Hank Williams - Hey Good Looking

This is the video that Sashka was trying to sing. Some people said it was hard to tell. Then he got distracted and remembered a joke about a fence.

Roses and Pizza

I am stepping out on a limb and making a very bold statement. Despite all the not so tasty food I have had here I am convinced the Russian pizza place, called the Pizza Facotry, has the best pizza I've ever had. My team says this is a very bold statement but I am holding to it. I wish I could send you all a box.
Roses, I promise you've never smelt roses like the ones here. Last night I went to a Mary Kay meeting. It was an awesome experience and my new friend Irina bought me a Columbian rose from a street vendor. Its a neat circle of Godinsedences.
Igor is D.Jay's student and thats how we met. Igor has been going to western protestant churches although he doesn't claim to be a christian. He has been doing this to practice his English for years. He feels he has a debt to us because we are "different" than the christians he has met from America before. This is why he was so nice to escort me and translate for me. His mother Irina lived in Columbia for a while because her husband is a Russian diplomat. During that time she learned a little Spanish and grew to love Columbia. We spoke through Igor and Spanish together as we discussed the differences in Mary Kay in Russia and in the US. We also talked about our goals and encouraged eachother. It was an amazing experience. This kind of stuff beats all tourism. You really learn about a culture and a city this way.
God has blessed me beyond my dreams. I was adorned with gifts at the meeting. Check out my new pin and necklace and of course the columbian rose. God started working in Russia to weave this special night for me long before I even thought about comming to Russia. I have been reading this book "Captivating, unlocking the mystery of a women's heart" In one chapter the book talks about how God romances us, by knowing what we like and delivering those special little gifts to us in a surprising way just to say I love you and this is for you. Not literally the new jewelry and flower but the entire expereince I beleive was a little gift from God to say, "You see Gynna even the best planner in the world couldn't of organized all this, just trust me, my sweet daughter, I'll take care of you". We serve an awesome God.

Two fights in one day!

I saw two fights in one day. They were halarious! The first one was when Denise and I were posting advertisement about our English lessons. As we walked up on the scene I asked Denise... why is this man laying on the ground? About that time he got up and stumbled around prompting another man to fight. He could barely stand up himself. Its funny there are some things that are cross cultural and have no language barriers and a man prompting another man to fight needs no translation. It was clear what was going on. He tried to kick the man and almost fell. I tried not to laugh as passerbys convinced him to walk away.

The other was on my second trip to the grocery store tonight. I took a second trip because during the first trip I caught a guy watching Aaron and I talk. I asked this guy if he spoke English. He did although it was very broken. Oleg, was very excited to meet us and get to read with us this week before we leave. I did not have any information with me so I told him I would come back. So when I did there was a fight begining in the liquour and beer section of the store. Again, halarious but Dennis hurried me along although I would have been glad to stand and watch.

We are taking another day off tommarrow. The first goal... to sleep in. Then we are going to eat pizza and then to a famous muesum. You can tell we are working hard when we'd rather take a leisurely day then to race around and site see.

Ohhh with all the excitement I forgot to tell you about the Russian circus... go to my teams site www.moscow2007.blogspot.com to read about the amazing circus.

So much to tell you!

