What I've Been Up To

Well I want to kind of give you all an overview of what I've been doing in Russia so far. I'll start with the plane.

It was about 14 hours total with one stopover in Frankfurt, Germany. I didn't think it was that bad. I never mind long trips like that, but I was disappointed in United and Lufthansa. Unlike my trip to Italy, these planes were not equipped with TV screens at each seat. I know its a big luxury, but was seriously looking forward to this for like a week. Other than that the trip here was uneventful. I had no problem getting through customs and all that, (No fights with KGB or anything)

We did have a 4 hour busride to Vladimir, that kinda sucked. It was long and boring, and very tiring. I arrived in Vladimir tried and amist many Russian speakers. Seriously, we got off the bus and straight into Russian. I did a lot of Um's and ah's and was not able to say much to my new host family.

I was meet at the bus by my host grandmother and her granddaughter (who speaks pretty good english). They had a taxi waiting and we went to my new home. My new Apartment is small, two bedrooms, a small kitchen a bathroom and a toilet. That's it! But my room is pretty big and after 5 days I am getting used to living with my new Russian Mother.

Her name is Alla Mihailovna, and she is very nice and very willing to talk to me. I know that every conversation we have helps my language, but at this point I don't really feel independent. You know, as if I was by myself in a dorm. I know once I get my routine and once I get used to everything it will be much better and I'll learn a lot. But I still wish I was in a dorm.

Vladimir is a very nice little town. It has many many churches, but not all of them are still active churches. They are all very beautiful. I did manage to find my new Catholic Church and I'll even get to attend Mass next Sunday, Hooray!!! I missed it last Sunday due to all the travel and the fact that I didn't know where it was.

Well, that's all I'll get into now, stay tuned for more to come.

From Russia

Hello internet world! I'm back online!

Well, it was a crazy few days getting to Russia and getting used to just about everything, but I finally found some time to get on the internet. This is the first time I've used an internet cafe and trying to find out what to do in Russian has been difficult at best. But here I am. Because it is costing me money to seat here and type, I'm not going to go into a long post about what I have been up to since I left America. I'll need so time to hammer out what I want to say and all that stuff, give me a day or two. I just want to give some quick info. I don't know if I will be posting pictures, it depends on whether I can connect to these computers and stuff, we'll see. I want to say that it is very hard to adjust at the moment, feeling uncomfortable like 100% of the time is not fun, but give me a few weeks and I'm sure I'll never want to leave. Culture Shock is pretty tough to deal with, especially when you live with a Russian family. Speaking of, my family is very nice, more on them later.

In closing, I'm here, I'm ok, and hopefully I will survive.

Keep praying please!

The Embassy Suites Hotel

Hello everyone,

I'm posting from the Embassy Suites Hotel in Washington DC. I had to by some internet time because I forgot to write down some important information (Like Church addresses). So it is now costing me $10 bucks to type this message. Well actually its $10 for 24 hours, but basically the same thing.

So the past two days have been orientation, a lot of orientation. Most of the information they have told as only elevated my fears. Basically this year will be very fun, but the first month will be pretty horrible. I mean horrible as very awkward and uncomfortable. This has me a bit worried, but I must say during evening prayer tonight I definitely got some encouragement.

"Do not abandon or forsake me,
O God my help!
Through my father and mother forsake me,
the Lord will receive me."

Obviously my Mom and Dad have not forsaken me (duh!), but you get the point. God is right by my side, giving me strength. Well it definitely took away my anxiety (for at least a while).

Other than that, there are about 13 people in my group going to Vladimir, and we are the only students studying at the KORA Institute. This is pretty cool, it means we will be like 2 or 3 to a teacher. Well, my flight leaves at about 5pm tomorrow and then I'm off!

Goodbye for now

This will be short.

In less then 2 hours I'll be off to orientation and then two days after that off to Russia. I don't know when I will post again, but I will post again.

Wish me luck, please pray for me, and goodbye for now.

