The trip I took to Russia is over budget (mostly because the dollar wasn’t as strong as we thought it would be), so I’m cutting and pasting the info for helping out with the trip. The PC(USA) is already in budget trouble, so being over-budget on this isn’t good. The money will initially go to the Russia trip and then after all costs are recovered (God willing that’ll be far and above the amount needed, and quickly), the monies will go to the future travel study seminars.

Here ya go:
If while you are interpreting your experience in Russia people want to make a
specific contribution to young adult travel study seminars, they must send
their check following the instructions below. The contributions will go
directly toward trip costs. Once trip costs are covered, the rest of the
funds will go back into resources available for future travel study
seminars sponsored by the Peacemaking Program.

Russia Special Events Account Number and Instructions

1. Checks can be made payable to the Presbyterian Church (USA).
2. Please put SE06059 and the name of the person on the memo line.
3. The address to send the check to is:

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Special Events Remittance Processing
P.O. Box 643765
Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3765

For any of y’all at the Presbytery level, if you’re reading this, I’m available to speak as well. Please contact Marney or the Presbytery office if you want to get in touch with me. And, for any of y’all who might be reading this elsewhere, please contact me if you want me to talk with you or a committee or something.

In Frankfurt, they asked me if I had any lipgloss in my carry-on. I did indeed, and decided to go back out through security (and passport control) to check my smaller backpack through to Chicago. I took out my breakables and stood in line (a long line) to check it. It all was fine and my breakables were with me – without my lipglosses. I knew I’d be dehydrated b/c of the lack of my Nalgene bottle (it’s green and fabulous – everyone knows of it… I’m sure.). You now have to ask the flight attendants for water when you want it. It frustrates me, because I just sleep through the flights, and now I need to wake up to flag a flight attendant down! Argh. The flight was fine, after securing two more stamps in my passport! There were a large amount of high school kids on the plane – they were Rotary exchange students going to various places in the Midwest. They sounded super excited and I think I’d be super stoked if I got that kind of opportunity. I had the quickest travel through Customs upon landing, which was great, and then I was on my way to hang out in the Chicago airport. Kurt came and met me, to get his watch and an icon he wanted me to get for him. It was fun to see him, and strange, at the same time. I had spent SO much time with all of them, and then we all went our separate ways… strange.

My flight to LAX was fine, I had an extra seat next to me, so I wasn’t crammed in, which was nice. I slept the entire way (again, dehydration problems!), and when I arrived, I got to wait for my luggage. And wait. And wait… it took a LONG time. Shortly after my two backpacks got off the beltway, it stopped… I was about to start getting worried!My friend Linda picked me up and took me to my car. It felt weird to be in it again! But, it was fun to drive it. I drove home, got my computer and laundry and then came to a house where I was house-sitting (after a brief stopover at a friend’s to say hi). And then it was time for sleep… long overdue, I might add.

Today I feel pretty good, had a conference call with my group from Russia, about follow-up we may have to do. And now I need to run and try to get caught up with my Television viewing. Yes, it’s quite silly, I know. But, tomorrow I start my NEW JOB, so will need to do less slacking.

The Black Pearl is here in the LA area, and I was going to go see it tomorrow, because I thought I got off work in time. I don’t. How sad is that? It may move to Redondo Beach soon, so I’ll just have to go then to see it!!

Anyway, just wanted to let y’all know the update. I was seriously contemplating a hard-sided suitcase, for the luggage (and so I could replace Brandon’s bottle of Vodka and get my own), but it just wasn’t worth it… I am putting everything I THINK they could take out of my carryon into my pack… woo!!

And that includes my Nalgene… okay, so I just thought of something – are they going to make the airlines start providing food again? As it stands right now, I am not sure if one can take FOOD onto the plane… and continental planes in the States sell food, not much else… anyway, just a random thought.

This city is gorgeous and I’m sad to be leaving. But, I’m happy to be getting home. Is that an oxymoron? I got to say goodbye to Yaroslav today, and that was nice – except that I had to say goodbye… blech.

More on the flip side… aka LA.

Due to those dang terrorists from the UK, I’m not going to be able to bring any vodka back… here’s United’s new page for the restrictions. I guess I have to pack all my cremes and deodorant in my luggage. I’m worried, though. B/c I don’t think I have enough clothing to pad the stuff I will have in there. This is in order to NOT have it all explode. Everything is in baggies and such… argh! And here’s something I find somewhat interesting:

For those traveling with an infant: baby food, milk (the contents of each bottle must be tasted by the accompanying passenger)

So, if you had kids, you’d have to taste everything… hmm.