My goodness! So much to tell ya'll! My team is forcing me to write about our meal... issues. I have not enjoyed or gotten enough food since we got here. The food is very bland and I am just not crazy about it. The portions are very small and we are on a very strict budget with LST. So, I have been griping just a little about being hungry all the time and that I'd realized they weren't gonna give us enough money to get good food here I might of atleast done something different. Well, Sunday Natasha noticed that I looked like I had lost weight. Which I have, my clothes are fitting a little loose. She thought I was trying to loose weight and I explained I have just been starving for two weeks. So, anyway, that day we went out to eat at a place called My My (pronounced Moo Moo) My friend Sashka (see the video below) highly recomended this place for the good food and good prices. I picked out the most expensive food and liked it the least. I was soo frustrated! I ate it but just enough to get rid of the pain in my stomach. Atleast everyday if not everymeal. I say "I don't like that" Sometimes beofre sometimes after I try something.
I think this pickyness comes from my recent weight loss. I have tried so hard to change my habits and mind set to only eat when I am hungry and there are so many things I do like... why would I eat something I don't really enjoy.
I say all that to say... Dennis MADE me try this eggplant salsa stuff called Lecho. I told him atleast 4 times "I don't want to try it I won't like it I don't like eggplant." He persisted and I finally said ok I'll try it! So I got a tiny spoonfull and put it on my plate. Like a rebelious child I put it in my mouth and prepared to tell him "See I don't like it." Ya'll... it was GOOD! Its the closest thing to Mexican Salsa I've had here.I was embarrased to get another big spoonful, but I did anyway. My team naturally made a big deal about it. "A miracle has happened Gynna liked Dinner and got full!" I even declined icecream when they guys offered to go get some after dinner, which was very surprising. They couldn't believe it but I was really full. For the first time in 2 weeks. I hope yall find this as humerous as my team thinks it is.

I had a great reading session with Olga last night. Its so interesting to hear how she grew up. She grew up during Lennon's reign and was taught Communism. When the fall of Communism happened her neighbor took her to the orthodox church and she was baptized. Its amazing to me to hear about peoples life without God. She asked me great questions and we were getting into great converstations and her phone began to ring at first she ignored it and never took her eyes from mine. After a while it continued to ring and it was her ride waiting for her, so she had to go. As soon as I let her out the door I came to the back of the apartment and prayed for her with Aaron and Dennis. Its amazing how God works. I was just thinking when she sat down she is doing well language wise but I not sure the Bible lessons are pricking her heart at all. Boy was I wrong. Our God is a trully awesome God!
On another note, one of my readers Katya took me to breakfast this morning. It was really nice. I enjoyed the time with her but as usual the food was just ok. We walked and talked to a kiosk and got belini. I enjoyed the time and I hope I am helping to open doors.

Two down, one to go

We had our second party tonight and allthough it was a lot of work, it went extreamly well. We had a great turn out from the church members and they were able really make some connections with our readers. So we all feel better about the relationships we've built over the last 2 weeks, that they church memebers will continue to cultivate these relationships.

We have a little friendly competetion going on here about whose readers love them more. I am convinced it is mine. They always bring me food and take me out on the town. Yeasterday, Katya brought me bananas and then the next hour Euginia brought me icecream and made plans to take Aaron and I out to see the city at night on Monday. Finnaly, Olga arrived with Pizza which was perfect because we wanted pizza but couldn't find a place to order or go get any, so we bought frozen pizza and had just started to eat when Olga arrived with fresh pizza from the Pizza Factory! It was sooo good. Olga has also brought me candy that I didn't like much so everyone else ate it. She is also going to take us around Moscow next Sunday. But best of all everyone had to agree my students love me most! But I love them too and I really lucked out on students too. I don't have any that are too clingy or stinky like Denise and D.jay. Ohh I just remembered I told one of my students I didn't like the milk here in Russia and she explained its because its all powdered and that you have to get it imported from Finland to have real cows milk. Soooo, she is going to bring me real cows milk this weekend from her Dacha where they have 2 milk cows! A Dacha is a country house and most everyone goes to it on the weekends here in Moscow.

D.Jay's students are even great to me! Igor is comming to pick me up on Wednesday and taking me to a Mary Kay meeting! What an experience! I can't wait! I am so excited! What a nice guy. I am so bubbling over with excitement!

Here are some pictures from our Pirates of the Carribean party.

Its stinking cold here!

It is very overcast and cold today. I could barley get out of bed and although I have been drinking hot tea and am wearing a turtle neck I am still walking around with chattering teeth. The Mosow Times says that the high today is 18 degrees celsius which is about 64 degrees F. But somehow it feels so much colder than that. I know why Moscowvites drink so much hot tea... its the only way to keep warm.
It is a very small world. One of D.Jay's readers, Igor, was talking about his family and told D.Jay that his mom sells MaryKay. Of corse D.Jay said wow, so does Gynnalyn so today when Igor came to practice his English I happened to be the one who answered the door. I talked to Igor and arranged a meeting with his mom and hopefully an American MaryKay director here in Moscow, I can't believe it. Its such a small world. I am very excited to meet these women and hear about Mary Kay in Russia. They are leaving soon to go to Dallas for Seminar! I am hoping to develop a friendship with them and maybe show them around Texas when they get there.