Packing

I finally finished packing. I packed two checked bags and two carry-ons. It took basically all day and several tries to get it right. I had to keep removing stuff (I started off with way too many clothes). I gotta say, packing for a year in another country is pretty difficult. I'm not entirely sure what I will need and there is a lot of guessing involved. Well, I'll see how it goes when I try to get on the plane. As long as my bags make it to Russia I don't really care. At least that is finished.

Email Abound

Hey everyone,

I would like to draw your attention to the bottom of the page, right above the counter. That is my new email for this blog, maybesaint@yahoo.com. So now you all can contact me whenever you might! Ya!!!

Ok, but seriously I will soon be posting in Russia, so email me any comments, questions, or posting requests. Anything you like really.

Just keep it in mind.

Some more good news

I found another interesting story on lifenews.com. Check out this amazing article. I pretty pleased to hear that medical treatment for unborn children is advancing so rapidly. Doctors have successfully removed a tumor from an unborn child to save his life. That's awesome. Congrates to everyone involved with saving this little boys life, and not giving up on him (especially the parents).

Gone Shootin

Yesterday I fired a gun for the first time in my life. I got together with my friend, Mike, on Saturday and we drove down to a shooting range. I had wanted to learn to shoot for a while and was glad that I finally got my chance before I left. Mike has "a lot" of experience with firearms if you know what I mean. (You probably don't) Mike's family is big into hunting and shooting and stuff. So Mike brought his shot gun and some ammunition and we were off.

We did trap shooting and I must say that it was very fun. I learned how to load and fire a shot gun (which is good in case I run into any zombies, you need to be prepared for that stuff). I actually surprised myself by hitting a lot of my targets (even though they were the easy ones).

Overall, my shoulder is a bit sore and I am now very interested in purchasing my own gun. I don't really have any desire to every go hunting, but I could definitely get into trap and skeet shooting.

Changes

Well, I have been pretty busy. Over the last couple of days I've done some last minute shopping, preparing, and visiting. As of today I've seen most of my friends for the last time until I return.

So with that, this site will be experiences a few minor changes in the next few days. Why? Tuesday I will head to orientation, Friday I will be in Russia. I plan to post as lot up until Tuesday, because after that I don't know when I'll be posting again. (So I'd appreciate it if you all keep checking the blog every so often, even if there are no new posts) I promise I won't disappear, just bear with me.

I am pretty excited, assuming I can handle the first few shakey weeks, I think I'm really going to enjoy this. Changes are coming.

Sin City

I saw this film for the first time a few days ago, it was spectacular. Ok, so it was unbelievable violent and it lived up to the name, Sin City. What surprised me was the fact that the violence almost seemed necessary, I mean the movie would not have been as good if it was not so violent. That being said, it was definitely not necessary to see all the violence, some of it was pretty disgusting.

The movie was co-directed by Frank Miller, of comic book fame and author of the Sin City comic. Ever since I read The Dark Knight Returns, by Miller, I knew he was very very good at telling a story, and at using the visual media to its full extent, and at portraying the meaning and themes of the film. So, looking past my poor, grammar, you can tell that I liked the movie.

(By the way, I'm watching Spider-man 2 right now, I love that movie)

Back to Sin City, I'm not going to go into a review, mainly because I think I ought to watch it again to do it justice. Needless to say, its full of good actors, good directors, and you should see it if you haven't already (Plus the black and white visuals look really good).

The Face of Choice

If there is one thing that pro-choicers shout the most at me is that it is the woman's "choice" as whether she should be able to have an abortion. First off I'd like to thank the pro-choice movement for ruining the word "Choice" for me. Seriously, ever time I hear that word now I cringe a bit. I just can't use it anymore, so thanks for that. Second, I always surpress a smile when someone tells me its their "choice" because I just know that the next argument will be how due to poverty or family or some other cause women have no "choice" but to have an abortion.

