Wow, how time flies. For those of you have been following my blogs, sorry for the extended delay.
The excursion highlight of the past couple of weeks was my trip to the KGB museum. It was rather small, but most interesting. It consisted of several rooms which displayed items from various periods: including the early years of the organization, WWII, and the Cold War. To my greatest surprise, they have a very small section devoted to the Stalin years. The brochure and the guide both went out of their way to condemn the atrocities committed by the organization under Stalin's reign.
On Monday I will be going to Petersburg for 5 days. This should be a nice change, as it will get me out of this city for awhile. I must say, however, that this huge city, with its cold character and fast pace of life, is really growing on me. I have made a couple of good friends here that I know I will stay in contact with even after I leave. For me, this is the greatest part of being here.
In other news, I have finally made e-mail contact with my old Kazak contacts in Kazakstan. This e-mail response is one of the most welcoming e-mails I have ever received. I know, however, that I will go to this place under very difficult circumstances. It seems that my best friend while I was there is no longer walking with God and quit doing so within a year after I left the region 5 years ago. This is very heartbreaking for me, because I spent a great deal of time with him and invested much time trying to help him along in the faith. This only makes my time over here learning this language much more important, as I will indeed talk with him about this when we meet.
Staying alive in the Wild Wild East, see ya

Today, I gazed upon the body of dead Lenin. The scene was perhaps one of the creepest I have ever seen; a long walk down a series of dimly lit corridors into a room in the heart of the tomb where the encased body of Lenin has been on display since 1924. The outside of the tomb was flanked by graves and memorials of other Soviet leaders and revolutionaries, including one Josef Stalin. As I passed the latter's grave, I was never more tempted to deface the tomb stone. For it could easily be argued that this one person is directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of more people than any one in human history.
As I walked around the grounds of the tomb, I realized that these dead men are as dead as the state they strived to establish and preserve; a state that is itself as dead as Lenin in his tomb.
Just outside the square, an old school Communist was shouting propaganda and selling books by Lenin, Stalin, and Che Gevara. Few gave them an ear other than a dozen older folks who were old enough to have seen the Soviet Union in its peak years.
In other news, I finally got to go out of the city last weekend to a smaller city called Sergiev Pasad. It is a town that is situated around an old 15 century monastery. I loved it. The people are extremely helpful and friendly. It was a breath of fresh air for me since folks in Moscow are a little more reserved than where I come from. It almost felt like home....
Avoiding the temptation to deface the graves of dead tyrants, so long from the Wild Wild East.