Halfway on Saturday

I don’t know if I ever mentioned it before, but Philip and I were teaching the kindergarten kids (ages 3 ½ to 7) for the first month and a half that we were here. We enjoyed being around these kids and we love the kids themselves, but neither of us too much enjoyed being their teachers (it was too crazy!) and the schedule wasn’t the greatest either. Well, the 2 full time elementary teachers were kind of having the same feelings about their classes so we decided to switch. Philip and I have now been teaching the elementary kids (ages 9-14) and we both really enjoy it. Luckily, the other two teachers who switched to kindergarten have been enjoying it too. I was really wanting to switch and teach the elementary kids because I am getting my bachelors degree in mathematics education and would like to teach at a middle school. This is giving me some great experience and teaching me many things about how to teach, inspire kids, and manage them in preparation for the day when I actually become a certified teacher.

The weather seems to be improving lately as well! It was stuck in this horrible cycle for like the last week and a half where it would freeze overnight, snow in the morning, start to melt in the day (creating TONS of mud and ENORMOUS puddles, which we would then have to either dodge or walk through), then freeze overnight again and thus the cycle would go. But, this morning, IT DIDN’T SNOW!!!!!!! Wahoo! And I looked at the weather for the next few days and on Sunday it will get to like 50 degrees (farenheit) and not even get below freezing! It is about time because we are done with wearing 2 layers of long johns and long socks with wool socks on top and hats and hoods and gloves and scarves and we are done with numb toes, fingers, noses, ears, and we are just ready for some warmth!!!!!!!!!!

Philip has an exciting first in Russia; he has been growing out his facial hair! He never has before, so it has been very interesting to see. He shaved it off last night, and now it seems strange to see him without facial hair! Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure:

He was actually looking darn cute with the scruff!

Church this past week was good as well. It was also amusing. I was told by a Russian man at church that I do not have an American face, I have a Russian face. When Philip and I first met Philip asked me where my ancestors were from and said he was curious because I had very Slavic features. It just so happens that I am ¼ Czechoslovakian and apparently that is noticeable in my face. Thanks dad for helping me blend in more here in Russia due to you being ½ Czech! It was also funny because this same guy told a story about how someone had asked him for a cigarette and a flame when he was standing at the bus stop. He told the guy who asked him that he couldn’t help him out because putting all that smoke in heaven would make it so the angels couldn’t fly. So funny. Don’t worry, I also got spirituality out of church too. We have an English Sunday school class at church for us ILP volunteers, the senior missionary couple in Voronezh, and a few of the branch members here who speak English. Well, in class Brother Frost (Senior missionary couple) made a comment about how a lot of times we are really good about not taking the name of the Lord in vain, but that we take our own names in vain all the time. This is so true. I know that I do that all the time, and I do need to stop. We all need to respect and love ourselves too.

Oh, and it is so crazy, but as of this Saturday, our stay in Russia is halfway complete. Crazy. In some ways it seems like we have been here forever and in someways it seems like we still just got here yesterday. We are going to celebrate the halfway point with some shopping at the Russian renik and then some American food at Subway. Some of the best of both! It's all gonna be downhill and fun from here!

From Russia With Love,
Jenepher & Philip

Jast Better Foods

A great mystery has been solved. Philip and I are officially becoming detectives to solve fascinating mysteries everywhere. Let me explain. Have you ever wondered what happens when a manufacturer makes hundreds or even thousands of a product and a word is spelled wrong on each and every one? [To be honest, I hadn’t ever either until we already solved this mystery]. Well, what they do is mail it to Russia and sell it here. We have seen so many things spelled wrong in English. My three favorite [well, the only three I can remember right now]: ocean spelled ozean, parade spelled purade, and just spelled jast.

This is the napkin holder at our host families house.
Jast better foods.

Russia jast needs better spelling.

From Russia With Love,

Jenepher & Philip

The Blessing of Family

3-22-11

Today I got to talk to my dad on the phone! It was wonderful. Not only once, but twice! I got to talk to him on the bus ride to school (because by some miracle I got a seat) and while walking to the bus stop when leaving school 10 hours later (he slept in between then, I worked). It was wonderful to hear my dad’s voice for the first time in 8 weeks. I love my daddy. I also got to talk to little Baylee who is not sounding very little anymore…. She is only 8, but already sounds older than that. Her voice is getting that pre-teen girl quality. Know what I mean? That should not happen for a while. How about never. There is this song by Taylor Swift that ever since the first time I heard it, it has reminded me of her. It makes me cry every time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiLp1AqtIwI

Baylee, May 2010

All I know is that I love and miss all of my family members (including Philip’s side). We both wish we could be around each and every one of our family members more. We love you family!

From Russia With Love,

Jenepher & Philip

Philip's Birthday!

So just like every other blog post, this one is a little late.... but only by 5 days this time!

