Everyday Things

I arrived in Novosibirsk on Monday. It took four flights and about 24 hours to get here. I didn't have any problems making all of my flights and finding my way around the airports. It was absolutely beautiful when my first flight took off in KC. The sun was beginning to rise and the clouds and sky were gorgeous and magical.
We are 12 hours ahead here, so I've been here for about 3 days. It's been stressful so far trying to adjust to the time difference, and being in a completely different culture. I feel very awkward most of the time and I'm trying not to feel stupid, because I don't know what I'm doing. I have had the chance to talk to in Russian a bit. I'm staying at OM's Discipleship Center, where most of the girls speak English. There are two Laura's, one from England and the other from the US. Both of the Tanya's are from here, but they both speak English fairly well. Zhenya and his wife Yulia life in a flat attached to the DC (Discipleship Center) and they are both learning English, but they don't know very much yet. Zhenya was the one who picked me up from the airport and he tried to ask me questions in the limited English he knew and I tried to answer him in what Russian I know, so it was an interesting conversation. My first day here was probably the hardest. Since I was trying to stay awake all day the American Laura took me into the city. We had to take a Marshruta, which is a small bus, and then we took the metro. I fPelt very self conscious the whole time since I figured everyone could tell that I was American, but it wasn't that big of a deal. Laura and I walked around the city a little bit and she showed me where the Opera house is and I saw a really neat fountain. Then Laura had to go to the dentist and after that we went back to the DC. Laura and I went to Zhenya and Yulia's apartment today and talked with Yulia's mother and sister for a while. I had my first cup of tea in Russia and surprisingly enough, I liked it. I don't remember what kind it was, but it was a black tea of some kind. I was kind of afraid that since I'd never had tea that I liked, I would be forced to drink a lot of nasty tea. Russians drink tea constantly, because they have to boil the water to make it safe for drinking. If all of the tea I have here tastes like the first kind, then don't have to worry about not liking it. Apparently Russian's think that American's don't know anything about good tea.
On Friday we leave for the rafting trip (splav) and that will be for a week. It'll be a camping trip, so that will be interesting.
Please pray for a family here, they are needing a place to live and no one wants to rent to them because they are central asian. They also took in a woman who is being chased by the man she was living with that was beating her. She recently became a Christian and wanted to leave him and now he is threatening to kill this family that she is staying with. Please pray for their safety and that they would find a place to live.
I'll try to upload some pictures later.