The Bachelor Pad, Staff Retreat

So how do I live here in Russia? As many of you know, I live with Max, a 31 year-old man from my church, in a small one-room apartment on the east side of Moscow. Our landlords recently finished up the second stage of a complete remodeling project, and I'm very happy with the results. Below are some pictures to help give you a tour of our place.

The kitchen...finally the sink works (last year I did dishes in the bathroom for about four months).

The kitchen table (and cat food, water, and litter area)

The main room with my bed, desk, chair, and bookshelf. Almost all of our furniture comes from Ikea, which is by far the most affordable furniture place in town.

The view of Max's bed, chair, and desk from my bed.

Our shkofs (Russian word for wardrobes)

Our nice green bathroom. The faucet rotates between the sink and the tub.

The entranceway and small washing machine.

The other view of the entranceway.

One final view of the bachelor pad. God's provided a great place for us!

In other news, many of the teachers at HCA just returned from the staff retreat. It was a wonderful weekend! We were able to get out of the big city to a camp/resort area where we relaxed, played games (indoors and outdoors), sang together around a campfire, and grew closer together and to the Lord under the teaching of an amazing pastor and speaker, Ronnie Stevens. The truth that was presented over the weekend really penetrated my heart, and I will always remember this past weekend as "red letter days" in my life; they were that formational. I praise God that He met us there in such a vibrant fashion!

While the scenery at the resort was gorgeous (forests with lots of birches; a path by a river; fields for playing soccer, basketball, tennis, ultimate frisbee, etc.), the only small downfall was that the heat wasn't yet turned on! Here in Moscow, heat is controlled by the city and by individual buildings. Max was telling me last night that many places don't turn on the heat until the temperature dips to 5 degrees Celsius (about 41 degrees Fahrenheit). So we had to be prepared (this past weekend and the past few weeks at school) with extra clothes, blankets, and space heaters! Today, the heat came on for the first time this fall!