That's all folks

We are sad. Sad that we must soon part :(

Irina was my class helper last year

They are all grouped by their faculty

The students were all chanting and costumed up, some had built floats. They had a police escort on their parade from the university down to the circus.

Wow, look who bowled a 153 ... it's me! I only left 2 frames open ... that's probably my highest score ever!

Ohh, caught that ball inches off the floor. Cool ...

Romand is styling with that hook!

Some students came and took us bowling

Ashley makes montey

For some wierd reason I started shooting earrings

Graham is getting a 1-hand massage :)

My "Balkin Grill" still-life

An orange/grape "sok" toast

My "Waldorf salad"; I don't see any apples, celery, grapes, or walnuts ... ?

My camera got passed around, so other people took most of these pictures

That's an awesome blur of Bob!

Our annual hang out with Kompas staff and stint team

Cafe My-sky-ya

The "banya" building

Beavis and Butt-Head wear "the hat"

Beavis and Butt-Head and the old water tower

There is construction all over, including the river

Inside the train engine

You can see why tetnus is a recommended shot for Russia

Winnie the Pooh

Some "urban art" out side of school 94

The School of Tomorrow is a private school that rents space from school #94

But it's cool that I made the billboard of a school in the heart of Russia! :))

The photo in the lower right is a picture of me and a class. I can't tell which year this was.

But how did he get from tight to tight? :)

Bob was trying to explain what "Tight" meant. So he put on Katya's coat. Boy, did he display tight or what?!?

Jerry is about to "re-hide" the items

The "how many things can you remember" game

Iset was built in '33 for the NKVD (secret police) and converted later in '61 into a hotel

4th from the right is a teacher in training

Snack time:)

A game where each student is given an occupation (like flight attendant or butcher) and they have to ask questions and guess what they do.

UMBC is one of the initiatives between Northwest Bible church and Kompas in Ekat.

This was our second trip to UMBC. This one was much more rested than the first.

Even though some had reservations, we all had a great time!!

The guys went for a banya on Sunday morning

Chia-Coff-Ski is a Russian pun for Tchaikovsky; which serves tea (chai) and coffee (coff). Very clever :)

A field of autumn crocus

So we stoped by the arboretum and headed back home to the Iset

We were supposed to join some of our students for sports day. Nobody came to pick us up so Tracy and I headed out on our own. We couldn't find the gym and it started to snow.

I really have no idea what I was trying to catch here....?

The guy in front of UP wears "the hat"

On the way to the mall for souvenirs and tea

I've seen this in Ekat every year and also both trips to Moscow in '03 and '04

That flag flying above the rally is just like to one we saw in the museum

We stopped into "Mamma's Biscuit House" for lunch

Caron visiting the ATM, it must've been 3-4 feet into the wall

Lenin wears "the hat"

These statues were on the top of the administration building, odd that I hadn't noticed them before

Saturday was the last day with Tracy and Caron. They'll leave very early on Sunday and then we'll be 6.

Bob was our other stint helper. He was a great help. I think we had the best team with Maggie and Bob!

Guess who won? ... Are you in suspense? ... We did! I really need to go back and check how many years this makes it. :)

The Electric Slide shows some milage too :)

Team Hopeful. We got back first, but we left a couple of items un-found. :(

Exhausted

Exhausted

ditto

Racing back to the opera house

We needed his autograph

Denise is a long haired indy musician in the underpass.

We have to add up everyone's age and do some wierd math. Then we have to spell out the result with match sticks.

Roman looks quite confused

And mummify a student :)

Give the balloon away to a stanger

Buying a balloon and toilet paper

Paper with a question mark

Change shoes

A yellow car in the background

Got it!, well close enough :P

Trying to get a photo feeding a wild dog

A guard at "City" mall

Most expensive ballet

Take a photo w/ this singer's wife

Anyway, can we extend it? This photo is blurry, but it was taken on the run

I forget the number of years in my winning steak. Hmmm, is it 3 or 4 years in a row now? ... :))

Awww yes, the annual scavenger hunt.

I think Ivan has a good grasp of the gospel and what it means to have faith

Jerry and I got to spend some quality one on one time with Ivan at cafe Studio.

I heard there is a cultural exchange where different cities of the world "pretty up" and committee representatives will visit the various cities to judge how they did. Ekat is one of those cities.

There is soooo much going on in Ekat right now.