And now on to more reasonable news… very briefly, because I’m exhausted.
Today started early, with a walk and bus ride to Pushkin. The gardens and the palace were beautiful, and I have lovely pictures from them (that I still cannot upload). My friend Dina and I came back to the city, and wandered a bunch more. And that brings me here…

I’m tired, my eye hurts (it’s red and I cannot figure out why), I’m annoyed at the new travel regulations, and I need to write postcards… so, I’m going to run away. More before I leave for home at the crack of dawn on Monday.

FYI – my friend Erik has his blog up again… he’s going to go to Spain, Greece and Germany… jealous. (as she writes from St Petersburg)

I walked down to Isaac’s Cathedral, along one of the embankments. It was a nice walk. I also went to the Astoria Hotel, a very old and nice hotel, to ask about Swan Lake tickets. Apparently they’d charge guests 230 euros. Which equals about 8000 rubles. Which equals about $200 dollars. I think. And that’s insane! I was a little late, though, and was unable to run over to the theatre to ask about it. I will do that tomorrow, instead, because I really, really want to see the ballet. Wish me luck!! I saw Giselle there in HS and it was beautiful!!

I walked across the street to the Issakievski Sobor (St Isaac’s Cathedral) and thought that the colonnade wasn’t going to be open, but that the museum was. Uh, no. It was the opposite, and I walked all the way to the top. And thought I was going to die along the way. I didn’t (hence why I’m still here to type), and got some gorgeous (on the small LCD screen of my camera) pictures. After all the work of getting up, I had to get back down. I was annoyed! It was hard to get up there, dangit!
I walked across the street to the Peter the Great statue (even took a picture in front of it – just to prove I was there!). You cannot walk up to it, which is different than when I was there a while back. Sasha and I took a picture with it, standing directly next to it, in 93… hmm. Beauracracy. Did I spell that correctly? I had a single goal, which was to walk down the entire embankment of the Neva to get to the street where my host family had lived. To see if I recognized anything. So, I made my way along the Neva.

It’s Friday night, and I saw lots of couples and tourists. It was fun to just people walk and walk myself! I finally got to Liteiny Prospect and walked the three blocks down to Tchaikovsky street. I passed what used to be the KGB building, and I’m just not sure if the building has been remodeled or not. I don’t rightly remember… Oh well. I made the turn onto the street and some stuff looked familiar. There is much more business on the block now. I walked down, and tried to look for the building across from the window of “my” room and think I found it. But I don’t really know, and there aren’t names on the apartment numbers. I’m frustrated. But, I will go home now, and will try to call again… here’s to trying!

I’m off to Pushkin tomorrow, and will try to catch the ballet. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get online tomorrow, but know that I’m still here, surviving without the guys and will be home on Monday!! Me and my many pictures that will have to be put onto my computer and then uploaded to the web. Stay tuned for that.

So, I’m staying in an apartment not too far from everything. I can come and go as I please, and I don’t have to pay extra money for it… very exciting, I know…
The guys have left, which is going to be odd, but it’ll be fun. I’m about to run off and just wander for a bit. I am going to go to a castle out South of St Petersburg, in a town called Pushkin. It used to be called (essentially) Tsar’s Village. The castle had some old amber walls in it, and when I was there in 93, the walls were just plywood. As we all know, plywood isn’t all that exciting. When the Germans were there during the siege, the walls were taken. So, I want to see it again. And one of my new friends is going to go with me.
It’ll be great.

I have yet to get a hold of the family here, which is okay, since I have a place to stay, but I will still try. It could be that they are out in the country on vacation. It is summer and all… Anyway, this is a dial-up connection, and I don’t know how long I can take it! yeeks… I’m spoiled!

On a side note, I really dislike mosquitos and other biting bugs!

We went to the Hermitage today, which was great, but VERY packed. Spanish tourists are very, very loud – don’t hang out with them in a small room. It’s bad, promise. We followed that up with a boat ride/tour on the river – it was great. We got some sun, some shade, and many pictures. It was great… we were a smaller group today, to do the spendy things. I enjoyed it!! When the guys are gone, which happens tomorrow night, I’ll attempt to find a place that will let me upload the pictures.

Peace out!

Today was a touristy day, that we started later – it was great. We all got to sleep in! We drove to a Museum of the Siege of Leningrad, which looked strangely familiar. And it was – I went there when I was 16. I didn’t remember all of the stuff in it, but I remember the Soviet pride that went along with it. I find it interesting that I’ve been to more WWII museums and memorials here in St Petersburg than I’ve been to any war memorials in the US. No question. But, having a city under siege for 900 days is a pretty big deal. I feel that the Soviets had to pump SOMETHING up, to make people forget that someone was always watching… just my thoughts, though.

