Russia... Day One

I have been back in the United States of America for about two weeks now and all I can say is God Bless The USA!! However, I did have many crazy adventures in Russia and considering I had limited Internet access, I recorded most of them on paper. So starting today I am going to attempt to recount my Russian experiences. I hope you all decide to follow along!

St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow

The events of 7/7/2012

The plane was crazy!! I was so nervous about getting on the right one and when I should board since all the airline workers at the gate spoke only Russian when making announcements. I did however meet a nice elderly gentleman who was going to visit his son in Russian but he was a US citizen and therefore spoke English. We traded stories and he helped a little bit with the whole process. 

When I went to board the plane, the captain and flight attendants were greeting us and I had no idea what they were saying so stupidly I thought they wanted to look at my passport/ticket again. I think it was because  he had his hand out and I had my paperwork in my hand. Really what he wanted was to direct me to my seat because the air plane was gigantic! First cultural misunderstanding... ugh!

My TV screen!

So on this plane there were two seats on each side and about five in the middle. I had an aisle seat in the middle. Each seat had their own TV screen in front of them complete with remote control because not only could you watch movies, but also play video games. I was hesitant to use this because I assumed that of course they would charge me for this! The screen was connected to a camera that they turned on during take off and landing that showed the runway from the view of the nose of the plane. It was kinda cool. All the flight attendants wear bring red! The women and little ties/scarves on and cute little red hats. I wanted to take a picture but didn't want to offend anyone and have a second cultural misunderstanding so soon after the first one. 

After we took off, I settled in and did some reading. Everyone was speaking Russian including the lady next to me. However, she realized (after my incredibly blank look at her greeting) that I didn't speak Russian and she addressed me in broken, but passable English. I was able to understand from her that the TV screen and accompanying games and movies were all free. It goes without saying that this made the ten hour flight seem less daunting. She asked about my reason for going to Russia so we were able to have a small conversation. She had very frizzy hair and had on very tight neon-leopard print pants and pink socks with red hearts completed the ensemble. After talking for a few minutes, she proceeded to sleep for the rest of the flight, leaving me to my own devices. 

Russian beverage

I basically stayed up for the whole flight because I was too nervous about missing some important directions from the flight staff. We got two meals on board, neither of which was satisfactory but at least I was starving.  Also the flight attendants handed out illustrated books to children on the workings of a plane and how everything is taken care of on board etc... which I thought was a pretty smart idea. Over all the flight was fast and before I knew it we had arrived in Moscow the next day....