And We're Off

Well, it eventually became June 20, 2008. Trip 1 was commensing. I couldn't believe it. Were we really going to Russia? What would it be like? Would anyone undertand us? How would we get anything to eat or drink? So many questions, I wasn't sure where to begin. So I did something very un-Melissa like. I let everything go, and went with the flow. No questioning, just do what needs to be done, do what our coordinator tells us to do. I had come to an amazing conclusion- I wasn't in control anymore and I could fight that and try to gain control, and most likely make things miserable, or I could just "go with it" and try to enjoy myself. I chose the later, and it worked!

Now Mike, he is usually very easygoing, just don't make him get on an airplane and wait. We left for JFK Airport around 3:00PM our time (that would be about 1:00AM on June 21st in Yekaterinburg). Everything was all set with our pets. Mom and Dad P. would take care of the mail and make sure Teaky, the cat, was feed and watered. Misha, the dog, was placed in a kennel for a couple days until she would then stay with Mom and Dad P. as well. Leaving Misha at the kennel was tough but I only wanted to think about what lay ahead of us. She'd be fine for the couple days. Then she would be spoiled rotten at their house. So, we were off.

Our plane was to leave about 9:30PM but we wanted to stay ahead of traffic in NYC and we planned to eat dinner at the airport. We didn't hit too much traffic on the way to the airport but the airport was very busy and our plane wasdelayed taking off. We boarded around 10:30 but we didn't finally take off until almost midnight (10:00AM Yek time on 6/21). Mike didn't mind too much about boarding late, but waiting at the gate due to traffic on the runway was getting him a little worked up. I was very greatful when we eventually took off. It was a nice smoot takeoff.

Luckily the delay didn't effect us too much in Frankfurt since we had an 8 hour layover but quite a few people had earlier flights and some missed them. I hope they all got where they were going. We had met a group of people from California heading to Vienna for a singing competition I believe. I know they had to rebook their flights. But for Mike and I, our 8 hour layover became about 6 hours. Even though we were tired, for us it was about 8AM but it was around 3 PM in Frankfurt, we decided to take the train into the city. We walked around for a couple hours enjoying the sights of the city. It happened to be culture day or something so we enjoyed a little bit of a parade, some dancing, and music. We wanted to get some "lunch" but we hadn't gotten any Euros at the airport so we couldn't buy anything. So we headed back to eat in a nice restaurant at the airport. We enjoyed our lunch looking out at the airplanes coming and going.

Our next flight was to take off around 8PM Frankfurt time (we were on about 1PM our time with very little sleep). This flight was only about 5 hours long and it would land around 4AM on 6/22 Yek time (for us about 6PM on 6/21). We were exhausted. Luckily no major catastrophes with either plane trip and we landed safely in Yek. But going through customs in Russia in a region where they speak very little English and with very little sleep is not much fun. We sorted out the paperwork and made it through. Then we waited for our coordinator to arrive. Her name is Svetlana. She was a little late because it was difficult getting around the city. The Russia soccer (or futbol) team had just finished playing their quarter-final match in the Euro Cup and they had won. They whole city was up and celebrating. Boy can Russian futbol fans celebrate. By the time we were leaving the airport though, it seemed everyone had gone inside and the city was fairly quiet.

Svetlana brought us to the Park Inn where we would be staying. We took showers and crashed for a few hours. I didn't want to sleep too long because I knew we wouldn't sleep much that night if we slept during the day. Around 11:30AM I suddenly woke up, unsure where I was. The heavy curtains were over the windows so it was fairly dark in the room. Eventually I got my bearings, remembered why I was where I was, and instantly had to wake Mike up. I am not so sure he enjoyed that, but I did it anyway. He finally woke up, and we decided to walk around the city. We exchanged some money for Rubbles and then we were off exploring. Unfortunately, we couldn't figure out where to find anything to eat though so we went back to the hotel. We decided to call Svetlana and soon she came by to bring us on a little tour. She was great. She brought us to the Chapel of the Blood, a gorgeous church errected about 5 years ago on the sight of the execution of Czar Nicholas and his royal family. We ended up at a small Russian restaurant for some dinner. Svetlana left and we walked back to our hotel.

The day(s) was certainly long. As I went to bed, I thought being as exhaustedas I was, that I would fall right to sleep. But I knew as I began to think about the next day, that sleep would probably ellude me. I just didn't realize then, just how much it would ellude me that night and many nights to come.