Practicum
- Posted by under Life at Bethel
- Wednesday October 31st, 2007
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Practicum
Since part of the intention of this blog is that I’ll be keeping it up while I’m on practicum in the spring, I thought I should give a brief explanation of the practicum process for prospectives, but also for my friends and family members who haven’t been following the process. Ok, so last spring I filled out an application for practicum listing places I wanted to go, etc. Over the summer, Angela (one of my professors) looks into my choices and finds a site that’s willing to consider me as a practicum applicant. Basically practicum is a 10-week internship. I will be working with an interpreting agency in whatever city I’m placed. Once the agency says they’re willing to consider me as an applicant, they are sent my resume as well as resume tape. My resume tape is basically a sample of my work. We taped these a few weeks ago (the Monday after the play!) and sent them soon after. The taping was difficult, not gonna lie, but it gives an accurate example of how I interpret relatively unprepared on a rather hard topic. Once the resume and tape have been sent, the waiting begins. If the agency sees the tape, review my resume and accepts me, then I know for sure that I’ll be going there for practicum. This is where I’m at now…..the waiting….it’s making me nervous. 
Random God Tangent
This semester, more than anything, I’ve been learning that God is at work all around me and the more I pay attention to His moving and nudging, the more I learn, even on a daily basis. I’m learning that life is not so much about bringing people to Jesus or Jesus to them, but figuring out how God’s already working and join Him in His work. What an incredible privilege to join the Almighty God on this crazy adventure! It’s becoming more and more evident to me that God is constantly at work in the hearts and lives of every person He has created. Some of the work seems smaller or less monumental than other, but it’s all steps. He’s working constantly, however big or small it seems, it never stops! I absolutely love having little “God moments” that He lets me see something that He’s doing and lets me be a part of it, just for a second. It’s a beautiful thing!
Happy little trees, rocks, etc…
Do you guys know that artist guy who was on TV all the time? I don’t remember his name, but he had an afro and always painted “a happy little tree there” and “a happy little rock here.” Every thing was a “happy little” something.
So here’s my happy little thoughts:
* I finally got my clothes in a washer after 2 days of waiting for an opening and they are currently drying.
* I’m teaching Sveta how to make enchiladas tomorrow. That should be fun.
* The construction guys near the university got smart and put the trash bin under the trash chute instead of making a pile and then shoveling it into the trash bin. It’s been very amusing watching them.
* I’m only 2 classes away from being done with Russian art.
* I shaved my legs. I know that’s not very exciting to you people, but it was a big accomplishment for me.
Okay, that’s all I have for now. Here’s something interesting. Maybe my mom’s the only one who did this, but I bet not. When I was younger, if I ever said I was bored she would always think that I could do more housework to entertain myself. Well today, when I told Janyne that I’ve been bored lately, she automatically started talking about getting Matt and I more homework from our language teacher. I’m dead serious. Both as a kid and presently I was lamenting the lack of social activities and these women somehow think I’m lacking in domestic or academic activities. Are you kidding me? I don’t think so! Yes, my studies are very light right now, but I don’t want more just because it’s something to do.
Oh! Here’s something else random. I had a dream the other night with all my high school friends in it. Not college friends, which is rather unusual. Janyne was our guide, but we were all taking the train to go to Disney World. We got off at one station stop and my daddy and someone else had built a swing set, just for me. I was very happy, but was almost late getting back on the train. So anyway, analyze that! Ha.
Okay, I’m done for now. Dosvydanya! (doesn’t that just make you want to watch Anastasia?!)
What a week!!! Grade 1 was in charge of chapel today, so you can imagine how crazy the week was as we prepared. We did a skit like The Price is Right game show, and my students all chose a character they wanted to be and came up with their own name. It was a blast, and I am so proud of them:) I tried to commentate each slide so it would be as if you were really there…hahah ENJOY!!!
They all started saying whaaat, and looking at each other like they couldn’t believe it and then one of my student’s said…“I came all the way from New York City for thiiiiis!!!??!”
“We have running hot water”
This last week, out team split up and moved into our ministry sights, where we will be living for the next seven weeks. Melody, Matt and I are working at a Christian preschool in a small rural village in the mountains called Mata Gorda. The poverty, both physical and spiritual, is very real here, but the school is creating hope for their future. I am super excited to be a part of it! The three of us are really privileged to live with the family who helped start the school and are now pastoring the church in Mata Gorda. Their house was actually built by a church in Indiana! It is a beautiful home for this area and there are always neighbors taking advantage of their hospitality. And…drum roll please….we have running hot water! Its not constant (so bucket baths are still sometimes necessary), but electricity isn’t either, and I live.
“Transition”
Its been an interesting transition for our team here. Last week, after we finished our Spanish finals and projects, we all said goodbye to our first host families and then left on a week long tour of the rest of the country. We spent many hours in the vans, but the destinations were well worth it. We visited museums and historical sights that told the story of the Dominican people: all the way from their indigenous Indian tribes, to Columbus’s first city in the New World, to modern day luxuries, like an all inclusive resort that we stayed at for two nights! It was beautiful and almost unreal. I got to swim, kayak, and even scuba dive a little in the Caribbean Sea! We are definitely getting the full Dominican experience. It makes me a little sad to think that some people come to the Dominican and only see that perspective of the country, whereas the Dominican people get no where close to staying in a resort, or even living like I do in the states (which isn’t exactly all-inclusive (-: ).
“I have found a new kind of wealth”
While I do see a lot of poverty in Mata Gorda, I have found a new kind of wealth. I have never met people so welcoming and giving, even when they have so little. Its as is they see what they do have as a blessing, and therefore want to bless others with it.
