So it was Saturday morning when de-boarded and we headed straight to passport control. That’s when a little wave of nervousness hit me. I wanted to make it through with no problems and I did! We went to baggage claim and waited for the entire luggage to unload. I got my two big suitcases but just kept waiting for my little check on one they took in Chicago but it never came, and neither did like five other girls’ stuff. So we all had to go to information and fill out all this paperwork and just feel sick and helpless that they had no idea where our stuff was. How that was possible I didn’t know, I watched everything get loaded in Washington. So we could do nothing but wait and off to customs we went. I didn’t know what customs was or what to expect so we lined up to have our stuff x-rayed and the guards looked at all six of us and was like, “go, go, just go” and was like pushing us out of the airport. Sweet no customs control! So then we went to the international terminal, (yes the same one that was just bombed on Monday) and waited for our ride. It was crazy to think where I was standing was right where so many people got hurt. There was plywood and plastic covering a lot of things and several guards and a metal detector for people coming through the doors. So really I just wanted to get outside!
We loaded on our bus and headed for a two hour bus ride to our apartment and school. Not fun it was already like noon and we landed at ten so it was a two hour hassle about the bags. Our head teacher Alexis introduced us to a lot of things and information, but I think we were all so tired none of it really registered! The bus ride was long and uncomfortable but we made it to our apartment and unloaded all our stuff. It was a walk up two flights of stairs with our bags not fun! We got to our place on the third floor and looked at our room, it was small but ok, there were all five beds together in the same room, and little closets and bookshelves and nightstands for everyone. Basically we had to just put our stuff down and head out to see the school. We started walking and it is about a ten min walk to the school from our house. We are in gated community and the school has a guard at the gates so that is nice. We got to the school and did a quick tour of a few rooms, and then we went to the lunch room and got fed a big plate of interesting food!! Oh me and food, what an adventure this will be! We were given a bowl of buckwheat, potato and carrot soup. And plate of rice with almost a BBQ beef or something. The rice and soup were good but I had a hard time eating the meat. They serve everything with bread and some sort of fruit juice. So that’s always good, but now I know why they said to bring peanut butter because plain bread could get boring after a few months. So we ate then we were shuffled of to the bus stop and headed into Moscow.
It takes about 45 min to an hour to get into town. Once in town we went and exchanged some of our money and then we went and had to get 6 pictures taken for our visas and for the government. Let me tell you, not pretty when you are so tired and had no time to stop moving. Then we went to McDonalds and waited for our head teacher and Inna to get back, because she was showing Alexis the metro. That was an interesting experience to try and order but we did it and got what we wanted. So they came back and we headed back on the bus to go home. That was a very long and tiring day. But as soon as we got home I just wanted to start and unpack my things just to make sure everything was there and ok. So once I got about 90% unpacked I laid down in the little munchkin, hard as a rock bed we have and passed out! And so ended day two in Russia.
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