To Russia With Anticipation

So, having typed a couple paragraphs, what I'd written vanished. Why? Cosmic editing of fuzzy writing is the only plausible explanation. Though, this is in keeping with how preparations for this trip have unfolded. Akin to the vanishing airline reservation specifically. I had my confirmation . . . I even had a seat assignment on Delta . . . and then when I called Alitalia to request a seat assignment, I suddenly didn't have a ticket, nor a reservation. Thank you Alitalia for not having online seat request capability. Otherwise, I'd be showing up at Logan this morning with my bags and a smile, and no chance of getting on a flight to Moscow.

As it turns out, I'm now on a train to NY, to get to JFK, to get on a flight to Moscow. It all worked out. As long as this unexpected loss of power and forward movement in New London proves temporary.

Appropriately, it was snowing this morning as I walked over to Back Bay Station. Just enough to whiten the ground, but I appreciated the gesture. It appears that the weather has finally turned wintery in Yaroslavl, too. This makes me happy. It wouldn't have been quite the genuine winter welcome I was hoping for without snow around.

My 46 Pimsleur Russian lessons now seem wholly inadequate. I just now got to, "How's the weather?" And, I had to look up snow on my own: снег. Pronounced: Snerg. You can see in this small example one of the principal challenges in trying to tackle Russian as a second language. The alphabet is on one hand familiar, but full of amusing misdirections. с = s; н = n; г = g. And, then there are the extra letters that are more hieroglyphic in nature: жфю. I am glad that Cross Cultural Solutions will have a translator nearby at all times!

Thinking of all I don't know how to say, and even more how limited my ability to comprehend anything said in Russian, I feel compelled to return to Lesson 1 and try to reinforce the most basic and essential components: "Do you speak English?" "I don't understand." "Please help me."