tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75424299347280659972026-06-07T12:55:28.130-07:00View From the Hammock “The person who can learn by observation can create his own culture.” ― Santosh Kalwarligooshkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01603905745982647463noreply@blogger.comBlogger89125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7542429934728065997.post-57308968143140952902025-02-15T20:19:00.000-08:002025-02-15T20:19:37.203-08:00Russian Blond in the American Snow Storm<!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE <![endif]-->My first few months of driving in America went almost uneventfully—aside from running a few red lights and accidentally driving on the wrong side of the road.Then, in September of 1996, a snowstorm ligooshkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01603905745982647463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7542429934728065997.post-89018505652138295072022-06-10T17:19:00.001-07:002022-06-10T17:19:46.859-07:00From Chaos to Peace with Connyligooshkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01603905745982647463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7542429934728065997.post-28287175998818881582022-05-12T06:55:00.006-07:002022-05-12T06:55:42.989-07:00Coping Live Talk #101Becoming Awake&nbsp;May 14, 2022ligooshkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01603905745982647463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7542429934728065997.post-8445503018563965042022-05-07T16:50:00.001-07:002022-05-07T16:50:22.189-07:00How to find Joy. Coping Live Talk #100ligooshkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01603905745982647463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7542429934728065997.post-21209914226789166792020-04-16T05:51:00.000-07:002020-04-16T08:55:16.055-07:00Overcoming the fear of getting out of line<!--[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> ligooshkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01603905745982647463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7542429934728065997.post-44940227570700779252020-04-16T05:49:00.000-07:002020-04-16T05:49:16.504-07:00What Dostoevsky Can Teach Us About the Suffering Church Feodor Dostoevsky&nbsp;is the author of one of the most profound dialogues about sin and evil in his book&nbsp;The Brothers Karamazov&nbsp;that reflected on his unrest over injustice. Reading the book, one begins to understand that it was not God, who Dostoevsky had a problem with, but evil and disingenuous Christians.&nbsp;Elissa Kiskaddon&nbsp;claims that Dostoevsky’s disappointment with ligooshkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01603905745982647463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7542429934728065997.post-24416813741176359852020-04-16T05:47:00.000-07:002020-04-16T09:21:30.841-07:00My Christ has Risen, Yours is Next Week? Russians celebrate everything twice, I like to joke. I don’t make it up, though; we do celebrate everything twice! If you have Russian or Ukrainian friends or friends from the former Soviet Union, you will know what I'm talking about. Christmas is celebrated on December 25th&nbsp;and is repeated on January 7th,&nbsp;according to the ancient Russian Gregorian calendar.&nbsp; We grew up ligooshkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01603905745982647463noreply@blogger.com0St Joseph, MO, USA39.7674578 -94.8466809999999939.572152800000005 -95.169404499999985 39.9627628 -94.5239575tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7542429934728065997.post-13923410066633612512018-05-17T06:40:00.000-07:002018-05-17T06:42:51.337-07:00Changing the Mindset: Full Acceptance or Just an Exception? Published on February 24, 2016 Dr. Lydia Istomina By Lydia Istomina&nbsp;Posted on&nbsp;by&nbsp;GCSRW Re: Book of Discipline Paragraph 4, Article IV Amend ¶4. Adding “gender” and “age” to the list of what the UMC cannot discriminate against What prevented The United Methodist Church from amending the original phrasing of Paragraph 4&nbsp;earlier? The amendment is about female ligooshkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01603905745982647463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7542429934728065997.post-56593906754485022782017-03-23T04:40:00.000-07:002017-03-26T14:13:39.223-07:00Lacking Self-esteem? Have a Happy Period! When I hear that some American girls and women lack self-esteem, I can’t help but wonder. How can a young American girl have low self-esteem or lack confidence in this country of abundance? I never liked when my parents used phrases like “When I was your age, I walked to school five miles, under the snow.” I rarely tell my story because it starts very similarly, “When I was your age, I ligooshkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01603905745982647463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7542429934728065997.post-24746444777473532802017-03-21T09:21:00.000-07:002017-03-25T19:29:32.336-07:00How to Ignore the Secondary One day my sister and I went to the woods to pick wild berries on a very hot day. To tell the truth, I did not want to go, but I said, "OK, Irina, let’s go. Some fresh air will be good." "What is this?" I suspiciously pointed at something looking like an old rug that my sister put on as soon as we left the car. "This is my raincoat. You should put one on too. Mosquitoes could be really badligooshkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01603905745982647463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7542429934728065997.post-68897805436581291352017-03-09T04:51:00.000-08:002017-03-25T19:32:25.303-07:00Courage is required<!--[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> ligooshkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01603905745982647463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7542429934728065997.post-958408017642725992017-03-08T18:52:00.000-08:002017-03-26T14:14:18.918-07:00My sister's belt<!--[if gte mso 9]> 544x376 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> ligooshkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01603905745982647463noreply@blogger.com0United States42.811521745097906 -98.789062517.289487245097906 -140.0976565 68.33355624509791 -57.4804685tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7542429934728065997.post-87057905006602330052017-02-28T12:44:00.000-08:002017-03-25T19:25:11.101-07:00Shmuck and Cold War My husband is learning Russian really fast. We usually share our day stories over dinner, relaxing and getting reconnected every evening. He interjects Russian words here and there and the number of words he knows grows daily. This time, though, this innocent exchange sparked a highly-charged exchange between us that early Wednesday evening.