Россия!

*Click photos to enlarge.

Russia! I'm just finishing my first week in this vast land of resilient, hardy people and am loving every moment.

I arrived on Monday, flying in to the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Yuzhno means "south" in Russian, and the city sits at the bottom of the island, which is about six hundred miles long and about one hundred miles across at the widest point. Most of the island is covered with beautiful mountains and dense forests of spruce, fir and birch along with maple and oak. The area is known for its salmon, brown bear, and whales, with herds of reindeer in the north.

Airport luggage truck.

My Uncle Dennis and my cousin Jana met me at the airport. Russia requires tourists to register with a hotel within three days of arrival, so we took the bus to a hotel where I stayed the first night, before moving to my uncle and aunt's apartment for the rest of the week.

The city is filled with the traditional concrete apartments built in the Soviet era, and most people live in these with a few houses scattered around. The apartments are generally grey and show signs of their age on the outside, but once inside the living areas they are quite comfortable and fixed up nicely.

The first few days I was looking at the city through my western eyes and noticing the run down buildings, roads and buses, but those things quickly faded to the background and the fascinating Russian people came in to focus. Rugged men with weathered faces, little children in bright hats of red and pink, and babushkas with scarves keeping a watchful eye on the surroundings.

Jana and I walked around exploring the city on Tuesday, taking in Lenin square, parks, little corner markets, Russian Orthodox churches, and booths selling candy and fresh bread, all the setting for people going about their daily lives. Russians can seem to be a bit rude to our way of thinking at first, but they are simply much more somber in their appearance and direct in their communication than we are. They do not smile much in public, and do not consider it a form of good manners like we do. In fact they tend to view our constant smiling as a bit fake, and have a saying "He smiled out of pure politeness," which is not a compliment. They also dispense with the formalities we consider normal when speaking. I was taking a photo in a bakery of some desserts, and the shopkeeper asked brusquely in English "Why are you taking pictures of my food? Why don't you just buy it?" This might be said jokingly with a smile in America, but she was serious and blunt in her manner. It was a reasonable question, and she would have asked the same thing to a Russian. I have found myself quickly adapting to this style of public interaction, and appreciate that it makes for great clarity. Just say what you are thinking and be done with it. It's not considered rude at all, it's just a much more straightforward style of communicating than we are used to. 

Dachas

The last part of the week was spent with Jana in bible studies, meetings, and English lessons. I love the Russian people I have met such as Roman in Yuzhno, Svetlana in Kholmsk, Olyesia from Uglegorsk, Sascha, and Babushka Kim who took me in like I was her grandson and fed me incredible homemade borscht and bread after we had studied a chapter in Mark's gospel. Jesus taught over and over that His message was love, and that love toward God and others is the most important, fundamental part of spiritual life. Seeing this very real love in my brothers and sisters in Russia feels like the farmer seeing his first green plants coming up through the soil. It warms my heart.

I spend another week on Sakhalin, with several other workers arriving on Tuesday. We'll have meetings and studies with everyone in the area, then next week will go to Nakhodka on the mainland for convention. I love this huge amazing country and her people, and am very much looking forward to more time here.

Hope this finds all well!