в Москве

I am in Moscow! It was a long journey all the way here but I am finally in the capital city of Russia!

Todd and I flew from Pittsburgh to Newark, then across the Atlantic to Stockholm (where we got Sweden stamps but never actually saw anything there! I also managed to master the Swedish language in just a few hours. ex: bus is buss! hahahah) and then we flew to Moscow. I was exhausted by the time we got here. I experienced air sickness for the first time. We had an hour left to go during the flight over the Atlantic and I started to feel nausea. So I got up and went to the flight attendant to see if he had any medicine. I told him that my stomach felt bad and he didn't understand me (we were flying Malaysia Air) and so I repeated myself and the next thing I knew, a female flight attendant was picking me up off the floor. I had fainted!! That is only the second time it has happened in my life. So they gave me lots of ice and cold towels and made me put my head between my knees. The flight happened to be one of the roughest I had been on. There was a storm as we entered Moscow and the turbulence was terrible.

Todd and I were met at the airport by one of the administrators from the company we work for and taken to our apartment. We stopped off at a shop and bought some snacks and then settled in. At first, I was not impressed with our new surroundings. The apartment looks like it is something out of the 1970s. We do have tables and chairs, unlike when I moved to Japan, but I was a bit disappointed. There is one big room where we have our living room and bedroom. Then we have a bathroom, kitchen, and entrance. In the morning light, I began to warm to our apartment. The fixtures are all new in the bathroom and kitchen, we have a balcony, a TV, and a couch. Also, the apartment is quiet and it wasn't dirty, just outdated. I guess I just had different expectations. Or I could have just been upset because the previous foreigner didn't leave any toilet paper for us! I have always known, I hate foreigners! I will post pictures of it later.

Todd and I managed to get to the grocery store where we found all that we needed. Then we visited red square and learned how to get back to our apartment (there was a moment of panic!).

I am in awe of how much history surrounds us at the moment. There are still hammer and sickles on stuff but also international businesses everywhere. We saw this statue of Lenin and all around it were businesses like Hitachi, etc. Strange. The metro is fanatic like Todd said. It is really fast and efficient. Once I get used to things I will be happy. Right now (day two) I am still trying to figure out how to get home and where stuff is. Thank God Todd is here. He knew what to buy and he speaks to the clerks. I will catch on but at least I don't have to worry about it right now.

Well I will keep you posted as to how things are progressing!