Summer 2010 [Part 6]

The Summer came to an end. I had joined the course on 1st of June, 2010. It was the middle of  spring. Then the summer came. It was quite hot and the temperature kept climbing till it reached 40 degrees Celsius. At the beginning of October it suddenly started dropping. I have never seen such temperature fluctuations in my life. In tropical South India, it always between 22 deg.C in winter to 42 deg. C in summer. The average temperature was around 32 degrees Celsius.

   In Ukraine admissions usually occur during the summer with classes starting in autumn. But for PG students they can join anytime as the system was one-on-one mentoring. So my guide arranged my postings for summer at CT, MRI, X-ray and Nuclear medicine. It was at the Dnepropetrovsk, regional hospital and I made the most of the opportunity given to me. Not everyone was willing to teach. But the majority made room and adjusted with us for the few hours I spent at their reporting rooms.

  I shopped at Varus and ATB supermarkets at the city center and Gagarin Boulevard. The trams were cheap and affordable. The marshrudkas were congested and humid during summer. But they served to reach those remote parts which were not connected by the tram road. Dnepropetrovsk has a Metro but because of water logging problems it did not serve the entire city. It was very short route.

   I had spent enough time with Arabs, Africans and Chinese. But still I was yet to meet an Indian in Dnepropetrovsk. I had navigated admission, and first half of the first semsester. In summer, most of the doctors went for vacation to Crimea, which is now part of Russia. So I was more free to stay in the department and do my own studies. I completed Musculo-skeletal system and part of Radio Physics.

During the evenings I had my quiet time at the Church of the Transfiguration and even recorded a few multimedia messages which I have uploaded in  youtube.com.

http://youtu.be/Y6SVXsTp8Mw?list=UUK98FlSCdkS7fu9ZPERZr1A

http://youtu.be/3P4JQeKW-Cg?list=UUK98FlSCdkS7fu9ZPERZr1A

http://youtu.be/wU6wwUTwiLc?list=UUK98FlSCdkS7fu9ZPERZr1A

http://youtu.be/eYG5UQhNkSU?list=UUK98FlSCdkS7fu9ZPERZr1A

I communicated with my family regularly on skype. I thank God for skype, which allowed free international video calling. It was a tremendous help in keeping me updated with my family.

When I went for shopping or to hospital posting I always carried a Russian - English, English - Russian phrase book. Whenever I wanted something I would show them the word or read the transliteration. It was very use and essential book, which I carried around. Apart from that I had a nice time and enjoyed cooking and eating and relaxing with the good smooth internet which I received through People Net 3G. Compared to that Indian 3G looks like 2G. I always keep wondering if Indian telecom companies are cheating us in the name of 3G. God only knows!

I went for daily walks and even as I enjoyed these little things, the thought of leaving it all and going back would interrupt my enjoyment. But then I still enjoyed it anyway.

Summer 2010 [Part 5]

Now I met Bro. Andrei Konkov when I went to the meeting of the Charismatic churches. He was not a charismatic but Pastor Isaac was helping him. He introduced me to him and we chatted up and became friends. I did not know at that time that he was searching for a partner to share his flat. He was a staff worker with Campus Crusade, Ukraine. He was actively involved in taking the Gospel to the students in the Dnepropetrovsk universities. Andrei told me about his need for ministry support and he took me out as he would any would be supporter and explained his ministry and need. I was hesitant as I had just settled down and started my studies. I explained my situation and he offered to take me to his flat which he intended to share with me. He asked me to stay for a night and see for myself how it would workout. I went and stayed, all because he was very persistent. I had no intention of moving out. I would be far away from the place of study and it would expensive too. His last pitch actually changed my mind. He said that if he cannot raise support before the academic year begins he would not be allowed to start ministry with his Campus team. He also offered to teach me russian and I would have some bible studies with him. That was an attractive deal. I discussed the situation with my mother, without telling here these things and told her that I am planning to stay with Andrei in a flat. She did not object and by the end of summer and beginning of Autumn I made arrangements with the hostel officials to leave and shift to live in Dnipropetrovsk city. I think this decision was a very important one because it exposed me to the city life, people and their culture. This interaction on a daily basis for the next one year shaped a lot of my ideas about Ukraine. It also made me adapt to the new circumstance in a biblically appropriate and God honoring way. In this process I was becoming something, an international citizen and paradoxically an alien in a foreign land, who was stared at suspiciously and given a cold shoulder, whenever the oppourtunity arose. But I was not new to these. I had my fair share of cold shoulders from the Hindu society in India and I was ready for such eventualities. It was new but only superficially and peripherally. At the core, humans beings everywhere were the same without Christ and with Christ they were struggling to overcome their own sinful selves and their cultural conditioning as they tried to relate with me as well as their culture. There was always a tug of war in their mind, in relating as Christians to foreigners who were also Christians. The summer came to a close and I was in a new environment in a new house with a new person, among people who spoke a new and strange language not their own and were upset that I was not speaking their language. We were not much different. I was speaking English and they were speaking Russian, both of which were foreign languages. But that is the irony of life and the paradox with which I learnt to live and witness for Christ. It is Christ who made everything meaningful and significant and shaped me and moulded me through these interactions so that I can fulfill his plan for my life. Let's face it. It is a fallen world. We are not living in heaven. It is filled with meesed up people whom God loves and whom God wants to save. In this understanding everything was as it should be if it was a fallen world.

My face book post read
"all dues paid....will leave hostel tomorrow....." on 27th August, 2010. Pastor Isaac has given a like.
"shifted completely to apartment...praise GOD...." on 28th August, 2010. Andrey Konkov has given a like. 

On 31st August 2010, I was in my new apartment studying metabolic bone diseases as part of my study of the Musculo-skeletal system.

The summer was good, with lot of pace and action. Lot of changes occured in a short time. I met a lot of new people from different parts of the world from Middle East, Pakistan, Africa and China. I visited a lot of places in Dniproperovsk and was totally ignorant what they thought or spoke. I enjoyed my summer of 2010 and by the blessing of God I was at the end of summer in a new flat, learning a new language navigating my life around people of strange languages. I liked it. Praise be to God.