This is a video of Sashka singing and telling a joke. You have got to watch. This can't be missed!

We found French Fries!

We found french fries and are planning to make them with are pelmini tonight. Our new friend Sashka should be here tonight for his reading session and then he's special he will probably stay for dinner. Sashka speaks probably better English than we do. He has a great since of humor and is anxious to learn American slang. Last week when he ate with us I asked Aaron to "pass me the honey, honey" and Sasha went into naming pet names in his best country accent to make fun of me but he has a russian accent. It was halarious sounding because you wouldn't expect for him to know all those things plus with his Texas russian accent.
"sweetie, darling, sugar, huney"
Reading and our students are going well. We are making plans for the Pirates of the Carribean party. creating anything on the computer is frustrating because everything is in Russian. File and save is hard enough as it is, you should try it in when the letters look like archiac symbols.

you look wary better today

So I am recovering from jet lag but still not sleeping really well because of the differences here vs. at home. For example, different bed, city noices, 4 hours of darkenss, that sort of thing. In addtion, I know why Russians are so skinny. They walk everywhere! Sunday a few people made comments that I didn't look well. I was sure it was because I had walked 10 miles in 80% humidity and hadn't drank enough water. I didn't think much about it until one of my students who was saw me Sunday said in her broken English "You look wary better today." I said ohh thank you thinking she meant good. But she explained. "You looked terrible on Sunday when I saw you. were you sick?" YOu see when you are learning a new language tactfulness is secondary to simply communicating with words. Apparently, I was looking pretty rough and everyone noticed. The good news, I look wary better today!
Lastnight when I went to bed I decided that if I woke up in the night (which I new I would)I would make a few phone calls. I hadn't planned on calling while I was here but phone cards are not expensive at all as I had expected. I called Monte's house and talked to his mom for a little while. She told me I sounded really tired which I wasn't I just wasn't awake yet. Even though it was light outside it was only 4:30am and I was planning on going back to bed. Then I called my Mamo who worries about me living in Abilene. You can imagine her worry while I am here. This was a bad plan because although it was good to hear her voice and she was glad to hear from me. I sounded terrible, just waking up and being congested as everyone is in the morning. I am sure i just set in her worry even more. From now on I will try to make calls in the evening for me and morning for ya'll in the states. I am having a great time and I hate that I am so transparent. Everyone can tell when I am tired on the phone and in person. So far I've kept my shades on or pictures so you can't tell I am wore out in my pics... What do you think.... do I look wary better today?

Today was a day of tourism. We slept in and then went out on the town. We went to the famous red square. We visited the Saint Basel's Cathedral today. This is the famous cathedral that you see and in most pictures of Russia. We missed the time allowed to visit Lennon's tomb or go inside the Kremlin but honestly this was ok with me. It was a beautiful day outside and most places inside do not have air conditioning. This picture is in front of the Mall called "гум" pronounced "goom" It is said to be the most expensive mall in the most expensive city in the world. I wanted to buy gum in the goom but I couldn't find any so we setteled for icecream.





This picture is in the cathedral as we are walking up a stair way. This was a very narrow and creepy winding spiral stairway. As we began to go up, the walkway become more narrow and the steps were very steep. THis picture was taken as I tripped and fell up the stairs. D. Jay laughed so hard at me I thought he was gonna fall up the stairs too. The steps were as tall as my knee so it was more like a hike. We unanomously agreed that the monistary was much cooler because it was not "touristy" like the cathedral. But it was an experience.