I promise ya’ll that I will get pictures up as soon as I can. I’m sorry about the wait, but along with inconsistent water and electricity, comes very inconsistent internet. Oh, ya, I am on my third infected bug bite. Its laughable now how much they love me.
Thank you so much, to those of you who have been praying for us here. God is really working here and teaching us all a lot about ministry. God bless!
Halfway Point
I have passed the halfway point of my time here in Russia. That is both an encouraging and scary thought. It seems amazing when I think back to my first days in Russia, when I was reeling from culture shock and feeling like I had just crashed landed in St. Petersburg and was being left to pick up all the pieces and try to assemble something resembling a normal life half a world away from all that I am familiar with. During those days it seemed as if time had ground to a halt and that December would never come and I would spend the rest of my days feeling out of place, incompetent, and alone. I knew then, and can appreciate now, that it was all just a part of the process of adapting and was very normal, but it didn’t make it any less turbulent. Fast forward two months and I feel very confident and generally content about life here in St. Petersburg. All the little things I wasn’t sure how to do when I first got here (cooking, laundry, using the University’s computer network, my cleaning responsibilities for my floor in the dorm, etc.) have been figured out and I feel good about life in Russia and life in general.
Water
At this point I’m beginning to notice more and more the little differences that make life here noticeably different than life in America. The biggest difference for me is that things are just more uncertain here. In the U.S. I have almost complete confidence that when I turn on a faucet water will come out and that the electricity will work properly and that I will be able to access the internet. Granted, there are occasional power outages and the Bethel network is not the most reliable in the world, but by and large I can count on everything to work. The same is true in Russia, but its just a bit less likely to work. It isn’t a huge difference when I look at it objectively, but its something that I don’t have to deal with back home so it appears bigger. For example, on three separate occasions we have had our hot water turned off for more than a day here. That is such a shock to me because I can always count on having hot water at home. When I actually took the time to figure it out based on how long I have been here I realized that I have had hot water 90% of the time. On paper that looks very good, but its that 10% that I don’t have in America that makes things feel so different. The same thing goes with the power and the plumbing at SPCU in general. It isn’t a huge obvious difference as if I were suddenly living in a tent or didn’t have indoor plumbing, but that small difference in the amount of certainty I have that things will work when I use them. Little things like that combine together to remind me that I am not in America anymore.
“Amazing Country”
Well after that self-indulgent bit of navel gazing, I should probably say a bit about what has been going on here. Tonight I had a really good experience when Elena, our art teacher here, invited Amy and I over to her apartment. We went and looked over some art books for an hour or so, but after that she prepared a meal for us. She prepared borscht (which is delicious. I don’t care what images the idea of beet soup brings to mind, it really is very good), chicken, a potato dish that also included eggplant and sour cream (also very delicious in my opinion), watermelon, an apple cake, and tea. It was so good to be in someone’s home and to have an amazing meal prepared for me. We also had a very good chance to just sit around and talk. I was very grateful for Elena’s hospitality and generosity. Moments like that go a long way in helping me feel good about life in Russia. It was just so good to feel that relaxed and at home in St. Petersburg, especially since returning from Finland. Finland was just so clean and beautiful and St. Petersburg, as much as I love it, is a very dirty city. It was tough to get back from Lappeenranta to see water and trash all over the streets and grime on all the buildings. It didn’t help that someone made a big mess in my kitchen that I ended cleaning up mostly by myself. I’ve been trying very hard to cultivate a sense of gratitude for everything I have here since I got back. It’s been a week now since we returned from Finland, and I feel like I have readjusted to my life in St. Petersburg. A little taste of a country where life is much like it is in America went a long way towards knocking me out of my Russian mindset. Thankfully I have recovered and can look forward to two more months in this amazing country. Time moves on and life is going well. I have come a long way since my first days in Russia, and I know that I will continue to learn and grow and be stretched in the days and weeks to come. We shall see what Russia has in store for me before I head back home…
Borsch…Russian Soup
Borsch is THE Russian soup.
And now I’ve finally had some. I realize that it’s been served here at the school but I’ve never been brave enough to eat it. Why would a person like me (who likes soup) be scared of borsch? Because it’s made with beets. So it’s beet red and usually eaten with sour cream, which is not one of my favorites.
But tonight our Art teacher invited us over to our house and served us borsch. It wasn’t too bad. I wouldn’t eat tons of it, but I can finish off a bowl, and I even added sour cream so that I was just like a Russian. Then we had vegetables (potatoes, eggplant, sweet peppers, and carrots) that were fried and severed with sour cream (Russians like sour cream). That was not quite as appetizing to my palate, but I ate as much as I could. We got much more food than we expected because she also cooked some chicken and served it with tomatoes. We also ate some watermelon and then an apple cake type thing that is delicious. And of course we had tea.
I enjoyed myself very much. We talked some about art, and I felt much more comfortable asking her questions about everything (the affects of a home atmosphere I suppose). Then we ate supper and talked about many things as we sat afterwards. She convinced Matt and I that we absolutely must go see some sort of concert, regardless of the expense. Not that we’ll throw away our money, but we’ve been hesitant to even try for fear that it would be very expensive. But Elena is quite convinced that we can get some cheap tickets.
So that way my evening, quite enjoyable.
In other news…
There’s not really a lot. I am feeling more ashamed of my attempt at an art paper and thinking about trying another one just to prove that I can do a better one. But in all honesty I quite fear that I do not have the ability to evaluate art and that keeps me from giving my opinions and analysis.