Anyways, I was reading lifenews.com and I came upon this story. Its about how a pregnant girl was almost killed by her boyfriend after she refused to have an abortion.

Some "choice"

Hey! it could happen

I thought that I would show everyone what I think my first day in Russia will be like.


That actually is Moscow for any of you who think I just made this up and think it could never happen. And yes that is Omega Red (Soviet Super soldier who's fought the X-Men several times). Now I have no idea of how he got so big, but I figure I might as well stop him from destroy the city (I mean I doubt he would just stop there, come on people).

The little things work

This article just made my day. Click on the link if you want to read the note the girl left, but here is the story.

"When pro-life advocates Dave and Mary Labun left their house, they didn't expect to see a note on their car. What they found surprised them. In their hands they held not a complaint from a neighbor or a police citation. Instead, a teenager told them their pro-life bumper sticker prompted her to reconsider a decision to have an abortion."

I've done a lot of pro-life work and one thing every veteran pro-lifer I've meet along the way has told me is that you'll never know how many people you might save. I think this story is one example of how true that is.

You know what's weird

Ok so it is kinda of late right now, but maybe not late enough for my mind to be wandering as much as it is. Right Now I am staring at my computer mouse, which happens to be a miniature mouse designed for laptops. I bought it (at Home Depot of all places, it was just so cheap) to just be a little mouse I could easily bring to Russia, it has a retractable cord for space saving you see. Well, I've been using this mouse for about a week and it's so tiny. I guess I've gotten used to it because I when I went to use the house computer I grabbed the mouse and was like whoo, dude, this thing is huge ... it like fills up my whole hand.

I have the same experience with the laptop and desktop keyboards, it's so weird how you can get so used to certain things.

I don't know, just a random thought.

If Only ...

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge Baltimore Orioles fan. I have watched them play Baseball for over 10 years. Since the days of the Ripkin Brothers and Brady Anderson right up till today, since the days of that little #$%#@% of a Yankees fan who stole the Orioles' World Series bid (Any O's fan know what I'm talking about), up to the travesty that is the Nationals today.

I've been disappointed season after season by my O's and yet I've never turned my back on them. I always looked to a new season with the hopes of a new playoff race. This year I thought I had finally gotten my wish. Amazingly the Orioles climbed 1st in their division and actually stayed there for over a month. I was so happy, why the only way they could possible miss the playoffs is if they went on some 10 game losing streak like they usually do around mid-season. I mean they couldn't possible do that ... its just ... simply ... impossi . . . oh wait that DID happen. Disappointment over something when you have no way to affect the outcome is one of the worst feelings ever!

I am watching an Orioles game right now and it is so annoying to be able to predict exactly how they will screw up various opportunities. Furthermore, I can not believe the Orioles have squandered such a promising season. Why must they always destroy my happiness!

Yet here I am STILL watching them play, STILL being disappointed with them losing games they ought to win, and STILL hoping for the playoffs. I can't help it, I'll always be their loyal fan. I know vindication will come, no team can suck forever. I just wish they'd hurry up.

Wedding

Congrates all around, my Uncle just got married on Saturday. I was at the wedding all weekend and I had a great time. It was a very beautiful wedding and the reception was a blast. My uncle hired an awesome band called The Real Genius. They were not actually a wedding band, they were more of a great cover band. That plus good food, family, and a generously provided open bar made for a very nice evening.

12 days to go

In my preparations for Russia I've just spent the last 2 days putting pretty much all my CD's onto my computer. Soon my laptop will basically be a storage unit for music and photos. As time grows nearing to my departure I am slowly getting my packing together. I honestly did not think packing would be this hard. I am having a very hard time decided what to pack. I can't even decide what clothes I should bring. Its pretty annoying and I'm also pretty lazy so I can't but wonder if I'll be ready in time.

I did finally find out who I will be staying with in Russia though. I will be living with a Russian Babushka, she lives alone but has children and grandchildren. The grandkids are a bit younger than I am. I can only hope that we'll get along, she seems nice and she's had an American student before. Well, I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

I'm so happy!!!

