And I thought I was avoiding Halloween

Well, here's a little confession: I'm not actually any fun at all, because I hate Halloween.  I could give you the list of reasons, but suffice to say, it's not my favorite.  Imagine how happy I was to move to a country where I could just avoid Halloween altogether!  Or so she thought...

Both the English club and the youth group where I volunteer asked me to do presentations on Halloween.  I grouse about Halloween, but actually I was happy to do it because I love sharing cultures.  I sure learned a lot about Halloween (to check out the Wikipedia page on Halloween, click here, it's fascinating!).

Halloween is actually an ancient Celtic holiday that marks the beginning of winter.  They believed that the souls of the dead could come back to earth on that one day of the year and take revenge, so people dressed up in costumes to fool the spirits.  Just one little Halloween fact for you!

I gave a presentation at English Club, but the real fun was last night at youth group.  Two youth groups got together, and we started out by carving pumpkins, which of course they had never done before.  A word about Russian pumpkins: they actually eat them, so they they're much softer and meatier than our pumpkins, not quite so brightly colored, and not totally "pumpkin" shaped.  Nonetheless, we had fun.

Russian pumpkins and tea

Lera, covered in pumpkin guts

Our signature look

Look at these great pumpkins! And Veronika.

Seriously, the goggles were half the party.

After that people grabbed some tea (this is still Russia after all) and I talked about Halloween.  I touched on where the traditions come from, what it looks like in America today, and why many believers choose not to celebrate Halloween.

Andree giving a Bible teaching

Seriously, this guy is fantastic

It's a little strange being in Russia for Halloween, because in America it's so pervasive; everyone, regardless of class, race, or creed, celebrates Halloween.  Here, it's an American novelty.

I think tonight is the last bit of Halloween I'll have to endure this year; there's a party at English Club.  After that, I'm going to start looking forward to digging into camp work and Thanksgiving in Krasnodar with the Hayes family!

Пока ребята (and Happy Halloween), Russian Jane

Masha's Chicken Heart Stew

First of all, I know what you're thinking. Chicken hearts?

And I don't blame you.  In America, we don't eat chicken hearts.  Let me tell you a little story; the night of the flood Masha and I slept in the church, which has apartments.  The next morning, Masha whipped up this dish, because those were the ingredients on hand (yes, in Russia, you just have a pack of chicken hearts on hand).  As if it hadn't been a rough enough night, here I saw the next morning in front of a steaming bowl of chicken hearts.  But you know what?  It was delicious.  I liked it so much that I asked Masha to show me how to make it, and I had hearts (and livers, it was a variety pack) for dinner last night.

A word about this recipe: if hearts freaks you out, and I know they do, there's no shame in substituting cubed chicken.  Also, add whatever spices you think would be tasty; American cooking is really precise and scientific, Russian cooking is not.  Without further ado, here's the recipe.

The head chef, Masha

Mmmm...hearts...

Masha’s Chicken Heart Stew

The night our house flooded Masha and I slept in the church.  The next morning, Masha happened to find all the right ingredients to whip up this heart stew.  Yes, heart stew.  Like, made of hearts.  Anyway, she made this thing and I was as skeptical as all get out but I tried it, and you know what?  It was delicious, so good that I requested that she make it.  Here’s the recipe.

You will need:

-                    1lb chicken hearts.  Liver will work too.  Today, a liver-and-heart mixture is what we had on hand. 

-                    2-3 C chopped white or yellow onion

-                    2 C carrots, sliced thin

-                    1 C tomato paste

-                    3-4 C water

-                    4 cloves garlic, minced

-                    2-3 TBSP flour

-                    Tomato juice (if it’s on hand)

-                    Oil (for frying)

-                    Salt and pepper

-                    A bay leaf

-                    Macaroni

Here’s what you do:

Clean the hearts (and livers if you have them) of any fat and rinse them in water.  Add to a pan with oil and fry.  Add a little water so they cook but don’t brown.  Careful, there will be splattering.  Let them simmer until they are red (they will turn gray, then back to red).

When your hearts are red again, add onion.  When the onion begins to brown, add carrots.

Mix 1 C tomato paste with 2 C water.  Once the carrots are “done” (brown? Soft? I’m not sure) add the water-tomato paste mixture.  I’m not certain that you couldn’t use tomato sauce for this instead of mixing water and paste, but I could be wrong. 

If the sauce is too thick, add some water or tomato juice to thin it.  The idea is that everything will stew together, so if the sauce starts off too thick you’ll run into trouble.  Once you get the right consistency, add 2-3 TBSP flour to give it some substance.  Add your minced garlic and your bay leaf.

Let the whole thing simmer and thicken up, 7-10 minutes in Masha’s book, but really, until you think it’s ready.  You may have noticed that this recipe isn’t exactly precise, because Russian cooking usually isn’t.

Serve the whole thing over boiled potatoes, rice, or macaroni, whichever you prefer.

Bon appétit!

Emily, taking care of some leftover hearts and livers

Пока ребята, Russian Jane

"And the beat goes on...

...and the beat goes on.  La di da da di, la di da di da..."

In 10 days, Serafima, Oleg, and Lena will be moving from the Caucasus further south to Novorossyisk to work at the camp. Oleg and his wife Lena will be sports instructors, and Serafima will be the emcee for camp meetings.  That is when the real fun begins; we'll be meeting every week to plan camp activities, and I couldn't be more excited!

