Recent Moscow Highlights

I've clearly been falling behind on my duty as a blogger. But in my defense, HOW IS IT EVEN DECEMBER??! I cannot believe how quickly these three months have flown by, never mind each day in and of itself. Life in Moscow brings new meaning to the phrase a "whirlwind of a day" -- this generally describes six out of the seven days of my week. Ask anyone on my team and they will tell you the same thing: if you've accomplished one thing today, you've done well. I think about the nearly minute-by-minute calendar I used to keep back in the States and laugh at the idea of attempting the same scheduling system here. It just doesn't work.

While I have been lagging on posting reports, I think often about writing! So, because it is somehow already 10:00pm, I'm going to write out just a few quick highlights:

We celebrated Thanksgiving twice last week! Once as a whole staff team (30 of us) on Thursday, and then we had a dinner party for students on Friday (70 people total). Our staff dinner felt just like any family holiday celebration and the food was incredible. Maybe it's because we were craving the familiarity of home, or maybe it's because of the hours spent making these homemade dishes. Either way, I loved it. I'm truly blessed to work with these amazing people! Our student dinner was a big hit, too! It was so fun to introduce my friends to their first taste of pumpkin pie, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and all the works. It was also fun to see SO many students show up for our big dinner! I love witnessing this community start to form at RUDN.

This is our group at English Club last week. We've grown in size every Wednesday, including the number of students who come hang out and talk more at a cafe afterwards!

Jessareh and I hung out with our friend, Ksenia, a couple weeks ago and she took us to our new favorite coffee shop: Double B's. As soon as we walked in we recognized the distinct Northwesty feel: the baristas wore flannel, they sold gluten free bars, the music was of the common English coffee shop type, and the coffee was the best I've had. It felt like a sweet taste of home here in the heart of Moscow.

We have our last regular English Club of the semester tomorrow & an English Short Film Festival Friday night as our big events of the week. 

• The sun starts setting (it's a slow process) around 2:00 in the afternoon. This blows my mind every day. I've just eaten lunch and it feels like my day is already over! This is why they recommend vitamin D. I need some sun!
• I found International Delight coffee creamer at the grocery store by our flat! This is, well, a miracle, and I thank the Lord for it every morning as I sip my delicious hazelnut flavored coffee. 
• I also discovered a Thai restaurant right around the corner from my church. Hazelnut coffee creamer and pad thai, what more could I ask for?!
• My team is taking a vacation in January and attending two conferences right after. We'll start with a week of rest in Scotland, then staff conference in Turkey, then STINT mid-year conference in Spain. Three countries in three weeks! 
• Language class is going really well. It's so fun to learn a new language. I'm thankful to have moved beyond the "Hello, my name is Kailene" stage. Of course, I still have to pull out "я не говорю по-русски" ("I don't speak Russian") often; I'm a PRO at that phrase. 

I would love to stay more connected and share more stories of life in Russia! If you're interested in receiving my monthly prayer letters via email, just let me know at: kailene.power@cru.org. I plan on sending my next one out at the beginning of next week. 

All of these updates are more "life in Russia" highlights than what I'm learning and how I'm growing... I assure you, those things ARE happening. But they're happening very quickly (as is everything else), so it sometimes takes a while to process and figure out. There is so much that I'm learning. 

Also, it's now almost 11:00pm and I really need sleep. Good night, friends. :)