We then went to Peterhof, which is one of Peter the Great’s palaces. It’s on the Gulf of Finland, and has amazing fountains around it that Peter himself designed. They are powered with gravity, and then the water runs out to the Gulf. There are also palaces, but that cost more and there were giant lines to go in them. There were TONS of tourists: US people, Europeans, Russians and Asians. We just went among them, and through them… it was great. Great that we had Yaroslav as a guide and could just wander as part of a smaller group, not the giant TOUR GUIDE GROUPS… blech.
Anyway, I promised meaty stuff… here we go again.
On Monday, we talked about Islam and Extremism. I will say again that I appreciate the history that Alexander gave us, but the references to violence in the Koran are hardly ever reflected in the Bible – not that they’re not there, but that they’re not referenced equally. Christians fight – look at the crusades, look at Northern Ireland. I know that it may seem that Muslims fight more, but I do not think that it makes them any less pre-disposed to peacemaking, any more than we are pre-disposed to peacemaking, or not. (Did that even make sense? It seems to in my head.)

But, I think that it might be different, having had a war on our own land. Something that we’ve lived with in the past. The Chechen war is something people here in Russia have had to live with for a long time. Natasha said, while watching a video on a priest’s actions in Grozny from 10 years ago, that it was like yesterday, even though she knew it was 10 years ago. War and violence on a scale such as Russians know is something we know nothing about. 9-11 and Oklahoma City were nothing compared to life with it.

Part of the PCUSA Resolution says that we need to look at the root causes of terrorism, some of which are the position of terrorists in the country they are in. The Chechens are unhappy with their place in the area they are in – so they commit acts of terrorism. These are Beslan, the Nord Ost Theatre, and the war. The other thing we as Americans have to realize is that some of the stuff that is exported (there was going to be a picture of a Miami Vice movie poster linked to here, but I cannot upload it…) is offensive to those around the world. I am not saying that this is a reason for terrorism to occur, but just that we need to understand that all we export, in terms of entertainment, isn’t always well-received.

Tomorrow we will hear about the story Hadji Murad, which is a Tolstoy short story about some parts of Chechen history. The roots of the Chechen conflict go way back. Then Brandon will talk about State Sponsored Terrorism and Terrorism by the State.

And then it’s off to the Hermitage – I’m super excited about that. We have pretty much a free afternoon – I’m looking forward to that.

On Friday the guys leave St Petersburg, and then I’m on my own! Yaroslav will hopefully have found the proper number for my host mom, by tomorrow, and I’m really looking forward to connecting with them.

I need to go do laundry, so I must run away. My bathroom sink is calling me!

Know this – I don’t have any pictures, b/c this cheap computer place has no drivers… but, I should be able to update, hopefully soon.
Today we started the 2nd day of “good stuff.” Alexander presented a paper on what we thought was going to be “Islam, Christianity and Extremism.” It was more about the history of Islam, and the history of violence the Koran presents. I find it interesting that people are able to find so many references to violence in the Koran (which I admittedly know next to nothing about) and kind of leave out the references to violence in the Bible. Kurt pointed them out, and I thank him very much for that.

The next part of the day was relating to the church’s response to terrorism, first in the US and then here in Russia. We went over the PC(USA)’s Resolution from the 2004 GA, on Violence and Terrorism, which was translated into Russian for this Seminar. Apparently many around the world have been surprised that we, from the States, have this stance. It’s a good thing to read, I highly recommend it.

Nu ladno, I must go away now, and will continue this later. Promise. Tomorrow is sightseeing (yippee), which we definitely need after today’s discussions.

Our group here in St Petersburg consists of a guy from Moscow – Alexei, who we met on Thursday, a woman from Kazakstan – Natasha, our translator and organizer Yaroslav, his brother Vyatislav, his wife Julia, and a girl from St Petersburg named Dina. We also have a woman who is the “director” (for all intents and purposes, I think), named Marina. It’s a very good group, and we’ve gotten into some of the meaty stuff – we discussed the history of terrorism in Russia and the USA. We also discussed the definition of terrorism. Monday we are talking about Islam, Christianity and Terrorism and the church in the States and here in Russia’s response to terrorism. It’ll be good.

Today we went to a Russian Orthodox church for service and then to some sites outside of St Petersburg that dealt with the war – there was a diorama museum of the Siege and a park of the Nevskii Spot.

I look forward to actually posting pictures tomorrow or the next day… since it’s close to midnight, I need to sleep. I can’t wait till I have pictures from all around St Petersburg! WOO!

But, we’re here and all safe (I know my family knows that, but everyone else may not know it yet…).