JC 1010E

Well, it's almost here. Just a few more hours and we're taking off for the Motherland. I can't believe it's been 3 years since I've been home from my mission! It is certainly crazy. Even crazier is that Anya and I will be celebrating our 2 year anniversary while there. It is going to be great to get away for a bit and relax some. It has been 2 years since we have taken a vacation so this is a well deserved break.

As I head back to Russia, I have a much better understanding of what the Russian culture is like than when I was serving my mission there. Not only have I had time to think about my mission and learn from it, but I've been living with a Russian now for 2 years :). A lot of people are still confused about what Russia is really like and I still get funny questions all the time. As a result, I have decided that over the next 2 weeks, I am going to be writing blog posts about the things I find unique and peculiar about the Great Mother Russia. Really, these things may not be unique to Russia but they are differences between Russia and America (the two countries I have spent so much time in). Here is a list of different topics that I plan to blog about:

• McDonalds in Russia
• Train
• Apartment Buildings
• Street Conditions (roads, drunks)
• Rionok
• Bus/Tram/Gazelle
• CDs/DVDs and Copyright Laws
• Grandmother's selling
• No bags in stores
• Church Members
• Moscow Metro
• Food/Candy

If you have any preference about what I blog about first, or if there is something else you would like to hear about, please leave a comment and let me know. I hope that others will make comments on my posts who have also been to Russia so we can get some different perspectives on subjects. As a warm up, here are a few pictures from the great country:

The first thing people think of when they think of Russia. (Moscow)

How most of Russia actually looks (see those beautiful homes in the background). (Izhevsk)

And yes, Russia really is beautiful. (Samara)