My Last Day in Russia

Russian Beauties

I never tire from looking at the Russian Orthodox churches. I’ve made Scott and Justin and whoever else is with us, enter so many of them, much to their dismay at times. They said once you see inside ten, you've usually seen the same thing, but somehow entering these places of worship still interests me and helps me get a little better feel for the structure of these people's faith. Many say that the churches are more beautiful on the outside than the inside…and I’d have to agree with many of them.

Here is Christ’s Church which is pretty incredible on both the outside and the inside. When you walk inside most Russia Orthodox churches, you can usually see icons of the Holy Mother Mary or other Saints lining the walls or in clumps in parts of the church. Pictures of Saints and more recent church leaders, which might also be considered icons, decorate the inner walls of the churches too. Candles and incense are lit and fill the churches with an old, musty sort of smell. Some churches we visited seemed more in touch with the stories found in the Bible than others. I loved it when they were.

A few times, as I was passing one of the churches, I would hear beautiful singing and so, of course, had to go inside and check it out. The music consisted of singing/chanting by one of the priests and a chorus. It was really quite lovely sometimes. I may have mentioned it before, but when a woman enters these churches she must cover her head. It was really neat to enter the churches during a service as I did a few times. Either way, the believers do a series of bowing and crossing themselves at different points in the service or as they approach various icons.

St. Petersburg’s Finest

I was able to go to St. Petersburg for three days, and visit a part of my brother Joe’s mission. Not having him with me was sad, but being where he’d served and loved the Russians for two

years was priceless. Scott, Merilee (Scott’s mom who came to visit his mission and travel with us for the last 10 days of our trip :), and myself were able to visit the Hermitage, the Cathedral of Spilled Blood, Peterhof, St. Isaac’s Cathedral, as well as many other sites. We even attended a night of folk singing and dancing called, “Feel yourself Russian.” So amazing and beautiful! St. Petersburg is such a lovely city – Merilee and I were impressed with the cleanliness and the beautiful architecture. Peter the Great built this beauty with the hope of making it look much more like the cities of Europe because he didn’t like the older and less refined look of Moscow. And, there is a definite difference. Personally, I still also love the more communist and possibly rougher look and feel to Moscow.

While in St. Petersburg, Lena (Joe and Rachel’s friend) did a lot of the sight seeing and



research with us. She’s absolutely pure gold! Lena had me at her place, about an hour from St. Petes by metro and mashrutka. She was soooo kind and nice, and she even helped me on our project, going on all the metro lines, counting beer advertisements and alcohol


brands, as well as counting advertisements and alcohol and cigarette sales on the streets. Meeting Lena, was very special for me because of her connection to Joe and Rach. She introduced me to others that knew Joe as he served his mission in St. Petersburg which was a blessing for me. But, getting to know and becoming friends with Lena was even more zdorava (wonderful)! I was so impressed with her great dedication and pure goodness. Many of the Russians who share the same faith with me have also been such good examples of this to me and it has touched me

deeply to witness their faith in action.

Russian Buildings

As I mentioned in my first post in Russia, I love the Russian buildings. They speak of the communist era and are lined with character! Here is a picture of a typical apartment door with two major locks on it. As soon as you open that door, you shod your shoes and usually put on some type of indoor slipper. Most apartments I’ve been to consist of a small kitchen area, bathroom, and one to three bedrooms (usually one or two).

As if your front apartment door wasn’t secure enough, the front door of your apartment building also has a security set up in order to get in. There are some of the most interesting and cool elevators in the Russian buildings too! Usually they are covered in graffiti or other messages and they are often quite small :). When you arrive at your floor, you have to wait a second while the elevator actually decides to stop and then eventually the doors open, and you’re off! One elevator I used was so completely not new! A wooden box traveled up and down the floors in what looked like a wire encasement with a metal door.

Living in one of these apartments has really helped me realize how little space I need to live in…makes me want to get rid of anything I don’t need :). Millions of people throughout the world (the amount floors me every time I think of it) live in apartments like the ones I’ve described, and yet I’ve always imagined living in a house. Really though, you can live in much less than a house – its just that many Americans are able to choose the house and therefore think that’s the way it is for most folks.

The Most Amazing Moskva Metro

Moscow has just about the most amazing and largest metro system in the world and you believe it when you use it. Besides the fact that there are over 11 lines with stops being created all the time, and the fact that 8 million people use the metro everyday in Moscow, and that it connects the center of Moscow to the far reaches of the city boundaries (traveling about an hour or more to the end of each line from the center)… All that, and Moscow’s metro is incredibly decorated too! Statues of Lenin, other leaders, great writers and poets, etc. decorate the halls of various metro stops. Mosaics of Russian victories, the communist people and important symbols decorate the halls and ceilings of the metro stations. Gorgeous carvings of the same also line the walls and ceilings. Great history lessons could be taught by bringing students on field trips to these stops! I feel I learned something about the Russians or their past every time I traveled through those halls. I loved looking up and also seeing the beautiful chandeliers hang from the ceilings of many metro stops.

