So I've been in Russia for a few days now and so far, it's going alright….. the flight was obviously long (it was about 10 hrs I think) but all I wanted (besides a safe landing) was to be able to get through passport control, get my BAG and find my group! Got through passport control easily…. waited near the luggage pick up for a nerve-racking 10 minutes and teared up at the sight of my bag! You can never be too sure with the connections and the sheer fact that Russian airport employees would be handling my bag. Then went into the gate and found my group without issue. Waited for about 20 minutes for the ROTC cadets to come through the gate (apparently one of them was not so lucky in retrieving their bag) and we were off to Yaroslavl… or so we thought. The buses picked me and about 17 of my new friends (plus the 2 CCS translators) and we left the airport. As I settled in to nap about 45 min into the "4 hour bus ride" all of a sudden the bus started slowing (from the 50 mph it was going on the highway) and pulled off on the shoulder. The bus drivers got out "fixed" something and we started going slowly on the shoulder again… 5 min later, they got out again "fixed" something and again going slow on the shoulder… finally, they pulled up on the shoulder near an auto repair shop (on the side of the highway)- which also sold baby inflatable pools-and after about an hour of repairs (during which me and my fellow volunteers stood by the side of the highway as several Russians passed us (apparently walking on the side of the highway is normal? As is hitchhiking!).
We were on the road again and after setting in to a nap again, the bus stopped. This time when I opened my eyes I saw that we were in the middle of the biggest traffic jam! People were out of their cars, walking around and talking since the traffic was literally not moving. We sat in this traffic for another, ohhh, 2 1/2 hrs when we finally passed the cause of the jam, a car crash that hadn't been moved to the side of the road and each lane of traffic had to alternate driving. So the trip that was supposed to take 4 hrs, took over 8 hours…. oh and did I mention that Yaroslavl is only 175 MILES from Moscow??!?? I will be leaving about 8 hours before my flight on the way home.
Upon arriving, we were greeted with a hot meal of soup, chicken and rice by one of the cooks. Although the meal looked very good, I did not have much of an appetite. Despite all my preparations and research, I have to admit I am suffering a bit from culture shock (and I'm sure a little bit of homesickness). In an effort to feel better, I went out with some of my other volunteers last night to check out the city. This consisted of walking over a bridge and getting money at the ATM. We walked back to the home base around 10:45pm... and yet it was not dark. That's probably one of the biggest things to get used to. It's almost 8:30pm right now and it looks like it's noon! It never gets completely dark at night. The time it gets the darkest is around 1 or 2 am (and I would know since I couldn't fall asleep until 4:30am and then had to wake up at 6:45 to shower.
Needless to say, Saturday/Sunday was one of the longest days of my life.
Today was a little better. We had our orientation with the program manager, learned about our placements for the week (this week I will mostly be working with the women in the women's hospital, a place that we're really needed as they get no other visitors :( Also had a city tour with a tour guide - went to many historic sites in Yaroslavl.
Tomorrow we start our placements. I'm excited to be here but right now, the amount of time I'm here sounds really long... I'm sure that by the time I'm done I'll wish for more time but it's just tough the first few days.
Thank you for everyone's support! I definitely appreciate all of the emails and good wishes! It's really nice to hear from home when you're so far away.
Will post more when I can get online again.
OH! And the thing I realized I forgot.... my USB cord to bring the photos from my camera onto my computer!!! SOOO upset about that but am hopeful that I can find someone to borrow one from or maybe even buy one in Russia....? If not, there will be lots of pictures when I return. :)
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