The First Date

Alright, it hasn't been two weeks and I already got my first date out of the way. Well, I should probably give all credit to Mere because I wouldn't have done any of it without some encouragement from her. I was planning on Mere setting everything up but like a parent making a child learn something on his own, she made me call and set it up. I think the phone call was the most nervous part of the day behind watching Michael Phelps make a comeback in the butterfly. So the four of us; Brandon, Mere, Brooke and I went out to Carino's, a nice Italian restaurant. We followed that up by some intense gaming at the Carlile residence. I think we all had some pretty good laughs, especially the girls. Once we got bored of that, we all became glued to the TV for the Phelps' show. Basically, since I already knew Brooke, it was a good "ease me back into the dating scene that I was never in before." It was like a pre-season or non-conference game. I gotta get ready because things will start to count when the regular season rolls around Sept. 8th.

What I miss about Russia Federation and the mission!

So having been back only a week and a half I already miss many things about the Russian Federation. Here is my list of the things that I wish were still around or that have been weird for me to adjust back.

My boy Lenin- There are stil statues and pictures of Lenin all over Russia. This always provided for a good photo op while out and about.

One thing that I really miss is the "viewing platform." Now you be wondering what this is. Well, it relates to toilets in Russia. Most toilets are not the same as the ones that we have in America. Instead of the waste matter going straight into the water, it rests on a shelf which does not have water. Not until the flush do things get cleaned up. I've learned a lot about myself. Now this isn't the viewing platform but this is the best you get in public restrooms. We were just lucky that we didn't have to pay to use this toilet.

Russia is a very hot and muggy place in the summer and that meant that there were lots of summer storms. I really fell in love with thunder and lightning storms. Here I was caught in one of those crazy storms that took us by surprise. This was all in a matter 20 minutes.

The sunsets in Russia are amazing! I'm not it's from the pollution or something else. I was able to catch a sunset almost nightly in the summer.

There have been a few things that have made me feel awkward with the transistion from missionary to a regular person.

One of the more dominant is the fact that I do not have someone with me constantly. Sometimes, when I'm in the store I forget that I don't need to take Riley with me to the chips aisle. Every once in a while I feel guilty for talking in english since we were supposed to always be speaking Russian.

There is one thing that I don't miss...the trash. Russia is a rather dirty country and especially where I lived. Here's is one picture from a park in Saratov.

There is more to come.....

I've entered the blogging world!

Alright, so I'm not sure how to do this but I'll give it my best shot. I don't know if I can be too creative or funny but I'll figure stuff out. If anyone has any good ideas about what things I should put on here, let me know.