg and made borsht, which is amazing by the way.

But then we went to a babushka's place and i sat there while my comp talked about faith and i choked down the tea and psycho nasty snacks the bab gave me. Plus, i had to wear some of her shoes cuz you can't wear your own in other's houses and there was cat hair everywhere. I tried to act like i knew anything that was going on but i was a little distracted at the same time by the slab of meat turning green on the counter, the bugs in my tea and the cat hair in my mouth.

we contacted then went to an orphanage and played with the kids. One little girl clung to me right from the get go and i loved her! Even tho i had no clue what she was saying.

I've never been so tired in my whole life. Every step i took I would think, "just a little ways more" then we would be off somewhere else.

I can't really put into words what I have been experiencing here. Nobody can know this kind of poverty with out experiencing it. I thought i could imagine it, cuz Ive got a rockin imagination.... no. not possible.

So some days are really hard. It's weird I've only been here for a week, you probably think I'm a wanny. it feels like forever tho, but i do feel like I'm where i need to be. Home kind of feels like a distant dream at this point. I love my mish! Despite the fact that i know Hell has to be way better than this place. seriously.

i look at my family pics every morning, i can't help it. haha

I'm a little lonely sometimes because i can't speak Russian and i never know where we're going or what we're doing because my comp can't tell me.... i have to learn Russian! urgh!
Tuesday 7/31

did you know that it's possible to get tennis elbow from carrying scriptures around? cuz it totally is.

Tell dad i miss him so much and i want a Volga car so bad! how much would it cost to ship one home, cuz they're dirt cheap here and i love them! Tell my sisters that EVERY single stroller here is so hot! This place is like the perfect mix of the 70s, 80s and early 90s, i love it! Apart from the horrific living conditions of course.

You wanna hear a funny story? Remember the movie Elf? Remember when he gets hit by a taxi? Well, I got grazed by a car and yelled to warn Sosyak but she was totally taken out by a car the other day!!!! hahahahahhaha i laughed so hard. She's okay, don't worry.

I live off of bread and chocolate. AND the half cooked creatures i have to eat at people's homes. I totally know why they cry on fear factor now, when they have to eat stuff. i pray not to cry, and it works.

There are only 10 sisters in this mission and only 3 of them are American!

It rains everyday here.

I caught myself on fire today trying to heat water for my "shower". It was bound to happen. (written Aug 2, 2007)

Learning the ways of the Dark Ages

AH! I'm back! I feel like it's been 3 months since I emailed last and I've been counting down the seconds till I could write to you! Ugh, I hate these keyboards! They make my already horrible writing even worse. I haven't read your emails yet but I'm dying to! I'm going to print them out like you said to do but I'll be so anxious to reply to them!

Okay, I've been writing to you like you are my journal everyday, but I don't have much time, so I'm going to write what I can:

Thursday 7/26/07

Well, I'm at home from my first p-day! It was really chill and went well. We went shopping and the stores are so strange... I bought produce, so lets hope I don't get sick. And lots of juice cuz I can't drink the water and I'm sitting here munching on bread... I wonder if I will get fat... Hm. I hope not. I ALREADY am huge. Kill me if I gain more.

Then we went and bought me a flat iron and blow drier.. and pillow. The markets here are weird. There will be this desolate building, totally ghetto and deserted, right. Then you walk in and there's hundreds of people with booths set up selling random stuff. Like this mad bazaar, it's totally rad.

Then we came home and conked out. Sosyak woke me up finally and said we had to go teach English, which will probably be my favorite thing. I didn't do much this time, but i have fun trying to talk to people.

There is an adorable girl named Anastasia who is almost 18 and got baptized by NJ! She is MADLY in love with him! Everyone is. He's like a God here. Everyone is like, "You're from CA? do you know Elder J?!" but in Russian of course. And I feel so cool being like, yea, we're totally friends... hahaha

Then there is this guy, Eleya, who Elder A. baptized and who took care of my registration stuff in the city. Both he and Anastasia picked us up at the train station. He thinks I look like Lindsey Lohan... I hate her. But I guess she's cute. Maybe they think all Americans look alike, cuz I look nothing like her.

