Before my trip to Russia!

Hi my beautiful students, today I post the second part of the article “Before my trip to Russia” written by my student Jason. Enjoy!

Before my trip to Russia…What do I expect to see? Well, I have somewhat of an advantage as to what to expect being an Orthodox Christian and also having a number of American-Russian friends. I expect to see people trying to live their daily lives as best they can as others in the world. I expect to see a country lifting itself up of the ashes of Communism, not only economically but spiritually. I expect to see some very nice new buildings and some old that have yet to be renovated. I expect to see people somewhat effected by the atrocities of Western culture, but also expect to meet people who are trying to revive and hold on to their ancient Russian culture.

I expect to see more of an economic reality. I hate to say poverty, because American is in such an economic utopia with so much printing of fiat money. Although the rest of the world has adopted the same banking system, I expect to see people closer to economic reality as the Ruble is subjectively worth less.

I expect to see new Orthodox temples/churches and some new ones being built. I expect to see small crowds but a growing interest and curiosity as the younger generation is less effected by the Atheist polices of the old Soviet Union. I expect to see old woman with smiles on their faces, when I try to speak Russian and wonder how an American discovered the ancient Orthodox Church. In general I expect to see an ancient Orthodox country in transition, slowly but surely headed in a good direction, hopefully along with the other Eastern Europe countries, who are rebuilding their lives, faith and future.

Jason

P.S The next article will be devoted to  Jason’s trip to Russia and  his experience. It will be VERY INTERESTING! I promise.

Meanwhile don’t forget to learn the Russian language here.