I feel like the title really covers it all.
But for those who just realized for the first time that I'm not in America right now, I'll bring you up to speed. I live in Odessa, Ukraine. It is an interesting place with some pretty great people and a rich history. Much of its recent history has been shaped by the former Soviet Union. This brings me to New Years'.
Because the USSR was a communist state, religion was outlawed, which included church holidays like Christmas. Since everyone knows it's fun to celebrate holidays, people decided to focus on the celebration of the New Year, as it was the fun and legal way to celebrate at the time. After the fall of the USSR, churches began to celebrate Christmas like they used to (on the 7th of January, according to the Orthodox calendar), but by then, most people celebrated New Years' as the big winter holiday. So now, people buy New Years' trees, give New Years' presents, sing New Years' carols, etc. It was pretty interesting to see this all go down, but I enjoyed it (mostly because having Christmas on the 7th of January extends the season for playing Christmas music).
How I celebrated New Years: I went to Living Hope Church's New Years' party!! It was a super-fun, LONG night of games, food, and hanging out with friends. I stayed up until the end of the party at 7 AM. By far the longest New Years' party of my life, but definitely a memorable one.
Time Management
Something I definitely struggle with, but something that is becoming increasingly important as I spend more time here. Since I work part-time at the school teaching and help out part-time at LH church, all while studying Russian at least 7 hours a week, my life's been getting pretty full (as evidenced by the fact that I haven't updated my blog in forever). But nonetheless, I am learning how to say 'no' to things and prioritize and all those good things they supposedly teach you in college.
Feeling Incompetent
This is a feeling I have on a daily basis, thankfully in varying degrees. Like I said before in my funny language-learning posts, some days are great in Russian, and some days are not great. In fact, the more I learn, I see myself making mistakes in what I already know and forgetting little things. Apparently it's part of the process, but that doesn't make it any more fun. The past week or so has been a BAD week for understanding... I swear, I forgot the word for 'yesterday' for about the entire week.
It's all part of living overseas and serving Jesus- you are incompetent. Completely and totally helpless on your own, unable to do anything right.
But that's the beauty of it: we're not alone in this.
God promised to be right there with us, and He's taking my inability and incompetence and doing awesome things in Odessa in me and through me (sometimes in spite of me). So although I feel like an idiot most days, it's comforting to know that it's not about me- and that God's working even when it seems like I'm completely and utterly incompetent.
Document Scavenger Hunts
So yesterday I went to Moldova to get my visa to stay in Ukraine until June- and I got it!! I left around 5 AM, experienced a miracle in getting to the front of the line after waiting only 3 minutes, waited to submit the documents, waited while they made the visa, waited to accept my documents, and then drove home. It was a pretty long process that almost brought us through the Republic of Prinestroviya (wikipedia it), the home of bandits and thieves and anti-American sentiment (part of the deal when the only countries that recognize your nationhood are Iran and Russia). So yeah, I did the visa thing, enjoyed the presence of Mountain Dew (sadly, not catching on in Ukraine) and learned some new, semi-sarcastic statements in Russian.
What I thought was the end of the process is really only about 1/3 of the way finished. Apparently, now that I have my visa, I have exactly 45 days in which to register my visa, without which I can't stay in Ukraine. This entails going from office to office picking up any and every kind of document, signature, and
official-looking stamp in Odessa. The fun part is that the registration process is in transition, and literally from one day to the next, the process could change. Also, communication between the various offices are virtually nonexistent, so no one really knows what's going on.
I've described the registration process as "a scavenger hunt that's not fun at all, where you are really confused and where the only prize is staying in the country, giving you the opportunity to be even more confused daily".
Let the games begin!
(But seriously please pray for this process, that the Lord would work out everything as He has been doing since I've been here, and even before then.)
But for those who just realized for the first time that I'm not in America right now, I'll bring you up to speed. I live in Odessa, Ukraine. It is an interesting place with some pretty great people and a rich history. Much of its recent history has been shaped by the former Soviet Union. This brings me to New Years'.
Because the USSR was a communist state, religion was outlawed, which included church holidays like Christmas. Since everyone knows it's fun to celebrate holidays, people decided to focus on the celebration of the New Year, as it was the fun and legal way to celebrate at the time. After the fall of the USSR, churches began to celebrate Christmas like they used to (on the 7th of January, according to the Orthodox calendar), but by then, most people celebrated New Years' as the big winter holiday. So now, people buy New Years' trees, give New Years' presents, sing New Years' carols, etc. It was pretty interesting to see this all go down, but I enjoyed it (mostly because having Christmas on the 7th of January extends the season for playing Christmas music).
How I celebrated New Years: I went to Living Hope Church's New Years' party!! It was a super-fun, LONG night of games, food, and hanging out with friends. I stayed up until the end of the party at 7 AM. By far the longest New Years' party of my life, but definitely a memorable one.
Time Management
Something I definitely struggle with, but something that is becoming increasingly important as I spend more time here. Since I work part-time at the school teaching and help out part-time at LH church, all while studying Russian at least 7 hours a week, my life's been getting pretty full (as evidenced by the fact that I haven't updated my blog in forever). But nonetheless, I am learning how to say 'no' to things and prioritize and all those good things they supposedly teach you in college.
Feeling Incompetent
This is a feeling I have on a daily basis, thankfully in varying degrees. Like I said before in my funny language-learning posts, some days are great in Russian, and some days are not great. In fact, the more I learn, I see myself making mistakes in what I already know and forgetting little things. Apparently it's part of the process, but that doesn't make it any more fun. The past week or so has been a BAD week for understanding... I swear, I forgot the word for 'yesterday' for about the entire week.
It's all part of living overseas and serving Jesus- you are incompetent. Completely and totally helpless on your own, unable to do anything right.
But that's the beauty of it: we're not alone in this.
God promised to be right there with us, and He's taking my inability and incompetence and doing awesome things in Odessa in me and through me (sometimes in spite of me). So although I feel like an idiot most days, it's comforting to know that it's not about me- and that God's working even when it seems like I'm completely and utterly incompetent.
Document Scavenger Hunts
So yesterday I went to Moldova to get my visa to stay in Ukraine until June- and I got it!! I left around 5 AM, experienced a miracle in getting to the front of the line after waiting only 3 minutes, waited to submit the documents, waited while they made the visa, waited to accept my documents, and then drove home. It was a pretty long process that almost brought us through the Republic of Prinestroviya (wikipedia it), the home of bandits and thieves and anti-American sentiment (part of the deal when the only countries that recognize your nationhood are Iran and Russia). So yeah, I did the visa thing, enjoyed the presence of Mountain Dew (sadly, not catching on in Ukraine) and learned some new, semi-sarcastic statements in Russian.
What I thought was the end of the process is really only about 1/3 of the way finished. Apparently, now that I have my visa, I have exactly 45 days in which to register my visa, without which I can't stay in Ukraine. This entails going from office to office picking up any and every kind of document, signature, and
official-looking stamp in Odessa. The fun part is that the registration process is in transition, and literally from one day to the next, the process could change. Also, communication between the various offices are virtually nonexistent, so no one really knows what's going on.
I've described the registration process as "a scavenger hunt that's not fun at all, where you are really confused and where the only prize is staying in the country, giving you the opportunity to be even more confused daily".
Let the games begin!
(But seriously please pray for this process, that the Lord would work out everything as He has been doing since I've been here, and even before then.)