&nbsp; “He is such a shmuck!” My husband&nbsp;put aligooshkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01603905745982647463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7542429934728065997.post-23280075476043649502016-12-27T03:14:00.000-08:002016-12-27T19:28:14.282-08:00Walking on Eggshells<!--[if gte mso 9]> 544x376 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> ligooshkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01603905745982647463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7542429934728065997.post-76839386086105433452016-12-21T20:20:00.000-08:002016-12-27T19:38:13.526-08:00 Russians and Work “They pretend to pay us, and we pretend to work.” –Folk joke Practically no one worked during the broadcasts of the Supreme Soviet meetings. People didn't want to miss a single word. Next day at work, they spent time in heated discussions. It hardly mattered that no one worked, because salaries almost never depended on performance, nor did bonuses! Every ligooshkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01603905745982647463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7542429934728065997.post-84858585910420686512016-03-20T07:45:00.001-07:002016-12-27T19:23:15.889-08:00Cold War Memories I met Rodriguez through the Shalom Project. He owned a small company in Kansas City and his company profile looked very fitting with the idea of providing affordable housing. Rodriguez&nbsp;got unusually agitated as soon as he learned that I was from the former Soviet Union. I would understand if he was Cuban to have such reaction upon meeting a Russian citizen. Rodriguez insisted that I ligooshkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01603905745982647463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7542429934728065997.post-22100644054791695102015-02-28T07:19:00.002-08:002015-08-09T20:17:05.405-07:00Tango is more than just a dance My father is handsome and strong. I look up, and he seems so tall even if I step on his feet&nbsp;with my new brown shoes. My right-hand rests on the top of Dad's heavy&nbsp;palm and my left-hand rests on his right hand. He and my mother are the best Tango dancers. Every time, they bring the first-place award home. My father’s feet make sophisticated moves; he calls it “kolena”–creative slow ligooshkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01603905745982647463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7542429934728065997.post-41206825573315010432014-05-05T11:57:00.000-07:002015-02-28T15:41:46.375-08:00Crimea The history of Sevastopol goes back to Greeks, who founded a city-state Chersonese &nbsp;in 5th century BC. Romans built roads Via Militaries making Chersonese in the 1st century their strategic outpost for 500 years until Byzantine turned this place into a spiritual center marked by Prince Vladimir’s baptism in Chersonese in 988 AD. Renamed by Katherine the Great into Sevastopol, after almostligooshkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01603905745982647463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7542429934728065997.post-46756741461254705972013-08-12T09:29:00.000-07:002013-08-14T23:02:44.291-07:00The Lord's Prayer Over an IPad My iPad is not just a valuable and attractive item. It is a gift from my whole family. My husband, my mother, my sister, and my children and their spouses made this gift possible. What a nice and elegant piece of intellectual and material property my iPad is! It makes me think of Steve Jobs, the Apple founder, who recently died. What a genius mind! Why didn’t Steve Jobs believe in charity? ligooshkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01603905745982647463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7542429934728065997.post-83962585940636996412013-06-06T14:43:00.001-07:002013-08-12T09:34:24.725-07:00Tornado Fatique One Friday, I was on the road, driving home, when I heard the sirens. Opening the windows, I looked up to the sky. Yep! Tornado warning - I already learned that a certain green color of the sky and the silence all around highlight the possibility of it. I turned on the radio and almost dropped the wheel at the sound of the voice in my car, “If you are driving, get out of the car and find the ligooshkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01603905745982647463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7542429934728065997.post-13728865866837278352013-04-24T18:48:00.000-07:002013-04-24T18:48:46.692-07:00Media management <!--[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> ligooshkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01603905745982647463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7542429934728065997.post-773579744874276312013-04-08T16:29:00.001-07:002016-12-27T19:26:13.014-08:00My new accent I found myself in the retail business after serving a church for many years. Can't resist the temptation to compare the church and the retail worlds! In two short months, I saw plenty of contrasts: a Middle-Eastern woman, who hides her face behind a veil, and a transgender guy, who fearlessly displays his/her new breasts to the public. I was told that money doesn't have gender. Dollars are ligooshkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01603905745982647463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7542429934728065997.post-45304035635650061182013-03-24T12:05:00.001-07:002016-12-27T19:27:31.177-08:00Silly and smelly<!--[if gte mso 9]> 544x376 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> ligooshkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01603905745982647463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7542429934728065997.post-69065665295065273412013-03-15T18:19:00.002-07:002013-03-15T18:23:02.108-07:00Holey Socks<!--[if gte mso 9]> 544x376 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> ligooshkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01603905745982647463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7542429934728065997.post-59117572251475227392013-03-13T01:25:00.000-07:002025-02-15T20:24:45.537-08:00Simplicity of Life<!--[if gte mso 9]> 544x376 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> 544x376 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> ligooshkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01603905745982647463noreply@blogger.com0