the russia adventure, day 2.

We're nearing the end of day 2, and I'm exhausted. The jet lag and my skewed sleep schedule just caught up to me about 2 hours ago, and I'm going to sleep shortly. So photos will have to wait another day.

As I mentioned before, I got into Ekaterinburg at 4:30 this morning. Both passport control and customs were a breeze, and I didn't lose any luggage. Which gives me the honor of being the very first person to visit JB and Iris in the nearly 4 years they've lived here to not lose their luggage. So, that's a miracle in itself. And so unexpected that I was waiting for JB, instead of the other way around.

I grabbed a couple hours sleep, then JB and I needed to meet Edik, their pastor until recently, to get me registered as a visitor (from what I understand, a Russian national needs to do this).

From there we (JB, Edik, and I) joined another local church in a ministry to the homeless. They gather in a hollowed out building (think ceiling, floors, and some walls, and the floors are covered with snow) and build a fire on the top floor. A few different people shared about Christ (all in Russian, of course, so I'm really not sure what they said), then they served food. I talked to a few people - mainly Jordan, one of JB's colleagues here, and another man from the other church, who could speak English.

And in case you're wondering, yes, it is crazy cold here. I'm not even sure I can accurately explain, because its cold like I've never felt before. I think the high temperature today was -4° C. But my boots and coat and the extra layers I bought seem to be doing their job. We'll be out tomorrow for even longer, so I'll let you know for sure then.

Tonight we went to English cafe, an English club JB and Iris run for those who want to improve their English. They usually have a theme (tonight the theme was Valentine's Day) and cover new words and phrases, with games and other activities to help them learn. Its fun and interesting, and I have a lot of respect for anyone learning English as a second language - I never realized just how many English words can mean more than one thing.

One final thought - after English cafe, we were going to stop by Subway for dinner (this is apparently a tradition). But, they were out of no bread (which doesn't really make sense, because they bake their own, so it seems that they would be able to just make more. And wraps are apparently really expensive, so we ate at home instead.