My Typical Day?

Some of you have been asking what my typical day is like. So in this post I will aim to answer that question.

First of all, every day is different.  

But, keeping that in mind, lets explore.

I wake up every morning feeling like p.diddy.  (no not really)

Most mornings I wake up between 8:30-10:30. The first thing I do every morning is open the window and take a breathe of fresh air, embracing the coolness. After a sweaty night of heat, it is refreshing. I groggily walk to the kitchen, light a match, turn on the stovetop, and boil some hot water. 
While the water boils I wander around, hook up the internet, brush my teeth, and try not to fall back asleep. The pot whistles and I make coffee, which I then stick in the freezer. 
During my ice-coffee making time, I jump in the shower for a refreshing, cold water experience. 

10am Tuesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays. Masha, an 18 year old, stylish, energetic, college student comes over to my apartment. Both our 2nd language skills are terrible, so we have to use the computer translator to talk to each other. But we work on some vocab, listen to some Christian songs in English, and just repeat some phrases. She leaves around 11am.

Afternoons. I am free to do as I please. Most afternoons are made up of studying.  I typically read my bible, do some journaling, read one of the books I brought with me. And I surf the web. Not mindlessly, mind you, but I look for information regarding ESL teaching tools, teacher resources, topics for the week for the English Club, help from other ESL teachers, etc. I also browse christian websites like TheGospelCoalition, DesiringGod, and Boundless as a means of growth. 

Random times, I will head to the grocery store to pick up food for that day, some produce, cereal, cheese, and ORANGE JUICE. I live off orange juice. Today I tried some tuna though, and it wasnt bad. During these random times I will also go for a walk around town- to the forest, take some pictures, or take a nap, or catch up on emails and whatnot. I try to schedule visits with people during these random times as well. Even if its just going on a walk with a young mom from the English Club.

The English Language Club meets Tuesday and Thursday from 6-7:30pm, and Saturdays from 11-12:30am. I head to the church an hour and a half early to set up all the equipment. The members come, we have conversations and practice our English, read from the bible, following up with a movie in English. This week we watched some clips from the Tennessee River Aquarium, pretty cool stuff.

Meetings, hanging out, all the rest. Saturday Nights are a weekly Chidlren's "Good News" Club with 5 or 6 kids from the neighborhood. They are adorable and its one of my favorite parts of the week. They learn about God and get some snacks! Sunday's are always the busiest day. Church the morning, followed up with a visit to someone's home or to a nearby city for some walking, and then Youth Club in the evenning. I usually dont get home until late. Other free time is spent intentionally hanging out with someone who isnt from the church. Building relationships is an important tool in evangelism.


And then I sleep. Thank God for sleep.  

   

Today I...

• Woke up at a desireable time... with no help from an alarm clock except my internal one
•  Wore all clean clothes.... come Monday its time for a washing by hand session
•  Took a drive to Nizhny Novgorod with Misha, Lena, Natasha, Mike... and observed new things
• Sufficiently picked out my own Russian food at restuaruant.... even if the broccoli was a little salty
• Refused to partake in weird Korean New Agey Medical treatments even though I really wanted to practice my Korean... and then I found out there were no Koreans running the show anyways.
• Communicated with some Russian friends and found some really cool things out... like I need to find them a Bible asap!
• Watched a ballet called Giselle, that I didnt understand at all... but decently enjoyed it
• Went the whole day without wearing a coat... and loved every second! 
• Learned some new things about myself.. that probably werent that new