Now we're home and making dinner and stuff. I had toparamen for lunch, but Sosyak put ketchup on it for me... um? Whatever. New experience. I love it here! :)

Friday 7/27

I have a feeling I'm going to be having some crazy stories everyday, for a while at least.

I woke up with a huge spider bite this morning. The fang marks are a quarter of an inch apart. That makes me so sick.

I spent an hour showering today, if that's what you would call it... I had to ask Sosyak to light me the fire, cuz I couldn't do it... duh. And I heated two pots of water then went and squatted nudey in the bathtub with a bowl and would dip it into the hot water halfway then fill the other half with the frigid running tap water, then dump it over my head. It's quite a process, I'm not going to lie.

While I was getting dressed after, Sosyak came and got me and took me to our "balcony" which is INSIDE the kitchen and showed me how she had lured about 12 pigeons in with bread crumbs. She was like, "you like chicken?" and I laughed... until I realized she was kind of serious. I told her I would rather die and shooed the pigeons back out. Now I'm going to go blowdry my hair... I'm sure there's more to come.

P.S. My toenails are bleeding underneath... don't know why. I didn't hurt them and I wore comfy shoes. I hope it's not the water or something. haha! Pray that my toenails don't fall off.

P.P.S. Sister Sosyak made us dinner last night and it was good. Some kind of bland chicken, rice and carrot concoction. But I came out this morning and the leftovers were still on the table.. Chicken out all night, not a good idea... Maybe pigeon can be left out... who knows. But she put it in the fridge later... K, I will NOT be touching it. I want to live a little longer.

*same day*

Today was a good day. Sosyak and i met up with Elders A. and D. to go do service. PS, before I forget, I love Elder A! He's way rad! He loves all my bands and he's from Hawaii. Not to mention he is the nicest guy ever.

So we went and cleaned this cute babushka's house, which wasn't bad at all considering the alternative was washing old, naked Russians. We washed the floors while the boys beat rugs outside... Did you know that still went on, beating rugs? Yea... me neither. She gave us chocolate after. So cute. I'm huge.

We taught Anastasia's friend, Natasha. I'm a mad struggle, but everyone is really patient and I love talking to people. I just wish i could be fluent right now! But the girls seem to love me, and I love them!

We went to mutual then, which consisted of the people I've already met. The members LIVE at the church! It's their life, it's all they do. I love these people. I love my mission. It's so fun! I'm used to my scary settings and feel right at home. :)

Everyone here knows and loves Evanescence. haha and we all sat around the piano and sang a Switchfoot song (Only Hope) and they all sand it in perfect English! They have no clue what they're saying tho. :)

Saturday 7/28

I struggled waking up today, probably because I slept with my whole bod and head under the covers to keep the bugs away and didn't get any fresh oxygen during the night. Funny thing is that I woke up with some pretty freaking nasty bites... The plan majorly crashed and burned.

I lit my own fire today to make breakfast. Aren't you proud of me!? I'm learning the ways of the dark ages.

Yesterday, we contacted this woman on the street and I didn't understand anything she said, but for some reason the whole time I had words in my head I wanted to jump in and say. They were very simple, just that, "Yes, I am from America but i know this gospel is true and it makes me happy. i love the Russian people and i want everyone to know what i know so they can be happy too." It seems obvious that it would have been really easy to do that, but i didn't know if it even CLOSE to pertained to what was going on in the convo... so i didn't say anything. later, i asked my comp what was being said at that time and i told her the part where i felt like jumping in, and she told me the lady had been saying she didn't understand why I was there and wanted to know if i was being paid and stuff... She was fighting with my comp. Anyways, it would have been perfect. I've now had two opportunities pass because i don't know the language and don't realize the spirit is what's prompting me. I HAVE to get this language down! soon. (written Aug 2, 2007)

