Prayer request

[Trying_to_be_Orthodox]

@Rusmeister

If you have 200 free bucks, so check next thing Äýíàñ òåðàïèÿ: Äèàäýíñ-Êàðäèî.

May it will be helpfull. I have been using it for many years.

 

[rusmeister]

Update:
A friend of good friends of ours strongly recommended a particular private clinic and doctor in Moscow. I went yesterday, expecting a 100€ ($130) consulting fee, and was shocked when told (after I was already committed, first, that it would cost $700, then $1,200) for the procedures, some of which I had already undergone. Right now I'm wearing a portale EKG/BP device from them. Needless to say, it has been very upsetting.

And I'll probably have to spend some more to squeeze out all of the results and diagnoses from those tests. They wanted to take blood samples tomorrow, but at (I'm guessing) $150 or more for each sample, I'll have to decline. There are several such places in Moscow that cater to wealthy expats and big-shot Russians; I'm guessing that our friends' friends belong to the latter group.

Anyway, my BP is currently averaging 170/110. I suppose it's good that the low number tends to be lower.

I appreciate your continued prayers. Financially, I have to pay off a huge debt to an Orthodox man with a huge heart who covered the amount we were short of to buy our current apartment, and I don't visit the US because of the thousands of dollars required, not only to fly, but places to stay, cars to rent, and other necessary expenditures. This current load has me reeling. But at least we have a roof over our heads and food in our cupboard.

 

[Trying_to_be_Orthodox]

@rusmeister

Do you have Russian citizenship?
If yes so may to use insurance will be better?

EKG/BP device - can i find description about it in internet?

small update check this one www.botkinmoscow.ru/
think, price 'll be better, quality is ok, in my understanding.

 

[Dorothea]

Thanks for the update, Rus. I was wondering how you've been doing. That is a lot of money. I'd feel the same way. Continue to pray for you.

 

[ArmyMatt]

continued prayers rus!

 

[rusmeister]

Thanks, folks!

@rusmeister

Do you have Russian citizenship?
If yes so may to use insurance will be better?

EKG/BP device - can i find description about it in internet?

small update check this one Городская клиническая больница имени С.П. Боткина
think, price 'll be better, quality is ok, in my understanding.

No. They require a rejection of my American citizenship, which I ain't gonna do. So I pay the price of "permanent residence" and am on a short leash with OVIR (the equivalent of the INS). We also don't get the big benefits from being mnogodetnymi because of that.

 

[Trying_to_be_Orthodox]

Thanks, folks!



No. They require a rejection of my American citizenship, which I ain't gonna do. So I pay the price of "permanent residence" and am on a short leash with OVIR (the equivalent of the INS). We also don't get the big benefits from being mnogodetnymi because of that.

Imho cost of American citizenship is incomparably more then all benefits of being mnogodetnymi.

Anyway, you can check prices Платные медицинские услуги
May it will be helpful.


Get well,

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

Don't take this wrong (PLEASE!), Rus, but why don't you reject your American citizenship? You don't plan on ever living here again, you thoroughly reject the education system here (and you are, at heart, always a teacher only for the most part), you can't afford to come back here anyway, your wife didn't like living in America, etc.? Why keep it for sentimental purposes? The culture here drives you nuts. I say get Russian citizenship and at least take advantage of the system you are paying into and facilitating anyway.

Thanks, folks!



No. They require a rejection of my American citizenship, which I ain't gonna do. So I pay the price of "permanent residence" and am on a short leash with OVIR (the equivalent of the INS). We also don't get the big benefits from being mnogodetnymi because of that.

 

[rusmeister]

Don't take this wrong (PLEASE!), Rus, but why don't you reject your American citizenship? You don't plan on ever living here again, you thoroughly reject the education system here (and you are, at heart, always a teacher only for the most part), you can't afford to come back here anyway, your wife didn't like living in America, etc.? Why keep it for sentimental purposes? The culture here drives you nuts. I say get Russian citizenship and at least take advantage of the system you are paying into and facilitating anyway.

Well, Gurney, it's because it's who I am. It's a real identity, not a sentiment. I love my native country AND my adopted country (which I understand as the land, family, friends and other people I grew up with). I hang out on this forum and an expat forum. Can you guess why?

The culture is fallen. But the patriot who loves his country loves it still more when it falls, and criticizes its failings, not because he hates it, but because, as Lewis put it, he desires the improvement of what he loves.

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

It would make a good thread actually. I know that, as an American, I couldn't and wouldn't leave my country. I actually do love this country, despite its myriad flaws. My wife is from the Philippines. Hell would freeze solid before I'd move there! LOL....and I like the people there and many things about their country, but I wouldn't move to another country unless this place turned into a demilitarized zone.