I’m almost done with Emma.
I have my class schedule for next semester. I fear that none of my friends will be in my classes, but it won’t be the end of the world I suppose. I feel like after being so alone here that I can survive almost anything. I have 17 credit hours plus choir for 0 credits. So that, in addition to work, and my planned involvement with the play makes my days very full. But having obligations makes me motivated, so I’m very excited.
JOY TO THE WORLD!!! I was somehow completely ignorant of the fact that choir tour this year is going to be during spring break! So thanks to Miss Lindsay Johnson, I am now aware and all of my problems with the conflicting internship orientation are over. (See Mom, I can have it all!)
That’s all I’ve got for now.
“Oh! the blessing of a female correspondent, when one is really interested in the absent! she will tell me everything.”
-Frank Churchill in “Emma”
I must say that my sentiments are the same. This is in no way meant to make my gentlemen friends feel guilty, it is merely to rejoice at what I have. My mother and my dearest Sara have been especially faithful and informative about all aspects of life back at home and I appreciate it more than I can say. In another light, I must give my gentlemen friends some credit for doing much better at corresponding than I expected.
So as you can tell, I’m still reading Emma and now am free to do it more so that my Art paper is finished. However, it is 10:40 tonight and I have yet to do my Literature homework. It is not heavy, but still must be done.
Are Russians really different?
I’ve been beginning to notice how different Russia is from America. Of course it always felt very different, but it was just culture shock and the inability to adjust as quickly. However, now I am beginning to notice some honestly different world views. We especially have been talking about it in literature class.
Here’s an example:
Russians have a deep-rooted belief that the Tsar/President/Prime Minister are good. No questions asked. They truly think that whoever is at the top is caring for the Russian people and in no way corrupt. He/she is almost made into a god-figure. But….they DO believe that EVERYONE else in the government is corrupted. There is absolutely no trust in the government.
Now that may not seem to be much until you really think about the American perspective.
I think that most people in America believe the opposite. There is a belief that although, yes there is corruption in the government and way too much politicking, that the government really does work for the good of the people. There is no fear of the police or any particular branch of the government. The American people have a respect for the position of the Presidency, but not always the person. There is no semi-cult around the President, believing that he is the perfect savior of the people.
So anyway, that’s my thoughts for the night. My battery is about to run out, so gotta go!
“We’re not in Kansas anymore”
I was home for the weekend for fall break this past weekend. Thursday night there was a crazy tornado. This is my history with tornadoes: I don’t like them. Usually I find storms incredibly fascinating. And while I am still fascinated with tornadoes there’s also an element of fear that isn’t present with a normal thunderstorm. When I was in elementary school my uncle, aunt, and cousins (who live in Kansas) lost everything to a tornado. Their house was flattened and I believe their business was even affected. I’m sure this has something to do with my dislike for tornadoes. I’ve heard many stories from my family of the tornado in Kansas and what it was like, but today I have a new appreciation for everything they went through.
Thursday night there was a tornado fairly close to my house, most of the damage happened in the next town over, but the closest damage we have seen was about 4-5 miles from my home. The devastation was all over the news and there were many people affected that we knew, some personally others just because it’s a small town. But today I had the privilege to take part in an amazing act of community and service, showing support and God’s love to those that were affected. A group from my church headed out Sunday late morning. We drove the few miles to a specific house that we knew the owners and spent a handful of hours just picking up garbage and random leftovers from the storm: siding, insulation, framing, a shower, parts of a toilet, shingles, and everything else. The craziest part is that among all of the pieces of the house, we would find personal things: clothes, mortgage papers, pictures, newspaper articles, televisions. I can’t even imagine the emotions that a person goes through when so much of their life is thrown out of whack- literally!
Community
In the midst of the devastation and some scenes that looked like they were taken right out of the movie “Twister”, I was so impressed with the example of community I saw. Sunday morning the goal was to have volunteers meet at the high school and bus them to specific locations but so many volunteers showed up they couldn’t take any more. There were people everywhere picking up trash around houses, along the road, in the middle of fields! Needless to say I was impressed by how well the community pulled together to help those who had been affected. And though I’m sure it’ll take awhile for the damage to be completely healed, it seems there will be plenty of help along the way.
Finland, Oh Finland how fair and ummm…fun? fascinating, fantastic…something like that.
Yes I can now check off Finland on the list of countries I’ve been to. It’s always hard to update 3 days worth of information, but I’ll do my best.
Wednesday
So I woke up at an outrageously early hour of 5:50am (I don’t think I’ve gotten up that early in probably over a year) and meet Matt by 6:50 so that we could meet Janyne at the Metro by 7:00 than we went to Finland Station (famous station where Lenin returned from exile and gave a speech proclaiming socialism and revolution) to get on the train. Yes, daddy we took a train to Finland I can safely assure you that it’s not as nice as Amtrak, but it was a lot better than any other form of transportation in Russia. We happen to get a brand new car so it was especially nice. (by “nice” I mean it’s a little better than a bus because you have more leg room and new upholstery but not much better than that)
Train
Customs on the train are much simpler than on the bus, because they just take you passport and stamp it. Of course we got off before the Finnish customs came through.
By the way, we went to the Finnish town of Lappenranta. (ummm sorry you can’t read the map well. S.E. corner, directly across the border. On the S. part of that lake.) We got off and took a taxi into town. The best thing about Finland is how beautiful it is, the country-side is covered in trees, mostly pine and birch, and then there is all sorts of random lakes everywhere. Also, the city is soooooooooo much cleaner and orderly than Russia that it feels like I’m back in America. There are automatic doors, no long lines, no puddles, and not as many smokers.