Living in Moscow this past month has really made me re-think transportation in the US! Not only is the metro an atleeshna (excellent) way to travel, but when you walk outside, you have available any form of transportation you’d like to your next destination; there are mashrutkas, buses, electric buses, taxis and of course, walking!

When people travel outside of Moscow, as I have done several times now, they choose one of the many types of trains for travel. I’ve taken the night train a few times and let me tell you, we seriously need to invest in something like that in the US! You turn your bench into a bed and rest while you get to your next destination…and it doesn’t cost too much either! I loved it. You can also meet all kinds of people while traveling on the train...and maybe, if you’re lucky, you’ll even sing few songs with them too.

Mother Russia and Becky Meet

First Impressions
I am in Russia now...yes, it's true! So much has happened since my plane hit the runway; I feel I've learned so much, seen so much, met so many wonderful people, and well, used the metro so much! Later on, I'll include a picture of a metro map because it is something you have to see! The buildings here have become one of my obsessions :). These first two pictures are of buildings outside my building, in a really nice part of southern Moscow. As I include other buildings that are less new and nice, realize that those represent the majority of Russian apartment buildings...very worn down, cement blocks, with all apartments looking the same though different. Each has a set of run down elevators, walls that look live they've seen better days, sometimes with stairs that are falling apart, and then in front of most individual apartments, a fancy door with multiple locks acts as the entry way into the Russian's homes. I can't get enough of the buildings. Many whisper of days when the country was run by communism. The history begs me to become educated and everywhere I go, I ask Scott to ask people about how it was "then" and how they feel about Russia "now." It has been fascinating listening to Russians' opinions and stories. Somehow, I seem to love them already.

Who is Scott? This strapping young man is a student at BYU, studying Exercise Science. We met last fall as we both wrote our ORCA Grant proposals, and ever since we've gotten along great and he's been a wonderful help. He is hilarious, a member of BYU's Divine Comedy group, a returned missionary from the Moscow Mission and therefore speaks terrific Russian :). When I first met Scott, I also met Justin, who is it just happens, is awesome too and is assisting in our research here. The two guys are roommates at BYU and served in one of the same areas on their missions. They have been so good to me and have also introduced some of the best people to me. It has been really neat to see how much they love and care about the Russian people. Being around them has made me laugh a ton! - and it has also really made me want to be better in so many ways. The picture above shows Justin on the left, his lady love Ksenia in the middle, and Scott looking at something really important on the right.


That first day that I arrived, I met my first friends, Ksenia (Russian) and Anya (Ukranian), who served with Scott and Justin, and we had my first meal in this lovely Russian restaurant. During my first week, I was also able to visit my very kind and loving Uncle Craig McCune. Uncle Craig and Aunt Lorna are missionaries in the Moscow/all of Russia Mission because Uncle Craig is one of two medical missionaries called to meet the needs of the missionaries in Russia and nearby countries. He invited Scott and I over for good times with pizza and icecream and a touch of swing music on the side.


The Research
After getting used to the schedule a little, I was able to meet with the research organization (Levada Center) who Justin and I have been communicating with in Moscow to contract with them the addition of my survey questions to their already existing Nationwide survey. Our meeting was long but successful and we have most things ironed out. The survey will be conducted face to face, among 1600 people in Russia. Levada Center is one of the more respected organizations in Moscow's research world. Alexei (pronounced Alexay in English), the man we are working with, reminds me a lot of an older history or chemistry professor who is always working and researching. He is tall, has lots of fun hair, big glasses, and is fortunately very kind. Now, I wait until the results come back to analyze the data. In the meantime, I have a couple of side projects; video tapping Scott or Justin asking random people on the streets questions about both cultural and alcohol/tobacco industry questions. Doing this in Tver was both fun and surprising. The people usually knew all the answers to our Russian cultural questions and more were stumped on the tobacco and alcohol brand questions.


Scott's projects have to do with alcohol advertising, pricing and the availability to purchase alcohol on the streets within one kilometer measurements. I've helped him with that and have also documenting the number of Kiosks in the kilometer that sell cigarettes, noting the cheapest priced cigarettes and the hours these are available. Its alarming how cheap you can buy 20 smokes for in Russia...and just as terrible is the cheap alcohol that is so readily available for anyone to buy. I can't tell you how many people I've already run into who are drunk on the side of the street at all hours of the day or evening, those that nearly walk into me drunk (don't worry mom, Justin and Scott have warned me so I move out of the way:), and how many look like they don't have much left in them to keep going as they hold their bottle and sit on the cement stairs that lead to some market. Yes, I'm well aware that this exists all over the world - but I'm not anywhere but here in Russia, and so that's what I'm talking about. These folks smell strongly of cigarette smoke - but I guess that isn't saying much since all my clothes now smell like that too because people have been smoking almost everywhere I've been. I want to give these people I see on the street a warm bath, lots of bread and soup, and help them figure out how to get out of the terrible cycle they find themselves in - going pretty much no where. It is much more complicated than that - and this reality saddens me while it also strengthens my determination to see if I can find and be some small part of the answer for improvement.


