04 August 2011

What day is it?

It's been a day and a half since I left Minnesota, but it just feels like a really long day.

Flight number one: MSP (MN) to JFK (NY): uneventful.

Flight number two: JFK to SVO (Moscow): eventful.
  • Taxied around for at least an hour before takeoff; I'm not sure why.
  • Consistent and mysterious stomach pain. I thought I was intensely hungry for a long time, but they eventually brought us food, and that didn't help. Tried several methods of distracting myself; none of them worked well.
  • Had hopes for a few hours of snoozes; nodded off for about 15 minutes.
I also realized on flight number two that Whitney Houston's Greatest Hits, which I bought whatever night that was before I left (which oddly seems like ages ago, but the departure from Minneapolis seems like a matter of mere hours) contains only a remix of "I Wanna Dance With Somebody". That sort of remix that is different enough that you have to have the original version, too. Needless to say, that's been remedied in the last few minutes.

It didn't hit me that I was really leaving Minnesota (and Amoeba and family and friends)(and Amoeba) until yesterday or today. I've still barely begun to process the fact that I'm actually in Moscow right now, and that the airport didn't just spill out into some part of Minneapolis that I'm unfamiliar with.

Basically, I need to figure out how to make myself a safe space to be who I am in this room that I'm living in (which is the living room of my хозайка's apartment). I'm not sure how I'm going to do that yet.

I think I'm going to start by dancing around to Whitney Houston, though.

3 comments:

Cory Ellen Boberg said...

Holy crap, friend. You made it - congratulations! I always feel really sick during plane rides. I think the difference in pressure can do funny things to your insides.

Also, I'm totally rooting for your finding the safe space you need, in whatever way you can. Even if you have to hide part of who you are because of safety/well-being concerns in Russia, know that you're always loved and accepted out here on your corner of the glorious internets. <3

Ondrea said...

I got to Atlanta GA on Tuesday, and totally get what you mean about it not sinking in yet. You described it perfectly with the airport spilling out.

Congrats on making it over! And I echo Cory's entire second paragraph. <3

fecknom said...

Ahhhh I love you both.

Good news: I am feeling much, much better about Moscow today. So good that I might even think about looking for yarn stores tomorrow...