Food and People

I've recently had requests for blogposts about food and people; so here's a bit more.

Food.

So far the food has been mostly "normal." I think our guides have been careful to keep us on the straight and narrow American path. However, we have tried a few little items that have been different. One was Russian root beer made out of black bread. Apparently Russians don't like carbonation, so there's no fizz, and while it looks like root beer otherwise, it tastes like toast. I doubt it will ever be a favorite. The other night we all had a little candy bar that looked like a normal little chocolate bar, but was a cross between yogurt and cheesecake inside, and that was alright. The "sausage" that was suggested to us turned out to be pink rubber, similar to bologna. Vanilla here is powdered. We've also tried sweetened buttermilk, which is basically like a yogurt smoothie without fruit. I hope to try some fresh caught fish since we're just off the coast.

People.

I've been hesitant to post about the people because I want to be careful about their privacy; also, as the nanny, and a fairly silent one at that, I've not been conversing with loads of people (other than cute little four year olds) in the past week. Besides babysitting while the Ds are out my duties during the in-home meetings are mostly to quench blood and quiet loudness, and overall to do the laundry, some cooking and some clean-up. I have listened in a bit during the meetings and while Pastor F is talking, and there are some amazing testimonies here.

Downtown Vyborg

One testimony we heard was of a lady who had epilepsy as a teenager, and that challenge led her to Christ. She slowly recovered and married a man who said he was a believer, but ended up a drug addict, in and out of jail. The lady waited for her husband while he was in jail and tried to be a help to him. Then, against all odds, she became pregnant and had a healthy baby (Because of her epilepsy they weren't expecting to have children). After the first baby she even got pregnant again, and was advised to have an abortion. The baby wasn't expected to be healthy and her husband was back in bad habits. But she kept the baby and miraculously it was born healthy. She and her husband separated, and now she's working for the church and interested in teaching her children at home.

The Round Tower restaurant.