Since I've been back

Finally, a chance to breathe!

It seems that I only have time to write emails when I’m in Japan, waiting for a Russian visa, waiting for a flight back to Sakhalin…

The last month has been so out of the ordinary that I’m actually looking forward to getting back into the daily grind of life in Sakhalin.

December saw our home inundated with people, both expected and unexpected! Christmas took us by surprise, so on Christmas Eve Trac and I set out on an 8-hour mission to the markets! Anton’s twin brother Maxim came back to Sakhalin for a holiday – he’s studying at uni in Khabarovsk, and will probably go back at the end of February. He’s one to keep the atmosphere lively! He and Anton love to practice their wrestling moves in the lounge room, keeping us all entertained!

Maxim and Olyessa

We’ve had military police knocking on the door looking for someone who doesn’t live here, and we met the owner of our home’s wife who let herself in without knocking, asked to have a shower and then asked Tracy to blow-dry her hair! The owner himself visited us on Christmas Day and asked for various documents so he could apply for DSL internet for us. We couldn’t actually go with him, as we had a Christmas party in full swing! He understood.

After Christmas, two girls from a city north of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk came to stay with us for 2 weeks, over the New Year period. We knew that Katya A’s (she visits us regularly) cousin Valya was coming, but we were surprised to meet 2 Valyas from the same school in the same city!! The other Valya is Sasha’s (who lives with us) sister, so of course she was welcome too. We weren’t too sure about it all at first, but looking back, we couldn’t have managed without them! They picked up a lot of the housework, freeing us to do other things.

Valya, Sasha's sister

Valya, Katya A's cousin

Even so, Pete, Trac and I shared some nervous glances as we sat down to plan where everyone would sleep- sometimes we had 16 people sleeping at our house! Our friend Janet, who runs a Wednesday night Bible study in her home, rocked up loaded to the hilt with sleeping bags, cutlery, a microwave, blankets- the very things we were desperate for!

But what really kept us busy were the winter teams. Every winter (and sometimes in summer!), KOI send teams of volunteers from Australia to Sakhalin, to stay in Children’s Homes in the city. The purpose of these teams are to build relationships with the children who live there, run programs for the kids to enjoy and, where possible, to teach the kids about their way of life.

Many team members come to Sakhalin every year! The kids we know were so excited to see them again, and often talk about what so-and-so did, said, wore etc, last time. This is the point at which we know that the teams are effective, and well worth the effort and expense.

Usually one team comes, but this time there were two. We’d just recently made contact with another Home just down the road from us, so one of the teams went there. Usually the teams live and do everything on site. But this year a young family with 2 children (a 2 year old and 6 month old baby) were a part of the team- hard enough to travel with small children, let alone live in one room with the rest of the team!! So they stayed with us for two weeks.

The team unloading at our place

One thing I noticed is that, no matter how many people were in our house, it never seemed crowded; even though there’s only one bathroom, there was no tension or long queues; no matter how many people were staying for dinner, there was always enough for everyone. How great is our God!

Two girls from Sydney stayed on with us after the rest of the team went back to Australia. They’re in Novo Sibirsk (New Siberia) at the moment, visiting friends for a couple of weeks, and will stay with us again in February, until just before uni starts in Australia!

It has been great having so many Australians around. It really has felt like a season of celebration with Weetbix, Vegemite, Milo and Peanut Butter floating around the kitchen (on waves of euphoria). The team members looked on with amusement as we gently lifted two bricks of Weetbix out of the fast-emptying box, smelled that card-boardy packed shredded wheat smell, caressed the rough surface and placed them, one at a time, into a bowl of milk…

The team left on Friday 12^th, and I left for Japan on Sunday 14^th. There’s a long story behind my departure- I had a lot of trouble leaving Sakhalin! Flights were cancelled due to a blizzard, forcing me to overstay my visa by a day, so I had to get an extension visa for several days until the next flight to Japan… but it worked out for the best! Because I was delayed by a week, I was in Hokkaido (the northern island of Japan) at the same time as my friend Ayumi, whom I used to work with at Shimizu High School! It was great to catch up with her, even though it was only for a few hours!