But if you look at the situation, you're criticizing it from afar and not playing any role in it? I don't say that to mock you, but just an observation and I don't understand it? You didn't like the education system (which you have every right to criticize, btw) and you would have a tough time working here in 2013 I'd venture to say. You disagree with the entertainment, the culture at large, and the values of most Americans. I don't think there's much here that you'd like honestly.....

Maybe you love what "used to be" America and hold on to that, I don't know....

Often I feel like I'm Mad Max, living off the shell of the old America. All the TV that we watch is old shows, movies are mostly old, I go to an Orthodox church and Orthodoxy definitely isn't very "American" like Protestant varieties are, I like old cars, old books, old guitars. My wife had to talk me into buying a smart phone! I guess the difference between you and I is that I live mentally in old American but physically dwell in the new one. You mentally love the old America but live in a foreign one....

But like I said, if you don't ever plan on coming back, which I believe you've said a couple of times, then you're just holding on to more of a fantasy than anything....

Well, Gurney, it's because it's who I am. It's a real identity, not a sentiment. I love my native country AND my adopted country (which I understand as the land, family, friends and other people I grew up with). I hang out on this forum and an expat forum. Can you guess why?

The culture is fallen. But the patriot who loves his country loves it still more when it falls, and criticizes its failings, not because he hates it, but because, as Lewis put it, he desires the improvement of what he loves.

 

[rusmeister]

It would make a good thread actually. I know that, as an American, I couldn't and wouldn't leave my country. I actually do love this country, despite its myriad flaws. My wife is from the Philippines. Hell would freeze solid before I'd move there! LOL....and I like the people there and many things about their country, but I wouldn't move to another country unless this place turned into a demilitarized zone.

But if you look at the situation, you're criticizing it from afar and not playing any role in it? I don't say that to mock you, but just an observation and I don't understand it? You didn't like the education system (which you have every right to criticize, btw) and you would have a tough time working here in 2013 I'd venture to say. You disagree with the entertainment, the culture at large, and the values of most Americans. I don't think there's much here that you'd like honestly.....

Maybe you love what "used to be" America and hold on to that, I don't know....

Often I feel like I'm Mad Max, living off the shell of the old America. All the TV that we watch is old shows, movies are mostly old, I go to an Orthodox church and Orthodoxy definitely isn't very "American" like Protestant varieties are, I like old cars, old books, old guitars. My wife had to talk me into buying a smart phone! I guess the difference between you and I is that I live mentally in old American but physically dwell in the new one. You mentally love the old America but live in a foreign one....

But like I said, if you don't ever plan on coming back, which I believe you've said a couple of times, then you're just holding on to more of a fantasy than anything....

The Russians have a saying: "Сытый голодного не разумит." (The person with a full stomach doesn't understand a hungry one.) it is difficult to explain everything involved in my choices, and how I can still love my native land. There was also a good statement on Facebook: "I am responsible for what I say. I am not responsible for what you understand."

Am I not playing a role? I try to share the best of American culture among Russians, and long ago realized that among ordinary people, I am a de facto ambassador. I am the incarnation of what is otherwise an abstraction for many of what an American is like.
And on the net, I talk specifically with expats. CS Lewis said that the most political act is to convert your neighbor. I won't exaggerate the effect of my own small efforts to try to speak the truth in love, but at the same time, I know that seeds are planted that sometimes bring fruit. On this forum, in fact, a woman who had read my exposition of Orthodoxy on a now defunct CS Lewis forum told me that she had come to Orthodoxy in part from reading my posts. That's not to toot my horn, but to say that we just don't know what our roles really are, and the main thing is to try to do all for the glory of God. Maybe my small part is to encourage the conversion of someone else who will become a modern-day Orthodox Lewis. (Hey, that would be an incredible honor, wouldn't it?) But of course, we just don't know all of the ripples of the butterfly effect of our lives.

Anyway, right now I'm waiting for the diagnosis from that center. They're supposed to call me...

I don't know how to communicate how much I miss America. I'm banking heavily on Christ's promise that those who leave their native lands for His sake will be rewarded.

I live in Russia for my family's sake.

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

Well, Rus, I never said or implied you make no difference as an Orthodox Christian?! I never went down that road. Morally and theologically, you can make a difference anywhere. I have no doubt that you make a difference online with people. Never thought otherwise. But as far as changing America for the better overall, you'd make far more of a difference being here in the midst of the sin and chaos and insanity rather than thousands of miles away on a computer.
You're right, we can never totally know what people think in their hearts about something. No argument. But all we can do is base our analyses on observation. You rarely say what you LIKE about America or even the America of old, but rather concentrate only on the negatives.