Tver
After the first several days, Justin, Scott and I headed to Tver with some of their friends. Tver was founded in the 1100s and is about 2-3 hours north of Moscow on train. While there, we visited friends, made new friends, researched and enjoyed
the city. At night, Justin, Scott and I would laugh for hours - mostly because they are both so darn funny and had the greatest stories to tell. It often feels like I'm with my brothers when I'm with them, and that has made this trip so awesome for me.


Since much of this experience in Russia is visiting Scott's and Justin's mission, I have been blessed to meet a few of those they taught and worked with. Doing so has humbled me because of their great sincerity. Their committed faith inspires me and I feel increased desire to live better and to be a more pure disciple of the Lord. Here is a pictures of Mickel and his family who Scott really loves. They were wonderful and fed us the meal in the picture. Mickel is super poor (four of them living in one very narrow room) but somehow is so committed to the gospel...and not in some flimsy sort of way. It was beautiful to spend time with them.

While Scott, Justin and I were interviewing people, we met these two guys (Andray and Roman) who were about 20 years old. They were awesome to spend time with and turned out to be great tour guides. Here they are with us infront of a statue. There are soooo many statues and memorials here in Russia - pretty much on every block - honoring Russia's triump in the Great Patriotic War (World War II) or great poets, writers or others in Russia's recent history. As Scott and I scoped kilometer stretches on the road, we past by this church and went inside. Russian Orthodox priests were chanting and a choir above our heads were singing beautiful lines in response to the priests. It must of been a service hour because there were many baabushkas (older women), other men and younger Russians who were, with heads covered, bowing at times and crossing themselves several times. It all still doesn't make sense to me...as far as the substance in their faith and religion. But it was neat to witness and since then, I've talked with Russians to better understand that faith better. The churches are beautiful here in Russia - its just interesting how things are run and attending that service let me in a bit into the Russian's Our last day in Tver, not much made me want to leave. The place felt interestly like my first area on the mission I served in Thailand and I'll admit, I fell in love with the city, the people, the cars (they look like there from the 80's), the churches, the buildings, etc. :)

Back in Moscow
During the past few days, we were able to see a concert of professional musicians who are also members of the church in this area, perform beautiful piano, violin and other peices. I did my first souvenior shopping Saturday at a huge beautiful market. There were so many wonderful things, it was hard to decide on anything! Not that should surprise anyone who knows me :). Needless to say, I'll be back.

It was a rather rainy, cold Saturday, as it has been most days :), and so Scott, our friend Anya, and I went and saw Prince Caspian in Russian! Seeing it in Russian with them was so cool...except that the movie was pretty much one big fight..but besides that it was sweet and Scott was good enough to translate for me. After that, we walked around and met this man playing his lovely instrument on the street. It was sooo fun listening to him that I'm posting this for you to enjoy ...and mostly for my brother Seth since he loves and plays this instrument too! (Be prepared for low quality videoing - still learning how to hold a camera :)




Red Square was the grand finale, and as Scott and I turned the corner and saw the lighten building and beautiful structures we were both quite impressed! Pictures don't do it justice but I'll include them at any rate because it was all so beautiful. In my mind, I kept invisioning soldiers and people filling the square with Stalin or Lenin address the croud. It just felt like the spirits of the people who had fulfilled whatever duty in that spot, were somehow still quite close. Well, one individual was definitely still there...Lenin. His body lies in a large fort-like shiny structure next to the Kremlin. I'm definitely coming back during the day to take a looksee inside all of the buildings on Red Square. I was most definitely amazed by it. As we headed into the metro area, Scott pointed out a man sitting playing a saw with a violin bow! I couldn't believe it! How awesome - one of his selections was Strangers in the Night...and it sounded just like it! This post is mainly for Rach since I knew she'd love it so much!

Let's celebrate by graduating!

Yes, Becky Castleton...otherwise known as Rebecca Castleton, BS in Public Health...finally did that one thing called graduating from college, April 24-25, 2008! It definitely took a unique amount of time :), but the time was exactly what I needed. A couple of years ago, I made the decision to change my major, yet another time, and further my undergraduate experience, jumping into the world of Public Health at BYU. There really is not another major I can image that suites me better. Studying health really made me excited, caused me to reflect on my own personal health practices, and educated me in the basics of so many subjects that I completely love and feel passionately about...for example: women's health, chronic disease, infectious disease, reproductive health, international health, sexuality education, mind and body health, and various methods to plan and implement health change.

The professors I was able to learn from gave me an invaluable education in more than their lessons and lectures. I owe each of then an incredible dept and will endever to follow their examples in a number of ways. The friends I gained from my studies in Public Health remain as great examples, friends I respect a great deal, and people I know I can turn to for a variety of reasons.

My parents supported me through all of this, encouraging me as my path continued to turn this way and that. I still remember mom's words the day I called to consult with her and pops about changing my major one more time. She said, "sometimes you have to make several turns until you find the right path, the one you were looking for. You wouldn't have found it without taking all those previous turns." I thank my family and close friends for all their help getting me to the spot I am at today - it truly has been a joint effort!

Thank you.