Liquid Nitrogen

You want to hear about my bathing experience this morning? Well,
there's no way I could take a shower in the freezing water! Even if I WANTED to, I couldn't... the faucet is always on. It won't turn on more or less, hotter or colder, it's just constantly running. So I stuck my head under it today and washed my hair... TORTURE! It was icy ice cold! Totally liquid nitrogen. But I accomplished that and had to just let my hair go cuz I have NOTHING to do my hair with! ERGH! FRUSTRATING! So I'm hideous... And I'm wearing the ugly sketchers you got me... thank you! But I'm so so ugly! Haha! But yea... welcome to the world of sponge baths, huh?... I better buy a sponge today. ;)

The only thing I've eaten since Tuesday has been pretty normal. I had subway for lunch yesterday, a Twix bar for dinner and this morning I went and bought wafers because it was the only thing that looked edible at the corner store we stopped at. PS, the candy here is AMAZING, sadly. Haha, the chocolate rocks. Even the Twix was better here!

It's kind of a struggle not knowing what is going on at all. My comp can't really tell me, and she doesn't even know her way around, but I can't help because we can't communicate well enough... it's interesting. But we made it to the internet today. Miracle.

Did I mention I don't understand the money at all? I'm paying people with these hundred dollar bills and I feel like I'm spending a fortune.. But I guess a 100 is only like 4 American dollars. But somehow the coins are just like the bills... I don't get it. I wish someone American could explain it to me! :)

We're going shopping after this and I have a bunch of essentials to buy. I have to get a pillow and blanket. Did I tell you how lice, flees and scabies (whatever that is) are super common here. Sister S. said sisters get them all the time... I'm going to die. And I think my comp thinks I'm a paranoid freak cuz I wouldn't sleep with the nasty pillow last night. Whatever. Haha

Well, I love you so much! I miss you like crazy! Thursday is my p-day. Oh, and if you DO send anything here in a pkg, which, who knows if you should... NEVER get insurance or say the cost of it. If you do, they said it's 100% chance that it won't get to me. WHERE AM I!? haha Anyways. I'm loving this experience! It's absolute insanity! Wow! (written Jul 26, 2007)

Cardboard toilet paper

Same Day:

OMG... WHERE AM I!?!?! AH! This is so scary, but at the same time totally the raddest adventure ever! I'm at my apartment... sooooo ghetto. Sosyak says it's way worse than anything she's been in. I don't even know where to start.. well, NO hot water, no water filter, no dryer... and so GHETTO! I'm terrified to live here! It's on like, the seventh floor of a really really scary place! AH! There's a freaking demented doll chillin' nailed on the wall that was just waiting to greet me! There are 50 different prints of '70 wallpaper covering EVERY surface. There are big mattresses sitting on small coffee tables... these are what we sleep on, and it's a total balancing act. I can't even describe it. I will have to just take pics to keep these memories... um! But everyone says this is the paradise mish, so this better be worth it... :/ PS... if a cockroach gets me tonight... tell the world my story...

Today:

Well, I woke up to some kind of bug on my face... But I lived thru the night. It seems to be raining and there are car alarms going off outside. When we got off the train last night, we were met by a couple of elders and some members... and a pack of about 20 wild dogs. Weird.

Did I mention the scary toilet and how I suddenly wish I knew how to pee in a bush? And the cardboard toilet paper? hahaha wow. I wanted an adventure, right? Well... I think I got it. :)

NOW:

So here I am writing to you. I'm still totally tired. I don't know what else to tell you. Maybe about how there are military guys walking around EVERYWHERE! in the city AND here! Full on, decked out nazi types... this is so strange. :) (written Jul 26, 2007)

FAQ #1

Q:  What is a Mormon?

A: A Mormon is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Mormon, the person, was actually a prophet who compiled the records of the ancient inhabitants of the Americas, now known as The Book of Mormon.

