Out With the Old and In With the New!

Wow, I can’t believe that it has been over a month since my last blog entry. This clearly shows how much I hate blogging even though so much has happened? I went home for the holidays and had quite an adventure getting there. I flew out of Moscow on Dec. 26th and had short connections in D.C. and Chicago. Needless to say it was a harrowing journey because of the extra security measures due to the terrorist attack in Detroit on Christmas Day. After having gone through security in Moscow, they cleared everyone out of the gate and rechecked everyone by hand, including our shoes and carry-ons. Because of this and extra security paper work my flight was delayed three hours. So I therefore would theoretically miss my connecting flights. Well, the pilot made up an hour of flying in the air but it was still a tight squeeze. I had anticipated these difficulties and I had brought only a carry on so that I could quickly go through customs in D.C. and not re-check baggage and thus make my connecting flight. In the end I had about 15 mins to run to my next flight and I SO would have made it but as I was running to find my gate I saw it was cancelled. This is probably why they called my name out as one of the unlucky ones who would be put up in a hotel for the night in D.C. I thought I would still try for the sake of trying, so instead of going the custom service line, which was a 4 hour wait, I went to the next gate bound for Chi-town. I got on stand-by and was second on a list of what would eventually be sixty. Despite my efforts United airlines insisted that I would be staying the night in D.C. or Chicago and to basically stop fighting my fate. Wow, I just realized this story sounds a lot like my favorite classical tale, the Aeneid! So anyways, I got on the Chicago flight and thought I would still try to make it to Minneapolis. I arrived in Chicago at 9:45pm and saw that my original Minneapolis flight had been delayed several hours and was leaving at 10pm so I still had a chance! I ran through the airport and made it just has they were making the last call. In the end I arrived at 1am and I hadn’t even had enough time to tell my parents to come pick up in between airports because of all my scurrying. So I called them up when I was in Minneapolis after I had told them hours before that there was probably no way that I would make it home and would be staying the night in D.C. The moral of the story is never give up at an airport and never let those airlines tell you what to do!

Once I had finally made it home, I had a delightful holiday. I slept at my parent’s hotel and then in the morning my immediate family had Christmas together. I saw my brother and sister and gave everyone their presents. Then it was off to Grandma’s! This is why I had to get home on time, I had a schedule to keep. My extended family usually meets at my Grandparent’s house in MN and this year they waited until Dec. 27th to have Christmas because of me. It was really nice to catch up with everybody again and to talk about my experiences. I saw my cousins and I can’t believe how much they have grown up and I am so proud of the little adults that they have become. I realize that I have done a lot during the past few years and I have had my share of growing up as well. It felt good to pass on my wisdom to them. After Christmas, I had some quality Gran time and we played Rummy Cube (Granny’s favorite game). I stayed the night and then the next day I drove up to the Cities to stay with my good friends Andy and Kelly…..for writing’s sake let’s call them Kandy.

I was so excited to see them and to hang out with them and other friends in the area. One of my besties, Sarah, came and stayed at Kandy’s the whole 3 nights I was there too. The first day we went to Mall of America and got our fill of shopping. Oh how I missed Gap and Old Navy! It was great and we ate Subway! I had missed that as well. Then we went and hung out at the apt and played Tie One On….I pretty much dominate at the game and so I always want to play it….hehehe. The next day Kelly had a dentist appointment so Sarah had to babysit me and we bonded at Starbucks for a couple of hours. Then the three of us resumed our shopping habit and girl talk. I didn’t care what we did as long as we were together and it was so great to see them. You would think that I am used to long distance relationships so I would be good at them….but I’m not. I love talking face-to-face, I am not the same via Skype or AIM. So these were great days that I could spend with my girls. They have been so supportive of my travels and even though it is a friendship strain, I know that they will always be there like nothing has changed. On the third day I dragged them to the Minneapolis Institute of Art because I wanted a little culture. We had a good time looking around and we all got a little nostalgic around the Egyptian collection. I love just looking at beautiful and interesting things. After this we went to Chipotle, because that was also on my to-do list. I missed my Mexican food! After three nights with my friends, I thought that I had better head back to Wisconsin to see my family.

I had only seen my family for a few hours on Sunday so I was looking forward to catching up with them for a longer time. I played games on New Year’s day with my family and I went to a movie with my high school friend, Sarah. We saw Sherlock Holmes and caught up on each other’s lives. I hung out with her again a few days later and I realized that it is nice to just sit and do nothing. For the rest of my week home I caught up on sleep, TV, and my family. I flew back on Thursday Jan 7th, and I had a similar experience going home as was my arrival. I had to completely change flight paths which led to the loss of my baggage. I can talk about all this very calmly now, but surprisingly very little English is spoken in a Russian airport and filling out lost baggage forms for people who you can’t communicate with is interesting. After a very frustrating two days I made it home to Zelenograd and slept for 19 hours straight. Next I am just going to foot the bill and fly direct! My bags were returned to me in the middle of the night four days later when I was awoken by a Russian man who I couldn’t understand and who couldn’t understand me ……..but somehow we figured it out….hahaha.

I had to weekend to adjust to Russia again and then it was off to work on Monday. In the beginning, I was really depressed to be back because America was so awesome and I felt trapped like I was in prison or something and couldn’t get out. But then I realized that Russia is amazing and I might as well enjoy the experience while I could. I was nervous for work to start because I figured that they would have changed my work schedule again. Lo and behold they did? They got rid of my favorite class and gave me some new classes in an effort to even out the teachers’ hours. I was sad and my class was sad. They are trying to get me back as their teacher but I don’t know if their efforts will prove fruitful. On Tuesday, my administrator informed me that my roommate and I will be moving at the beginning of February because my land lord no longer wants to rent to my company. So that was a shock because I had finally gotten internet set up and I had a washing machine and life was grand. I don’t like sudden change like this, not after I had finally gotten used to my apt. So who know where I will end up now but life is an adventure, right? What will be, will be and all that jazz. So I think I have gotten you all caught up on my life and I can go to bed now…yay!