Oh man, this is great. Thanks to masstimes.org I was able to find the website for the Catholic Church in Vladimir. (Here is the site in English).

Its too bad that most of the site is not translated, but at least there are some pictures to look at. (I mean too bad for you all, I can read most of the Russian site hehe)

I'm looking at the Mass schedule (its only in the Russian part). Apparently the Russian word for Mass is Святая Месса (Summa), which translated to Most(Summa) Holy Mass. Although to my disappointment, it seems that daily Mass has been replaced with just the Liturgy of the Word (maybe that's just a summer thing)

I am very glad to find this, last time I tried I couldn't access the site, the Church looks beautiful (and traditional :). I can't wait to have Mass there. Unfortunately I can't seem to download the pictures from the site, but if you want a look at the Church, CLICK HERE, and follow the blue arrows at the bottom of the page for more pictures.

New Camera!!!

Hey everyone, I just received my new digital camera today. This will be my constant companion as I travel through Russia, and lucky you I've decided to post the first few pictures I took with it ;).


This is me, (ladies, please no staring) but seriously I wear that orange hoodie all the time.


This is my puppy dog, Molly, she's 16 but still a little too hyper when it comes to food. Course her bladder doesn't work so well anymore, but I'm glad she still around. This may be the last time I see her.

I figured I ought to put something Russian up here too. This is a bottle of Russian vodka that my Dad got for playing in the Frank Foundation Golf Tournament. Frank Foundation is an adoption agency for Russian orphans.

This can't be right

Flipping through the channels today I stumbled across a celebrity show on Vh1 (a celeb show on Vh1, no, really? Go on) Ya well it just happened to be the celebrity spirituality. It was rather interesting to see how so many celebrities have turned being religious into fashion (Actually it was very disturbing). I don't mean to insult the celebs that do take their religious life seriously (even though many of them still use it for the publicity), but honestly Madonna needs to stop, so does Tom Cruise. I really feel bad for Katie Holmes; it really seems like Tom has sucked her into his scientology cult (oh ya its a cult). I hate to see good Catholics warped by Hollywood (oh well, I'll keep praying for her).

Anyways, the point of this post is that the show did a segment on a shop in L.A. that sells Christian icons, like belt buckles or jewelry with pictures of Christ or Mary or a cross on them. The problem? The show stated that these icons have been blessed by a Catholic Priest! Correct me if I'm wrong, but it was my understanding that you're not supposed to sell blessed items. And besides that, the fact that rich celebrities would buy these blessed icons because they think it will act like some stupid magic pendant and bring them luck and health or something is horrible! That is not why you have something blessed. They are not lucky charms!

What did you just say?!!??!

You all ready for something weird? Ok I was driving home the other day and a commercial came on the radio. It started out with a bunch of people saying stuff like, "I didn't think it could happen to me," and "We thought we were protected." Long story short it was pretty clear they were people who had caught a disease or made a baby from a sexual encounter. Next, the announcer comes on and amazingly he makes a statement about how abstinence is the only 100% method of sex protection.

What's the catch? ITS A TROJAN CONDOM COMMERCIAL!!!

Yes, the next line was something about how, after abstinence, condom give the "most" protection.

The commercial itself didn't faze me, I've grown accustom to hearing condom commercials, but I just could not believe that a condom company would even mention abstinence! I'm not really sure if this means the company is reacting to America's changing morals or if there is some ulterior motive with Trojan, but I guess this is a good thing.

P.S. I checked out the Trojan website and you can actually view the commercial there. Check it out if you want to (I refuse to advertise their website based on my principles, just google it)

Good News!

I don't know how many of you were following the Russian sub disaster for the past few days, but it is my pleasure to announce that all 7 sailors were rescued unharmed. You can read about it here.

