You can wait or you can go back

I'm not dead, no, I felt that way by the time I arrived in this city, but I'm alive and finally starting to hit my stride. Where do I begin?

The flight was fairly uneventful: Oakland to JFK, two hours on the ground after five hours of flying, then caught the Finn Air connection to Helsinki, seven hours of flying with screaming chilredn that I wanted to jetison like ming the merciless. On my left sat a giant bull the size of a house with a shaved head that was heading for a singles tour of Kazan. Read between the lines: sex tour! On my right was a suburbanite heading to show her dog in some European dog show in Helsinki. She kept making faces and rolling her eyes at the poor parenting of the screaming children. She must've thought that they should've been treated just like her mut and quiet and attentive with a choke collar. Needless to say the flight was less than stellar and I couldn't wait till it was over. I spent half the flight standing and pacing up and down the plane. The only redeeming thing about it was the free beer and wine. Finn Air, very humane for just that. I spent an hour in the airport and then caught my connection to St. Petersburg where the real fun began. I arrive and make my way down to immigration. The lines move quickly, quicker than Moscow, and I'm at the terminal. I can see the customs area beyond, hope, my double entry visa will work, I can get through and get into the country.

"When were you born?"

"August 4, 1975"

"Your visa says April 8th"

"That's a mistaken"

"I know it doesn't match your passport page."

"Well what can we do?"

"You can wait for the diplomat or go back to Helsinki."

And so I began my 2 hour wait in the lobby of the airport for this diplomant who would correct my visa and give me a new one, cancelling a second visa in my now overburdened passport. A new visa later, third one for this trip alone, I'm in the country, my ride has left thinking I'm MIA in some scandanavian paradise. I catch a cab, mercedes, 1800 rubles, way too much, I don't care, I'm tired, hungry, head is pounding, I have 5000 US in my pocket for the program's use, and a big suitcase, not risking a gypsy cab.

And that was how I got here. and now, I'm going to shut this down, laptop is almmost out of juice and I don't see a nearby plug. The 24 hour internet cafe, Quo Vadis, is gone... sadly... so its all slow wi-fi at zoom and the british pub, the office.

More soon... once I juice this thing up.

liebe,
-L