A Russian Roller Coaster

The past few days have been packed with activity, with numerous highs and lows. Let's go through the week and you'll see just how topsy-turvy our life in Russia can be.

Last Wednesday, Alyson and I were excited to be invited to an Adain Lo meeting where a group was planning the agenda for their upcoming retreat outside St. Petersburg. They expect 80 participants, ranging in ages 7 through 15, for a week-long camp, where we will be doing Jewish education through English. What was exciting about this meeting was the fact that most of the planners are 17, 18, and 19 years old; they graduated from the Adain Lo program and are now volunteers helping plan future programs. They were very gracious at the beginning and explained the retreat schedule in English to us. But as the meeting commenced in Russian, we were totally lost, which I found extraordinarily frustrating because, after spending four years as a counselor at Ramah Darom, I had tremendous experience to bring to the table, and I wasn't able to share it because the meeting was moving too fast for my elementary sentences. Towards the end, a discussion began about a version of "capture the flag" that all the campers would play one evening: what the rules would be, how to infuse Jewish content, how to make sure the logistics worked, etc. I planned many Yom Sport events at camp, and would have been happy to make suggestions, if only I could have pushed the "pause" button on the meeting so I could construct the sentence correctly and put in my two cents. Alyson wasn't as frustrated as I was, but I just couldn't help thinking that we'd come all this way, and sacrificed so much, that it was really upsetting to bang my head against the language barrier.

Then Friday came, and with it one of the highlights of our time here so far. Alyson and I are launching a new program linking Chesed Avraham and Hillel; since St. Petersburg has so many Jewish elderly who are home-bound and can't enjoy Shabbat with the community, why not take Shabbat to them? With myself as liaison between the two organizations, we recruited three Russian students to come with us and act as translators as we visited two needy elderly that Chesed identified. I took Sonya and Igor to visit 82-year-old Yekaterina Davidovna, a Leningrad Blockade survivor who now lives on a pension of less than $200 per month. I asked her about life during the Siege, and she spoke for a solid hour without stopping. Her story is fascinating: as a 15-year-old girl, she went from building to building recording the names of the dead. Her father and brother were both decorated soldiers, and were both killed in different battles. Her closest relative is one niece who lives in Bulgaria, and the only contact she has with the outside world is through a neighbor who visits once each week. Bringing Shabbat to her was such a pleasure, and the three of us were on Cloud 9 afterwards. Alyson has baked many challahs for other people over the past four years, but watching Ekaterina sway to our rendition of "Shalom Aleichem," I think this was the most meaningful of all of them. The goal now is to have all three students recruit two friends, so the program can expand and we can visit more and more needy people. For more pictures from this extraordinary visit, click here.

I returned home to check my email before Shabbat started, and found that a dream of mine had come to an abrupt and crashing end when my application to become a Taglit-birthright israel madrich (counselor) was rejected by Hillels of Russia. Since the inception of the birthright program back in 2000, I've wanted to be a madrich and take a group to Israel (another unpaid volunteer position...why do the best jobs all have to be volunteer work?!?!?). Anyway, this free, ten-day trip to Israel will take 80 Russian students and young professionals to Israel for the first time, and I wanted to be right there to help guide them through it. After spending a year in Israel on Project OTZMA, with my extensive Federation and Hillel experience, and because of my unique American perspective, I thought I had a lot to offer and add to the trip. But their decision--and I understand and respect it--is that if I can't speak Russian fluently, then I can't help lead a trip. Honestly, I don't disagree with their decision, it's just hard to put that dream on hold for another year.

On Saturday, we organized a group of six friends to go to Pavlovsk and walk around the amazing park and palace. The weather was in the mid-30s, and most of the leaves had fallen from the trees, but it was still beautiful. For pictures from our fun little excursion, click here. We figure this will be the last time we can spend a full day outside...so museums, here we come!

Then, on Sunday we had another really positive experience when a mission from the Hartford Jewish Federation came and visited. It was such a pleasure to educate these committed and passionate lay leaders about where there dollars are going here in St. Petersburg. We did another home visit, and this was just as moving and powerful as the previous one, but I'll save the details for another time. They also got a complete tour of the YESOD building, and even watched a performance by the EVA dance and choir groups, made up of Petersburgers from 5 to 20 years old. As you all know, these are the groups that Alyson and I teach every Sunday afternoon. So once the mission participants had left, I taught my EVA group about who their audience was, what the American Jewish federation system is, and how it all comes together and impacts their everyday lives.

So, these past few days have been an emotional adventure. We continue to be amazed by just how good our work can make us feel, and how crushing it can be when things don't work out the way we want them to. Through it all, we've been there for each other--you can imagine us sitting in our kitchen late at night, sipping our tea, discussing our thoughts, comforting each other through the disappointments, planning for the next day, problem-solving, and occasionally finding a few minutes to read our books before bedtime. In all, it's a very pleasant way to spend a year abroad!