Bryan Persell: March 2007

The years first trip to the Dacha.

Paul and Allies are volunteers at CCS who are doing the program for the second time. This time they are doing it for a YEAR. How cool is that. They are from Britain and like myself they sold their house and "closed shop" before they left. They are wonderful people, great with the kids and very good company. They saved, bought and prepared projects for a whole year and shipped them over ahead of time..........except the packages all ended up stuck at the customs office in Latvia.
They both love to work in the garden (in fact Paul is a professional gardener, which is why he pruned the apple trees which have not born fruit in years) so they are great company at the dacha. Paul guarantees a bumper crop of apples this year. Sorta, kinda, probably.

Spring prepaprations at the Dacha with Nadia, Paul and Allie.

This is where I go to class and my teacher Irina. She is a awesome teacher and a very interesting lady. And she is very patient :).

A very early spring in Yaroslavl Russia. Somehow I think winter might not be gone for good.

The Volga beginning to thaw

International Women's Day, March 8th. We celebrated at the Bonya with the staff of CCS and their families.

Great News

Great News. Lucas is coming to visit me May the 16th for 5 weeks. I cannot wait to see him. And if that was not enough we have now signed him up for the two week Cross Cultural Solutions Volunteer. He will be doing the same program that I did, with the same great CCS staff, for two weeks beginning May 26th. I am very excited. I think it will be a great experience for Lucas and I think all the kids will enjoy his warmth and enthusiasm. I cannot wait.
We will also go to St Petersburg for a long weekend while he is here and that will be wonderful. Lucas is already taking a Russian literature class this semester and this should fit right in. He will be coming the week after classes finish on his junior year, then a few weeks with Dad in Russia and back to Bama for his senior year. Man, time flies when you are blessed.
All here is great. The weather has been unseasonably warm and all the snow is gone, at least for now. In fact it is 14C and sunny today. It is very hard on those of us who need to stay inside and study L. And I have this full window right in front of my desk. Oh well, I think I will have to play hooky for a few hours and walk the embankment.