Looking back 5 years ago to the Kursk disaster, this is quite a change in Russia. Not only did they save the men on the trapped sub, but they did it by asking the international community for help. It was in fact a British rescue sub that freed the trapped Russian sub. It is also pretty clear that if Russia had not acted so quickly to ask for help that the sailors would have died.

As a Russian major, had a bit of a history buff, I am very impressed with Russia's actions. I think it shows some good improvement as far as Russia's history is concerned. Russia is not really known to ask the international community for help. During the Soviet and Post-Soviet period, this is not that hard to imagine. With the former you have the Iron Curtain and the USSR's fears of the West, with the latter you have that lingering fear along with Russia's pride as a former superpower. But, you may be surprised to know that Russia's record of dealing with the world goes back before the revolution of 1918.

During the Tsar era of Russian history there is you have a big theme of Russia struggling with acceptance as a world power in the West against the desire to keep with traditional Russian life. This caused a lot of xenophobia and resentment towards the West, and (especially after the defeat of Napoleon) a feeling of superiority.

This whole development is probably much more interesting to me, but you should at least note that Russia is most likely more open to the West and the international community in general than ever before.

From Russia with ... well whatever

I was checking my hits today and I noticed that I have actually gotten a few visitors from Russia! All I can say is that's pretty cool. In fact I've gotten a many hits from all over the world. I don't really know how some people actually get to my blog (and from the statistics I get they don't stay long), but of course its really cool to think people all over the world I reading what I have to say. Not a lot mind you, but enough. I have a feeling that this blog will get a bit more popular once I get to Russia simply because that is a bit more interesting.

Still, I'm glad to get some notice from Russia

Очень Хорошо!

Kudos to blogger for supporting Russian typing characters, not everyone does. You may be wondering why it took me this long to test this little feature. I mean I had planned too, its just ... stuff ... you know stuff. (Although true, the Cryllic dates could have tipped me off)

Anyways, this gives me a wonderful option to post the "Our Father" in Russian. I'll also post a version in the english alphabet since sound is still a no go at the moment. (I think you all can handle the translation).

Молитва Господня (The Lord's Prayer)

Отче наш, сущий на небесах! Да святится имя Твоё;
да придёт Царствие Твоё; да будет воля Твоя и на земле, как на небе.
Хлеб наш насущный дай нам на сей день; и прости нам долги наши,
как и мы прощаем должникам нам;
и не введи нас во искушение, но избавь нас от лукавого.
Аминь

And now in English Russian

Molitva Gospodnya

Oatchye nash, sushshii na nyebyecah! Da svyatitsya imya Tvoio;
da pridyot Tsarstviye Tvoio; da budet volya Tvoya i na zyemlye, kak na nyebye.
Hlyeb nash nasushshnyi dai nam na syei den; i prosti nam dolgi nashi,
kak i myi proshshayem dolzhenikam nam;
i nye vvyedi nas vo ickushyeniye, no izbav nas oat lukavovo.
Amen

Go ahead, give it a shot. Sounds pretty cool in another language doesn't it?

I Return

Hello again everyone,

Well, I'm back from a nice little trip to the beach, and boy do I have some work to do. Its less than 3 weeks before I am off to distant lands and I have not even thought about packing. Not to mention all the other stuff I need to do to get ready. I should also mention the doubts about this whole thing are starting to fly pretty fast around my head. Nervous doesn't really describe it. Its more like I realize that time is short and I now have very little time to do everything I planned to do before I left. You know one year ago, this seemed lifetimes away. So now its like I'm freaking out thinking I need to do this and that and I'm not really accomplishing anything. Oh well, I guess I'll be ready when I leave. Actually my next task will be to prepare my laptop for the journey. Yes, I've decided to bring it with me. I plan to strip it down to the essentials and then fill it with music and pictures. It will basically be a giant electronic storage bin.

A Little Vacation Time

Well, I'm off to the beach for a few days. Too bad, cause I actually have a lot to post about right now, but it will have to wait. Don't worry, I'll be back real soon to post much to your enjoyment. I'm not leaving for Russia just yet.