I wonder about how much some of us accomplish with online efforts to win people to Orthodoxy and Truth. We can, in our folly, think that we do so much good online. I wonder sometimes how many people we run OFF from Orthodoxy when we get extreme about things.

As far as ambassadorship, you represent a SUPER small minority of Americans. I'm sure you do it well and I wish you blessings, but trust me, the Chesterton/Lewis/traditionalist liturgist who hates American pop culture and is cynical about most entertainment and government is about 0.000000001% these days!
It's like when I go to the Philippines. If they thought I was an ambassador of Americanism, they'd think that most Americans are employed, married to the same woman for 13 years, an animal-lover, religious, and fascinated with theology. Instead, most Americans are obsessed with none of these things, are divorced or shacking up, irreligious, and are an overall mixed bag. I think you're a good ambassador for strict Chestertonian Orthodoxy, not Americanism!


I consider myself in an uber minority in this country with my mindset, so I'm not saying this to be rude!

The Russians have a saying: "Сытый голодного не разумит." (The person with a full stomach doesn't understand a hungry one.) it is difficult to explain everything involved in my choices, and how I can still love my native land. There was also a good statement on Facebook: "I am responsible for what I say. I am not responsible for what you understand."

Am I not playing a role? I try to share the best of American culture among Russians, and long ago realized that among ordinary people, I am a de facto ambassador. I am the incarnation of what is otherwise an abstraction for many of what an American is like.
And on the net, I talk specifically with expats. CS Lewis said that the most political act is to convert your neighbor. I won't exaggerate the effect of my own small efforts to try to speak the truth in love, but at the same time, I know that seeds are planted that sometimes bring fruit. On this forum, in fact, a woman who had read my exposition of Orthodoxy on a now defunct CS Lewis forum told me that she had come to Orthodoxy in part from reading my posts. That's not to toot my horn, but to say that we just don't know what our roles really are, and the main thing is to try to do all for the glory of God. Maybe my small part is to encourage the conversion of someone else who will become a modern-day Orthodox Lewis. (Hey, that would be an incredible honor, wouldn't it?) But of course, we just don't know all of the ripples of the butterfly effect of our lives.

Anyway, right now I'm waiting for the diagnosis from that center. They're supposed to call me...

I don't know how to communicate how much I miss America. I'm banking heavily on Christ's promise that those who leave their native lands for His sake will be rewarded.

I live in Russia for my family's sake.

 

[Mary of Bethany]

Continued prayers for you, Rus!

Mary

 

[MariaRegina]

My continued prayers too.

 

[Dorothea]

The Russians have a saying: "Сытый голодного не разумит." (The person with a full stomach doesn't understand a hungry one.) it is difficult to explain everything involved in my choices, and how I can still love my native land. There was also a good statement on Facebook: "I am responsible for what I say. I am not responsible for what you understand."

Am I not playing a role? I try to share the best of American culture among Russians, and long ago realized that among ordinary people, I am a de facto ambassador. I am the incarnation of what is otherwise an abstraction for many of what an American is like.
And on the net, I talk specifically with expats. CS Lewis said that the most political act is to convert your neighbor. I won't exaggerate the effect of my own small efforts to try to speak the truth in love, but at the same time, I know that seeds are planted that sometimes bring fruit. On this forum, in fact, a woman who had read my exposition of Orthodoxy on a now defunct CS Lewis forum told me that she had come to Orthodoxy in part from reading my posts. That's not to toot my horn, but to say that we just don't know what our roles really are, and the main thing is to try to do all for the glory of God. Maybe my small part is to encourage the conversion of someone else who will become a modern-day Orthodox Lewis. (Hey, that would be an incredible honor, wouldn't it?) But of course, we just don't know all of the ripples of the butterfly effect of our lives.

Anyway, right now I'm waiting for the diagnosis from that center. They're supposed to call me...

I don't know how to communicate how much I miss America. I'm banking heavily on Christ's promise that those who leave their native lands for His sake will be rewarded.

I live in Russia for my family's sake.

Such sacrifice shows how much you love your family.

 

[rusmeister]

Well, Rus, I never said or implied you make no difference as an Orthodox Christian?! I never went down that road. Morally and theologically, you can make a difference anywhere. I have no doubt that you make a difference online with people. Never thought otherwise. But as far as changing America for the better overall, you'd make far more of a difference being here in the midst of the sin and chaos and insanity rather than thousands of miles away on a computer.
You're right, we can never totally know what people think in their hearts about something. No argument. But all we can do is base our analyses on observation. You rarely say what you LIKE about America or even the America of old, but rather concentrate only on the negatives.