This first day we ate at a pizza place. I unknowingly took some pizza toped with fish (not anchovies) but dried fish, and regretted it. Yuck, but the other stuff I had was okay. We went up to the fort (picture to left, outside the
fortress. Picture at right is me by one of the fortress buildings) that was built by the Sweeds and finished by the Russians (Finland’s been in others possesion often) that was beautiful. After we explored the fortress a good bit, we walked around the town and went into some shops and laid around the room a bit. That we bought some chicken from the grocery store for dinner, yum!
Thursday
Ummm…I’m having a hard time remembering the order of events. But this day I’m pretty sure we woke up and took our wonderful walk around the city, which was my favorite part. The city is beautiful, there were cute homes, clean streets, beautiful fall colors, and crisp, cool air. We walked around the harbor and then back into town. I could honestly see myself living in a town like this. We went bowling at this YMCA type place and I won!!! I even got 3 strikes in a row!! something I’ve never done before! Here is my victory shot (sorry it’s blurry). We ate lunch at a 
Chinese place that was pretty good and then we went to a movie that evening. Majority of the movies are in English with Finnish subtitles. We saw the movie “Stardust” which I found fairly enjoyable, but of course I like fantasy in general. 
Afterwards we ate at a Kabab place. No, it’s not what you’re thinking. There version of Kabab’s is not the same. There’s no stick. It’s some sort of thinly sliced and stripped meat with something on the side. Honestly, I’m not even sure what kind of meat it is. But it was tasty, and mine had some sort of pizza-like sauce on it with a salad. We were glad to try something Finnish and even more glad that it was open. Seriously, this town shuts down at 5pm, that’s why the first night we got dinner from the grocers.
Friday
A lazy day. As at least one day during vacations should be. I love these days. I woke up only to get breakfast. (Oh by the way breakfast consisted of meats, cheeses, vegetables, porridge and some stuff in jars that didn’t look appetizing. No I didn’t eat all that, but it was there, thankfully there was also bread. Oh! and hot chocolate!) Then took my time in the sauna (yup, a real Finnish sauna) and the shower. Then laid around reading my book, falling asleep, and reading my book some more. I then made myself get out and went to the bookstore. I bought “The Three Musketeers” and “Emma” both classics, one I’m unsure of and the other I know I like. Then (don’t laugh at me..) I went into a bridal shop. I loved it. They made me take off my shoes (worried about the dresses) and I got to look around a bit. Thankfully another girl and her mom came in which made me not have to explain that I don’t even have a boyfriend and am no where near getting married. However, the other bridal shop that I went into after lunch did ask me when my wedding was and I just said “Oh not for some time, I’m just looking for now.) In both places I asked to see dresses with long sleeves and I didn’t like any of them. I’m thinking I may have to add sleeves myself. But that’s scary.
“Let’s move on to food”
Anyway…enough about weddings, lets move on to food. We ate at this wonderful little cafe place with a buffet, but with beautiful atmosphere. Rich colors, tablecloths and fancy chairs. Matt met some American Mormons during his morning so we got to talk about their conversation and I was very jealous that I missed out on it. But it was exciting to see how God provided a witnessing opportunity in a country where we don’t speak the language.
Bus
That afternoon the bus left at 4:50pm. And it was as cramped as any other bus. We had to get out and go through customs on the Finnish side and then drive another 5 minutes and go through customs again on the Russian side. Of course on the Russian side someone got on the bus before we got to customs to check if we had passports, we stood in line for a half hour to get through customs at the actual stop and then when we left someone got on the bus again to check our passports. I was a little amazed. Of course for everywhere else you just need a passport, but for Russia you need 3 additional documents.
They didn’t keep the lights on for us an our overhead lights didn’t work. So Janyne and I got into some great conversation about many subjects within Christianity. She was very encouraging about my struggle to find what I am supposed to do about life. I’m feeling more and more that I should not be a long-term, overseas missionary. But that’s kind of what I’ve been planning my life around. I feel like I don’t know what else I should do. I definitely have a passion for evangelism and want to make that the focus of my life, I just don’t know how. She was very encouraging in many things she said. I can talk more about that subject in my life another time.
We got home about 11:00 pm and I was tired enough that I pretty much went straight to bed. So that was my wonderful time in Finland. I feel like I miss home more now that I’ve been in a place that’s like home. I hope that wears off a bit, because I still have a long time here. It’s less than a month before we go to Moscow and I have a lot of homework between now and then. I’ll keep you updated.
I remember the night that we almost went to the Great Wall, and even though we didn’t make it, it was still an amazing trip. For some reason, I find it very amusing when there’s miscommunication or when a plan goes awry (only if the trip isn’t as important right then), because it’s just a fun experience when everybody’s confused.
Physically Challenging
But even more amazing than the confusing trip, is when the plan actually goes well. The Wall was a lot different than I imagined, or at least the section of the wall we traveled was different than I imagined. I remember seeing pictures, and it looked like it had more of a continuous flow to it, not having many steps, but at the section we traveled, there were nothing but steps. It wasn’t bad or anything, it was just a little more physically challenging than I thought it would be.
Worth every step
The climb was amazing though, and the views from the top of the towers were incredible, and it was worth every step. Every time I looked at the great mountaintops and the beautiful valleys, it rendered me speechless, and it reminded me about how God is so powerful, that he made all of this beautiful scenery in only seven days.
