Books about Russia

While I'm waiting to get my information packet from Tom Clark of VIM and waiting for my passport to come in, I started reviewing some of the books I've read about Russia.

Of course, my interest in all things Russian was first hooked by the story of Anastasia and I read "Anastasia, the Lost Princess" by James Blair Lovell in 1992. (I love the movie with Yul Brynner and Ingrid Bergman but it has very little to do with the real story of the end of the Romanov dynasty. The Disney animated movie doesn't even have that much reality about it.) From there I moved on to Robert K. Massie's "Nicholas and Alexandra", the inspiration for the movie of the same name. Although somewhat romanticized and written before much archival information was released after the fall of Communism, it gives a fairly accurate picture of the last years of Nicholas II and his immediate family. Anna Anderson Manahan wrote her own story "I Am Anastasia" (with the help of Peter Kurth, I think) claiming to be the long-lost surviving Grand Duchess.

I left the royal family behind for a while to read ice skater Ekaterina Gordeeva's poignant story of her life and love with her husband in "My Sergei" who died during a skating practice session.

Anastasia wasn't the only royal child supposed to have escaped the slaughter in Ekaterinburg; Vadim Petrov wrote about "The Escape of Alexei". In "The Flight of the Romanovs" John Curtis Perry and Constantine Pleshakov wrote about what happened to the Romanov survivors who made their way out of Russia before and during the Revolution. Back to individual biography, I read about Nicholas' wife in "Alexandra: the Last Tsarina" by Carolly Erickson.

In the realm of fictionalized history, Robert Alexander wrote about "The Kitchen Boy". The real kitchen boy was sent away from the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg but Alexander turns the story into an escape plot for another Grand Duchess, Maria. He also wrote a novel based on the life of "Rasputin's Daughter".

I have a lot more books to write about but I'll save those for later. Stay cool!

Important Phrases

Hooray! I finally learned the most important phrase of all: Gde tualet? (Where is the restroom?) "Hello", "goodbye", "please" and "thank you" are certainly valuable words to know but you can go a long way if you know where the restrooms are!

Reading Ahead

I'm going on this wonderful trip with some very experienced people who know the ropes and can get us through customs and all other officialdom with the least amount of trouble but I can't help myself - I had to get a guide book and start reading. The two biggest names in foreign travel guides are Fodor's and Frommer's. I got the Frommer's "Moscow & St. Petersburg" guide because it had the better reviews on Amazon.com. It's so neat to read about the sights we will see in Moscow and its neighborhoods. I would love to see St. Petersburg too but maybe next time. (Did you catch that? NEXT time already!)

Of course, the highlight of the trip is agoing to be something the guide books don't talk about - the children. Our Mission Committee Chairlady presented my trip to the congretation yesterday and talked about sledding and snowball fights with the orphans. I can't wait! Yes, I know it's going to be cold in Russia in December and January, but we haven't had a really good snow here in West Virginia for several years and I need to get involved in a good snowball fight.

Do svedanya!

Language and Donations

I was a language major in college - I thought I was going to be a Spanish teacher! It's a long story, but I wound up in libraries instead (and very happy that I did). I understand a smattering of other romance languages but Russian is something else. The Cyrillic alphabet is based on the Greek alphabet and it looks really strange at first. Actually it's not that bad - each letter in the alphabet has it's own sound so once you get those in your head you can pronounce any Russian word you see. Then once you pronouce them a lot of them sound close enough to English that you know what they are. For example, "taxi" sounds like "taxi". I've got a set of Russian language tapes I'm working through and so far I can say "I don't understand Russian very well." I need to keep working on it!

It would be really nice if the airlines, hotels and restaurant people thought this trip was such a wonderful idea that they would donate their services, but unfortunately that's not the way it works. The cost of the trip per person is around $2000. I'm blessed that my church (Central United Methodist) has decided to make my travel one of their mission projects and I have resources of my own. However, part of the purpose of the trip is to buy Christmas presents for the orphans and you can take part in that if you wish. There is a link on the right hand side of this web page to the West Virginia Volunteers in Mission where you will find information about how to donate and a form. If you have problems finding it let me know. Also, I understand that I will be selling tickets to take Russian orphans to the circus for $10.00 each. Let me know how many you want! Blessings!

Passports, Shots and Fish Bread

I have to get a new passport! My first passport expired in 1979 but I still had it. I had applied for it to go to Spain in 1974. It's not even the same color on the outside as the new passports and it certainly doesn't have the "intelligent chip" technology contained in new passports. It's supposed to make it easier to get your new passport if you have your old one though so I'm one step in the right direction.

I had my passport picture taken at J.C. Penny's. The retail price was $14.00 but I found an online coupon that took it down to $10.00. Maybe if I had paid the full price they would look better (you can't smile for a passport photo) but I'll console myself by thinking that only customs and immigration people are going to be looking at it. The bad thing is that your passport is good for ten years so I'll be stuck with it for that long.

My old birth certificate is somewhere in my house and I'm sure it will show up after I get my new passport but I can't find it now for love nor money! That was another $5.00 to get a new one but if I had waited till after July 1 it would have been $10.00. When I turned in my application at the Post Office I had to show my driver's license (photo ID), my old passport and my birth certificate. If I had to have my birth certificate to get my license and my old passport then why did I have to give them another copy of my birth certificate? How could I have gotten the first two without it? Oh, well. Bureaucracy at it's best!

I hadn't had a tetanus shot since I went to Spain in 1974 so it was definitely time for one of those. The only other shot I needed was for Hepatitis A. It's a two-part shot so I'll have to get the second dose just before I go in December. My doctor's daughter went on the summer mission trip to Russia a couple of years ago and he said she had a great time. Her biggest complaint was that they kept serving them "fish bread" to eat. Fish bread? Sounds like a good way to go on a diet!

Decision

I've been thinking about going to Russia with the United Methodist Volunteers in Mission for the last couple of years. I've been interested in Russian history and culture for some time and have read quite a bit about the Romanov Dynasty and current conditions in the Russian Federation. When I attended the West Virginia Annual Conference and walked through the Ministry Fair I would see the display for the Volunteers in Mission and stop to talk with Tom Clark and buy another set of nesting dolls (matrioshka?). I've joked that this was my kind of mission trip - shopping, decorating for a party and playing with kids. The serious side is that these are children who desperately need to be loved. I know that we have many needy children in this country but I believe that we have the resources here to care for them if we will. The same can't necessarily be said of conditions today in Russia.

Anyhow, as much as I felt the call it just didn't seem like the right time till this year. Something clicked at this year's Conference and after much thought and especially much prayer I decided to go for it. I've talked about it with my pastor and with the Missions chairperson at my church and they have been very supportive. I'm very excited and have started the process for getting my passport and learning what I will need to do to get ready to go in December. I decided to publish this blog to keep my friends up to date on my progress and to share the joy and excitement of this adventure in mission to serve God and to expand my horizons. More to come!