al in Russia while coffee is imbibed usually only in the cities; it's a "foreign" drink. She continued to explain that Peter I introduced coffee and had a special plan for guaranteeing its popularity in Russia. How? He gave his nobles a choice: "Pi'ye ili v tyiurmu". The phrase is funnier in Russian, but it roughly translates to "Coffee or prison." The favorable reception of coffee in Russia was thus secured.
Oh, how my soul was refreshed to be a part of this! I miss my students and the special light they reflect in others. I had great conversations with people about the status of services for these kids in Russia as well as practical ideas of how they might be better served to live life more independently. Over the course of these past few months here, I have also been blessed to have been able to dream with students and friends whose heart is with these children.
Father, it brings warmth to my spirit and a smile to my face to see people’s hopes to change the system. I earnestly ask your guidance and blessing in these friends’ lives along with the children they so beautifully strive to serve. May You be glorified in all that is done here to seek justice!
I tried холва (halva) for the first time brought over by some students this past weekend. How could something made from the byproduct of sunflower oil and that has such a strange greyish-greenish color actually taste good?
I got to go to the zoo with some kids this weekend—first time I actually saw character people standing around talking with their heads off more—made me laugh.-Makinzie
Lily is a dear friend who entered the university when she was only 16 (“high school” finishes around 16 or 17). She is this incredible woman of peace and has this beautiful spirit that encourages anyone she is around. Lily has recently been struggling with confusions of where she should be doing His work. She is currently frustrated with the Russian system of how social work (her major) is honorably conducted here. I ask you to join me in praying for her; she is such a good and just woman. Father, I ask for you to bless Lily with boldness and encouragement in whatever choice she makes—thank you for this dear friend with such a pure desire to seek change in her motherland.
Love you guys-
Makinzie
OK. Now on to the weightiness. Today was a “what am I doing here?” kind of day. For the past three weeks, I have been noticing that a few of my students have seemed a little recalcitrant in class—not openly rude, but a little edgy and defiant. The undercurrent surfaced last week in Sociolinguistics during what was otherwise a seemingly innocent conversation: I was explaining the need for sociolinguists to withhold making judgments about “good” and “bad” language practices, and in the process one student was visibly upset at the presumption that anyone could ignore “bad” Russian language when all Russians know the standards for “correct” and “incorrect” Russian. I was surprised to hear one of my most intelligent students trying to argue that it would be impossible to study language without judging the people according to the way that they speak! I was even more surprised when this student and her clique turned surly for the remaining hour of class, challenging me on almost every point that I was making and acting very inhospitable.“Olya,” I asked, “What do you think about the ending of the play?” (We were reading Christopher Marlowe’s Faustus).
“Nothing; I didn’t like it. I didn’t really care about anything that happened in it”, was the reply.
Even after more prodding, the student refused to answer. After class, she came to talk to me:
“Matthew”, she said (students here don’t use titles for teachers), “I don’t understand why we have to make every story relate to the Bible. Aren’t there other options? In our Russian Literature classes here, our Russian teachers never try to make us find religious themes in the texts. I have a hard time answering your questions because I don’t see how these stories are relevant to us.”
This was a low point for me. Although I took time to explain how important religion was within the historical context of the authors we were reading and attempted to convince the student that I was not simply forcing a religious meaning onto the texts (she seemed unconvinced by either argument), I already felt crushed on the inside with the sense that my very mission here in Russia was failing. The issue is not really with my style of teaching or with the course material—I want students to feel free to comment and question—but with the overall sense that this student and others do not really respect or appreciate what I am trying to do for them.
I recognize the selfishness of this thought, but I honestly wanted to list for this student all of the sacrifices that people have made and all of the time I have spent to bring before her this very knowledge that she seemed to think was not relevant or interesting. But the individual student isn’t really the problem at all—it’s my impinging sense that these students are dissatisfied and I’m not really sure why. It’s also my selfishness at wanting to be treated with importance, when I’m really here to submit myself completely to God’s will.
The whole situation is surely divinely planned for us, since the student rebellion comes at a time when I am working exhaustingly already on applications for future academic jobs. I want to say that it is all more than I can handle, but for some reason God keeps giving me the ability to handle more and more—not a quality I would necessarily pick out of the stack. Looking back over my first posts to this blog, I can see that for some reason God has not allowed the train of long days to “break down”, but at the same time I am still OK and have enough energy to do everything I need to do. I also am completely humbled by Kinzie’s service to me and support for me; my computer chair has become like a high chair and I’m not far from being completely dependent on my wife for food (fortunately I can handle my own diaper changes). Kinzie is thriving during this time in her relationships with everyone here in Russia, which is deeply encouraging to me and evidence of God’s work in our lives.
So I don’t know where I’m left at the moment, except to say that I’m trusting and hopeful and confident at the same time that I’m frustrated and a little downtrodden. I’ll keep you updated on the outcome, but I know it will work out!
Matt and I went to Красная площадь (Red Square) last Friday with the Nelly Alexandrovna (Matt's Russian instructor, fellow teacher at RACU, and friend). We got to go into St. Basil's--where on the main floor there where some beautiful paintings and when we climbed this old, wooden spiral staircase (that was only found in the 70's), we arrived at the upper level that houses much of the location's artifacts. As we climbed up the staircase, we heard this beautiful music being sung by 5 Russian men--the sound filled the entire upper floor. As we watched and listened in this church that was over 500 years old, I was struck with how beautiful it was to have my feet in this place where so many believers over the years had stood. To be standing in that place and hearing those men sing and feeling the hand of God was awesome.
Here's a funny story that happened after we finished our visit to Red Square . . . We ate lunch with Nelly (who speaks no English), during which we had potatoes. She said she enjoys eating potatoes and asked me if I cooked with potatoes. I told her, with my limited vocabulary, that, yes, I cook potatoes with chicken and sometimes peppers. When I finished the sentence Matt and Nelly started laughing hysterically. Apparently the Russian word for pepper is very similar to the Russian word for pirate, which I had said. I had told Nelly that I cook chicken with pirates instead of peppers. We all had a good laugh at that one--trying to figure out just how I would get those pirates into the pot.
-Makinzie
Enjoy your Sunday!
--Matt
