Safe in Russia

I am in Russia safe and sound, and I have already been through the roller coaster of emotions over and over.

After some crafty math skills on my part, it turns out my long traveling day was not as long as expected because of the change in time and some other variables.  It was a total of 26 hours, but I have to admit it felt more like 32…or 82. Even at this moment I am past the point of being tired and feel like I could be in the Twilight Zone. Or perhaps it just feels like that because I am in freaking Russia and I am quite sure it is the Twilight Zone.

I have to admit, as the plane was landing I was thinking “Yeah, this was a good idea…” All I could think of was the scene from Happy Gilmore where the old woman throws herself onto a moving car screaming “Get me outta here!” But, this quickly changed when I piled into my native coordinators car and she busted out B.o.b’s Airplanes as we were driving away from the airport. I was thinking well I guess we’re not so different after all. We might not drive on unplowed roads, with no lanes that are lined with signs in a language that doesn’t even use the same alphabet, but top 40 pop hits are a universal connector.

The best part of this whole ordeal, and my saving grace last night as I was on the verge of tears from exhaustion, was meeting my host family.  I could not have asked for a more generous and kind family to spend the next four months living with. They were so welcoming and even made a special pizza dinner for me complete with mayonnaise, whole slices of tomato, and some unknown cheese. It was delicious and incredibly thoughtful because everyone knows how American’s love their pizza.  My host mom’s name is Julia and her daughter is Veronica, who goes by “Nika”.  Julia is a beautiful, soft-spoken woman who teaches English at a military school.  Nika is in her first semester of college at the same school her mother teaches at, and she is the nicest, most energetic host sister.  It is an incredible blessing that they both speak amazing English, and I know we will get along very well. Nika was very generous and is letting me use her room while she shares with her mother while I am here. Their apartment is very comfortable and cozy. They had to drop me off very early this morning or else I would have included pictures in this post of the apartment and Nika and Julia.

I am sorry there aren’t any cool pictures of St. Petersburg yet because we got here late last night and it is just 8:30 in the morning now. Nika promised to show me around after her final exam today, so hopefully I will have some pictures up soon.  Thank you everyone for your really nice and supportive comments. I have a good family and good friends who have busy lives, but I appreciate you being so thoughtful of me while I am on this adventure.