Hello from Russia

Dear, dear Friends ! Sorry I haven't set this up sooner, but of course it was quite overwhelming being plunked smack down into a new country, and at the same time starting work, which, unfortunately, has to come before writing blogs! ;)

So, I have quite a lot to catch up on, and it will probably come little by little. Stay tuned and hopefully a little bit will be added each day.

The plane trip went well.... it seemed very surreal to be flying here, to have said good-bye to Sasha, Misha, and Edward at Logan Airport. Mostly, I didn't at all feel as if I were saying good-bye--I'm with you in spirit, thinking of everyone all the time--but I did completely "lose it" and start crying as I hugged Sasha.... The plane was an hour late taking off, therefore, an hour late arriving, too. Yorik as as good as gold the whole flight! The really interesting thing was that the entry in Tsaritsa Martyr Alexandra's favorite little book, "Day by Day," the entry for the day was about St. Peter walking on the water and how we have to trust the Saviour and look to Him; and when we do that we can even step out onto something that seeminly will not support us. I read this as I sat in the airplane, supported only by air..... It made me feel better, too, about flying off into the unknown, far away from family and friends.....

Waiting at the airport in Moscow was not too much fun with two HUGE, over-weight suitcases... I never did find the carts so I had to lug them by hand. There were a couple of English-speaking Midwestern business types in front of me in the line through Customs. A simple wave of the passport and I was through. Finally I found the Language Link people at the other end, outdoors--they had been waiting the extra hour, too! It was the faithful and amazing driver, Artyom (Artem), and also a brand-new LL intern from the States. Artem managed to pack my two HUGE suitcases, the other intern's, as well as our own persons into a small, little Russian car--oh--not to forget poor Yorik in his carry-case!! He was so good--he didn't make a sound during the whole time. And he even more or less preferred to remain in his carrier, until we got to the apartment.

Here in the picture you see one of the first sights outside the airport. How strange to see a sign that says, "Moscow--St. Petersburg!" You know, not "Boston, 128" or something. I was very pleased to see that there were lots and lots of trees and everything was very green--not how I had envisioned Moscow. Later I found out it wasn't Moscow, but Zelenograd, aptly named. The buildings there were certainly different from the US: every building was colored and decorated--none of this uniform gray concrete or tan brick. Things are different in Russia! (more to follow, got to get to work, stay tuned...)