Now I have been to the Russian Consulate in Sapporo and obtained a new visa- it’s longer this time! 2 months and 2 weeks, so I won’t have to come back to Japan until March! But the word is that I can extend my visa for a year once I’m back in Sakhalin, because I’m not using a tourist visa anymore!!

We’ll see. If I can extend the visa to a year, I’ll only have to leave Russia again at the 6 month mark… about July.

* * * *

Back in Sakhalin, the freeze has begun- it isn’t snowing much, but the temperatures are hanging in the -10 to -20C range. Surprisingly, it’s not that cold! It seems that once the temperature is below -5C it’s all pretty much just… cold.

We get out and walk around and go snowboarding for hours at a time and my nose hasn’t fallen off yet, nor have my hands turned blue ;-)

And life goes on as usual. We’re busy shopping and getting supplies for the coming month, looking at buying some bunk beds and better quality mattresses (!!!) and enjoying the winter. It hasn’t snowed much at all for about a week now, the roads are getting quite icy (which means slippery!) and the snow on the ground is hard packed and getting dirty- terrible for making snow angels! Outside the wind is picking up and seems to be blowing in a circular movement… I wonder if we’re in for a blizzard?!

That would be good.

あゆみちゃん

Yesterday I went to Toya Lake. It's about 2 hours by train from Sapporo, right in the neck of Hokkaido.

(view from Ayumi's room)

Ayumi was the school nurse assistant at Akashi Shimizu High School, while I was working there. Now she works at Takasago High, hence her presence in Hokkaido- this week was the 2 nen sei ski trip, and Ayumi was on staff as the nurse.

I didn't intend to be in Hokkaido this week, but due to blizzards, sticky visa situations and flight availability, our paths crossed! SO yesterday i went to meet her.

I'd been worried about my rapidly-decreasing (and quite small to start with!) ability in Japanese, but once I met her I realised what the problem was- I can speak Kansai dialect much better than standard Japanese!! LoL

It was so good to see you Ayumi! Come visit me in Sakhalin soon!!

ice sculptures

They decorate the two town squares of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk from December 25th-ish until January 7th. If it's not too cold, you can spend hours there, watching the sculptors at work. Huge blocks of ice lay scattered around the area, ready to be chiseled and drilled and shaped into a beauty. Lenin Square is the most popular to visit.

The ice sculptures are just a part of the decorations.

The sculptures by night: Christmas night!

Visas, visas

I’m in Japan again. It seems that I only get time to write when I’m in Japan, waiting on a new Russian visa. It might have something to do with the internet speed too. We’re signed up with DSL now and are paying for it, but haven’t got it working. Haven’t had time to follow it up either. The last month has been insane.
Good, but insane.

December 29th the two Australian winter teams were supposed to arrive- one team for Lastochka Children’s home, the other for a new Children’s Home we’ve only recently made contact with, on Mira St. The idea of the teams is that they stay at the Home for 2 weeks, run activities, talk and play and give the kids their attention. The teams come every winter, sometimes in summer too. A lot of the team members have come to Sakhalin multiple times, which is great- they continue to build relationships with the kids they met the previous year/summer. The boys that live with us were particularly excited to see John again, as he’s gotten to know them over the last 4 or 5 years.

So, they were supposed to arrive on the 29th, but there was a big blizzard and the airport closed for a couple of days. They arrived January 1st instead, and just left this Friday, Jan 12th. It was great having Aussies around, and a young family with 2 small children actually lived with us for the time they were here. We had 16 people sleeping at our house a couple of times!

Unfortunately most of us got really sick while they were here, which Trac assures me happens every time. The team has gone, but two 20 year old girls from Sydney are staying on with us for a while. Today they should be going to NovoSibirsk (an 8 hour flight from Sakhalin!!) for 2 weeks, then coming to stay with us again for 10 days.
But while they’re away, it might be just us (who actually live there) staying in our house!! First time for a month.

