Greetings from Russia!
This is the second installment of our periodic “Greetings from Russia. Since we last wrote there have been a number of things to report. During the recent cold snap a hot water pipe in our building burst sending a flood of water through one of the lower apartments and out into the street. Where the sidewalk was once covered in a thick blanket of snow it now has a slick layer of ice that runs from the building to the gutter. We haven’t yet heard how long it will take to repair the pipe so we are making due by filling the tub and sink at night with cold water, letting it stand until morning, to let it come up to room temperature and then adding hot water from an electric teapot to make it warm enough to take a bath. Cold water here is just above freezing so letting it slowing warm to ambient conditions has helped.
We have met two of our neighbors, who like us, are also out of hot water. The neighbor next door was friendly and very quick to laugh and Jamie’s silliness. We do our best to try to speak Russian. The other neighbor we met, Sergei, is the one down stairs where the flood of water passed through his apartment. He is an artist and when we came down the stairs he invited us in to see his artwork. He draws and carves wood. Both are exquisite. He is a nice looking older man and Jamie hopes to give him some work by having him carve a nativity set.
Outside of our apartment the snow is about two feet deep with paths dug for walking. During the night heavy equipment is used to load massive quantities of snow into large dump trucks. The snow is then taken to the river where it is dumped into the water or at the edge of the ice to await the spring thaw. They do a good job of keeping the major roads clean and the traffic moving.
For foot traffic it is more of a mixed bag. Along most to the side roads and between buildings there is rarely a shoveled area, with the occasional exception of entranceways into buildings or businesses. The paths through the snow resemble rabbit or deer trails. Most are only wide enough to accommodate one person at a time. The trails form after each snow and appear wherever the first person to brave the new drifts has decided to walk.
Established sidewalks, for the most part, are either cleared of major snow or at a minimum sanded over the top of compact snow to provide a walking area. Persons who traverse the deer trails and make it to the wide tree lined walkway between the lanes of traffic, find that it is kept very clean and cleared of snow almost as soon as it falls. That being said, it should be noted that along the edges there is a lot of yellow snow. Many people walk their dogs and some of the owners appear to use the ample space to relieve their own needs. Public restrooms are nearly nonexistent.
One of our observations is that people are outside at all hours. We have rarely seen a time when the street is devoid of a human presence. Across from one of our windows is a very small convenience store with hot and cold drinks, pastries and snacks. It is very popular and often has a crowd around it. It is not much larger than one of the fruit stands but it a permanent structure with a small covered storefront. Every morning and anytime it snows the owner is seen outside sweeping and moving the snow away from his door. He keeps the brick walkways completely bare and accessible. The brooms here look different than we have at home. They look much like a witch’s broom with long stiff bristles made of a durable plastic material. The snow shovels are a bit different as well.
The other morning, just after six am, I counted twenty three individuals near his door. I watched as his clientele entered and exited barely leaving time for his door to completely close. One young man, appearing to be in his teens, entered the store without wiping his feet. He no sooner had entered when the door swung open and he was on his way back out to properly clean his shoes. Watching him from the doorway was what appeared to be the store owner’s wife. When he had sufficiently cleaned his shoes she let him again enter the store.
Birds in Yaroslavl are not in short supply. We see many varieties, including sparrows, crows and pigeons. At night they congregate in the trees and make quite a racket. In the mornings I have observed what appears to be an employee, at the grocery store across the main avenue, throwing chunks of older bread onto the sidewalk for the birds to eat. They fly down by the hundreds and devour the bread and crumbs, leaving little to mark their morning ritual. Throughout the city, along the sidewalks and in the parks, we have seen people feeding the birds. They are rather plump looking with a heavy coat of feathers to keep them warm.
The other animals not in short supply include cats and dogs. At one apartment we visit, we counted eleven cats with long winter coats of fur to keep them warm. Much like the birds in the trees, the cats congregate near the front door of the apartments waiting for the babushkas to feed them. One day we watched as three or four babushkas put out cat food, chunks of meat and milk for them to eat. The dogs, almost always, are on a leash but there have been a few that roam freely looking for warmth and food. Many of the smaller breeds are seen wearing little coats and sweaters to keep them warm. They can look quite fancy in their fur lined outfits.
As mentioned, the weather has been rather cold, cold enough to freeze the little nose hairs. The snow has been sparkly with the look of table sugar and there is often a chilly breeze when we walk. It has been around -14 F or colder feeling with the breeze. Jamie has been wearing the coat she purchased in Sweden but until the weather improves she has been persuaded by our resident winter coat expert, Masha, to put it away and get another coat. There will be more on Masha later in a future email.
Jamie took an 18 year old, Kristina Chernakova, with her to shop for a coat. The first reason she asked her for help was because she spoke perfect English, having lived in Burley, Idaho as an exchange student. The second reason, even more important, she knew where to shop. The third reason, more important still, she would not let Jamie buy anything ugly, weird looking or strange, as Jamie says that mature women, in a foreign country, are apt to do. Coats here are a big deal they almost always involve some fur. I would call women’s coats a form of art on a grand scale. Hats match the coats, scarves match the coats, gloves match the coats, boots match the coats and I am guessing the makeup matches the coats too. The knowledgeable 18 year old was indispensible.
She took Jamie to a “Mall”. What Jamie loved were the textured cloth coats. What Jamie desired was a fur coat. In the end, what Jamie got was a sleeping bag with fur. She looks very cute and to hear her tell it, it is the fur. A boy told her she should try on a pink coat. She told him that then she would look like a furry flamingo in a sleeping bag. The coat is close to a pewter color with a hint of purple. The coat was within budget, the girl liked it and Jamie likes it. It is warm, maybe too warm and Masha the coat expert approves. The next time Jamie falls on the ice she will probably slide better in her new coat.