I wonder about how much some of us accomplish with online efforts to win people to Orthodoxy and Truth. We can, in our folly, think that we do so much good online. I wonder sometimes how many people we run OFF from Orthodoxy when we get extreme about things.

As far as ambassadorship, you represent a SUPER small minority of Americans. I'm sure you do it well and I wish you blessings, but trust me, the Chesterton/Lewis/traditionalist liturgist who hates American pop culture and is cynical about most entertainment and government is about 0.000000001% these days!
It's like when I go to the Philippines. If they thought I was an ambassador of Americanism, they'd think that most Americans are employed, married to the same woman for 13 years, an animal-lover, religious, and fascinated with theology. Instead, most Americans are obsessed with none of these things, are divorced or shacking up, irreligious, and are an overall mixed bag. I think you're a good ambassador for strict Chestertonian Orthodoxy, not Americanism!


I consider myself in an uber minority in this country with my mindset, so I'm not saying this to be rude!

I think I get the nuances you are talking about, Gurney.
Certainly I think I could do more for my country if I was living there. But it's a matter of priorities. Family before country. And my wife couldn't hack it in the US. Really. Despite being fluent in English, I could do nothing about her loneliness and homesickness. I drove her considerable distances (and was trying to teach her how to drive) to see the rare and occasional friends we met via church, to make it easy for her to talk to her parents, etc etc. But she still felt totally isolated. Me, I had become inured to that sort of thing via the hard school of the Navy (which really IS a lonely lifestyle - time would fail me to tell about how continuous transferring makes lasting and deep relations largely impossible) and the break-up during those years of my birth family, the sale of the family home and the proceeds frittered away. I had found that I could make home wherever I hang my hat. For my wife, her friends, family and community are simply irreplaceable. I miss my birth family, but they're scattered to the four winds and there's not much I can do about it.

I don't imagine that I am some kind of great Orthodox missionary on line. I was only saying that we really don't know what effects we have, and here I will add for good or ill.

While we DO base our analyses on observation, I see a sharp line between the understandings we form of ideas and those of people. One might be able to see through materialism or determinism in a flash, or in a few weeks or months of reading Lewis . But analyzing Gurney Halleck is a formidable and fearful thing indeed to do. The best way to put it would be in a translation from a great poem by a great Russian poetess, Marina Tsvetayeva:
Слово странное -- старуха!
Смысл неясен, звук угрюм,
Как для розового уха
Темной раковины шум.

В нем -- непонятое всеми,
Кто мгновения экран.
В этом слове дышит время
В раковине -- океан.

Old woman
A strange word - "old woman"!
The meaning is not clear, the sound gloomy,
Just as for the pink ear
Of the seashell's dark noise.
It is not understood by all,
Like one moment (in a film)
In that word breathes time
In the shell - the ocean.

(It rhymes much better in Russian - if you look, you'll see an ABAB rhyme scheme in Russian, even if you don't know what the letters mean).

But the point there is that we see an old woman, an old codger like Rusmeister or a slightly younger one like Gurney and we're seeing just one frame, or one scene, out if an entire film, or an entire lifetime, a difficult thing to make any judgements on until we know much, much more about them.

As to what Russians or Philipinos see of us, one thing they definitely see is that the stereotype doesn't apply, and maybe ought not be taken so seriously.

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

That's a pretty incredible story, Rus! I admire your love for your wife. It obviously runs DEEP if you're willing to move there for her. I think it's incredible, so don't get me wrong. More often than not, I have read your posts and awed that you went to Russia, learned the language, and are living there like you do. I'd be SO intimidated to learn that language and try to live it day to day. It's amazing!

I also didn't know you were in the navy! Thanks for your service. My dad was Army.

I guess you take the good, you take the bad, and still love your country despite its scars, warts, and dandruff (that started to sound like the theme song for the Facts of Life!) LOL....

I guess when I was wishing you'd come home, it wasn't so much a bad thing, it was just my wishing you could access to affordable, solid health care right now. When you were talking about your story with the blood pressure, the PRICE of care, and stress you're under as well as being the only bread-winner in a foreign country, I couldn't quit thinking about it! I was telling my wife and just kept it circulating in my mind. Can't imagine it!