Abilene, Texas to Moscow, Russia

Clinic visit & Texas Party

So yesterday I woke up wanting to die. I was laying in my air up mattress thinking if I had to go to work today and meet with people I would call in. I felt awful and I was certain I had an infection in my throat. I woke up, got dressed, put on a happy face and met with my eager to learn readers. In between readers I would drink hot tea to preserve my voice and lie down if there was even just a few minuets. We eventually decided I needed to go to the Doctor so Tim the missionary here researched and found a public clinic. To set the scene it looked like the 1940's military clinic or something. It was clean but very old and simple. I went in to see the Doctor who did not speak a word of English. I sat in a chair next to her desk which was facing another doctor's desk in a small room. There was a white curtian behind my back to seperate me from another patient but luckily there was no other patients at this time. Nathasha translated for me which was nice cause I felt so bad I didn't feel like explaining that I started loosing my voice and feeling sick before I left The States but 31 hours of travel and being jetlagged and working longer hours than I even do for pay has just worn my body out. It was a little weird she made me take all my clothes off from the waist up just to hear my chest. I am not sure how my bra impeaded listening to my chest with the stethascope but that part was a little awkward. The doctor's diagnosis was simple. I have an infection in my throat but not in my chest which is good. I need to take better care of myself and improve my immune system. I'm not useto all the sugar here either. There is no sich thing as sweet n low here its sugar or nothing oh and we drink tea and cookies (Chia y pachine) after every meal and with most of our guests/readers. Thats a lot of sugar for this South Beach Diet girl. Anyway, I have some great medicene and some nasty stuff to gargle. Mom- its worse than alka seltser! If you can belieive that. Everyone gets a kick out of watching me try to get it down as I dance and make faces around the kitchen. Friday was mostly spent recouperating and meeting with a few students.
Today, Saturday, we met with a few students and then began the chaos of getting ready for our Texas Party. It was a great party and our students and their friends and family responded well. We taught them the electric slide and we all danced to he boot Scootin' boogey. We taught them how to rope and make homemade icecream. We served our guests beans and cornbread, chips and salsa, fresh squeazzed lemonade, and ice cream and brownies although it was not homemaid. It was quite a production. I had not planned on serving so much food but our team worked very well together and the party went great. We had about 30 people here and got 10 new readers. The best part is that it gave our readers a chance to meet and get to know the people of the church.
After we got everything cleaned up Aaron, Djay and I rode the metro to try to find some food. Before we got there two beautiful girls stopped and asked to take a picture with D. Jay. You see he is black and they are like celebrities here. It was weird to say the least. D.jay and Aaron has said this would happen from their experiences in Russia before. We found a little kiosk and had a type of sandwich thing and an outstanding baked potatoe. I am not a big fan of baked potatoes but this was good. On our walk back to our apartment we stopped at a park. The weather is beautiful here by the way. We were swinging and laughing and an old drunk man came and invited D.Jay to come drink with him. He wasn't planning on taking no for an answer either. THe man took D.Jay's hand and led him to his park bench. I had no idea what to do. Alcohol is simply a part of their culture and not a big deal to them. I have never seen so many drunk people in my life. There are more stumbling drinks at night than their are sober people walking around. THis starts about 5:30. Anyway, this man was fascinated with D.jay and wanted to sit and talk with him. We stood there for a while then took our celbrity friend and went home.

I have some pictures from this morning...

Awesome students and scary monks

We had our first reading session yeasterday. My students are so awesome! YongMi, a Korean missionary brought me "home maid" honey for my throat. Its sooo good and excellent in tea, which we drink a lot around here. Her husband is the Olympic TaeKwonDo coach for the russian team and also a pastor of a church here. I also have a Doctor and economoist and scientist. Its kinda intimidating!
This morning we went to the Monistary a few blocks from where we are staying. It was beautiful and breath taking. We went into the temple and unfortunatly we were not able to take pictures but it was beautiful. Amazing! There was a golden casket and I asked Dennis about it and he explained it was the remains of a holy person. He said it was ok to go and see it so we stepped up and were looking into the glass covered casket. A very old man with a gold cap and long gray beard accosted us in Russian. Luckily, Dennis talked to him and explained we were just curious and didn't mean to be disresectful. I had no idea what he was saying but I did understand that he was saying this is not a museum and that we were not to step up near the holy casket. We began to walk away and younger monk like person. A deacon or "half-monk" I learned explained that the remains had a holy smell because this man lived such a holy life. He was very interested in educating us and I would have loved to of been able to tape record this entire scene. And yes I smelled the golden casket in the hole created to allow people to smell the remains and recieve grace and healing. It smelt like incense but seriously how many people can say they bent over to smell a holy person's remains throught a tiny hole in a golden casket with a half-monk holding your arm.

