The Rest of the Week

This week was pretty good, actually. After setting stuff up with the European and American Medical Centers, I called the American center, and got put on hold, then told I would be called back later, and then never got called back. I’ll go in on Monday and drop off my resume. On Friday morning, I went into the EMC and was met by an assistant, instructed to change into scrubs, given plastic slippers, a cap and a mask. We had 3 surgeries. 2 arthroscopic ones in the morning, doing some basic repair stuff on meniscus and acl stuff. The afternoon surgery was sah-weet, though. The champion tae-kwan-do of all of Russia had torn his ACL and PCL, and they did a transplant reconstruction. They took tendons from some small lesser used unimportant muscles in this guys legs, scraped off all of the muscle tissue, took the “new ligaments” and got them the right thickness, length, etc. They then screwed and plugged them into where the old ligaments were. Ta-dah! New knee. Medicine is so cool! Esp. surgery. The guys there were pretty cool, too. They showed me around, and completely overestimated my medical knowledge… and my Russian knowledge. Yikes. I’ll definitely learn a lot while I’m there, though.

Saturday we went to the WWII museum. It was sweet. They had an exhibit on an American soldier who ended up fighting with the soviets during WWII. His son is now the American ambassador to Russia. He was on a video talking about his dad, and I didn’t realize he was American. I want my Russian to be like that some day. PLEASE!?!?!?!

The Most Productive Day of my Moscow-Based Life

Today is Monday. In the earlier years of my long and distinguished life, that meant going back to school after an all-too short weekend, back to 4 hour football practices and AP classes, Mario Andretti-style racing to make it to lunch and back in time, and the ever present feeling that I had one more thing to do. This Monday, I am content. I had the energy to get out of bed early enough to get a quick run in this morning. I had all my homework for the day done last Thursday, so that wasn’t a worry. I went to class till 12:30 and after class the internship coordinator for the Academy told me the internship with the American Medical Center she told me about was impossible. Lame. I was pretty bummed because the only other option was the Russian Childrens Clinical Hospital, where we weren’t even sure if I could do anything medically related or if I would just be fingerpainting with the terminal patients. After that, I got onto the internet (instead of listening to the weekly culture and history lecture) and researched the European Medical Center. After finding the address and memorizing the map that showed where the place was located in relation to the metro stop (which was on the way home, as luck would have it) I set off to go home, take a nap, and do some reading. We got to the stop where the EMC was located, and in a spur of the moment decision, as the doors were closing, I somehow dodged my way through the rush hour mob crowding the metro car I was in and barely made it past the guillotine doors with which each Russian metro car is so charmingly equipped. I got out to the surface, looked around and set off. The big give-away was the Olympic center (two huge stadiums… but I don’t remember there being an Olympiad in Moscow ever… anyone else know for sure?). Once I found that, it was just first alleyway to the right and straight on till morning. Or at least that’s how far it felt. I finally found the place, sweaty and gross in my standard-issue American jeans (read: not skin tight, bedazzled, full of random patches, seams, hems, or designes, etc) and my favorite ASU shirt. I went up to the reception desk and asked if they had any information about internships or volunteer opportunities at their facility. They sent me to the 3^rd floor to the European Clinic for Sports Trauma and Orthopedics (translation: pre-med heaven). I talked to the reception desk there, and was asked to take a seat. After about 20 minutes I was led into the office of the Medical Director’s office for the entire clinic. He didn’t really understand what I wanted to do (the system is different in Europe) but in the end agreed, and told me to be there Friday morning at 8:30 AM. What?!?! I came in off the street just looking for information, and ended up setting up a shadowing gig for the whole summer, basically. AWESOME! Then, on my way back to the metro I decided to stop in at Mickey D’s to check email and have a celebratory strawberry milkshake. While surfing, I decided to research the American Medical Center, and ended up talking with the medical director there. He said he might be able to work something out where I could be a nurse’s assistant or something (I think they change diapers in rest homes in the states, but who knows) Also awesome. Мне повезло. It was, needless to say, a very good day.

