Travel Orders
Well, it's official! We have our travel orders! That means we have an itinerary, our move has been scheduled, and we have a million things to do before we leave. Yikes!
The good news is our itinerary is about the best we could have hoped for. We get to Yekaterinburg in the evening, and after a ten hour flight, followed by a four hour layover, and another 2.5 hour flight, I think we should be tired enough to sleep our first night in Yekaterinburg. Here's hoping, because John has to be at work the next morning! Jack and I will be holed up in the apartment together, I'm guessing, since we won't have any of our stuff other than the suitcases we bring with us, and I won't have a clue where anything is.
I'm very excited that my parents are coming out to help me adjust the week after. They can't help us unpack, unfortunately, since most of our stuff won't arrive until a month after we do, but at least they'll be able to explore Yekat with me and help Jackie settle into his new life. They obviously don't speak any Russian, but I figure three clueless Americans blundering around is better than one (from my point of view, anyway; at least we'll have each other!).
Check out the cutest passport holder ever!
Of course, having our orders means this is really, really REAL. There were a lot of things we couldn't do before we got our orders (plane tickets, visas, etc.), but now that we have the green light, it's go time. John's list of things we need to do/get is growing by the day, and I have a feeling we'll be crossing everything off at once (which means we'll be running around like maniacs down to the wire).
After my tough week of Russian last week, I was close to giving up. But I decided to stick with it, to go a little easier on myself, and to speak up when I needed to. This week definitely went better, and since next week is all about food, I suspect I'll do just fine. Here are a couple of examples: чай (tea - pronounced "chai"), бублик (bagel - pronounced "bublik"), and шоколад (chocolate - pronounced "shockolod")! Hey, at least I won't starve.
The good news is our itinerary is about the best we could have hoped for. We get to Yekaterinburg in the evening, and after a ten hour flight, followed by a four hour layover, and another 2.5 hour flight, I think we should be tired enough to sleep our first night in Yekaterinburg. Here's hoping, because John has to be at work the next morning! Jack and I will be holed up in the apartment together, I'm guessing, since we won't have any of our stuff other than the suitcases we bring with us, and I won't have a clue where anything is.
I'm very excited that my parents are coming out to help me adjust the week after. They can't help us unpack, unfortunately, since most of our stuff won't arrive until a month after we do, but at least they'll be able to explore Yekat with me and help Jackie settle into his new life. They obviously don't speak any Russian, but I figure three clueless Americans blundering around is better than one (from my point of view, anyway; at least we'll have each other!).
Check out the cutest passport holder ever!
Of course, having our orders means this is really, really REAL. There were a lot of things we couldn't do before we got our orders (plane tickets, visas, etc.), but now that we have the green light, it's go time. John's list of things we need to do/get is growing by the day, and I have a feeling we'll be crossing everything off at once (which means we'll be running around like maniacs down to the wire).
After my tough week of Russian last week, I was close to giving up. But I decided to stick with it, to go a little easier on myself, and to speak up when I needed to. This week definitely went better, and since next week is all about food, I suspect I'll do just fine. Here are a couple of examples: чай (tea - pronounced "chai"), бублик (bagel - pronounced "bublik"), and шоколад (chocolate - pronounced "shockolod")! Hey, at least I won't starve.
Good luck! I know how scary the first move is. But seriously, that ppt/ticket holder IS super cute. I love it!! I usually just use the very bottom of my travel backpack. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Hannah! Thanks for stopping by. Usually my stuff is all over the place too, but whilst trying to keep track of a two-year-old and all of his extra accoutrement, I think something like this could really come in handy. Plus it's just darn cute ;)
DeleteWoohoo! BTW I have a friend who just got back from a TDY in Yekat. She was miserable in Moscow but loved her time in Yekat, so fingers crossed for you guys liking it too!
ReplyDeleteWell that's good to hear! People say good things, but you wonder if they're just being kind. Always nice to hear good things from a third party!
Delete"Cha" is "tea" for like every language! Ocha is tea in Japanese.
ReplyDeleteThank goodness for cognates :) And I love chai, so it's easy to remember!
DeleteWow! Wishing you a marvelous adventure!
ReplyDelete