Folk Dances and Songs

The staff and children sang and danced for us in magnificent costumes they had made themselves. It was touching to see the teachers guiding the children around the stage as they participated in the program.

Blind and Deaf Orphanage at Sergei Posad

That afternoon we returned to the town of Sergei Posad to visit the Orphanage for the Deaf and Blind. Volunteers in Mission has been working at this orphanage since they started going to Russia seven years ago and many improvements have been made. The lobby is bright and welcoming - the sign in the first picture says "Happy New Year!" I don't know if you can make it out in the second picture but there is a fish tank with live fish under the middle picture on the wall.

Beautiful Children

The children gave us a beautiful music program and then we put on the puppet show for them. There were not very many children staying at this orphanage over the holidays; some of the children in Russian orphanages are not "true" orphans with no parents but they may come from families who for financial or other reasons simply cannot support them. Some go home for the holidays to older siblings or to aunts and uncles but live at the orphanage the rest of the year. In the United States these kids would probably be in foster care, a system which has its own set of pluses and minuses.

Another Day, Another Orphanage

On the 4th we climbed back on the buses for another day visiting orphanages. I honestly don't remember which town this orphanage was in - maybe some of my fellow travelers who are reading the blog can remember and will help me out. We still had lots of presents to deliver and some of the boys in the orphanage helped us carry them in.

Orphanage at Klin

We left the Senior Citizen's Home and drove to the Orphanage at Klim. Of course the first thing they did was to serve us lunch! Then we danced around the Christmas tree with Grandfather Frost and the Snow Maiden and played games. The children presented some wonderful entertainment for us including holiday songs and oriental dances. One of the games we played was the "newspaper game". Unfolded newspapers were placed on the floor and couples danced on the square of paper. When someone stepped off the paper they were out. The remaining couples had to fold their papers in half and dance again. This kept going until the papers were folded down to about a six inch square just big enough for one shoe. A couple of the teenage orphans won the game - he had to pick her up and balance on one foot to win!

Senior Citizens' Home at Klin

Our first stop of the day was at the Senior Citizens' Home in the town of Klin. They greeted us warmly and had us sit down to tea. No, it's not a full blown lunch, just tea (lunch came later!) We always had delicious fresh oranges on the table along with yummy pastries and chocolate. We presented our puppet show for the seniors and they enjoyed it just as much or more than the kids did. When we took the puppets out into the audience they wanted to pet and kiss them and have their pictures taken with them. It was a sweet experience.

More McDonalds

McDonalds doesn't have a presence just in downtown Moscow - we saw them all along the roads and in the smaller towns where we visited orphanages. I took this picture from the bus window when we stopped to let one of our teenagers use the "facilities" at this McDonald's across the road.

Birch Trees

On Wednesday, January 3, we divided into two larger teams and drove out of Moscow to visit more orphanages. One we got out of town we saw groves of birch trees all along the road. You could imagine Dr. Zhivago riding out of the trees at any point!

United Methodist Bishop

The Bishop of the Eurasian Conference of the United Methodist Church welcomed us to Moscow at our dinner on New Year's Night. In addition to having Christmas with the orphans, Volunteers in Mission have worked at the orphanages in the summer building playgrounds and repairing buildings and have helped build a Methodist Seminary in Moscow. The Bishop thanked us for continuing this work.
Our meal this evening and several other evenings was at the Log Cabin Restaurant across from the Hotel. The food was supposed to be typical Russian food and I loved almost all of it. (I still don't like mushrooms, Russian or otherwise!) The meal always started with some kind of salad like slaw or pea salad (but not salad greens or lettuce) and/or soup (borscht/beet soup or ghia/cabbage soup). The main course was meat (beef, pork or chicken) and potatoes (mashed, baked, roasted, etc.). Desert was often the most wonderful ice cream I've ever tasted. The butter fat content must have been the most you can have and still call it ice cream! Russia is also known for its chocolate candy. Yum!

Arbot Street and McDonald's

I'm told that this is the original Russian McDonald's on Arbot Street. Our bus driver dropped us off here to do some shopping (Hard Rock Cafe, expensive souveniers, Harley Davidson t-shirts with "Moskva" on them, etc.) and McDonald's was our meeting place and the location of a fairly clean if very crowded restroom. I didn't order any food here but I was told that a Big Mac is a Big Mac is a Big Mac...
I bought a few things at one shop but the prices were pretty high and everyone kept telling me to wait for Ismailovo Market (they were right!). Jan wanted a Hard Rock t-shirt from Moscow for one of her kids but mostly we just wondered down the block and window-shopped. There were a lot of tourists and party-goers out that night and we held on tight to our purses. Three of our young men from the Virginia youth group ran into a problem with a couple of police (at least they thought they were police) who wanted to see their passports. The hotel had kept our passports at the desk and all any of us had with us were copies and a receipt from the hotel. The police threatened to arrest them but were willing to accept a "fine" of about $40 each. The boys made it safely back to our group; our translator told us later that if we ever found ourselves in such a situation that we should ask to be taken to the American Embassy and let them straighten it out. It made for a very interesting evening!

