What A Week!

What a difference one week makes! We spent Monday and Tuesday walking the city, trying to find our way around and looking for hidden treasures. I found one -- a flower clock just like the one in Geneva! (Not surprisingly, it was a gift from the city of Geneva on the occassion of St. Petersburg's 300th anniversary in 2003.) Tuesday we spent the day at the zoo, which is walking distance from our apartment -- just like in DC!

We met with our boss Menachem and a number of JDC staffers on Wednesday. Amazingly, the community has given us a wish list of things they'd like us to help work on. Some of these tasks started this week -- I just finished helping Hillel blow up 500 balloons in preparation for their opening Shabbat. On Sunday, we are scheduled to help with our first grant proposal from St. Petersburg.

Yesterday we went shopping at IKEA. There's nothing quite as universal as IKEA. We felt right at home with the familiar music, layout and merchandise. We ordered a new bed and bought a ton of household items to help us feel more at home.

We're having problems with our computer, so forgive us if our blogging is slow. Consider it a gift of time to catch up if you're falling behind! More pictures soon. Shabbat shalom from this side of the world.