This is a companion to this post:
As my friend Zheynya said — ‘Only in Russia!’
Tag: Photos
Proposal
Today, as I was gathering photos for the site, I ran across this picture.
I proposed to Olga in the garden at dacha. It was her grandmother’s birthday, August 28, and we were there to celebrate with her.
Earlier that morning Olga and I both felt God’s clear call for us to be married (that story will be told in a future post), so I knew that I’d ask her to marry me that day.
Before I proposed to Olga, I asked Olga’s mother to bless our marriage. She had to sit down when she realized what I was about to do! After she gave her blessing, I gave her a camera and asked her to take a picture when I proposed. She was crying and it was hard for her to focus on us as she stood on the porch overlooking the garden.
It was a film camera and by the time we developed the film we’d forgotten that she took the picture. It turned out pretty well:
By the way, this was the first time I told Olga that I love her. We were both guarding our hearts and remembered counsel from an Elisabeth Elliot book: only say I Love You when the next sentance is Will You Marry Me. It’s good advice.
Shashleek
I’ve found some funny Russian pictures on the internet over the years. I thought I’d start posting some of them. You can see an eye-full on my earlier post about herring.
In Russia, cooking shashleek (what Americans call shish-ka-bob) over an open fire in the forest is an important part of the culture; it is a special and highly-valued event. Russians love to go on cookouts, just as Americans love to cook bar-b-que on a grill.
Here is a classic example of cooking shashleek at one of our cookouts at Elama last year. Notice the marinated meat on the skewers over the hot coals. Very tasty.
But, sometimes the weather doesn’t allow for cook-outs. It’s Russia after all, and it can get cold outside. So what is an enterprising Russian to do?
Mike and Olga Cantrell 