I had a Bible teacher in my high school who was an amazingly knowledgeable and spiritual man, and we were traveling the mountains of Thailand, and every time I view beautiful scenery like that, I remember he once said, “Sometimes I don’t understand how anybody can not notice all of the intricacies and complexities of this universe and how everything flows together so well, and they can just turn away and not recognize that there is a God that made it and loves them so much.â€
My goodness how time flies when you are busy! I realize that it has been way too long since I have updated my blog and that is a disservice to you! The Reader! (Wasn’t that nice and cheezy! There’s your cheese for the day ;)) So recently, I have been able to ponder in my busy-ness and need to share at least one of those “ponderings” with you as it is part of my mission to give you a real picture as to what to expect here at Bethel College.
A Disheartening Read
So, this past week, I was introduced to a website that was established to allow students on Bethel’s campus the opportunity to reveal “secrets” or complaints they had about anything and do it anonymously. Anyone can post; anyone can read, as long as they had the proper username and password. Everyone operated on the same password, so the posts were completely anonymous. I was reading one of the complaints and it discussed the issue of hypocrisy and of the rules that are in place on our campus. The writer tried to place blame on the administration of our school for having too many rules and not giving enough room for “outreach” to others from other schools with less restrictions. All the while, might I remind you, this person made the CHOICE to come to Bethel.
A Reaffirming Revelation
After reading this post, I didn’t know whether to be angry or to become analytical about this topic. Well, you might have guessed it, I jumped on the angry train. And we just kept spouting off steam to my roommates as I read and re-read sections of this post to them and gave my heated opinion of the topic and the way in which the writer chose to compose them. However, I cooled off, rather quickly, and began to introvertically (word?) analyze the post and my true reaction to it and its claims. And so it brings me to this point at which I am writing this post at 2:30 in the morning on Wednesday the 17th of October.
After a visit to my bed to try to sleep and a 20 minute shower after that, I decided that the best thing for me to do is to try to express two things to the potential student here at Bethel through the avenue of this blog. So bear with me as I don’t want this to sound like a turn-off for you, because it truly is not; more for your benefit to make a very educated decision as you soak in my perspective as someone who has been in many college situations.
The First, and more important, Thing
The first thing is that you, the prospective student, must realize that there are rules at our campus. These rules are not in place to hinder your college experience, restrict you from “outreaching” to other students from other schools, less conservative as ours, nor are they in place to control your life in any way, shape, or form. Coming from a secular, state university, you might think that that is very hard for me to understand, portray, or have the ability to endorse. Oddly enough, I very strongly, buy into the system that our administration has put in place.
When you come to Bethel, as a full-time student, and you choose to live on campus, you are required to sign the Lifestyle Covenant. This covenant outlines the parameters for living on campus and your agreement to live lives that would be healthy in most walks with Christ. What you have to come to understand about this is that these are guidelines to strengthen and promote a good community on campus and give you the best chance at experiencing what exactly Bethel means. So, when you go and sign this document, realize that you are entering into agreement, with other Bethel students, that you are choosing to live a life that is healthy and one that will be conducive to encouraging others to live by this way of life.
I guess the biggest thing here is, if you don’t want to be held accountable for actions that aren’t going to, then perhaps you need to think about what you are getting yourself into here at Bethel. Again, not telling you not to come to Bethel, because I am not the person that is supposed to do the deciding here.
The Second Thing: The Bubble
The second thing is more broad in its findings and discussion. Sometimes, Bethel’s community gets dubbed “The Bethel Bubble.” This affectionate title is usually linked to the fact that we live inside this “convent” of a community and don’t get out into the community and experience the “real world” and fellowship with the lost. However, let me speak from experience, this is not something that is exclusive to Bethel College, Christian colleges, or any other form of college/university in general.
This type of community happens all the time, in many different circles. Anytime you can get a lot of people of your same age, striving to the same goal, with the same general values or perceptions, living together, eating together, working together, you are going to have a very good chance that that group will become “cut-off” from the outside world. While attending a big state university, this same thing happened. Also, when I was a student at a community college, they had events going on around us but, we rarely knew about things that they were doing and focused more on the things that were affecting campus life at the time. This is true of any college or university and it only changes if you make it change.
So often we hold the answers to our problems in our own control and yet we still find a way to blame others for it and take the limelight off of our own ignorance. This year has been a year of challenge so far, for me and the decisions I have had to make. Another one of those challenges is pushing myself to be involved with a larger community. That entails getting involved with a local church and investing my life into that community. I think that that same challenge is before this college community as we begin to grow and affect our community in great waves.
Final Prayer
As I wrap this one up, I pray that as you, and other prospective students, ponder the idea of coming to Bethel College to fulfill God’s will for you life, that you will be able to realize that sometimes rules are a blessing. I pray that you will realize that there comes a time in our lives when we have to make things happen in order for God to work in our lives. Take some time, as you are making “college decisions” to pray about the opportunities God will challenge you with while you are at a certain college. Ask God to lead you to a place where it will be a natural interaction for you as you invest yourself into the community around you.
God Bless You in this week!
God is Good, All the Time. All the Time, God is Good.
English Test
If you read much you’ll easily ____ one genre of _____ from another.
A. differentiate, narration
B. distinguish, narrative
C. differ, fiction
* This is the sort of stuff that I am helping a few students here with. And I think it’s hard. I’m amazed they are learning this stuff. One thing that makes it difficult though is that sometimes it is British English. For example. “The other day my friend (to ring) me up to talk about our lunch plans. ” The student is then supposed to figure out how to conjugate the verb in parentheses. So American’s don’t normally say “My friend rang me up…” but oh well.