Q:  Who goes on missions?

A: Many young men and women choose to serve a mission for the Church. You've probably seen some of them where you live! The guys can serve at age 19 and girls at age 21. They're easy to spot--they are dressed conservatively, the boys in white shirts, ties, and dark suits, the girls in very modest skirts and dresses. Often they are on foot or on bikes, although many missions have cars, depending on mission variables like geography, etc. "Mish Girl" travels mostly by metro.

Talk to them, they are friendly and non-aggressive! They are just looking for an opportunity to share the message of Jesus Christ. They are also available to help with any service needed in the areas they serve.

In addition to these young people, senior sisters and couples often serve missions as well, after retirement. Why sit home in a rocking chair when you can be out there doing some good?!

Q: How long do missionaries serve?

A: Boys for 24 months, girls for 18 months.  Senior missionaries can pretty much choose how long they want to serve.

Q: Are missionaries trained?

A: Yes, they receive some training prior to entering the mission field. This is done at a Missionary Training Center (MTC). There are several MTC's around the world, with the largest one being in Provo, Utah. This is where missionaries are taught skills related to teaching the gospel, and how to speak the language of the mission in which they'll serve. This is a total immersion type, intense language study! It's pretty impressive--a vast number of languages are taught there! Who knew "Mish Girl" could actually learn to speak Russian???

English speaking missionaries usually spend about three weeks at the MTC. Those going to foreign speaking missions spend longer, depending on the difficulty of the language. "Mish Girl" was at the MTC for eleven weeks! I guess Russian is a tough language to learn!

Q:  Do missionaries choose where they want to go?

A: Nope. They simply put their trust in the Lord and turn in their paperwork. Thedecisions about who serves where are made by the Priesthood leadership of the Church, through inspiration. It's always amazing to come to realize how PERFECT a mission call is for someone! As for "Mish girl," we never even DREAMED she would go to Russia, yet when the call came, we immediately knew it was "meant to be!"

Q:  Are they safe?

A:  Yes. Missionaries serve in "companionships" of two, which means they are ALWAYS with a companion, 24/7.

Fashion mecca!

So the Elders hopped onto a bus but there was no room for us, so we hopped into a beat up, rickety van. They're everywhere, these vans, because they're the taxis here. We got in the back and it was full of other people. Then we were off... OMG, these things could move! We traveled at the speed of light weaving in and out of other crazy cars and merged onto freeways without slowing down for the oncoming traffic or anything. Then, to switch lanes... what are blinkers? No, they don't waste time. they just switch at a 90 degree angle. It's insane and awesome at the same time. That's how driving should be! Nobody seemed to be wrecking, so it was all good. :) There were no road rules obviously and I'm not gonna lie, it's a little scary when walking around. I'm sure if I die here it will be from getting taken out by a normal, everyday, driving Russian. And everywhere people would just pull up on the curbs. I don't understand how this is done since all the cars are miniature and only 2 inches off the ground anyways.

So I just had a great convo with my comp. We both sat with our dictionaries out. :) She speaks really well for not knowing english until the MTC! She's 24, only child, baptized when she was 14, totally gorgeous, prayed about marrying her boyfriend and was told she needed to serve a mish! I'm not gonna lie, k even tho she was my nightmare, being a native and all, I think she's gonna be the best thing for me. :) Her old comp who is from Kiev and I love, told me not to mention that I like any kind of rock, don't tell her how much I love the style and hair, and that she wasn't going to speak english with me, ever. Sounds horrible. Don't be yourself and enjoy the silence for the next however many months... but no. I like her and am kind of pumped to have her because maybe, just maybe, I can improve in the language faster than I thought, which means I won't be living my BIGGER nightmare of not being able to communicate for the majority of my mish. Wishful thinking, I know, but hey... it's possible, right? So I'm excited and think this will be rad! I'm so happy to finally be here!

