36-, 32- or 18-Hour Day

My family is finally whole again. For 2 weeks, Christy and Megan were in America in order to attend a family wedding. A couple days ago, they returned to Ethan and me. By the time we got home to Elektrostal, we were at the end of a very long, busy day. Let me elaborate.

Ethan and I began our day at around 7:00. By around 8:00, we were out the door and off to one of the Moscow airports to pick up Carrie & Amanda, a couple 20-somethings from First Denver Friends who will be here with us until August 6. I judged the time it would take to get to the airport almost perfectly. Their flight arrived at 10:30. We arrived at 10:25. The same trip took me about an hour when I took Pam & Madeleine to the airport at o'dark thirty a few weeks ago.

Christy and Megan weren't scheduled to arrive until around 6:30 in the evening, so we drove into the city to get the girls' visas registered. Let's just say I don't really enjoy driving in Moscow yet. We did make it to the GoToRussia offices as intended, but not at all by the route I planned out the day before. The main reason is due to the difficulty of turning left in Moscow. They just don't often allow it. That means whenever I pass the street I want I usually have to go way out of the way to get back headed in the right direction.

Fortunately, I planned for this, so we still made it to our next destination on time. One of the things that Carrie and Amanda (and I) will be doing while they are here is volunteering at New Hope Center (NHC), the Salvation Army's refuge for street children in Moscow. We arranged this through our Aussie friends who work for the Army. Next week, the 3 of us will stay in Moscow and work at the NHC each afternoon for 4 hours during their peak time, so we went there in order to know how to get there and to meet the staff. We are looking forward to our week of spending time with kids who are used to a very hard and ugly life.

It was back to the airport from there to pick up Christy and Megan, but it was not to be quite that easy. While en route, I got a call from Christy who was still in Paris. On their way from Houston to Paris, there was a medical emergency that required them to stop in Cleveland. They remained on the plane, but it delayed them by a couple of hours, causing them to miss their connection in Paris. Fortunately, there was still another Air France flight to Moscow the same day. That would put them in a little over 3 hours late.

To pass the time, Carrie, Amanda, Ethan and I popped into the Mega Mall not far from the airport and explored the massive complex. We enjoyed a delicious meal of salmon or meatballs at IKEA while we were at it. I felt so badly for ladies because they were so exhausted, but we needed to keep them somewhat active or they would crash. They were extremely good sports about everything.

Was our adventure done there? No! We arrived at the airport and began waiting for Christy and Megan to walk out of baggage claim and into the arrival hall, but it was not to be any time soon. Finally, they came through with only 3 of their 4 bags, so Christy had to return to report the lost suitcase. She was absolutely exhausted, both physically and emotionally, by the time she was finished. The one good thing about them getting in so late was that there was no traffic snarls on the way home. I think it was around 1:00 when we finally arrived home and another half hour before we fell into bed. Carrie & Amanda began their trip 36 hours earlier, Christy and Megan 32 hours earlier, Ethan and I 18 hours earlier.

Let's just say, I'm glad the day is history.

Patrick