At this very moment, I am eating an éclair. A homemade éclair that my roommate made. Have you ever tasted a homemade éclair? I never had… until I came to Russia. It is now clear to me that homemade éclairs are just about the best thing ever. I just wrapped up a dinner of mashed potatoes covered with a sort of pork stew. Have you ever tasted a Russian potato? They put Idahoes to shame. I am pretty sure that I have the best live-in cook/friend that the world has to offer. I wish that you too could experience the wonders that my pallet enjoys on a daily basis. These are just a few of the things that I will miss.

There are two elements that make my life here lovely. The first is the little things, the things that are so often overlooked, the things that are so delightful. To name a few… crab flavored potato chips; fried sunflower seeds; taking a gulyat (walk) and watching all of the other peoples as they gulyat; sitting in my apartment and listening to the old or not so old men as they sit on the street taking in a beer or a vodka, just being; the smell of my office building when I walk in in the morning; walking through the market in the morning as the vendors are opening their stalls, drinking their morning coffee, smoking their cigarettes and bantering back and forth between one another; the smell of my apartment when I hang laundry to dry; ironing my t-shirts before I wear them; drinking beer on the street; all those things, and a few more.

The second: fantastic unexpected happenings that make me feel alive, like I am home, like I am me. These happenings come in two forms. They are a person. Someone being fantastic, doing something fantastic, or just loving me fantastically. This usually comes in the form of a little kid. Example: Arriving at someone’s house to the welcome of three kids screaming my name with delight, running from all directions to give me a hug; or a kid walking with me hand-in-hand to the bus stop, just to make sure that I get there alright. Or, they come in the form of a thing. Example: SOCCER.

There was a road trip this weekend (something that also makes me very happy). We hopped a bus for a 7 hour journey to Tikharetsk to see the sister, Ira, and her new husband, Oleg. There were several highlights to this trip. 1. I slept on a real mattress, something that I had not done for 7 months and one week! It was heavenly. 2. I bought new blue jeans. They are more gray than blue.They are skinny. 3. I spent quality time with some fantastic peoples. 4. I drank kvas (a lovely Russian beverage made from fermented bread). 4. I played SOCCER!

I love soccer. I love soccer just as much, if not more, than playing in the dirt. Even better than your typical brand of soccer… it was dirty soccer. Fantastic, super black Russian dirt, dirty soccer. I was so dirty and sweaty and bloody and happy. I walked into the house, Katya looked down at my feet and up at the rest of me and said, “Oh Lord. Are you kidding me? All that dirt from playing soccer?!” She then looked at my face and a smile spread across her face and she said, “Oh, you are so happy. It has been so long since I saw you that happy.” This is how I love soccer. It makes me happy as a clam. I am still floating on the happiness. I am hoping that it carries me to Saturday when I get to play in the dirt.

Oleg’s parents now call me nasha sportsmenka (our sportsman — the girl version) and are delighted by my not so typical Russian personality. They inform me that the next time I am in Russia for an extended period of time, I will be living with them. I tell them that I am not so sure how this will work out, but when we open a HOPE Russia office in Tikharetsk, the land of deep wells, clean water, and railroad crossings, I am all theirs.

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