+AMDG+

Wow - time flies. A quick recap of the last few months:

June:

I travelled to Russia with the GMU University Singers on a 10 day, 3 concert tour of Moscow and the surrounding areas in the Golden Ring. This was an amazing trip - it was definitely the most foreign place I'd ever travelled. The Russian language is based on an entirely different alphabet (cyrillic), so I couldn't read any signs or even begin to speak the language very well. It wasn't like Italy or the DR where I could use my spanish skills, nor was it like the Philippines where I had grown up around the culture and the language my whole life, or like Germany where pretty much everyone spoke good English and I know enough to get by. Talk about culture shock! The people we met in the Moscow State University Choir (MGU - the Harvard of Russia) were amazing. I saw a lot of beautiful architecture unlike anything in the west, and learned a lot about the culture and the history of Moscow, Russia. If you have any extra prayers, send them to Russia - the people there are in serious need: with the downfall of the Communist regime just a little over 20 years ago, they are still in a time of economic crisis over all, and a lot of people don't know where their next meal is coming from. There is also a poverty of religion, since religion of any kind was completely banned by Communism - they are right now experiencing a rebirth of their national religion, Russian Orthodoxy, which is beautiful - our tour guide told us that when the churches were reopened, people came in droves to be baptized - whole familes spanning generations all being baptized at the same time. I can just imagine what that looked like - pretty cool :0)
Here are some pics of the trip:




This is the famous St. Basil's Cathedral inside of Red Square in Moscow - it actually looks like something out of Disneyland close up :0)














Moscow State University - our home for our stay in Moscow... it is probably the biggest building I've ever seen in my LIFE (besides St. Peter's of course).










A poster advertising one of our concerts at MGU






The info on the left is my choir, and the stuff in red is my choir director's name.

<--- This long red name is my voice teacher's name - she performed with us.
me overlooking Moscow from the hills that MGU is built on


















Me and two of our Russian choir pals, Eugine on the left and Maxim on the right (sporting their new Mason gear!)













Us on stage @ Moscow State!! If you look directly behind and to the right of the soloist (my teacher, Professor Patricia Miller) you'll see little me hiding back there in the shadow - teal sweater.








wow... that was a lot. another update to come with the rest of this summer's events!