First impressions

Wednesday, March 24, 2010, Day 1 of 72, 4:30 p.m. Moscow time, 9:30 a.m. Athens time

That was some plane ride. But, admittedly, uneventful. It got dark quickly, remained dark for a while, and then was suddenly sunny morning—although for us, internally, it was 3:00 a.m. When the pilot announced that we were beginning our descent into Russia, I couldn’t believe it—all I had seen for miles was snow, ice, and water with the exception of a couple of small towns in the middle of that vast expanse of nothing much. And then, suddenly, I was in the biggest city I’ve ever seen.

All I did to get here was sit, so it felt strange when I got up and suddenly everything was in Russian. I couldn’t really feel my progress. It was like I had never left. The reality didn’t hit me until I was on Russian ground. It didn’t hit as hard as I had expected, which I suppose is a good thing. I don’t feel very odd at all.

But I do feel exhausted and jet-lagged.

My family: I have not met my host “dad,” Grisha (Грища), yet. I put “dad” in quotations primarily because he and Anya (Аня) are not far from my age. I haven’t yet decided how rude it would be to ask their exact ages. They have a little baby boy who is seven-and-a-half months old—the same age as my nephews, who I miss already. The baby’s name is Lev (Лев) or Lyova (Лёва) as a diminutive. Anya and Lyova are wonderful! Lyova is shy and pink-cheeked and has more hair than I’ve ever seen on a baby his age. Anya has very short dark hair, and she is a child psychologist who works with children with serious mental disabilities. She—fortunately or unfortunately—speaks absolutely perfect English with almost no Russian accent. She spent time in the states with her parents in the 90s. She and I have been speaking English today because I’m so tired, but we’ll switch to Russian soon, as Grisha doesn’t speak much English and I need all of the practice I can get with Russian.

I’m feeling very optimistic about my language skills. The staff at the Kitaygorodskaya School (Школа Китайгородская) are vibrant and enthusiastic, and the building is warm and welcoming.

Moscow in most places I’ve seen so far looks like Cleveland (but must be one hundred times the size). It is prettier in some areas, but I think Andrea said it best on the bus from the airport to the school—“I want to put this entire city through a car wash.” Most buildings look very dingy on the outside, but I suspect that, like my apartment building, they are fine on the inside.

I haven’t done much yet, so stand by for homesickness and culture shock.