Russia... Day Two

So obviously the plan of writing everyday did not work. If you're part of the inner Emily circle (that's how I like to think of my family and friends, makes it sound like I have a spy network at my finger tips) then you know that things have been a little hectic lately and therefore I wasn't able to write for the last couple of days. But now I'm a little more permanently settled back in Macomb and ready to write about day two!

The events of 7/8/2012

So as I mentioned before, I think my biggest fear as the Moscow airport and not being able to understand anything the airport employees were saying and as a result getting lost or doing something illegal. My flight ended up being about an hour late, but the airport was so easy when I got there! I had a moment of panic when my luggage was literally one of the last to make it's way onto the carousal. All I could think about was how was I going to make it the whole time without all my stuff! But it was there and I made it through customs with no problems even taking into account the language barrier and I met up with two other girls in our group; Colette and Michelle, and one of our translators, Asya.

Translators and Gio (Asya is in the pink)

 We then proceeded out into the sunshine (it was really nice weather the first week in Russia) and into a van with on of our drivers, Viktor. We had a ridiculously long ride to Yaroslavl, which was the town that we volunteered and lived in. Viktor speaks no English but understands quiet a bit and has a very good sense of humor which helped a lot. He also really liked to listen to pop music from the 80s which made for a... different car ride. Mostly all I remember from the first half of the ride was trying so hard to stay awake! I wanted to adjust to the local time, but I didn't sleep much on the plane and on top of that I had taken some medicine so as not to get sick on the car ride and it made me even more drowsy. After about 30 mins I couldn't put it off and I feel into one of those car-sleeps where you're totally out but your head keeps bobbing and so you keep waking up, but not really and basically you just look ridiculous.

Half way into our trip to Yaroslavl, we stopped for dinner. Viktor, being the aggressive driver that he is, stopped very suddenly when we reached our roadside diner and because I was semi-asleep, I almost flew into the door. Poor Colette wasn't prepared to have be sleepily grabbing at her in an attempt to not fall over and embarrass myself. She forgave me and we all laughed about it but I felt pretty foolish for awhile and Viktor brought it up several times after that when he was driving us during the week.

At the diner I had cottage cheese pancakes with honey, which weren't bad but after one they get pretty sweet. They were basically like friend cottage cheese and the texture was interesting to say the least. At the diner the second part of our group, West Point cadets, caught up with us and we introduced ourselves pretty much as we were leaving. When I think about it now, they didn't make much of an impact then, but we all got very close by the end of the trip.

The food and water perked me up and I was able to stay awake for the second leg of the trip. There is very little transition between city and rural in Russia. In America we have a lot of suburbs or areas that aren't city, but are pretty civilized. Russia has big cities and then very rural farm areas. I saw a very interesting flea market time set up on the side of the road, but instead of odds and ends for sale, it was completely filled with stuffed animals! I also saw a man pumping up the tire for his care with a foot pump that you might use for a soccer ball.

The drivers were intense! There are no lines on the roads and drivers frequently pass people on what we would call the shoulder of the road. Everyone is busily trying to get where they want to go and anyone who gets in their way better watch out! Viktor got mad a couple of times and even showed one driver his middle finger while swearing at him in Russia which I thought was hilarious of course.
After our long drive, we were delivered to our Home Base and left to ourselves for the rest of the night to eat dinner and get to meet everyone. most of the people there were students younger than me and then a couple of older people. Becky, Victoria, Mackenzie and Claire had already been there for several weeks and were staying several weeks after we left. Michelle and Colette, myself, and then everyone from West Point (Madelyn, Gio, Melissa, Geoff, Armando, Brendan and John), and a mother daughter combo, Quinn and Debra had just arrived that day

Our entire group!

Home Base was great, kind of a dorm feel, but relaxed and casual. I really came to regard it as home and safe. I unpacked, talked to everyone and tried to stay up till a reasonable hour to help myself adjust better. Of course, during that time of year it didn't get dark until 11:00pm and then got light again at 3:00am so I wasn't even sure if I was going to be able to sleep at all!

Our living and dining space at Home Base

The downstairs craft room

My room that I shared with Michelle