Time to Rest

I have been oversees now for one week and it has been a non-stop adventure. From flight and luggage scares to camping and getting sick, my body is crying for rest. So today is my sabbath day. I have rested and been pretty cooped up in the apartment I am living in right now (by choice of course). Symptoms from my walking pneumonia are coming back so I am now back on my antibiotics. The medicine makes me a little sleepy and upsets my stomach, but nothing that will keep me from exploring and living my life here in Tyumen.

I have been living with Bella, which I wrote about a little in a previous post. She has been completely selfless in opening her life up and letting me stay at her home along with her daughter and mother. Yesterday for dinner we made grilled soy beans with diced tomatoes and onions, slices of raw cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers, and pasta. We also drank homemade soy milk (which Bella made) and chai (hot tea). It was the most perfect meal!

After dinner Bella, her Mama and I sat around the table and talked for almost three hours. Culture here is so slow moving and not in any rush. There is a level of stress that people carry in America that people in Russia just don’t have. It’s a breath of fresh air.

Tomorrow I am working at a camp with my American friends Jeff and Amy. I went a few days ago and was planning on staying out there for the whole week, but I got sick and am not going to risk my health for sleeping at camp in a tent for a week. I am hoping tomorrow I am feeling a lot better.

(A picture of where camp is; out in the middle of Siberian woods)