We had another quiet week. We mentioned last week that President and Sister Rawson were gone to Georgia for five days. That's the European Georgia, not the U.S.A. Georgia. It was for the semi-annual seminar for all the mission presidents in Eastern Europe. Here is the official portrait of the occasion. The woman in the middle in the red jacket is Ginny Martino. Her husband, James Martino, is standing right behind her. He is the Eastern European Area President for the LDS Church. We got to know them last December before we ever came to Russia, because they were part of our tour group to Israel. This is the photo of all the couples who take care of all the LDS Missionaries and Volunteers in Russia and the rest of Eastern Europe. They come for three years. Some bring young children along, too. They leave careers and extended family. It is an amazing service they are willing to do.
A couple of days ago the heat went back on in our apartment. That's a bad sign. We don't know what the 'schedule' is supposed to be. Our apartment is heated centrally by a radiator in the living/bedroom and another in the kitchen. The bathroom has heated floor. All these receive hot water from the central system of the building. There is no thermostat. We can turn a dial that lets more or less hot water through the radiator. It was so cold last May that instead of turning off the hot water on May 1 as usual, they left it on until May 15. We have a small portable electric radiator that we used a few times after that. We have an air conditioner in our apartment which we never needed to turn on all summer. Only one day did it ever get up to 80F.
So, now it was in the 50's every day last week. We turned on the portable radiator a few days ago. The apartment is so well insulated that it isn't bad, but things were starting to get chilly. Then on Thursday we noticed that our radiators were warm. I think the usual schedule is October 1, but this year they moved it up ten days. We'll see what winter will be like. We're voting for also mild.
With the end of summer also comes ripe tomatoes! Ken's bushes are finally producing a few. We ate the first ones tonight (Saturday) for dinner.
A month or two ago we had workers hanging from the roof of our building knocking off loose plaster. Most of the buildings in St. Petersburg are brick--including ours, even though it is twelve stories tall. Then they plaster over all the brick so it looks smooth and paint a pastel color. The buildings are all blue and pink and green and yellow. It makes a beautiful city.
Finally this week they came back to plaster over the brick-showing places. It looks pretty scary to me, because the workmen hang from ropes from the top of the building. The one in the picture, left above, is working on the third floor. We are on the second floor, and our balcony, shown in the photo below, is to the left of the open balcony you can see in this first photo. Note the finished plaster work.
That open balcony on the right is how we get to the staircase to walk out of the building without taking the elevator. Here is the workman plastering the outside of our balcony on sunny Saturday afternoon. Elder Allen spent time while the workman was above us sweeping up the plaster that fell onto our balcony on the left before the plaster hardened into stone.
Our big excitement for the week was a floorball match on Thursday night between the Warrior Saints [Russian church members in green shirts] and the "Volunteers" [American missionaries in blue shirts]. Both sides are avid about this sport. It's like street hockey but played indoors in a small 'rink' made by putting up a short wall in the church multipurpose hall. There are three 20-minute periods and free substitution. Three players from each team are on the court at once. The Saints play regularly on Thursday nights. The Volunteers play some Monday afternoons and at 6 am weekday mornings. The Saints won handily 22-8, so everyone was happy. Watch the whole game here. (Please do not create a link.)
Here is Ken behind the camera with President and Sister Rawson looking on. On the far end is the Saints' rooting section made up of a few wives and children.
The highlight of the night--standing and singing TWO national anthems! Note the Russian and the US flags on the far wall.
On Friday morning we had a visit from the U.S. Consul General, Tom Leary, and his Deputy, Demitra Pappas. They came to meet President Rawson and to find out how we are faring in Russia these days. They are very supportive of Americans in St. Petersburg, and our volunteers in particular. President Rawson told them we are doing well, not facing any direct hostilities, and loving St. Petersburg.
Last week we posted a photo of the big smokestack coming down from the building next to the church. Today Sister Allen took this photo from our balcony as they are putting up a new smokestack--taller and wider than the one they removed last week.
But we felt sorry this morning for some people in our neighborhood. There were big signs posted along the wall of the church, just to the left of the crane. They warned not to park there on Saturday. hen we went into the Mission Office about 9 am the tow truck was there, lifting three cars onto a flatbed truck to take them away so the crane could be brought in. Too bad. These photos are of the work on Saturday to place a new smokestack on the building--a third taller than before.
We usually do Transfers on Wednesday afternoon and those going home spend Thursday night at the Mission Home and fly out in the wee hours of Thursday morning. But this week President & Sister Rawson have to go on their visa trip to Finland, so Transfers were today, Saturday.
One of the activities was to play a game like "Memory" using objects from the Hermitage collection.
Friday night we did a big shopping trip to Lenta. They had a big stack of these very large melons. We bought the smallest one! Ken was impressed with the size and color and had to take a photo.
Saturday night was a reunion of sorts. Former St. Petersburg missionary Matt Niu, who was the MTC Russian language tutor for us and for the Rawsons, joined us for dinner with his fellow Moscow-based intern Sarah Hawkes. We invited the new APs, Elders Simmons and Rindlisbacher. It was a great time.
