Saturday, May 30, 2009

Almost there

Well, it's been almost four years, I am headed back to St. Petersburg. This time I will not be studying Russian (directly), but will instead be working for the US Department of State. This summer may be less exciting than previous ones, as I will be less a tourist and more a working stiff, but if you are interested in keeping up with what I am doing in Mother Russia, this will be the best option (not that that many of you care to know the minutiae of my days abroad).

I hope to update a couple of times a week for the summer, although I can't be sure how frequent or entertaining my stories will be. But we'll give this a shot, and if you're lucky, I'll get some pictures posted on here.
Currently, I am sitting at a computer in Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris, which wins the award for most unnecessarily complicated airport I've ever been in (at least if you are headed toward Russia). The flight here was relatively uneventful, although one child screamed almost nonstop for the first hour of the flight, which was delightful. I was quickly reminded upon my arrival of why I love Russia and hate Europe when I purchased a 1/2 liter coca-cola for a cool 4 euros. Can't wait to get to Russia and spend $.60 on the same item.

Speaking of which, next time you hear from me, I should be in Russia.

1 comment:

  1. If we're handing out awards to airports in Europe, the award for "Worst Airport to Lose Your Luggage in if You Don't Speak the Language" award goes to Tegel Airport in Berlin. I flew in there by Icelandair from Stockholm, and my luggage conveniently never made the plane. Instead of letting me know of this fact, I instead got to wait at the belts for about 30 minutes before giving up and trying to find an information counter. At the time, information knew nothing about my missing luggage, so I had to look for the lost luggage department... which is located in a tiny shack on the edge of the back parking garage. Once they told me they didn't know anything about my luggage, I was firmly rebuked for trying to exit through the door I entered and had to navigate a funhouse of rooms with signs in a variety of phrases for "Exit". By the time I was back to information, thankfully, they could tell me what was up with my stuff.

    I'm looking forward to hearing exciting things from you about this visit!

    -Daniel Taylor

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