So back to getting here and all. We finally got out of the taxi (which was totally like experiencing the Knight Bus from Harry Potter) and I had tried contacting the dude who sat by me.. No such luck. So we were in the city...

OMG... There's no way to describe it. None. After 10 minutes of being there, I was convinced there was no cooler place on earth! It was like I was in my own personal heaven! Just... a really sinful heaven. ;) It's the MOST fashion forward place on the earth, I'm convinced! OMG! I love it! Everywhere, EVERYONE had mullets or mohawks... rockin ones... EVERYONE! And the clothes... omg, WHY did I bring anything! At the end of my mish, I'm going buck freaking wild here! Hottest clothes, HOTTEST shoes, HOTTEST hair ever! wow. ALL the men, dad's age and all, wear hot pointed shoes, rock full on amazing mullets, wear tight rocking jeans and pants, and hot shirts... you just have to see it, it's so HOT! I'm so stoked! I'm in fashion heaven! The rest of the world can NOT be aware of this, cuz if they were, Hollywood would so be a thing of the sad, sad past.

Now I can't even start on the architecture... it's freaking RAD! Beautiful. Everything is BEAUTIFUL! Even the alleys (which yes, I experienced...) are gorgeous! I love this place! I begged the president to place me here at some point, even tho it's supposed to be really hard. I love it. wow, the smell of alcohol is SO strong right now... Anyways, we contacted on these crazy busy streets and it was so fun! Being denied wasn't too hard, yet. But lots of people took my fliers, so that was good.

Everyone here smokes. Everyone. 13 years old? Yup. And there are a lot of dogs, just cruising in and out of shops and stuff. But there's rad music playing on the streets everywhere. It's a total movie! I feel liked I'm in a movie! :) I almost got robbed by a gypsy kid. I was being careful, but wow was this kid forceful and sneaky... He was like one foot nothing, super dirty and wouldn't leave us alone. The Ukrainian girls went off on him and he smacked one and ran. Haha. adventure.

The weather here is strange. It'll be hot and sunny one minute, 20 secs later it'll be cloudy, then it'll rain for a minute or two... random. There are canals everywhere with pretty bridges and a river called the Neva that huge barges come thru at night and they lift the bridges.

So we met up with my other Elders from the MTC on a bridge in front of the ice cream castle later... Elder D. looked a little bit assaulted and I found out later he kind of HAD been, by a crazy babushka who tried to steal him to show him around the city. I think he's traumatized about the language... which is ridiculous because he's AMAZING at it. I, on the other hand, am not that nervous even tho I suck... hm. Ironic. But Cectpa S. told me that she got blessed before she came that she would be a huge help in teaching the russian language. I know God had me in mind when he said that. :) Yes, it's meant to be. As always.

The metro is amazing! But it does totally smell like BO everywhere. It's not as bad as you would think tho. or maybe I am just being blessed not to mind it.

We get cell phones, everyone does, as long as we aren't inappropriate and text the opposite sex and stuff. I'm gonna go to the Finland temple when I renew my visa in a year! Yay! How cool is that?! And every 6 months I go to Estonia to renew my migration card.

So we went back to the President’s apartment to have dinner and shower. We were all acting like we were stoned. We've never been so silent before, but we were dying. I had zero strength, but went into the shower cuz I was nasty. It was one of those round white tubs with a shower head that shoots all over if you're a stupid foreigner and happen to turn it on without holding it... what? you think I did that??? Come on now, I've seen What a Girl Wants. I know how it goes down. :)

Then I tried to do my hair... aw, I don't want to talk about this... I happen to be devastated... I used my converters, and had sister S. help me and everything... but I almost burned down the building with my flatiron... it's dead now.... I don't really want to relive it. So I have to go buy some cheap piece of junk and a different blow dryer cuz mine is too much for the plugs here... seriously, what are these converters for!?!?! it's so ridiculous. K, I'm getting off the train. More to come! (written Jul 26, 2007)