I did not bring a coat or boots when I came to Russia. I purchased a very warm coat, also fringed in fur and fur lined boots while we were in Moscow, the day after we arrived. Jamie says that when I am fully decked out that people give pass me with a wary eye. Mom sent me with a good scarf and I have great gloves to keep out the weather. When we take some pictures we will be sure to send some with our coats on.
Another find was the Russian equivalent of a dollar store. Everything is thirty eight rubles which is close to a dollar. Jamie has been doing a fair share of cooking of late with more cooking set for this coming week. We shopped at most of our local grocery stores to find what we need and at the open air market which also has an indoor section out of the cold. We found a large variety of products, including very nice dried fruits, fresh fruits and vegetables. We now have more persimmon cookies in the freezer.
Part of the upswing in shopping and cooking was due to our hosting of three dinners in our apartment this past week. The first was Wednesday night we had the Mission President and his wife, Ken and Athelia Woolley, visiting from Moscow. Some of the branch members came as well, including Masha, President Chernakov, his wife and four children and Elders Smith and Weihing. No other family we have met so far has had four children. Most everyone when asked will say that they have a brother or a sister but we have yet to meet or see another large family. With one more child the Chernakov’s would qualify for the medal we mentioned.
At dinner, with thirteen mouths to feed, Jamie did a great job making the fixings stretch. For dessert Jamie served an apple crisp, (Phyllis Mason’s recipe), made from Granny Smith apples and the tart addition of bilberries. Thinking the bilberries were blueberries gave the dessert an added flavor that everyone loved. Jamie calls it a tart surprise. Sister Chernakova loved the crisp so much so that she went back for seconds and looked like she would have gone for thirds had any been left. After she finished, she came running across the room and gave Jamie a big hug while asking in Russian for the recipe. I hope we can find bilberries when we get back to the States.
After dinner we gathered everyone around and watched a short Christmas message in Russian about the birth of Jesus and the signs that were given of his advent. It was accompanied by beautiful music from the Tabernacle Choir. Here in Russia, after so many years without religious freedom, there is still a dearth of the signs that this was a Christian nation. Many of the signs of Christianity have been removed from public view or were driven underground. Even after over twenty years of freedom they are still not outwardly visible. After the video, President Woolley spoke to us about the childhood of Jesus and of family values. Everyone seemed to have a very pleasant evening.
The people here in Northern Russia are good people but so many that we have met have no idea what it is to have a personal relationship with the Savior. Even prayer, in its simplest form, is missing. They know what it is but it does not apply to daily life. It is not that they are negligent or ignorant, they are not, they just have not been taught. One man that we taught early in the week said that when he was ten he was curious about God and where he came from. He asked his father and his dad said to forget it and walked away. Now the man is in his sixties and he still wants to know.
It would be very sad to grow up not knowing who Jesus Christ is. I cannot imagine growing up without that knowledge. As missionaries we teach the message of Jesus Christ and invite all we meet to come unto Him. Jamie and I know that Jesus lives and know that He loves us. We have been commanded to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves. In exchange for a contrite spirit and a broken heart He promises us salvation. We are here to lift up the spirit of the people and to teach and to bear testimony of Jesus Christ. There is a lot of work to be done here in Russia.
Our second dinner was Thursday night with a younger single man named Pavel. He is very quiet individual who was baptized some time back. He comes to church and usually sits in the back. He travels a great distance to attend church, over an hour each way and looks starved for friendship. He works maintaining the trolley railcars. Jamie made a hearty stew with black bread and more apple crisp with bilberries for dessert. We shared a prayer with him and conversed in our broken Russian about families as we ate. We all ate well.
We asked him if he had any hobbies and he said that in his spare time he likes to knit. He showed us a pair of house slippers that he had made. They were very good and would be handy to carry in ones bag for all the times we enter apartments and have to remove our shoes. On Sunday, he said that if I would like, he would knit me a pair of house slippers. Judging from the size of my 14EEEE feet it could be a daunting task. We also watched the same Christmas message in Russian with him from the night before. He said that he really enjoyed it. We had a discussion about the life of Jesus and will visit with him again next week. Jamie sent him home with a container of stew and bread for later.
On Friday, Jamie was invited to teach a special English class, just for women, which focused on female related topics and issues. They learned English words for household items and home decor, names for items from the kitchen and bathroom and terminology for clothing (color, size, type and style). Other topics discussed included hair (cut, style and color), nail care, cosmetics, jewelry, accessories (watches, glasses and handbags), holiday traditions and gardening, baby care (food, blankets, diapers and pacifiers) and to finish their lesson they discussed relationships (family, friends and boys). Jamie said that it was interesting trying to translate and explain words like glitter, sparkly and shiny without pictures. Even so, everyone left the room with smiles so it must have been good.
The third dinner of the week was held Sunday evening where we broke our fast with Sergei and Olga Varnavski, the couple who had attended Thanksgiving with us. We had meat with onions and peppers over rice with green beans and beet salad. It was delicious and once again we had the apple crisp with bilberries. Does anyone get the idea that this dessert is a winner? I may be going to the market at any moment for more Granny Smith apples and bilberries. We had a fun evening with them and showed a different video on the life of Christ from Luke 2. We finished the evening with discussion of the mission of the Savior and how we can each serve and love Him.
It is time to end for now and we hope that you have caught a taste of what we have been experiencing. Have a good week and we will write again soon. As always, you are in our prayers and we love hearing from you. God bless you all.
With love,
Elder Mark & Sister Jamie Forsyth