Until then, my tasks have been somewhat open-ended.  I've been compiling data on C.S. Lewis' "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe", the theme of our camp in January.  This means reading the book, watching the movie, and surfing the internet for ideas.  Do I have a great job or what?  The more research I do, the more excited I'm becoming.

The main body of my work consists of compiling the workbooks for the kids.  We'll have four days of lessons, and I've decided to split up those four days by focusing on characters from the book, and on their character traits.  I like Narnia, because for  task like this, not only is it very interesting to talk about the characters from the story, but it's a good opportunity to talk about deeper things like personal character.  What are good and admirable character traits?  What are poor character traits?  I'm especially excited for the final lesson, which will focus on the lion Aslan.  Those of you familiar with the deeper meaning of the story will understand my excitement.

On a related note, youth group is going quite well.  I helped last week and in a few minutes, I'll be off again.  My friend Andree (a different Andree, Russians only have like 15 names that everyone has to share) is leading it, and it's wonderful to see how many kids from English Camp come who otherwise wouldn't have had any connection to a youth group.  That's why I love English Camp!

At the base with some friends from Krasnodar getting ready for baseball

Some of our girls from camp who happened to be on the base while we were; we roped them into baseball!

Look at this guy!

In other news, I've been reassured by the director of Mountain Springs herself, Alysea, that my document process is "under control".  Hallelujah, because I was really worried for a while!  But God is good, he's taking care of the process!

That's all everybody, I'll be sure to keep you updated!

Пока ребята, Russian Jane

She lives! ...

... with the Ivanenkos!

That's right, after praying about it, thinking about it, and talking with my parents about it, I've made up my mind; I'm not going to look for my own apartment.  Instead, I'm going to live "at home" with the Ivanenkos.

You may recall the flurry of building activity this summer following the flood; pouring foundations, putting up walls, all to build a new kitchen.  Or so she thought...

Imagine my surprise when we pulled into the driveway Sunday night and I saw this looming out of the darkness:

Through a series of blessings from God and fortunate events, they were able to expand their kitchen project into a "make-the-house-100%-bigger" project.  Upstairs will be a kitchen and living room, two guest bedrooms, a bathroom all for guests (which they have very frequently) and then a large room with it's own bathroom and balcony.  This last room is RESERVED for a certain Amerikanka!  

This may not look like too much, but it's my room!  I'll have space for a bed, a wardrobe, a table and desk, plus my own bathroom!  The deal is, I pay about 6 month's rent forward so that they can finish the space, but it'll be done in about a month and Ilya promised me I could pick out the carpet and wallpaper myself (girls love that kind of thing, maybe boys do too, I couldn't say). 

That right-hand corner is where my bathroom will be.  The place has lots of windows, it's very bright.

I'd been thinking and praying about whether to live with the Ivanenkos (Ilya offered me this apartment deal right away, they really want me to stay home!) or find an apartment, and I keep feeling like I really didn't want to leave the Ivanenkos who truly are my Russian family and have been such a blessing to me.  Then I talked to mom about and she said "what are you crazy?  Why are you even looking elsewhere!  Live with them, it's an answer to prayer!"  That was the confirmation I needed.

Thank you to those of you who have been praying about my living situation.  Now all that's left is to raise the money to finish the project.  If you'd like to help put a roof over my head,

you can make a tax-deductible donation to the Missoula Alliance Church at 100 E Foss Court, Missoula MT, 59803.  Just attach a note to the donation with my name on it; DO NOT write my name in the memo.  This ensures that the donation is tax-deductable, and that it gets where it needs to go.

In other news, look at my cat!  He looks pretty good for having just had a, ahem, rather sensitive operation.  His mom also had a similar operation, and they put her in this ridiculous cat-sized hospital gown onesie thing to keep her from licking the wound.  I want to take a picture of it so so badly, but she's been AWOL since coming home from the vet.  As soon as that onesie comes into view, it hits the internet post haste.

Also, today there were two guys with monkeys in the mall today.

That's all the news for now, I'll be sure to keep you updated on the housing project and any other big happenings!

Пока ребята, Russian Jane

Vacation is over, fun time has begun!

I'm baaaaaack! In Novorossyisk, that is!

As I write, I'm sitting surrounded by piles of miscellaneous junk that I can't find room for in Masha's bedroom: velcro rollers, a pack of pens, measuring cups, towels, Halloween decorations and bottles of vitamins, and that's not the half of it.

I arrived in Krasnodar on Saturday, spend the night at my friend Madi's house, then on Sunday three of my very favorite Russians, Andree, Senya and Artur, came to get me and take me to Novorossyisk.  I would have taken the bus back but weeeelllll...I had 100lb of luggage.  Winter stuff is heavy! Not to mention all the other weird things I had to bring, like marshmallows and water bottles.

Now, I'm settling back into the Ivanenko household.  Let me tell you, it's good to be home!  It was great to see Tanya and Ilya and my icky little kitty!  Unfortunatly, Masha has landed in the hospital with some sort of stomach infection, but hopefully is coming home tomorrow.  I'm going to go visit her in a moment.

So now that I'm back, what's on the docket, you ask? Or didn't ask?

     - Find and apartment for me and my cat
     - Begin working on English camp
     - Help Andree with the new youth group that has sprung up out of Logos camp
     - Get my work visa secured

Not a small list if you ask me, but I'm excited to do it all!  It's good to be back in Russia with such a clear sense of purpose.  Once something more interesting happens, I'll let you know!
Пока ребята, Russian Jane

(PS, interested in joining my support team? Shoot me an email at j_blevins_mt@yahoo.com or message me on Facebook, and I'll get you the details!)