Who Would Have Ever Thought We'd Be in Moscow!

We are here and in shock that we are actually in Moscow. Our trip was uneventful and after a longggg 6 hour layover in Atlanta we were on our way to Moscow. The flight was fine and not full so I was able to stretch out over three seats and sleep with a little help from my friend Ambien CR. We did have a celebrity sighting on the flight...Russia's version of George Michael, although I'm not sure he refers to himself as that, but we do. It looks like Russian George Michael had a fine time in the duty free shop and bought out the whole place. And since he was George Michael he didn't have to abide by the 2 carry on rule and had several people running up and down the plane looking for overhead storage for his 10 shopping bags full of stuff. Randy and I just looked at each other and said, "Is this how Russia is going to be?"

We met Carlos and Sally in the airport when she came up to me and said, "Are you Susan?" and we started chatting from there. They sat in front of us on the flight but Sally didn't know you could jump to another row and take over a whole aisle that you aren't assigned to. I'll bet she travels differently on the way home! ;-)

We also met the Horsts from TN. She was behind me and asked if I was Susan and introduced themselves. Kathy is like me and already knew to jump to the middle aisle so she slept in the row behind me over here. My kinda girl!

As we were getting off the plane we saw Mark and Sinziana in the waiting area. Sinziana was waving her hands to get our attention and I went up to the glass to talk to them. It was kind of hard to have a conversation through the glass dividers but Sinziana gave us some good advice and of course, showed us pictures of Diego. He is so cute and has these huge brown eyes. They are so happy and you could tell by how Sinziana excitedly talked about him. Mark stood there like a proud dad, flipping through pictures on the laptop.

Our driver/translator Pasha was already at the airport waiting for us when we went through customs. He was Rob and Dede's translator when they were on their first trip. There is NO WAY we would be able to figure this place out without him. This place makes Seoul South Korea look like a back country road. It's pretty even though it is winter and covered in snow. The buildings are very ornate and they all look like museums or govenment buildings but they are just regular buildings. After Pasha picked us up he took us to exchange money at this little tiny room in the middle of a strip of shops. He also took us to get groceries. A lot of stuff looks the same. Chester Cheetah is the same in Russia as America and Heinz ketchup looks the same but we would have never found the milk since it is sold in a carton that sits on a shelf, not refrigerated. The only thing I have not been able to get used to is the cigarrette smoke. They smoke everywhere over here. Our apartment smells really strongly of smoke and our sheets and pillows smell of smoke. I wish we would have brought our own pillows and we will have to go back to the store so I can get some Visine as my eyes are burning and red right now from all the smoke.

We are on our way out to dinner. We are going to TGIFridays which is down the way from us. Rob and Dede are going to meet us for coffee afterwards and we'll get to see Liam!! Pasha picks us up tomorrow at 10:00 am and we head to the CSS office and then to the MoE for our referral information and then to the orphanage!! Omigosh!! Our lives will never be the same after tomorrow and I just want it to hurry up and get here now. We'll update more tomorrow night when we get in from our day.