This place is a whole other world. I think I must have known that before signing up, but I’d forgotten the feelings associated with being the alien. They started coming back before we even left the airport in Moscow. First of all, we came into the airport that the Central Asians tend to use, so it was filled with strange yet familiar faces and smells. Second of all, while I remember the Cyrillic alphabet, I’m still a very slow reader. 
I have to sound things out. The whole ride home, I kept trying to figure out what the billboards were saying, and I’d get about halfway through reading the words and then we’d be moving past it. That was actually the hard part for me. I’m a reader, and it was very unnerving to me not to be able to read the signs around me. 
Even if I made my way through the words, I wouldn’t know what they meant, and I actually got a slight stomachache trying to figure it all out. That’s when I started to panic a little. What had I signed up for?
So I said a prayer and asked for help to calm down, and I reminded myself that I had been wide awake for the past 48 hours, and that I was being irrational. That helped. I think I forgot to mention that with the accident before we left, we didn’t have time to start packing until around midnight, and we left for the airport as soon as we were done packing, at five am. So, we didn’t sleep that night. Charles fell asleep before we even took off from Salt Lake, and stayed that way. For some reason, I couldn’t fall asleep the whole way, but I had a great book to read, and interesting foods to eat. I finally fell asleep in the van that the academy sent for us on the way to our apartment, and I only vaguely remember making it into our apartment, meeting our landlords, and plopping into bed. Jetlag never felt so good. Charles went out with Totya Valya, our landlady, to get some groceries and check the place out while I was asleep. He brought me some juice, water, coca-cola light, and two beautiful oranges.
I have to say right now, that I have never been more in love with my husband. He’s been so careful about making me feel safe and loved, and he’s so good at it! And he’s the handsomest man in Russia, by far. The metro, which we take everywhere, is often very crowded and there isn’t always something to hold on to. Charles does his best to make sure I have something to hold on to, or even get a seat, but if I can’t, then he plants his feet and keeps his hand on my back to make sure I don’t topple over. I don’t know how he doesn’t fall over, but he’s always been the coordinated one in the family. He’s very good about translating for me, and tries to include me in all the conversations. I’m really impressed with his Russian!
I’ve decided that I will include a few things that I have learned in Russia every time I post, so that you can see Russia through my eyes. I know that's just what you’ve always wanted.
1. Russian escalators are very long. I mean VERY long. Really, really, ridiculously long. I think in America that if an escalator goes more than one or two flights, they cut it into a few different escalators with a landing between them, but here, your escalator ride could last as long as three or four stories. This is not an exaggeration. Also, the escalators move very quickly. I applaud Russia for that, because I’ve always hated how long escalators take, but I wonder how all the little old babuskas are able to move fast enough to get on and off, because I have a hard time in my young and spry state.
2. Russians carry flowers upside-down. Especially the men. Occasionally, you’ll see a woman carrying her flowers with the blooms up, but it seems to be the exception. The reason I’ve noticed this is that Russians buy a lot of flowers! There are flower vendors on every corner, and sometimes in between. Mostly roses, but also a lot of tulips, and I have to say that I have never seen such beautiful tulips in all my life. Charles bought me some pink ones yesterday, and the pinkness of them made me want to cry. (That one’s for you, Mollie!) I think this is a custom I want to bring home to America. It’s very romantic, wouldn’t you say?
3. Borscht is yucky. I hate cabbage. I hate beets.
I have to sound things out. The whole ride home, I kept trying to figure out what the billboards were saying, and I’d get about halfway through reading the words and then we’d be moving past it. That was actually the hard part for me. I’m a reader, and it was very unnerving to me not to be able to read the signs around me. Even if I made my way through the words, I wouldn’t know what they meant, and I actually got a slight stomachache trying to figure it all out. That’s when I started to panic a little. What had I signed up for?So I said a prayer and asked for help to calm down, and I reminded myself that I had been wide awake for the past 48 hours, and that I was being irrational. That helped. I think I forgot to mention that with the accident before we left, we didn’t have time to start packing until around midnight, and we left for the airport as soon as we were done packing, at five am. So, we didn’t sleep that night. Charles fell asleep before we even took off from Salt Lake, and stayed that way. For some reason, I couldn’t fall asleep the whole way, but I had a great book to read, and interesting foods to eat. I finally fell asleep in the van that the academy sent for us on the way to our apartment, and I only vaguely remember making it into our apartment, meeting our landlords, and plopping into bed. Jetlag never felt so good. Charles went out with Totya Valya, our landlady, to get some groceries and check the place out while I was asleep. He brought me some juice, water, coca-cola light, and two beautiful oranges.
I have to say right now, that I have never been more in love with my husband. He’s been so careful about making me feel safe and loved, and he’s so good at it! And he’s the handsomest man in Russia, by far. The metro, which we take everywhere, is often very crowded and there isn’t always something to hold on to. Charles does his best to make sure I have something to hold on to, or even get a seat, but if I can’t, then he plants his feet and keeps his hand on my back to make sure I don’t topple over. I don’t know how he doesn’t fall over, but he’s always been the coordinated one in the family. He’s very good about translating for me, and tries to include me in all the conversations. I’m really impressed with his Russian!
I’ve decided that I will include a few things that I have learned in Russia every time I post, so that you can see Russia through my eyes. I know that's just what you’ve always wanted.
1. Russian escalators are very long. I mean VERY long. Really, really, ridiculously long. I think in America that if an escalator goes more than one or two flights, they cut it into a few different escalators with a landing between them, but here, your escalator ride could last as long as three or four stories. This is not an exaggeration. Also, the escalators move very quickly. I applaud Russia for that, because I’ve always hated how long escalators take, but I wonder how all the little old babuskas are able to move fast enough to get on and off, because I have a hard time in my young and spry state.
2. Russians carry flowers upside-down. Especially the men. Occasionally, you’ll see a woman carrying her flowers with the blooms up, but it seems to be the exception. The reason I’ve noticed this is that Russians buy a lot of flowers! There are flower vendors on every corner, and sometimes in between. Mostly roses, but also a lot of tulips, and I have to say that I have never seen such beautiful tulips in all my life. Charles bought me some pink ones yesterday, and the pinkness of them made me want to cry. (That one’s for you, Mollie!) I think this is a custom I want to bring home to America. It’s very romantic, wouldn’t you say?
3. Borscht is yucky. I hate cabbage. I hate beets.
1 comment:
"doesn't the color pink just make you want to cry?" bwaaah haaaah haaaah. Thank you for still being my friend after that moment.
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