One girl was saying that there were many “plans in my town” and it didn’t make sense. I tried to tell her that it was “plants” but insisted that wasn’t what she meant. So after talking a bit. She believed me that we also use the word “plants” to describe something other than green leafy things. I also told her she could use the word “factories.”
At one point she asked me “this is present perfect, right?” HAA! I don’t have a clue. I just know it’s the right thing to say. Does everybody else know this grammar stuff and I don’t? Did I miss a some lesson? I don’t ever remember about learning about perfect tense, imperfect, present perfect, present progressive, etc… I am certain that I’ve never had a lesson over this. They only places I’ve talked about these is when I’m studying other languages.
So that’s been interesting.
World Partners Dinner
So last night was yet another night of simple enjoyment of fellow Christian’s company. We were at Janyne’s house this time and we had Chili. Yummm…I love it. Sadly the Gerig children did not come this time, but that’s okay I suppose. After dinner and some really good prayer time for each other we sat around and talked. The main topic of conversation was computers, because Janyne is thinking about getting a new laptop. We also explained to her what iPods are and how they work. All very well, we got home around 10 pm. At which point I still had to do my literature homework. So that was my night.
I don’t think much will be going on today. I have to get my laundry done, because we are leaving for Finland tomorrow and I’d really like some clean jeans. Other than that, my only goal is to finish my book and start on some homework.
I can hear “Hallelujah” ringing in the air!
Hello all! What a wonderful weekend it has been. Praise be to God!
So. Friday (as I mentioned earlier) was very good with Friday’s at Five being incredible. But with that, it means I get home and I’m on this high. Ready to do something fun and usually being disappointed because I don’t really have friends here.
But……..after sitting around for a while I went to the kitchen to get some more hot tea. (Yes, I’m very Russian now and drink lots of hot tea.) Well, two girls, Olga and Shura (her nickname that’s no longer a nickname, but now almost her real name.) were there and offered me candy. Somehow, we started talking and chatting and then ended up talking until 3 in the morning. It was great. We talked about everything; boys, America vs. Russia, Christianity, future plans, classes, travel, etc.
Missions Festival
The next day was the Missions Festival that I’ve been talking about. I wish that I had a working camera. It’s not that it was an amazing festival, but it was just being with people and being out that I wish I could show you. It would be fairly typical for what you would imagine a Missions Festival to be. But it wasn’t as big as I expected. For St. Petersburg being as large as it was, I expected it to be larger. But we only filled maybe a third of the auditorium (we could maybe fill a normal cinema theater) and there weren’t as many missions organizations as I expected.
Of course only speaking Russian “chute-chute” (very little) it was a little boring for me. I knew it would be, so I planned to leave early. Olga insisted that Nikita walk me back to the metro station and he was kind enough to do so happily.
And then….
That night I was again getting some tea and Sveta, Dima (her crush), Susha, and Shura, were all sitting in the kitchen. So I chit chatted a while and then Shura asked me if I wanted to eat dinner with them. She was making potatoes and was willing to share. So I very gladly accepted. I had a blast. Not like it was the riotous fun that I would have with my own friends, but I finally felt accepted and wanted. Sveta and I were girly and looked through a bridal magazine and so we just sat around and acted like a family. Sveta and I cleaned up a bit and we were going to watch “Emperor’s New Grove” but Sveta had lost the disc and so there was a long period of sitting around. By this time it was 12:30 (we ate at about 10pm, which is normal here) and I was getting tired. It ended up that only Nikita and Olga watched the movie. Anyway. The last important tidbit to this story is that Shura said I was invited anytime. Yeah!! I’ve made friends! Finally! Olga also came to church with Matt and I this morning. I’ve been praying for what feels like forever that I would build some relationships here and it’s finally started. I wish I was more patient to wait for God’s timing, but it has taught me a lot.
So that was my great weekend. Today was unexciting, but I disciplined myself to do my homework and now I will go back to my room and read my book. Tomorrow is the World Partners team meeting/dinner so I am very excited about that. I have a lot of fun talking with that group, especially Jim and Jared.
Other Somethings Interesting…
One girl, Nadia, asked me to help her with her English lesson one night and there she also asked me to teach her some America phrases and slang, so that she sounds American. Of course I had a total blank out and could only think of that fact that we often say “Hey, What’s up?” instead of “Hi, how are you?”
But since then I’ve been thinking of different things. I won’t give you all of them that I’ve thought of, but here’s a few. Just imagine me trying to explain what it means and why we say it. It’s not that easy.
* Hold your horses-not to hard…I guess they have the same thing in Russian
* Don’t beat around the bush! -What does a bush have to do with talking, much less beating it.
* Happy-go-lucky - Happy is obvious, but how do you explain the personality trait of “go-lucky?”
* It bit the dust/bullet - It’s easy to explain what it means, but where did phrase come from?
* Eat your heart out! - Ummm…”It means ‘be jealous’” …not quite a sufficient definition, but I don’t know what else to say.
I realize most of these are cliches or idioms, I’m still having a hard time thinking of genuine slang. I keep thinking of how we shorten words like “gonna” or “kinda.” I also randomly thought of when I say that or someone “punked out on me.” I’m not sure that’s common enough to teach someone. So anyway. That’s my fun.