Day 2

Well, there is still no suit case and yes my jeans are getting a little funky. The goodnews is they have located the suitcases but no one knows where..... Ahhh! the phone just rang! They found our suit cases and are going to deliver them in the morning. Hot Dawg that made my day!
We are all fighting jet lag and there is a Alaska effect here. What I mean is there is only 4 hours of darkness at night starting around 11:30 and ending around 3 am. Today was Russian Independence Day so many people were off work and it was an unusual day in the city they tell us. We are all forgetting our English and its only the 2nd day. We had our information meeting today at a really nice hotel in Moscow. It boasts guests like President Bush, Angelina Jolee, Hugo Chavez, The Clinton's (at different times). The purpose of this meeting was to "register" our students and match them up with one of us. We do not have as many students as we'd hoped due to the newspaper not running an add this weekend. But we will continue to advertise and fill our appointment books. I have 7 students so far. The one is the picture is an economist for the Russian goverment. My cough and cold are getting better with some really nasty medicene. God also sent me a doctor. No, seriously my last reader came to register and I thought she was asking me a lot of questions about my terrible cough and symptoms and all which I thought was funny until we got to the blank for profession and found out she is a pediatrician!
I am feeling so much better and meeting my students face to face helped me to remember why I am here.

We made it to Moscow

We made it to Moscow safe and sound. I have...
1. a cold, no voice and a awful cough
2. no suitcase, should have known when the guy in Abilene couldn't pronounce the Airport name
3. a new respect for Monte's driving
4. a bit of frustration with our budgeting
5. a love for the beautiful trees and perfect weather in Moscow
6. serious need of a shower after 31 hours of traveling.

All things considered I am good. The flights were good except for the long one over the ocean that stayed around 90 degrees the whole flight. We were sqwished in like sweating sardines. But the flight to Moscow was great, It was way under booked so the crew waited on us hand and foot and we got to really sprawl out and get caught up on sleep from the previous flight. HOpefully, our luggage will arrive soon but luckily I packed with the thought in my mind... what if all I had was this carryon, what would I want. YOu wouldn't beleive the weather, its georgous! We are in Downtown Moscow and there are a lot of old big trees and old classic buildings. The train and train ride from the airport made me feel like I'd stepped back into WWII times. Pictures soon, I promise. Please email me. I miss you all already. love, Gynnalyn

This is a slide show my market manager at Elliott Hamil made. This is the kinda stuff that makes me love my job. We invited the community to a presention to honor Vetrens and celebrate Memorial Day. Grab a few kleenex, if you have any since of patriotism at all. The woman in the green shirt with the Eagle statue was presneted that statue in memory of her nephew who died in Iraq. The young boy in the black shirt also received a statue in memory of his brother who also died in Iraq. There was one other Abilene family of a fallen soldier, but they wern't able to make it. This is the family I worked with in March, you might of heard me talk about. I was able to present them their eagle statue in their livingroom with out a dry eye in the whole house. I am so blessed to have a job that I can make a difference in peoples lives everyday and also follow what God is leading me to do by going to Russia for nearly a month.
Please keep me in your prayers. I leave on Sunday.... more blogs soon.

Seroiusly!

Ok we joked about staying really busy and staying awake before leaving. It helps you to recover from jet lag by sleeping on the plane and all that. I have literally every moment of my time for the next 8 days packed so full I am even amazed. A few thoughts as the trip gets closer and closer.
What have I got myself into?

What if I forget something important?

I have accepted that I am going to say or do something fauxpa while I am there.

What if i can't "get it all" in my suitcase?

What if I run out of money?

What if I really do come home a different person? I already have a hard time being an adult and being content with the stagnentness of everyday life.