The other country in my life...

                Some things about Russia I like so much it makes me feel like I am cheating on America. My favorite bird has always been the crane, and I have been lucky that the ranches we lived on in California and Nevada had cranes, at least seasonally. They are majestic and beautiful. I think they are incredibly graceful and I always considered them lucky. I felt like if I saw a crane my day was bound to be a good one. Here there are storks. Lots and lots of storks. They are everywhere. They are also beautiful and majestic, but in contrast to cranes, they let me get a lot closer to them. I don’t know that I have ever been closer than 50 feet to a crane. Today I got to see a stork take flight directly above me. It was no more that twelve feet away. It was amazing. And they are all over the place. They nest on people’s houses and the top of telephone poles and like to hang out in the pastures by our house. Incredible.

                I also love the different landscapes that are near where we live. Our farm here is in the middle of rolling hills, and there are little groves of trees every so often. To get to our closest American neighbor’s farm you have to drive through a bit of forest. It is a pretty magical forest, and it is easy to imagine fairies and princesses. It is also really easy to imagine witches and evil spirits here too. It is no wonder that fairy tales originate in Europe. There is plenty of fuel for the imagination.

                While there are things I really enjoy about Russia, I appreciate and miss home. The contrasts can be pretty startling.  I often have the chorus from America the Beautiful running through my head. When I consider that a lot of the homes here do not have running water and people grow a garden out of necessity instead of as a hobby, I feel really fortunate to have been born in America. That might be pretty cheesy, but it doesn’t make it any less true. I miss infrastructure and emergency services. I miss abundance and ease. I miss Swiffer products and Clorox wipes. I miss taking for granted toilet paper in public restrooms.

                All these complaints are small and not really significant, and I wouldn’t trade this adventure for  anything. But, and I am really serious here, I am glad that when we are done here I get to go home to amber waves of grain and purple mountains majesties above the fruited plain.