Back to Japan- I’m staying with friends I stayed with last month. It hardly seems that I’ve been gone! And this time I won’t have to get another one month tourist visa!
The day I was supposed to leave for Japan last week, I got my 3 month letter of invitation!! The document I’ve been waiting for since September! Yesterday I went to the consulate, and my visa will be ready to pick up tomorrow!

I had some trouble leaving Sakhalin this time.
I had bought a ticket to Japan and was all set to leave on Sunday 7th- though I was sick with a fever, didn’t had my letter of invitation and really didn’t want to get on a plane that day. A blizzard was forecast and, sure enough, it started a few hours before my flight- praise God! The airport closed and we were told to call for more information at 8am the next day.
Well, the blizzard continued for two days and finally the airport opened again on Tuesday 9th. The next flight to Japan was on Wednesday.

But this caused me some concern- my visa expired on Tuesday 9th! I spent all day Tuesday with our friend Victor, talking to officials and asking what my situation would be. Finally someone at the Passports and Visa office told us that because the situation was caused by Forces of Nature, there wouldn’t be a problem and I should leave on the next flight, on Wednesday.
So on Wednesday, this time with all the necessary documents, I headed back to the airport. Only to be told that I would not be flying today, because my visa expired!!
The plane left without me on it.

Finally Pete thought of calling the Australian Embassy in Vladivostok for advice. They pointed us, thank God, in the right direction! The lady at the tourism department took control, and within a few days of running around, getting photos, filling in forms and paying money, I got an extension visa until Sunday 11th. Finally I was allowed to leave Russia!

So here I am, thanking God that yesterday my visa application process was very smooth, praying that there’s not a black mark next to my name for last week’s visa issues, and that I will go safely back to Sakhalin on Friday, as planned!

Life in our house will (should. Lets not be presumptive!) be back to normal as of this week. The kids started school again yesterday, Roma’s back at uni, and Jenya’s gone back to his old job of washing cars. Most people who went “home” for Christmas are back, New year celebrations are FINALLY over (the last thing to be celebrated was Old New Year, Jan 14th) and most of our visitors are gone too. Yay! I feel a big cleaning coming on… L

LoL and proper Russian study. I’m also thinking about joining a Japanese language class when I get back. I’ve forgotten so much and Japanese and Russian are getting so mixed in my head. Already here in Japan I’ve been stuck because the only word I could think of was the Russian one- not even English!! LoL

I don’t want to lose what I struggled so hard to learn.

Bec's birthday

Bec's birthday was December 16th- our house was a continual party from Bec's birthday until Katya R's, on January 12th!!

I've got some great pics of Bec's party but I'm having trouble uploading them...

Our friend Masha took Bec birthday shopping at the markets, and she came home with a gorgeous outfit for school. At the kids' school the uniform is dress pants for boys, skirts or pants for girls, a white shirt and a blazer. Snazzy.

Bec's standing in our room in this pic. When I came, Jasmine was there too, but now it's just Beca and me. I have the top bunk, she the bottom ;-) We have the flue in our room- hence it's the warmest room in the house! No complaints there...

Hanging out in the lounge

Roma keeping Luke and Beckles in hand

Roma's new passion: snowboarding! He bought this board recently, and has been practicing down the street or on the sledding hill nearby- with mauch pain! But he's picked it up really quickly, and is heading to the bigger slopes now. He was hanging out for Ryan to come back from Perth to go boarding with him! Here he's showing Pete the dent he collected when he ran into a girl learning to ski.

A big Snowfall

THeres a lot to be done after a big snow fall.

Luke by the half-completed wall in front of our house

Bec and I peering into Luke's snow cave

Bec wore Pete's boots outside, laces trailing... no wonder they were frozen curly!

The way to the shops- just out the front of our house.