Here are some of the flower wreaths at the Afgan war memorial

This is too dark, I need to try and lighten it. But I was trying to show you how beautiful Russia can be. Walking down a tree covered walkway blanketed in autum leaves. Nice! :)

Tracy teaches the Electric Slide at McPeaks

Snack time!

Maggie was one of our stint helpers, this is her second year.

Some military hats

Russia's Tzars

The first rubble

This is a Communist flag, Jerry said it has the last line from the Communist Manifesto

Museum of Ekaterinburg history

The unfinished tower, if you look at the top you can see it isn't finished and has not been for several years.

Church on the Blood

USU

The bank outlook used to be the tallest building in Ekat, now there are dozens of construction sites of tall buildings. This one is very close to the bank and is 42(+?) floors.

From the bank building outlook

Sverdlovsk wears the hat

Our second excursion

These cows were all colorful and spaced through out the city. Now they are all white and infront of the Iset. I think they probably got graffitied and had to be repainted.

Ok, not really. He's really taking a shower with his clothes on ... :)

Graham is a mime stuck in a small box

Robe

Bidet

Our bathroom

Our "parlor"

Remember the Iset lost/messed up our reservations? They could only find suites available for us starting on Thursday. So they rented us nice big suites for the normal room price. Sweet. :)

Our first hangout was at Pizza Nova, but the table and chairs didn't make sitting a large group easy. So we spent the rest of the two weeks at a newly opened McPeaks cafe.

Darin McFarland wears the hat

And Iron man too.

Matthew Mcconaughey wears the hat. Now this is irony, the stinky "I don't wear deodorant" boy is advertising perfume in Europe and Asia. Hmmmmmm.

Jerry and Graham buying juice boxes (I think)

And a hair stylist man

Then a sumo guy

A student made me a hat "To Rodney from Nastya". So I decided to see who in Ekat needed to wear "the hat". Tracy was the first victim.

Hokey Pokey makes a come back! :))

We had to stay a few days in 2 flats b/c the Iset messed up our reservations. There was an albino pigeon outside our door one day.

This is Ivan and Denise. Ivan was a student of ours last year and we went on a lot of excursions with Ivan. Later, Jerry and I got to spend some time with Ivan at cafe Studio. We had a great talk about God and faith.

Tracy teaches the Hokey Pokey to our class, who knew the Hokey Pokey had so much milage in it? :P

The Park of Jesus Christ Ascension

The Church of Jesus Christ Ascension (the blue church)

The interior hasn't been remodeled yet though

This is the large home across from the Church on the Blood. It's had a lot of work done on it. In fact, the entire city has had a lot of work done on it.

One of our first excursions was with Asya. We walked around and got to know each other.

Helping with paces

Who can resist the Hokey Pokey? :)

One of the funnest things we get to do is hang out with students and build relationships. We invite the students to hangout after class at a cafe. We also ask them to come meet us during the day and go sightseeing.

Graham sitting among the cleanup operation.

Great American Documents laid out to "dry". I think this one was a loss. But most of the food items were saved.

Graham packed a suitcase of food supplies for Darin and Susan. A syrup bottle exploded and soaked all the seasonings, jars, cans, and even a book.

Ok, so this one isn't that much different than last year. But traditions must be upheld! Blini, tea, tomatoes w/ sour cream. Arrrrrrggggllll..... :)

All of our bags packed into a Russian u-haul

We must get moose and squirel :)

My sausage, minus 1 bite

Jamie eating a sausage

"The Eye" has followed me to Germany! (sorry, a little inside joke at work.)

We found the caricature exibit

gargoyles

gargoyles

There was a caricature exibit in a nearby museum

This strong dude is holding up quite a big building :)

We put our bags into luggage storage and went into Frankfurt for some sightseeing.

This is in Frankfurt Germany. We had an 11 hour layover.

My checked bag is used for what liquids I can't carryon and for candy and beef jerky and stuff for the students.

I only packed about 4 shirts and a fleece, even then I started to wonder if I was overpacking. I mean, who needs four different shirts for a 2 week trip? :P

I packed all my teaching materials and most of my clothes into my carryon bag. I think it was about 15 pounds overweigth, but luckily it never got weighed. After not getting my checked bag for about a week in '06, I pack everything I really need in my carryon. :)

A class photo, the American teachers are Tracy, Jerry, and Rodney.

We had a great year and a lot of wonderful English students!