If it's Tuesday, this must be Alexei, oops

So, I woke up this morning recharged from a good night's sleep. After eating a bowl of oatmeal and grapes and doing a little reading, I went to school with time to spare to get ready for my lesson with Alexei. Only, that lesson is on Wednesday. I don't have anything until noon today. So, being up early and energized, I decided to update this blog.
I had a really great weekend. My Friday was restful and amusing as I watched my landlord bring a variety of handymen into our apartment to replace a broken shower hose. I don't know where he was finding these men or why they were needed, but the new hose broke and Megan was able to replace it herself on Monday.
Saturday my classes went well. In the conversation class we talked about immigration issues. There is very little in the way of political correctness here, and so they openly said they weren't too happy about people from the Caucasus who lived in Russia. Of course, they tried to call these people Caucasians. When I said, "Well, actually, I'm a Caucasian," their faces looked both shocked and confused. I went on to explain, and they just laughed. After that the teachers had a seminar on teaching vocabulary and then went to "The Steak House" one of the nicer restaurants in town and which caters to English speakers.
Sunday was the great day. I got a call from some missionaries here who I had gotten in touch with thanks to friends of a friend, and they invited me to go to a Russian Baptist church. Two and a half hours and three sermons later, I will never complain (I hope) about a pastor who preaches until 12:10 again. Not only was listening and singing hymns a great way to practice my Russian (Olya, the missionary wife, translated for me), it was also great to see the work God is doing here. After Russia opened up to religion, the government gave the land to a Baptist pastor. At the time, there was no church building or members, but now there is a small congregation about to move from meeting in the basement to their newly completed sanctuary. The service was most like the Mennonite service I went to in that the congregation was very active and vocal and children were noisy through the whole thing. The kids left during part for a Sunday school time, but the back area was full of benches where a few mothers sat and the kids could come and go as their parents permited.
After church I went with Adam, Olya, and their four little girls to their apartment. A short term missionary from America who has been working with them also was there. We had great food and fellowship. We were able to have great discussions about life and theology like I haven't been able to have since coming to Russia. They were gracious and let me stay a really long time and even are going to have me over for Thanksgiving. Hospitality is something I really want to cultivate, and they are great examples. They were also kind enough to lend me several books in English, which everyone knows is a great way to win my affection and appreciation.
After I got back to my apartment, I found that the others were at Zhenya's place for his birthday. He's been kind of down and hadn't let anyone know about it, so this was all very last minute. I got to see the tradition of "If you respect me, you'll drink," but women are allowed to drink wine instead of cognac or vodka. Don't worry. It wasn't a drunken night or anything like that. I also got to try some traditional Russian foods, like a kind of fish jello. If I hadn't been so full from lunch I would likely have appreciated it more, but I doubt I'll be making it myself.
Today, walking back from school, I got stopped by a woman looking for directions from some store. This keeps happening, and each time I'm able to get a little closer to understanding enough to be helpful. This time it actually took her a bit to realize I'm not Russian. Even though I feel sometimes like I must stick out as obviously foreign, it seems I actually blend in pretty well.