Sunday morning we got up and left with plenty of time to get to 11am church early. After a subway, bus and mashutka (van that has a route) ride who to knows where we arrived in Zellenongrad (green city) at the church 15 minutes late. Ben figured it should have taken one hour. The trip back took 3 after standing at the mashutka stop until we decided it abandoned the last pickup of the evening. We ended up taking the train to Moscow and 3 subways.
Church was entertaining even though it was in Russian. The youth speakers microphone wouldn't work so people were running back and forth into another room. It would squeal occasionally but was off most the time. I think they fixed it 3 times and messed it up again. They finally got it working in time for her to finish the talk.
They called Ben up to bear his testimony. Everyone told him his Russian really sucks now. By the end of the day he was feeling much better about the language. Sunday school started with a list of material necessities we had to have to live. The list started with food, shelter, transportation and ended with most of the time being spent arguing if documents should be on the list. They finally agreed, in Russia you need documents.
We will have to go to the post office today to get our registration papers to go with our passport, visa and immigration form.
Eating: Saturday night we stopped at a kiosk near the hostel and bought a baked potato and toast/pita bread thing. Sunday morning we bought a pita bread with meat in it. After church we visited several members. The first fed us a bowl of mushroom soup with sour cream in it and the second gave us rice and corn. Both were good. I'm hoping to lose weight while here.
The first visit was a single woman whose husband died of brain cancer in Feb. We spent most to the afternoon visiting with her, in Russian. She lives in a very small apartment with her cat that looks like Lucy. The second family had two kids at home, a dog and a cat. They also lived in a very small apartment. Not much bigger than our bedroom. I thought their master bedroom was about the size of our master bath. I was starting to feel like a missionary that couldn't speak the language. I played with the dog as Ben spoke in Russian. The whole missionary feeling was sealed when, without warning the dog bit me on the back of my hand. Ben told me not to let the lady of the house see the bleeding but it was too late and couldn't have been hidden anyway. I thought he was trying to keep her from getting upset but it turned out he was just trying to avoid me having to wear a badge of iodine on my hand. Too late. She brought out a bottle and cotton pads and liberally applied a green patch on my hand that will probably still be there when I get home.
We made it back to the hostel just after midnight and slept well until 8am. We heard Ryan D.is asleep in the other room but don't dare wake the fellow.
We exchanged money at the airport at 33 to one. I got 9900 rubles for 300 dollars. We ended up buying 20 subway passes for 380 rubles. About 12 dollars. The baked potato was 48 or about a dollar and a half. I had to buy dental floss for 112 but the toothbrush was only 14.
There is a computer in the hostel but this will probably our last night here. Kay
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