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Privyet!


I made it! One day, three planes, and thousands of miles. I can't believe it was only two days ago that I said farewell to my mom and Dave in the airport. The excitement rose as we boarded the plane with six other girls all destined for Moscow. The plane ride was long and dreary. It felt like it was night for 24 hours since with the time difference we basically lost a day. The last plane was the longest. We sat in the back with other ILP volunteers surrounding us. There were three boys that sat right in front of us that were from Russia. We spent a good chunk of time asking the endless questions of "how do you say...?" and "Is this true....". They couldn't stop laughing at the silly American girls. 

 As I stepped off the plane I couldn't believe it. All signs of America, English, or anything familiar were gone. The words suddenly looked like someone accidentally drew pictures in the middle of them. The straight faced, perma mad look we had practiced on the plane was useless. You could point out the Americans from a mile away. As we followed the crowed through the airport we luckily landed in the right spot. We stood in line at customs for what felt like hours. As I approached the service man he asked for my passport with a grunt. I handed it over quickly and couldn't help but smile. He put his hand on his forehead and with concern I asked if he had a headache. He let out a noise that did necessarily sound like a laugh, but since he was smiling it must have been. We collected our baggage and headed for the exit. 

At the exit we met our regional coordinator names Gulia. She is the cutest little lady that always wears a bright red coat. She sent us on our way quickly with Ksesha and our driver. It took us three different elevator rides to get all of us and our luggage trolleys down to the first floor. The first step outside was breath taking, literally. The air was a bit frozen so we had to take a few deep breaths to get use to it. There was ice everywhere. We slipped and slid to our "bus" which was a mini van that was indeed bright yellow. After a mini game of tetris to fit our luggage and all of us in. We were on our way. 

As we drove through the outskirts of Moscow we tried to see through the iced over, foggy windows. All of the sudden we took a quick stop on the side of the highway, like right off the highway. No exit just stop and park. We walked into a Middle Eastern, Asian, European mix of a restaurant. Everyone stared as we walked into the back room. There were tall huka stands on every single table. We walked through the beads hanging from the doorway and sat down on a big roundish table. Ksuscha sat next to me and watched with amusement as our mouths dropped when we saw the food come. They served us these huge, long burrito wrap type things filled to the brim. We took them with a bit skepticism and took a big bite. It was delicious. I could barely finish half of it. Ksuscha looked at us very seriously and asked us to keep it a secret that we went to eat before going to the school. We nodded our heads while looking at each other with question in our eyes. Then we were off to the school. 

Soon we turned off of the highway and began to drive through a little town. There were fences up everywhere and every so often we would see a huge mansion hidden by the trees. We saw cute neighborhoods with unique houses, each of them different from the ones surrounding it. Then we were finally here. We pulled into what almost looked like apartments you would see in Salt lake. Very new and quite modern. We hopped out of the mini bus and took a look around. This was definitely a very rich area. As we stepped inside we said hello to the security guards as the watched with amusement from our curiosity. We were immediately met by one of the head staff named Sveta and shown to the cafeteria. On our way we couldn't help but notice the mini miniature golf located in the basement along with the ping pong tables. With full stomachs we humbly accepted the food the chef had prepared for us and sat next to the rest of the staff that was enjoying tea time. We tried to finish as much as we could as we guiltily looked down at our plates filled with homemade pasta topped with delicious sauce and a hot dog set on the side. As we finally finished and were excused to go to our rooms Sveta tols us dinner is promptly at six. It was already four-thirty. 

Our rooms were quite nice. We have three people in each and lots of storage space. Our toilet is normal, and the water is not brown. Whew. However, the shower is a bit of a joke. It's like a box that is raised above the ground just in the middle of the bathroom and it has no shower curtain so the water just pours everywhere. So besides the swimming pool that is constantly on our floor, it's not too bad. We took our little break to unpack and get situated then we were back to the cafeteria for dinner. We sat there in desperation so full, but not wanting to offend our chef. She put in front of us ravioli typed pasta filled with sausage. We slowly consumed it and celebrated when it was gone. As we made it back up to our rooms, we were asleep within the next twenty minutes.

                                     Throughout the night I kept waking up. Finally at 4:30 I just couldn't sleep anymore. I snuck into the other room and began watching a movie. I could hear noises outside my door and was so confused. Then I thought I heard the girls next door talking. Mindy and I wanted to see what time it was and went to go see if they were awake. Kris opened the door fully dressed and ready to go. The other girls were the same way behind her. In shock I asked what time it was, thinking it was strange they were ready at 4:30 in the morning. She replied it was almost 8:30 which is the time we were supposed to be leaving. I rushed back to my room flipped on the lights and awoke Sarah. We rushed to get ready as quickly as possible. Throwing on as many layers as we could. Sasha and the other girls stood in the doorway ready to go. As we stepped outside Sasha gave us the typical Russian look and we took it as "really you are late and it is the first day? What are we going to do with these Americans". Conveniently he doesn't speak very much English. We briskly walked to the bus stop and waited. The bus was long gone. It was freezing! Four layers on every part of my body stood no chance during the Russian winter. Not too mention the sun doesn't rise until 10 in the morning. We stood shivering. 

After getting on what we call the "mini" bus, we road it into the next town with a metro station. We met Gulia and said farewell to Sasha although he lives right next to us. We went down underground for our first experience in the metro. It was just like people had described it. Hustle and bustle in every direction. Nobody was smiling, but nobody was really frowning either. Just expressionless. We got off on the next stop which is where the other shool's head teacher lives. We met with some of the girls from the Captain school and did our money exchange and took our mug shots, which are actually our visa pictures. Then we were off to meet Moscow 1. Our big ILP family traveled back to the metro with our next destination to be Red Square. 

I couldn't believe I was standing in the middle of Red Square. One day I am in Sandy, UT 48 hours later I am standing next to Lenin's tomb. It was amazing. Every building was so beautiful and had so much history. I was amazed. We explored and took so many photographs. Then there were weddings all over. I saw four brides within thirty minutes. All dressed in poofy white dresses with endless fabric covering them from head to toe. There is even an ice skating rink right in the middle. Oh and contrary to popular belief, Russian men are not ugly. 

It was such an exciting day filled with so many things. After a long journey we made it back to our school. We were introduced to where we would be teaching next week. You have to walk out of the part of the school where we live and through the cutest little neighborhood. Filled with houses that are bright yellow gingerbread type houses to pure wood box style. Then around the corner you find the sport center. A.K.A. the gym. The kindergarten, where we will teach, is right across the street. We didn't get to see it because it was all locked up, so Gulia showed us our supply room which is located inside of the gym. Like every place around here there is a guard standing by the door. Don't let the smell of a vegas hotel get you down. As we walked our eyes kept getting bigger every turn we took. Gulia showed us to the pool that has two huge slides that twist and turn all the way down. Then we went downstairs passed the bowling alley. Then we went through five other windy, turny hallways, up stairs, down some other ones, around some corners, and then we were finally to the room. It was filled with all sorts of things we could teach with. 

After awhile of Gulia explaining things it was hard to hide our exhaustion. She finally said we could go back to our rooms and we gladly began the journey. We had a quick team meeting and were set free. It was such an eventful two days, however, I am ready for some sleep. We have yet another adventure to try and find our church tomorrow. Two hour journey? Sure why not.