I couldn't really read your poem about gurney. Heavens, I shudder to think what it says! LOL....it says "bless and do not curse" over and over so it must have some words in it that the forum thinks are vulgar? For shame, Rus! For shame! LOL

Some people adapt well to American living, some don't. My wife is a REEEEEALLY strong woman. She came here 100% alone. Nobody here for her from her family. She endured a lot. She lost her mom last summer. Luckily, as you probably remember, she went home for almost a month, but when she got home, my mother-in-law passed. Kate couldn't be at the funeral, wake, etc. It was hard on her. She's a tough cookie. There is a guy at our church married to a Russian gal. She's around my age. She's really super duper shy, awkward, and clings to him like a peach! She doesn't mix or talk with others, even the Russians there. Now I'm not saying your wife is like that, but I think for some it's a tough transition.

I like traveling overseas but I epitomize the old "it was great to visit, but wouldn't want to live there!" syndrome . When I got back from the Philippines last time, I kissed the ground like Pope John Paul II getting off his papal plane in Mexico or something! I listened to "Going Home" from Toto on the car stereo with great joy! I think America has a TON of baggage, but I still think we're the best game in town. I just hate to see us culturally hitting an iceberg!

So where do you stand with the medical situation? Any decisions made since your last post? Maybe we at TAW should take up a Rus collection!

Lots of blessings, Rus....

And btw, you're 48. YOU'RE NOT an old-codger!

I think I get the nuances you are talking about, Gurney.
Certainly I think I could do more for my country if I was living there. But it's a matter of priorities. Family before country. And my wife couldn't hack it in the US. Really. Despite being fluent in English, I could do nothing about her loneliness and homesickness. I drove her considerable distances (and was trying to teach her how to drive) to see the rare and occasional friends we met via church, to make it easy for her to talk to her parents, etc etc. But she still felt totally isolated. Me, I had become inured to that sort of thing via the hard school of the Navy (which really IS a lonely lifestyle - time would fail me to tell about how continuous transferring makes lasting and deep relations largely impossible) and the break-up during those years of my birth family, the sale of the family home and the proceeds frittered away. I had found that I could make home wherever I hang my hat. For my wife, her friends, family and community are simply irreplaceable. I miss my birth family, but they're scattered to the four winds and there's not much I can do about it.

I don't imagine that I am some kind of great Orthodox missionary on line. I was only saying that we really don't know what effects we have, and here I will add for good or ill.

While we DO base our analyses on observation, I see a sharp line between the understandings we form of ideas and those of people. One might be able to see through materialism or determinism in a flash, or in a few weeks or months of reading Lewis . But analyzing Gurney Halleck is a formidable and fearful thing indeed to do. The best way to put it would be in a translation from a great poem by a great Russian poetess, Marina Tsvetayeva:
Слово странное -- старуха!
Смысл неясен, звук угрюм,
Как для розового уха
Темной раковины шум.

В нем -- непонятое всеми,
Кто мгновения экран.
В этом слове дышит время
В раковине -- океан.

Old woman [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse]
A strange word - "old woman"! [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse]
The meaning is not clear, the sound gloomy, [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse]
Just as for the pink ear
Of the seashell's dark noise. [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse]
It is not understood by all,
Like one moment (in a film)
In that word breathes time
In the shell - the ocean.

(It rhymes much better in Russian - if you look, you'll see an ABAB rhyme scheme in Russian, even if you don't know what the letters mean).

But the point there is that we see an old woman, an old codger like Rusmeister or a slightly younger one like Gurney and we're seeing just one frame, or one scene, out if an entire film, or an entire lifetime, a difficult thing to make any judgements on until we know much, much more about them.

As to what Russians or Philipinos see of us, one thing they definitely see is that the stereotype doesn't apply, and maybe ought not be taken so seriously.

 

[Trying_to_be_Orthodox]

@rusmeister

"Сытый голодного не разумит." - именно так.

Правильно я понимаю, что Гурни глумится над тобой? Если да - то зря он это делает. Нехорошо смеятся над проблемами человека. Не люблю каркать, но жизнь может наказать.

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

Couldn't have said it better myself!

@rusmeister

"Сытый голодного не разумит." - именно так.

Правильно я понимаю, что Гурни глумится над тобой? Если да - то зря он это делает. Нехорошо смеятся над проблемами человека. Не люблю каркать, но жизнь может наказать.

 

[Trying_to_be_Orthodox]

Couldn't have said it better myself!

You understand Russian language! I knew, i knew, i knew!!!

to be serious - i couldnt to say it to you, because it was for Rus and situation isnt clear for me.Anyway, will use private messages next time.

I can say to you: relation betwen Gurney and Rus makes me sad. Dont think my emotions must disturb somebody. Just fact.