Fall Retreat

Hello! Last week IA had their 3rd annual Retreat. Since we had a bigger group this year only the high schoolers came and the Junior High had their own Retreat. Matt and I were both with the High School. Our theme this year was Breaking Through, meaning finding a breakthrough into new spiritual depth.

On a different note however below is a dog that lives in our neighborhood. He's super old and adorable. I call him Wheels. :-)

Matt and I were in the freshman van on the way there (doing our penance for the trip :-P).
We were responsible for the games the first afternoon we were there. The second game we did was rock, paper, scissors where a whole team would choose what they were and then the losing team had to run to their safe zone.

Second game was Ninja, which I had never heard of until we went to the US this summer. You are trying to hit someone else's hands and you get one offensive and one defensive move. We played where you have to stay frozen until your turn comes back around so we got some fun poses from the students. :-)

The speaker this year was a friend of our head teacher; he coaches in Ohio and he was in Russia to speak at Retreat and have a basketball after school the rest of the week.

Based on the feedback at the end of retreat, he was really able to speak to their hearts which is wonderful!
The first night we had our traditional apple bobbing (listening to the Russians trying to say that is the BEST by the way!). Mercifully this year we narrowed it down so only a few people from each grade had to do it. They were given a minute to get as many as they could.
Two brothers we have (one above) are apparently apple bobbing experts because one got 15 in a minute and the other got 17!




Our shirts this year were red and white, our school colors. Hence the sea of red above.
One of the guys who came with the speaker had them play Musical Chairs of Death. The students do the usual thing but two people end up without a chair. Then you throw a ball and whoever gets the ball first stays in the game and the other person is out.
(Mr K with students!)
When it got to the last chair, it was one girl against one of our basketball players and it got really intense! The chair was actually broken in the process but the girl did win!
We also had our last night marshmallow roast and share time. The Korean guys sang a Korean hymn which was very cool since we don't get to hear a lot of that.

The speaker also brought US marshmallows and grahmcrackers. There is nothing in Russia with the same lightness as grahmcrackers so we had to use cookies and the marshmallows in Russia are awful! So we were all very excited!

All in all retreat was a big success! The students were great and prayers were answered!

Matt and I also went walking this past weekend and we refound this sign. It apparently is a pub and restaurant. :-)
The Peter and Paul Fortress from the other end of the street.
There is this stunning mosque in the city as well so I was able to take pictures of that. It's covered in turquoise and blue tiles.

The whole time we were out there were just amazing clouds, big and puffy layers.

In other news, it looks like Matthew and I may actually be in better financial condition which is a huge answer to prayer. We are still about $350 short a month but that is a big step down from earlier figures. Please continue to pray about this need!

Settling In

It has been a few weeks since our last post, and what a busy time it has been. The new school year has consumed quite a bit of our time, and there have been several moments for each of us where we have felt fairly overwhelmed. With our new classes (and more of them for both of us than last year), it's taken a bit of time to feel like we really have a grip on what we are doing.

Thankfully, things have started to fall into place and we both feel comfortable and positive about how all of our classes are going. A new year and new classes always presents new challenges and for Amanda especially this year has been a chance to get to know a whole new group of students for the first time which always takes adjusting. This year I (Matt) am teaching World History for the 7th, 8th, and 10/11th graders (all of these are different courses with different textbooks, etc.), Geography for the 9th graders, a once a week fine arts class called Humanities for the 8th graders, and the same philosophy of science class I did last year for three of this year's seniors. Amanda has 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10/11th grade English literature/composition classes and is also teaching 6th grade Social Studies again this year.

Additionally, after school three days a week Amanda has been tutoring a student and I am taking Russian lessons with one our teachers twice a week after school. Between all of this, we haven't felt like we've had a lot of down time, but as we settle into a good rhythm of lesson planning and preparation we are doing a better job of finding time to relax. It's kind of scary to think that this is already the fourth week of classes for this year. It still seems like its just the beginning, but we are almost halfway through our first quarter!

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us during this past month since we returned to Russia. It has been busy and at times quite stressful, but we are doing well and know that God is sustaining us and working through your prayers! I'm sure this year will continue to have its share of challenges, but we believe it will be a good year for the school and that we will continue to grow and adapt as teachers. We continue to feel incredibly blessed to be able to be here.

One of the most important events of the first quarter is coming up quickly for us. Next week is IA's third annual spiritual retreat for the High School students. Amanda and I will both be going on it again this year and it will be held at the same location outside of the city as last year. Look for a post sometime next week after it is over! The retreat will run from Monday to Wednesday of next week and we will have speakers flying in from the US to lead our sessions. This is a very important time for our school spiritually as we take time out from normal classes to spend time bonding as a school and focusing on knowing God better.

Please join with us in prayer for this year's retreat. We have many students who are not Christians and this is a great opportunity for them to experience His presence. Please pray that our students will have open hearts and be receptive to God's leading during this time. Pray also for our speakers and for us teachers that will be going along to supervise, lead small groups, and lead games that we would all have wisdom and do our part to make this time not just a fun time but a spiritually significant one.

On a different note, last weekend we managed to get out for a bit and pay a visit to New Holland, the formerly closed-off area of St. Petersburg that we posted a few photos of from our boat trip in the last blog entry. The island is finally open to the public regularly for the first time since the days of Peter the Great. In the past it has served as a military barracks, shipbuilding yard, prison, and radio station among other things. Now it is being redeveloped for public use and currently has a restaurant, art displays, a small garden and farmers market, and sports fields for public use. Below are some photos we took along with a few other photographic odds and ends we've accumulated in the past few weeks:-)


A view of the pond in the center of New Holland. It was a gorgeous clear day and the sky reflected wonderfully off of the surface of the water.


The garden area. Each of the small plots is sponsored by a local business and growing a variety of different plants.


Our more horticulturally savvy readers may know what this plant is, but I have no idea what it is. All I know is that it looks fascinating!


In the distance you can see part of the main gates that flank the waterway leading out of New Holland. We posted pictures of what the arch looks like from the water in our last post.


It's Amanda!


The white ship in this photo is the yacht of the Danish Royal Family. The Queen of Denmark was in St. Petersburg paying a state visit and staid on this yacht during her stay. The ship behind it is a Danish naval vessel that I assume came as an escort.


This is a mural that we walk past every night on our evening walk that Amanda is particular likes.


Night sets in on Maly Prospekt.


A giant inflatable character stationed outside of the exposition center near our apartment.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading!

-Matt