RUSSIA

     Out of Argentina, onto a flight to Chile for 2 hours, learned Russian with Ellie, in Chile airport for 1.5 hours, on a flight to New York for 11 hours, sleeping horrifically in a vertical position, in New York for 8 hours buying supplies and hanging out, on a flight to Finland for 8 hours, barely making it on my last flight, figuring out I had a 100.2 fever, making it to Moscow, finding out that my luggage had been lost, filled out a ton of paperwork, got a bus for 15 minutes, stoped at a random Russian store to pick up some supplies i was without due to lost luggage, ate yummy pizza and Sabaro, back on bus for 4 hours, and I am now finally in Vladimir, Russia!! 
     I left Buenos Aires, Argentina Sunday at 5pm (Argentina time) and I finally made it to Vladimir, Russia last night around 8pm (Russia time). So it took me about two days to finally get here, longest experience of my life! Not going to lie it was difficult because I was super sick as we were flying; stuffy nose, soar throat, achey, chills, all the promises of a super bad cold.  But I am here now!
     I think I like it here in Russia. It rained today while we were out buying supplies; my very first foreign rain experience. The rain here isn't any different from the rain at home, although it felt significantly colder due to the 40something degree weather outside. I totally paid for a bus ride today too, prior to rain. It was a very exciting experience!
     OH so my bag totally got left in Helsinki, Finland. Six of our 30 bags got lost somewhere between New York and Moscow. So that was interesting, something else to add to my 100 degree stupid cold. But it was okay, it didn't bother me really. I knew i could get by a couple days with nothing but the clothes on my back and a few other things. My big bag is just a bunch of books, chargers, clothes, and DEADWEIGHT! That beast is heavy, I'm going to have some very nice muscles after this trip so look out.
     Russia succeeded in following through with one of it's stereotypes I was informed of prior to my arrival: I met a guy names Vladimir. Who else but a Russian would be named Vladimir? Nice guy, but it makes my heart chuckle a little, especially because the city I'm in is called Vladimir. Anyhow, I've noticed there's a pattern of chivalry with the men here. They really like helping all of us girls do things. When I first got here I was welcomed by a man who spoke some English, and he insisted on taking the 3 plastic bags I was carrying in my hand. It was something I could have easily held but he would not take no for an answer. I could get use to that I suppose. Oh, and I was bowed to twice tonight! This guy said goodnight on two different occasions this evening and bowed both times, very interesting. I was not sure what response to that should be, so I smiled.
     Tomorrow I have breakfast, class, lunch, service work, dinner, and homework.  There will be much more fun in there than it sounds, promise! I'm excited to see more of what Russia has to offer. It's a beautiful place that I feel as if I could be falling in love with. I'm working on learning more of the language, it's quite difficult though. Thank God for Serge and Paul, our lovely translators! Without these guys I would understand very little of this world around me.
     Well it's almost 12am here, and I still have quite a bit of homework to do so I shall be off. I'm excited for what God's doing with all of us here in Russia and I'm stoked to see what unfolds each day at a time!