A couple of days ago the heat went back on in our apartment. That's a bad sign. We don't know what the 'schedule' is supposed to be. Our apartment is heated centrally by a radiator in the living/bedroom and another in the kitchen. The bathroom has heated floor. All these receive hot water from the central system of the building. There is no thermostat. We can turn a dial that lets more or less hot water through the radiator. It was so cold last May that instead of turning off the hot water on May 1 as usual, they left it on until May 15. We have a small portable electric radiator that we used a few times after that. We have an air conditioner in our apartment which we never needed to turn on all summer. Only one day did it ever get up to 80F.
So, now it was in the 50's every day last week. We turned on the portable radiator a few days ago. The apartment is so well insulated that it isn't bad, but things were starting to get chilly. Then on Thursday we noticed that our radiators were warm. I think the usual schedule is October 1, but this year they moved it up ten days. We'll see what winter will be like. We're voting for also mild.
With the end of summer also comes ripe tomatoes! Ken's bushes are finally producing a few. We ate the first ones tonight (Saturday) for dinner.
A month or two ago we had workers hanging from the roof of our building knocking off loose plaster. Most of the buildings in St. Petersburg are brick--including ours, even though it is twelve stories tall. Then they plaster over all the brick so it looks smooth and paint a pastel color. The buildings are all blue and pink and green and yellow. It makes a beautiful city.
Finally this week they came back to plaster over the brick-showing places. It looks pretty scary to me, because the workmen hang from ropes from the top of the building. The one in the picture, left above, is working on the third floor. We are on the second floor, and our balcony, shown in the photo below, is to the left of the open balcony you can see in this first photo. Note the finished plaster work.
That open balcony on the right is how we get to the staircase to walk out of the building without taking the elevator. Here is the workman plastering the outside of our balcony on sunny Saturday afternoon. Elder Allen spent time while the workman was above us sweeping up the plaster that fell onto our balcony on the left before the plaster hardened into stone.
Our big excitement for the week was a floorball match on Thursday night between the Warrior Saints [Russian church members in green shirts] and the "Volunteers" [American missionaries in blue shirts]. Both sides are avid about this sport. It's like street hockey but played indoors in a small 'rink' made by putting up a short wall in the church multipurpose hall. There are three 20-minute periods and free substitution. Three players from each team are on the court at once. The Saints play regularly on Thursday nights. The Volunteers play some Monday afternoons and at 6 am weekday mornings. The Saints won handily 22-8, so everyone was happy. Watch the whole game here. (Please do not create a link.)
Here is Ken behind the camera with President and Sister Rawson looking on. On the far end is the Saints' rooting section made up of a few wives and children.
The highlight of the night--standing and singing TWO national anthems! Note the Russian and the US flags on the far wall.
On Friday morning we had a visit from the U.S. Consul General, Tom Leary, and his Deputy, Demitra Pappas. They came to meet President Rawson and to find out how we are faring in Russia these days. They are very supportive of Americans in St. Petersburg, and our volunteers in particular. President Rawson told them we are doing well, not facing any direct hostilities, and loving St. Petersburg.
But we felt sorry this morning for some people in our neighborhood. There were big signs posted along the wall of the church, just to the left of the crane. They warned not to park there on Saturday. hen we went into the Mission Office about 9 am the tow truck was there, lifting three cars onto a flatbed truck to take them away so the crane could be brought in. Too bad. These photos are of the work on Saturday to place a new smokestack on the building--a third taller than before.
We usually do Transfers on Wednesday afternoon and those going home spend Thursday night at the Mission Home and fly out in the wee hours of Thursday morning. But this week President & Sister Rawson have to go on their visa trip to Finland, so Transfers were today, Saturday.
That left the three volunteers going home with no place to live for a few days until they leave on Thursday. So they are staying in the spare Transfer Apartment upstairs from us and are finding ways to keep themselves busy. One of those ways is to volunteer at the Hermitage. Elder Allen went over and spent most of Saturday at The Day of Europe Celebration at the Hermitage with these three departing volunteers on their last days in St. Petersburg.
Once each year, The Hermitage Museum organizes a special exhibition day honoring the countries that Peter the Great visited during his travels through Europe. There are different activities around the culture of each country, and also about the time of Peter the Great (1682 -1725). He was called "The Great" because of all he did to unify Russia and to make it into a great nation, but also because he was 6ft 7in tall! He founded the city of Saint Petersburg in 1703 and moved the capital here from Moscow. After the 1917 Russian Revolution, the capital was moved back to Moscow and in 1923 the city name was changed to Leningrad as part of the movement to remove all references to Tsarist Russia and the monarchy.
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| The Elders were able to ride in the Coach of Peter the Great. |
Hermitage guessing game.
One of the activities was to play a game like "Memory" using objects from the Hermitage collection.
Here are two pictures that remind us of our work. The one above is of a painting that hangs in our office. The one next is our modern-day version in St. Petersburg, Russia. That's the Hermitage.
Friday night we did a big shopping trip to Lenta. They had a big stack of these very large melons. We bought the smallest one! Ken was impressed with the size and color and had to take a photo. |
| Elder Rindlisbacher, Pres. & Sister Rawson, Elder Simmons, Matt Niu, Sarah Hawkes, Sister & Elder Allen |
That would prove to be interesting -- finding your car had been removed with a crane! It's interesting how different cultures solve logistical challenges. We always learn so many new things when we read your blog. Thanks for sharing.
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