The Aeroflot plane ride could not have gone smoother. Initially, I was seated next to an elderly couple who turned out to be from Odessa, Ukraine. I told them I might be visiting Kiev during my trip here and the gentleman told me that right now there are political uprisings taking place. I said I wanted to visit anyway. Then, a stewardess cut our conversation short by telling us that unless we were traveling together, we could sit apart from each other since the plane was half empty. How serendipitous to have two entire seats to myself for the long, nine-hour flight. I moved to the window seat, spread out, got comfortable and fell asleep. About an hour later, I was awakened by the stewardess and offered food - baked salmon, pickled red fish with vegetables on the side, and cheesecake for dessert. Oh and tea of course. I finished my meal and spent the next five hours or so watching Sherlock - a BBC series that my friend Masha downloaded for me in Washington D.C. It was so captivating, the time flew by, and it was time for meal number two - pancakes and a side of cold cuts.
However what I don't love about Russians is that when people are doing their jobs, they take everything way too seriously. I understand that customs is nearly military-level and obviously it's important to not mess up and let a fugitive or terrorist or someone wrong in, but lighten up! I walked up to the scary lady at the customs window and handed her my entrance visa. (Though I am a dual citizen, my external Russian passport had expired and I got an entrance visa from the Russian Consulate to allow me to enter Russia in order to renew my passport.) Instead of a hello, I was greeted with a scowl and immediate barking - asking what this piece of paper was, where my real passport was, how I was traveling without a legitimate passport, why I hadn't had my passport renewed on time… Long story short, I was rudely told to wait until everything - my passport, visa, identity, legitimacy - was checked. Forty minutes later (did I forget to mention that my aunt Tania's brother graciously agreed to pick me up from the airport and was waiting for me this whole time? ...on top of a twenty minute flight delay…) an man in a suit walked out from a secret side door, sat down next to me, and began asking me questions - when I left the country, what university I was attending, where I was living… Fast-forward another twenty minutes and after successfully explaining to him that I have lived in the US my whole life, was just now visiting my grandmothers here, and I am going to renew my passport as soon as possible. He was finally satisfied and I was let though. Sorry, Misha, that you had to wait so long. Thank you for your patience. No thanks to you, scowling/mean/not-friendly-what-so-ever customs workers.
Anywho…we successfully arrived at my grandmother Galia's apartment in about an hour due to a severe traffic jam. The drive was great because Misha has a really fun radio that is connected to the same wavelength as other drivers on the road (especially truck drivers) that can be used to communicate with them! Maybe I'm not high-tech enough, but I have never heard of such a device and found it very amusing.
When we got to Krasnogorsk, where Galia lives, she welcomed us arms wide open and with a giant plate of 'sirnyiki' - a perfect welcome to Russia.
Then I slept all day…I need to begin adjusting to the 9 hour time difference with Washington D.C.
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