Interpreting the Fall Play
I decided that I should probably tell you the reason I haven’t written on here much the past few weeks. The answer is simple, 3 words: “Pride and Prejudice”. That’s right! I was one of the interpreters for the fall play here at Bethel. We’ve been working on it since we got back to school this fall (even a little bit before), but this last week has been really intense with dress rehearsals every night. On Friday all of our work finally paid off when we interpreted the performance for the Deaf community. It was a relief to finally have it finished, but it also seems strange that it’s all over. I really enjoyed the process, however hard it was, and know that I improved so much because of it. The whole time I’ve been at Bethel, in the back of my mind I always wanted to be part of interpreting a play and now I’ve finally done it!
Challenges
I won’t bore you with the details of all that I learned but I will tell you that as a whole, the experience was amazing and I really had a good time performing it. Interpreting a play had some added challenges that normal interpreting doesn’t. For example, because there were only 3 of us for a cast of 26 we each had a number of characters. In order to distinguish the characters we created mannerisms and a certain amount of characterization that went along with the interpretation. It involved a lot more acting than simply interpreting the English. The acting part of it, which may have been the most challenging, was also what made it the most fun to perform.
I don’t have any pictures of the actual performance, but I do have a few that were taken after the play. I was so blessed to have so many members of my extended family come to the play! The first picture is of my family (minus one sister :() and the second is with one of my roommates.
Ohhhhh how I wish there was an easier way to communicate all of my experiences here. There are a million things I want to say, but it’s impossible to do on the keyboard, but hopefully the pictures will do most of the explaining themselves.
Sooooo since October 6th, I have been on October break, and it has absolutely wonderful. I have been able to do and see much, it’s hard to believe we start school back up on Tuesday. It was just amazing to finally take a breath and spend time with friends as well as just relaxing and chilling out. I even starting reading a book, can you believe it. The sad part is that, if I don’t get it finished before we go back to school, chances are it will be Christmas break before picking it back up again:)
“A reward you can’t get enough of”
It’s hard to believe that we are a 1/4 way done with the year. I feel like we have done so much, but still have so much more to do! It has been amazing to see each of kids develope and watch their hearts race and their eyes widen when they learn something new, it truely is a reward you can’t get enough of:) In the middle of a lesson, the last day before break, one of my boys said, “Miss Roberts, I’m going to you.” That wasn’t all though he said it a few more times throughout day and it was soooo cute, coming from him, I just wanted to squeeze him!!!
Parasite in my intestines
Parent teacher conferences went really good and for my first time, I was very pleased!!! I have some great parents, and they are so supportive of me, which always helps. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to make them though because somehow I got this stupid parasite in my intestines and the day before was horrible. I had it for about a month but just kept putting it off thinking it was something I was eating , but low and behold it wasn’t. It was incredible though to see how God arranged a series of events and sent just the right person in order to figure out what it was. I got a treatment that same night, and by morning I was feeling much better…CRAZY!!! So now I am just hoping it’s really gone and I don’t have to deal with that again! So now on to my adventures over break…
CWF…Christian Wrestling Federation!!!
A Trip to Gero
Some of my friends work with an organization called City Ministries and they work with street boys who either have no parents, or cannot live in their village because it is unsafe, and have no support system in order to survive. I went with them for the night and helped Jayne teach some classes and hung out the with boys for a couple days.
Hike of a Lifetime
Heading to Kano…
Kano is a 1000 year old city, with an amazing history. We drove about 4 1/2 hours north for the Muslim festival called the Durbar. On the way back we picked up an extra passenger, so we crammed 3 in the backseat, and another in the truck…yeah not to most comfortable ride ever!
Weather in St. Petersburg
I woke up today to see that it was another cold, overcast, and rainy day. So I decided that the only reasonable thing to do would be to go out and walk for hours on end, because I love to walk around the city. The weather here has been getting increasingly cold this past week. We have enjoyed unseasonably warm weather for the past month and (even more remarkably) we haven’t really had much rain in the past three or four weeks. All of that is changing as St. Petersburg is returning back to its usual gray skies, cold air, and intermittent, but never ceasing, rain. I loved our great weather while it lasted, but now I am preparing myself to deal with long stretches of the kind of weather that this city is known for.
Goal of the day: Find Aurora
My goal for the day was to find the cruiser Aurora. The Aurora was a ship in the Russian navy that became a symbol of the Russian Revolution when it was used to fire on the Winter Palace, which was the home of the Provisional Government. This act signaled the start of the Bolshevik takeover of Russia. I was able to find the ship and was happy to discover that it was free to go on board. It has been turned into a museum of sorts. Even though I couldn’t read the displays I knew the significance of the ship beforehand, so just being there was thrill enough for me. It was raining while I was on the ship so I was slipping and sliding across the deck and doing my best not to fall on the slick, narrow steps leading up and down between the decks.
Summer Gardens
After making my historical pilgrimage to the Aurora, I went to the nearby Summer Gardens. It is a park filled with tall, majestic trees and statues and is bordered on two sides by a canal. I wanted to go before the weather got too bad and while the leaves were still holding on to some of their beautiful fall color. Because the weather wasn’t very pleasant it wasn’t as beautiful as I had hoped, but I still enjoyed it. Anytime I can walk around and see trees I am happy. Since I was wet and my hands were freezing, I walked over to the field of Mars, which is right next to the Summer Gardens. It is a field that used to be used for military exercises. In the center of it is an eternal flame of some kind. I’m not sure what it is commemorating, but I knew it was there and that it was completely open and exposed. This meant I could walk right up to it and warm my cold hands. It was so good to be able to find a place to get warm (and I didn’t even have to go indoors!).
