bored in traffic. i'm actually the only one awake.
parking in russia. cars on the sidewalk.

we flew into amsterdam and spent the night in a hotel about an hour outside the city. so beautiful.
we stopped in koln, germany for a few hours for lunch. sweet cathedral we found.


a sweet view from the top of the tower of the cathedral in the previous pics
germany
taking a stroll in heidelberg germany where we are staying for 6 nights
feeling mighty hick.
denny and i gettin ready to go on a visit of one of john deere's biggest factories in mannhiem germany.

weirdest thing ever. i actually have some down time to sit and think. its pretty much been non stop since we got to russia.

From Russia with love

cool building
McDonalds in russian.
outside the cool mansion thingy.
me and tanner


me and jenna (from messiah) on our boat cruise on the moscow river.
me and kaylin. yeah, she's that short
part of an outdoor memorial on the spot where russia stopped the german advance in ww2.

no trumpets in this park (actually means no honking)
tanner, myself, kaylin (mt. vernon nazarene), and sam (eastern mennonite university) at a circus in russia. way good times. saw a poodle do a backflip. who would've thought? unfortunately, no bears were part of the acts.
outside a sweet huge cathedral. my attempt at being creativee.
no matter where i go in this world, i never fit.
me and nick (from florida and attends eastern mennonite in virgina) in front of the sweetest cathedral ever.
one of stalin's creations in honor of himself. i think this is now moscow university.
tanner and john (biola) and john (messiah) in front of some sweet russian architecture
john crowell from biola. i love this photo.
out in red square. so cool.

me and denny. two small town boys livin it up in moscow.
on the bus ride from lithuania to latvia
russia!
me with yomi and wairimu (both from messiah)
bekah (messiah) and zach (mt. vernon nazarene)
more gold tops in russia
hill of crosses

me and john crowell (biola)
one of my favorites from the hill of crosses

one of our corporate visits. this is a company in klaipeda, lithuania who make these plastic polymer thingys that are eventually made into bottles, plastic wrap, etc.
me and ben at a pier overlooking the baltic sea (lithuania)
it seems like every restuarant we go to gets crazier and crazier. this one had a huge playground complex on it. this little ride was tons of fun. we even got our program director and my academic advisor, dr. webb, out on it
more hill of crosses
another favorite from the hill of crosses. i apologize for the disorder of my photos. still haven't figured out how to load them chronologically. if i had more time i could figure it out.

well, due to my lack of internet access in russia, i haven't had the opportunity to update this, but i've got like 10 minutes left on my tab in this internet cafe in my hotel so i'll do what i can.

monday and tuesday involved a lot of classes and few corporate visits (one was to Jazaki wiring where they made electrical harnesses for cars and another where they made plastic stuff) wednesday was a test (still haven't figured out what i scored). thursday we hoped on a bus for a 6hr drive to riga latvia where we had lunch then jumped on a sleeper train for a 17hr overnight ride to moscow russia. on the way to Riga we stopped at a place in Lithuania called the Hill of Crosses. An amazing history and also a beautiful location (check it out in wikipedia). the train ride wasn't to bad and the beds weren't too short but overall a good time. since being in russia we have been to the kremlin, toured around the moscow metro, gone to a circus, been to a couple different outdoor markets, seen lenin's tomb in red square (creepy), gone on a boat trip down the moscow river, gone on a bus tour around moscow, taken a ton of naps on the bus cause we hardly sleep, gone to a russian baptist church (2hr service), and walked around this huge mansion complex (oh yeah, also ate a ton of hot dogs). alright got to fly will update later.

Klaipeda and sanddunes

me with kaylin. she is 5ft. I am 6ft8. such a good combo.

a racetrack for bikes right next to the Lithuania Christian College in Klaipeda
some sanddunes on the baltic sea we hiked around for awhile
more sanddunes with part of our group in the foreground.
typical trash and recycle cans
we hiked through on a trail that had a ton of wood statues and this was paft of one.

so we are staying at the LCC International University in Klaipeda and on sundays, there is a church service held at the school. it was pretty cool being able to sing worship songs next to Lithuanians (although some of the songs were in lithuanian). luckily an american professor preached today so we were able to understand. after church and lunch we took after for a little resort island thingy, where we hung out at a beach which bordered the baltic sea, we hiked around some sand dunes, then took this trail through the woods where we saw a ton of crazy wood sculptures. we must have come at the right time because you would not believe how many bugs were flying around. clouds upon clouds. luckily they weren't biting otherwise we would've been toast (and i would've been sucked dry). we got back around 7:30ish, and we where on our own for dinner (we got a money allowance here for about 3 dinners), so some of us went to a local grocery store and I loaded up on sandwich stuff. it is close to 11, although it feels much earlier. I'm off to study soon, so that is it for tonight. g'night.