3-20-11

Philip’s birthday is today! Happy Birthday Philip! He’s 24 now and starting to feel old, but he is still as fun and as cute as ever! I just love him! And of course, he is still the sweetest male that ever lived. =) I am glad that there is a day to celebrate Philip Andrew Roberts!

24 year old Philip

Today is also our 2 year anniversary of getting engaged! I never imagined that day that 2 years later we would be in Russia! Oh, the crazy but good things that decision has brought. =)

Yesterday we celebrated with the other teachers. We made fajitas (yum! Mexican food cannot be found here and we all miss it!), ate cake and ice cream, and went bowling. The tortilla’s that they have here are huge! They are wider than my body and at least as long as half of my height. It is crazy!

We only put on candles to represent 1/4 of his age.

The bowling place we went to was pretty cool. It had lots of black lights and was newer and thus nicer looking. The only downside was the smoky air. As it should be, the birthday boy won with a score of 97. I bowled most horribly, except for 2 lucky strikes in a row (the only reason I got 73). Last night proved that being a champion at Wii bowling in no way guarantees that you will even be a decent bowler in real life. I am actually pretty sure that doing Wii bowling has made me worse at bowling. About 3 rounds in Linsey pointed out to me that I was bowling with the bottom of my wrist down… that is how Wii bowling is done, but regular bowling should not be that way… My game did improve once I was throwing the ball correctly…. Philip’s spelling abilities also have to be mentioned here… we have a girl named Jasmyn in our group… well Philip decided to get creative (not on purpose) when spelling her name for bowling and spelled it Jasymen. It gave us all, including Philip, a nice laugh. The evening was enjoyable, we feel lucky to be here with such great people.

Bowling!

Philip hasn’t had the chance to pick out his birthday present yet…. He wants a European man bag (so that we can stand out less with the back pack, and not be such a target for stealing, although we aren’t really too worried about that). Next weekend we will go and find him one.

All I have left to say is Philip is so incredibly amazing and I am blessed to be his wife. I love him. =D

From Russia With Love,

Jenepher & Philip

Catch Up

These posts should have gone up a long time ago, but I haven't had a chance to put them up yet... so here are some catch up stories that should be told.....

3-14-11

Philip was too sick to teach today, so I had to go to school by myself. This made me nervous because I just don’t always feel so comfortable here in Russia, especially when I can’t talk to most anyone. So I had to make the 45 minute commute to school by myself. Well, as I was walking through the mud (the snow has finally decided to start melting and leaves pools of water and piles of mud everywhere) on my way I passed some workers working on something (not sure what). But no one else was on the street with me and so I was just hoping they wouldn’t try to talk to me… but of course they did. Since I was alone I really didn’t want them to know that I was a foreigner that didn’t speak Russian… So after they talked to me I just did like a signal around my mouth without saying anything (to say like, oh I can’t talk) and they did like an Oh face and waved it off. Do I feel good about impersonating some one who can’t talk, of course not, but I do feel good that after that they ignored me. It was slightly amusing to say the least. =)

From Russia With Love,

Jenepher & Philip

3-18-11

People in Russia do not believe in lines. Let me explain. Philip, Linsey, and I were at McDonalds and had finished eating our meals and Philip was leaving to go pick up our visa photos. Well, after he left I decided that I wanted an ice cream cone. So I got my money and hesitantly approached the throngs of people surrounding the cashier’s desk. I was standing there in what appeared to be somewhat of a line, but the line never moved. Then I noticed people coming in and walking around people and just ordering. This was frustrating for a couple of reasons. First, McDonalds is not fast in Russia like it is in America, it is actually rather slow, so 1 person cutting in front of you is at least 2 or 3 minutes of time. Second, people were kind of pushing to get to the front, and I really didn’t want to push and squeeze through people to get to the front. All I wanted was an ice cream cone. Shouldn’t be that hard or take that long to get. Well after waiting to get to the cashier for 5 minutes and not getting any closer, I just gave up. Never before have I so wished that I could say, “Heck no! I’m next in line. You can wait your turn!” Oh well.

From Russia With Love,

Jenepher & Philip

Russia's Favorite Color

I know Russia’s favorite color. It’s yellow. Now don’t try to argue, I have proof. Any nice building that the Russians have is one color. Yes, you guessed right it is yellow.

The building where we saw the ballet. Yellow.

Church building. Yellow.

Random building. Yellow.

Another random building. Yellow.

A nice apartment building (you rarely see one of those). Yellow.

Hard Rock Cafe. Yellow.

Don't be fooled by the horses. There are some dang nice buildings in the background. Also yellow.

Inside the Kremlin (?headquarters of the presidential party?). Yellow.

Palace at the Kremlin. Yellow.

These pictures do not even represent close to the number of nice yellow buildings we have seen while here.
I think I made my point. I dare you to argue with it.

From Russia With Love,
Jenepher & Philip