The flight from JFK to Moscow was pretty uneventful. I was thrilled to see that one of my viewing options on the flight was the tv series House. I'm not going to admit to how many hours of it I watched while crossing the Atlantic and Western Europe- that's between the Lord and I...and a few Russians ;)
When we arrived at the airport in Moscow we of course had to go through all the normal airport processes...customs, baggage claim. From the moment we stepped off the plane, the most common question I was asked by the group was, "Are you ok? Do you want me to go with you?"
The most common directive I was given was, "shhhh".
Several girls offered to see if they could walk with me through Customs but as we all got closer to the booth each one of us became hesitant of that idea. "Just hand over your passport and don't say anything." I took my turn with the Russian Customs official, unable to suppress my American practice of greeting the person who is about to help you (at least I remembered to greet her in Russian). She did not return the greeting. She took a very VERY careful look at my photo and my face to make sure we matched. She then stamped my booklet return it and buzzed me through. I'm pretty sure I heard a collective sigh of relief from my co-travelers behind me.
Once through, I began laughing and talking with my new friends the way that we had been for hours since meeting up with one another. This is when the "shushing" began. At first I just did what they told me and lowered my voice or stopped talking altogether. But I started to get a little annoyed when the men who were with us would make loud jokes and laugh uproariously without the slightest reprimand. "If people know you are American, they will assume you have money..." Pick pocketing and theft are common problems in Russia.
They also felt a need to let me know that in the airport, the government is always watching and listening.
When we had claimed all of our luggage (what a task! 2 full-size suitcases and one carry-on for each individual) we gathered as a group outside the building. Tim, the head leader, began speaking rapidly in a tone that clearly indicated he was giving directions. Over and over again I picked up on two words..."stay enthusiastic!" Slav began to translate for me and told me that we were going to send our luggage in a taxi to the train station and then head ourselves on foot to the bus station to depart for the same destination- "stay enthusiastic!" Once we arrived at the train station we would need to move quickly with the luggage and work as a team to get it all loaded in the proper car- "stay enthusiastic!" I quickly found out that "stay enthusiastic" meant, "don't complain, do your part, and move quickly."
I was ready...I was SO ready!! After 13+ hours on a plane I was so glad that we were going to be taking a jaunt on foot. In the States I have grown accustomed to jogging 2 miles a day and, often, walking several miles in addition. Some of the girls had already begun to talk about how tiring it was going to be, which only made my hopes for a LONG walk grow.
It didn't take long for our group of 30 to spread ourselves out by 20 yards in our pacing. I wasn't sure if it was rude to pass the people in front of you on the path, and certainly I didn't know what direction to lead the group in, but I soon found myself with the front huddle, steering the course!
Unfortunately, the course turned out to be about half a mile.
A half of a mile we probably needed to stop 3 times on to make sure everyone was caught up.
During this disappointing realization (that my exercise for the following 3 weeks would consist of a brisk saunter at best), "stay enthusiastic" became a whole new kind of mantra for me :)
When we arrived at the airport in Moscow we of course had to go through all the normal airport processes...customs, baggage claim. From the moment we stepped off the plane, the most common question I was asked by the group was, "Are you ok? Do you want me to go with you?"
The most common directive I was given was, "shhhh".
Several girls offered to see if they could walk with me through Customs but as we all got closer to the booth each one of us became hesitant of that idea. "Just hand over your passport and don't say anything." I took my turn with the Russian Customs official, unable to suppress my American practice of greeting the person who is about to help you (at least I remembered to greet her in Russian). She did not return the greeting. She took a very VERY careful look at my photo and my face to make sure we matched. She then stamped my booklet return it and buzzed me through. I'm pretty sure I heard a collective sigh of relief from my co-travelers behind me.
Once through, I began laughing and talking with my new friends the way that we had been for hours since meeting up with one another. This is when the "shushing" began. At first I just did what they told me and lowered my voice or stopped talking altogether. But I started to get a little annoyed when the men who were with us would make loud jokes and laugh uproariously without the slightest reprimand. "If people know you are American, they will assume you have money..." Pick pocketing and theft are common problems in Russia.
They also felt a need to let me know that in the airport, the government is always watching and listening.
When we had claimed all of our luggage (what a task! 2 full-size suitcases and one carry-on for each individual) we gathered as a group outside the building. Tim, the head leader, began speaking rapidly in a tone that clearly indicated he was giving directions. Over and over again I picked up on two words..."stay enthusiastic!" Slav began to translate for me and told me that we were going to send our luggage in a taxi to the train station and then head ourselves on foot to the bus station to depart for the same destination- "stay enthusiastic!" Once we arrived at the train station we would need to move quickly with the luggage and work as a team to get it all loaded in the proper car- "stay enthusiastic!" I quickly found out that "stay enthusiastic" meant, "don't complain, do your part, and move quickly."
I was ready...I was SO ready!! After 13+ hours on a plane I was so glad that we were going to be taking a jaunt on foot. In the States I have grown accustomed to jogging 2 miles a day and, often, walking several miles in addition. Some of the girls had already begun to talk about how tiring it was going to be, which only made my hopes for a LONG walk grow.
It didn't take long for our group of 30 to spread ourselves out by 20 yards in our pacing. I wasn't sure if it was rude to pass the people in front of you on the path, and certainly I didn't know what direction to lead the group in, but I soon found myself with the front huddle, steering the course!
Unfortunately, the course turned out to be about half a mile.
A half of a mile we probably needed to stop 3 times on to make sure everyone was caught up.
During this disappointing realization (that my exercise for the following 3 weeks would consist of a brisk saunter at best), "stay enthusiastic" became a whole new kind of mantra for me :)
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