Blog. In America.

So I got on my plane to Germany. All was fine. I was sitting in an aisle with an empty seat next to me, so that was nice. There was this guy in the window seat who appeared to speak fluent Russian, and I’m pretty sure he was Russian, but I’m not sure if he had some sort of weird accent or speech impediment or what but EVERY time he tried to talk to me I couldn’t understand anything he was saying. It was sort of painful and awkward.

Changed planes in Frankfurt. Ended up sitting in an aisle again (thank God) next to some Polish guy and his son who sort of spoke Russian but not really. So every time he tried to say something to me, I had no idea what he was saying. Especially because I think half the time he wasn’t even trying to speak Russian, just straight up Polish (which sounded like a really weird mix between German and Russian). Also part of the time he’d be looking at me but talking to his son so that threw me off, like, a LOT, and found myself unsure of what to do. He also took up much of my personal space. But other than that he was okay. I helped him fill out all of the forms he had to fill out since he didn’t speak any English whatsoever. Which involved a lot of Russian, smiling, and pointing to places on passports. Then the girl next to his son was asking me how to declare cigarettes, as if it was really important, which made me unsure of just how many cigarettes they were bringing in.

They ran out of chicken for dinner, so that was sad. The stewardesses were also not so nice. But that’s okay. I listened to one of their, like, 20 radio stations. Eating/drinking took up a lot of time. About an hour into the 8 hour flight I seriously thought I was going to die. I was like…I’m just not going to make it. But it was fine. And then about halfway through they played a John Cusack movie (new?) called Martian Child. It was sort of weird. But they had a lot of funny lines, and then everyone looked at me funny. For example:
Martian Child: I eat Lucky Charms.
John Cusack:……I’m a big believer in a substantial breakfast.
Maybe you had to be there.

Then like 20 mins before our flight got in I actually thought I was going to die. I had gotten up and walked around and stretched and whatnot, but my legs were SO itchy. It was awful. Also our plane seemed to be doing, like, figure 8s around Long Island instead of just, like, going straight to JFK and landing (we could see this on the screen with the map, they show what the plane’s doing, etc). I was like…what is this ridiculous aircraft doing.

So then I was SO grateful that I was a US citizen because the line to check passport for internationals was atrocious. I have no idea how many international flights had just come in, but it looked like…a million. There were SO many people. I stood in the US line for, like, 7 mins. Also when they took my customs declaration they didn’t even LOOK at it. I could have said that I had Mad Cow diseased meat and they WOULDN’T EVEN HAVE KNOWN.

Then I was stressed because I didn’t know how to get from JFK to LaGuardia. Some guy told me that the shuttle bus stopped running at 8, and I should ask about other shuttles at the ground transportation desk. Then this woman said there were no other shuttles available and sent me back to where the bus was. Then the first guy told me that I’d have to take a taxi. Then I took a taxi to my hotel. Also, the hallways were ramped. It was the strangest thing I’d ever seen. I almost took a picture but was too tired. But it didn’t smell like smoke and EVERYONE SMILED. I like, didn’t know what to do. I’m so used to just scowling and not looking at anyone that I must have looked so strange when I tried to half smile and half just keep going. It meant I had really shifty eyes and…well, a half smile. So then, even though I had been up for 20 hours, I was too wired and overwhelmed to do anything. And I was sort of surprised at how not surprised I was about everything. I didn’t really fazed or shocked or anything, just sort of sad. So I ordered take-out Chinese. Which was not very good. And then went to sleep.

Next morning got up at 5:45. Had an 8:30 flight. Got on the 6:30 shuttle to LaGuardia. Arrived at, like, 6:40. Was completely checked in and sitting at my gate at 7. WHY DO I ALWAYS DO THIS?! I was even selected for secondary security screening, or whatever it is. And still an hour and a half early. I DON’T NEED TO BE THERE THAT EARLY.

Also they had coverage of the New Hampshire primaries going like 24 HOURS A DAY. THAT IS NOT NECESSARY. IT ALREADY HAPPENED. I swear, if I had to hear anything again I probably would have attacked someone. GOD I had forgotten what US politics was like. Then there was this clip of Hilary Clinton saying something to the extent of “I came here, heard what you had to say, and found my voice.” BARF. OH GOD. I seriously thought I was going to hurl my Lufthansa-given hot dog pretzel all over the floor.

I should, in fact, be appreciating all of this as evidence that we actually HAVE a democracy. For a second I thought “they wouldn’t do this in Russia…” but then I realized that Putin already “selected” his successor and there’s really no democratic element to it at all.

So I was irritated by that. I was also on a flight consisting entirely of businessmen. AND THEY WERE SO IRRITATING. All in their little suits (actually I like suits), playing with their blackberries, talking about the economy. This never used to bother me before. They were all…like…TALKING to each other, and to other people. See, I’m so used to people just sitting by themselves and not talking to anyone else because Russians don’t really do that.

Also, television in the US? Completely ridiculous. I really shouldn’t be saying this, since Russian television consists of squeezing yourself through wall cut outs in order to avoid being shoved into a pool, or avoiding bulls while dressed in banana suits on bicycles, but still. At any rate, I’m sort of appalled by it all. But I never really liked any of the really trashy shows. It’s all just sort of…strange. Cold Case Files is still fantastic. As is Everybody Loves Raymond. And right now I’m watching a documentary about a New York gang. It is COMPLETELY disgusting. Anyway, not important.

So I guess I should, like, wrap this blog up. As it’s my last entry. Reflect on my semester. I don’t really know what to say. Russia is so hard to sum up. However, I’m hooked and can’t wait to go back. I’d like to work/do grad school in Moscow after graduation. Or maybe even this summer. At any rate, earlier in November I was debating about how much I wanted to speak Russian, given that it would mean I wouldn’t be speaking English. In order to become REALLY good at Russian, I’d have to speak less English (this makes sense). I want to do that. For awhile I was so frustrated that I just felt I’d be okay with being so-so and do other things. But now I really want to come back. And keep going. And become really good. And live in Russia for awhile.

Well, anyway. That’s where I want to go from here.