Palace Square
After having sufficiently warmed myself I went to the Palace Square. I have been there several times before, but each time I have either not had my camera or its batteries have died. I was determined that today would be the day that I would make it there and actually take pictures, and I finally was able to achieve my goal. The Palace Square is a huge open space between the General Staff building, an enormous building in two parts with an impressive arch connecting the parts, and the Winter Palace. In the center is the Alexander Column, an enormous granite monument over 150 feet tall that commemorates Russia’s victory over France in the 1812. The Square is also of historical significance. Among other things, it was the scene of the infamous Bloody Sunday massacre in 1905 in which Imperial troops opened fire on a group of peaceful protesters bringing a petition to the Tsar.
After seeing the Palace Square and briefly going inside the Kazan cathedral on Nevsky Prospect, I finally headed back to SPCU. I love walking around this city. Everywhere I go I find something of incredible historical or artistic value. It is a beautiful city in so many places and just being here and feeling the cold and seeing these amazing places that I have read about for years is a great experience. Most days I’m not able to take as much time as I did today to just walk around and explore, but I am thankful for every chance that I am able to. It’s moments like this that reinforce my love of Russia and remind me why I decided to come here.
Good day!
So today got better. It started out a little shaky. I don’t even know why. I didn’t even really notice it until someone asked me how I was and I suddenly wanted to cry. That sounds very dramatic, but honestly I think I may just be moody.
Lunch was tasty, so that was good. I admit I don’t really love some of the meals here. It feels like we have the same thing over and over again, but the past couple days have been better. I still don’t like many of the salads that are served with the meal, but oh well. The other thing that is not important, but annoys me is that all the food mixes together, so the liquid from the salads run into the rice or whatever else there is. I’m one of those people who likes their foods separated. Yesterday was this wonderful caserole (sp?) type thing with cabbage, rice, and hamburger. It was really yummy and reminded me of my mommy.
“Friday’s at Five”
So anyway, enough about food. Tonight was another “Friday’s at Five” (the youth group thing I’m helping out with) and I loved it. As a person so used to being involved in several activities, it’s been hard to come here and have my only responsibility be my homework. So when I go to this youth group I finally feel like I am getting to help people in someway. These kids are great, they are so warm and friendly, and even more importantly they actually talk during discussion time. They actually respond to questions and get involved in everything. It’s been so neat to watch them and see their faith and I hope and pray that I can somehow encourage them to grow in that faith. They are wonderful kids and I wish I got to spend more time with them. So that tonight really helped my mood.
It is cold here now. I mentioned this yesterday, but wasn’t for sure if it was going to stay cold.
Missions Festival
Tomorrow I am going to go to a missions festival that is being held here. It’s purpose is to get more Russians involved in missions, but I was assured that I was welcome, even if I won’t understand much of it. Some of the students are going and I am hoping that it will be a bit of a bonding time for us.
Things I Like About Russia
I know this is already kind of long, but I want to make a list of some things I like about Russia. I’ve made a list of some of the things I don’t like and now I think it’s time that I list some of the positive.
* Russian’s read a lot. 1 of 4 people on the metro are reading something. How cool!
* Flowers are a main gift for any occasion. There’s a flower store on every corner, sometimes 3 in a row. * They have these really cool “underwalks”(what I call them) that allow you to pass under the street, they have all sorts of vendors down there and it is fun to be in.
* Rather than going to a Walmart every shop is different. There are still fruit stands, meat shops, hat shops, etc. rather than everything in one. It makes shopping more fun.
* The metro is amazing. It’s efficient and it takes you almost anywhere. Plus most stations are beautiful.
* Russians are more cultured. They know their literature, arts and history. They can quote you poetry by Pushkin and Lermonsov, tell you about Russia’s history, and recognize works of art and tell you about it.
* They are strong. As I’m learning about their history I see how much suffering these people have gone through. It’s no surprise they struggle with depression here, but they have made it and that will not change soon.
I will continue to list likes and dislikes as I go. Oh! I got hot water this morning. I was thrilled. The tepid stuff we’ve had for the past 5 was not satisfying. That’s all folks!
The Exceptional thing of the day…
I dug out my winter coat! Yeah! It’s wonderful outside, very invigorating. It’s getting to that point that when you go outside you can smell the cold in the air. It might be my imagination, but I swear I can smell campfires burning in the air. — No they are not burning suspended in the air, but the smoke is in the air. One of the downfalls of the English language, or maybe it’s just me…yeah probably the latter. — Of course, I suppose there is the possibility that I really am smelling smoke in the air. Last Friday when I was coming home from youth group the giant trash bin (like the industrial ones at construction sites) that’s outside the front gate was on fire. It was a little surprising to see the fairly large flames licking the metal sides, but of course it was contained so, oh well I guess.
Umm…what else, let’s see. Nothing really. Is that bad? I hope you all are not too dissapointed.
*Random- you guys should be listening for Russia in the news. Condi(sp?) Rice is here right now.
* Also Random- the Russian word for “but” is pronounced “no.” It’s very confusing.
Whew, what a busy start to the school year! Our first full month has come and gone, I can hardly believe Fall Break is almost here! This past weekend was our annual Shupe Retreat-it is one of the activities I look forward to the most. The highlight may have been a rousing game of spoons-the girls were surprised with how intense the game became!
We started a new tradition when we hosted our first Shupe Carnival! My RAs had everything including bearded ladies, bobbing for apples, a duck pond, the guessing game, caricatures, donut eating contests, and our own version of the dunk tank. I think the cake walk was the favorite among the gentlemen-homemade goodies is always popular!
The best part about these events and others is that the opportunity we get to engage with our students and build community!
Somethings are just too amazingly fantastical for words…