War Memorial and Museum

The Russians are rightfully proud of their military history, especially in World War II. Their struggle on the "Eastern Front" kept Hitler's army busy while the West prepared for the D-Day invasion. Russia's biggest contribution to world conflicts has always been the sheer number of troops she could throw into battle. There was a tremendous loss of life during the defense of St. Petersburg (Leningrad) and Moscow. This museum commemorates this history. Unfortunately, we didn't get to go inside because the museum wasn't open when the signs said it would be. What can I say? It's Russia!

Light Displays

This light display was across from the War Museum (see the next post) but it was typical of the ones we saw all over town. New Year's is there big secular holiday and all the parties, celebrations and gift-giving center on it. One member of our group noted that he kind of liked it that way; Christmas then becomes a purely religious holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus.

Sparrow Hill

Sparrow Hill overlooks the city of Moscow. This is where Napoleon stood to say that he was here to conquer the city; it's also where he looked back as he retreated after he was defeated by the Russian forces and the Russian winter! There was another beautiful tree on Sparrow Hill set up by the souvenir stalls. I didn't buy anything here; I was waiting for the Ismailovo market.

The building in the background of the center picture is the main building of the University of Moscow.

Novedevichy Convent

On our way out to Sparrow Hill we drove past the Novedevichy Convent. This is where the tsars would send their wives when they were tired of them and wanted to marry someone new. Also, Peter the Great exiled his sister Sophia to the Convent when he threw her off the throne and became Tsar in his own right.

Patio Pizza

Back to the trip! After we walked around Red Square for a bit, we went to Patio Pizza for lunch. I understand that Patio Pizza is a chain restaurant in Russia and it is very popular. We were seated all together at a couple of long tables and the waiters just kept bringing pizza with a variety of toppings as long as our kids would keep eating it! I only had one piece because my tummy had been acting up the night before (thank God for whoever invented Imodium!) and I wanted to be careful about what I put in it for a little while. What I had was very good and the kids really enjoyed it. A couple of them at our table got into a contest to see who could eat the most pieces and argued about whether they had to eat the crust for a whole piece to count. Ah, youth!

Thanks to the Insurance Ladies!

I had a wonderful time yesterday evening speaking about my "Adventure" to the Charleston Area Insurance Women. My friend Margaret Ann invited me to be the speaker at this month's meeting and I was happy to oblige. We met at Shoney's; they had their business meeting, we ate dinner and then I talked to them for about 15-20 minutes. They were a wonderful audience and I received a lot of encouragement and support from them for this year's trip. Thank you!

This year's trip? Oh, yeah. In case I haven't mentioned it, I am going back this Christmas (as they say, if the Good Lord's willin' and the creeks don't rise!). I've already sent all my paperwork and my downpayment of $150 to Rev. Clarke. The cost of the trip has increased to $2250 this year; I imagine that part of that is due to increases in the cost of airplane fuel and therefore our airfare. I don't look forward to the long flight in cramped quarters but all the discomfort of the flight is well worth it once I get there!

Re-enactors

As we walked out of Red Square to the People's Place (?) there were several people dressed as famous people from Russia's past. This guy is dressed as Tsar Nicholas II and just around the corner you could get your picture taken with Lenin. All of this was for a fee, of course.

State Historical Museum

At the opposite end of Red Square from St. Basil's Cathedral is the Russian State Museum. We didn't get to go in and I'm not sure what is held inside, but it is a beautiful structure.

Speaking of beautiful, the Russian name for "Red Square" is "Krasnaya Ploschad". "Krasnaya" can mean "beautiful" as well as "red", so in English it could also be called "Beautiful Square".

Gum Department Store

The Gum (pronounced "goom") Department Store is across Red Square from Lenin's Tomb. It predates modern indoor shopping malls but when you walk inside (the second picture) that's exactly what it is. The shops inside are very exclusive and very expensive. In addition to well-known European designers I saw stores like Ralph Lauren and Levi's.

My Presentations

I gave three presentations about my trip this past weekend at my church, Central United Methodist in Charleston. I actually got out of bed in time to make it to the 7:30 a.m. United Methodist Men's Breakfast (and they said it couldn't be done!) and talked to them about my experiences. Later, Pastor Bramble let me have the sermon time in the 9:00 and 11:00 services to talk to the congregation about my trip and tell them about this and other mission opportunities through WV-VIM. I hope someone was touched enough to think about stepping out of their box and going on one of the trips this year.

Great Kids on the Trip

We had several wonderful young people on the trip with us. That's Sean and his Dad in the picture with me and there was a large group of youth from the Annandale (Virginia) United Methodist Church with us as well. They were great working with the Russian orphans and they were good for carrying luggage, too!