Week 2

So I’m finally getting into the swing of things. We have class Monday through Thursday from 9 to 12:10. Mondays we have an additional “Culture and History” class Monday afternoon. We have “excursions” every Saturday (which have yet to keep my attention for more than 15 minutes) to interesting places with tours from less than interesting guides (at least thus far). Other than that, we have church on Sundays, and that is it for concrete schedules. I have come to the conclusion, with the help of a wise friend, that there is a decision to be made while here in Moscow. I can either spent 3 months here on an overpriced vacation with a little school on the side, or I can take advantage of the opportunities I have while I am here. Thus far, because of the whole “getting into the swing of things” I have been more on the first side of the fence. I need to get on the ball finding service opportunities or something. It’s also a great time to dive into the scriptures more and do a little self-evaluation and goal setting. Nothing like being in a completely foreign land and culture to help you realize what you really value. Anyway, school is interesting enough. We have a great professor that does a good job of teaching us the ropes of the Russian language and is pretty lenient as far as homework and stuff goes. That being said, I have come to realize that I am not going to learn Russian as well as I want to in these two months unless I put in some extra effort. Ok, a lot of extra effort. I am thinking of going missionary style and writing out a language study plan or something. I have plenty of experience with that stuff, haha, so I shouldn’t have too much trouble. Thursday right after class we ran down to Red Square to the Lenin Mausoleum (which holds outrageously strange and sporadic hours, 10-1, every day except Monday, Friday, weekends, holidays and all throughout May, and you’ll always be wrong no matter what you say!... Sorry, involuntary Brian Regan quote). It was creepy to see a guy who’s been dead for well over half a century. He is kind of plastic looking after all the years of chemicals used to preserve his body. It is also pretty creepy in my opinion to have a dictator and the start of communism on display when Russia is trying so hard to westernize… go figure. I’m learning more and more every day how… different Russians are and their mentality. It’s been fun with my landlady. She likes to talk, cooks pretty well, and is very concerned about my safety. It is a little annoying at times, but all in good fun. Anyway, week two has finished, and week three is here already. Bring it on.

First Week and Playing Catch-Up

Check out all the posts from "Zone Conferences" for updates on the last 2 weeks. Good luck. Anyway... this week was crazy. We went to classes (in a classroom the size of a broom closet, PS), went to FHE and an activity at the central branch building, met some cool people (members, students at the academy, some crazy Russian guy who thought we were German and told us since we were Arian we were genetically superior to everyone else, Adam and Eve was a lie, and other interesting drunken rants not for young ears or the faint of heart), bought some man-purses (oh yeah… I went there), checked out a market or two, almost got E. Coli from shaurma on the street, had a boring tour of central Moscow with the group, and went to the International Branch. They tagged us right off the bat and want to give us callings. We (Cam Hardy, Chris Keneipp and I) told them we weren’t sure what branch we were going to be attending, so we couldn’t say. Anyway, crazy week, lots of random stuff, and learning and adjusting to the Russian way of life. I figure if I can manage to get a good picture or two a day, at the end of this all, I’ll have 90 good pictures. We’ll see how that ends up. Life is good, all in all. Stay tuned.

Back to school, back to school....

So Saturday, my babushka took me shopping, and to a park called BДHX (it’s an acronym, I don’t know what it stands for). We went to Metro, the Costco of Europe, and stocked up on some stuff. Sunday, we went to district conference for the Moscow West district, which was a cool experience. There were 850 ish members in attendance (way more than any district conference I ever had in Croatia, that’s for sure!). We went into red square and wandered around the center for a few hours, then headed home. The first day of classes consisted of a LONG orientation, a pre-test (one of the hardest tests I’ve ever taken, PS) and some gulyat-ing with some of the other members of the group. I think now that I have classes, this might become a weekly thing. Sorry, priorities. Anyway, stay tuned for the next episode of “Where in the world is Robbie Zimmerman?!” (cue theme music).

Paris to Moscow... with Love?

6 hours is plenty of time to see Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, the outside of the Louvre, shop for souveniers, and have quiche in a French bistro, and still make it back to the airport in time to check in and board with time to spare. I even got lost… twice. No biggie. It was amazing. I can’t wait till I have enough time to actually spend some time there. It was just enough to appreciate the beauty of the city, but definitely not enough to get much out of it. Pictures to follow. After my mad-capped tour of the first arrondissement, I flew to Moscow, my new home for the next 3 months. A cool Turkish guy who works with the Academy picked me up and took me to my apartment. My landlady is a very cheerful retired dentist, and was shocked when I spoke to her in Russian. Apparently none of her past students spoke any Russian when they came. I already have a leg up. Plus, she thinks I’m симпатычный. And who wouldn’t? Anyway, more on the first few days in Moscow later. Internet at McDonald’s is not the most convenient.

Zadar je u srcu mome...

Zadar. The land of awesomeness. I got in after a ridiculously long bus ride from Split (almost 4 hours, if I remember correctly. Beautiful drive along the coast, we passed through Trogir, Primosten, Biograd, and some other well known vacation spots). I met Sime Grzan in the old town of Zadar on poluotok. We went back to Anka’s place and had lunch along with the other missionaries in Zadar. After lunch, I went into the city, strolled around (I’m beginning to notice how much “strolling” goes on here) poluotok, went to English class, had ice cream at Sveti Donat with the missionaries (since some of them missed out on lunch) and had a great visit with the Plentaj family. It was a great time. I made it back up to Zagreb this morning after a great night’s sleep on Anka’s pull out couch, and ran around like a chicken with my head cut off all day. I visited the Stampar family, Marinka Kos one last time (she got my awesome cell phone/calculator as a gift for her husband who took a liking to it while I was visiting them), had dinner with Fatima, saw Marko Pazanin, and hung out with Kiki for one last time. Now I’m re-packing for Russia, and can hardly wait. I have a 6-ish hour layover in Paris and am going to try to get into the city for a few hours. I can’t imaging spending 6 hours in Charles de Gaulle… I’m getting hives just thinking about that God-forsaken place. Eeeeew.