Thursday, June 2, 2011

getting to russia

written while in Russia finalizing the adoption of our son...

Getting to Russia was definitely the easiest part of this trip! I got to travel with my husband, which I love. By that I mean I not only love my husband, but I love traveling with him. Despite my missing my Matthew Zhao I have to admit it was nice to walk through the airports at a leisurely pace, without constantly calling out for Matthew to hold my hand or to stay close. You know that feeling of relaxation when you are totally not responsible for another little human? After all, my husband rarely wanders off. Although when we does, he never tells me where he is going, so I am often left standing alone, looking around, wondering where the heck he went.

There were a lot of laughs on the way to Russia. Here are a few of my favorite moments...

  • on one of the flights I was happily watching the video, which was, amazingly, built into the headrest of the seat in front of me, when the volume kept getting louder and louder. Alarmed, I looked down at the armrest, where the control panel was. The guy next to me had fallen asleep and his arm was not only increasing the volume pumping through my headphones to a deafening level but he was also somehow managing to zoom my picture in and out. It was like trying to watch TV after taking some bad drugs. I couldn't complain though. Poor guy, he certainly seemed to have a good reason to be so tired. Earlier in the flight he was reviewing notes either from a meeting he had just left or in preparation of  a meeting he was heading to and it sounded like his office was a hot mess. Yes, I read the notes. I couldn't help it. He was holding them way out in front of him so he could read them, so there they were, front and center. Not to gossip, but apparently there has been a lot of fighting in his office since Tim was promoted over Shelly. Shelly has been there longer, but no one likes her. This has led to actual shouting matches in the office, which is making the interns uncomfortable. Poor interns.
  • Seeing Spanish Marshall and Lilly in the South Korean airport. Awesome. And if you don't get that reference then you are clearly not watching enough television.
  • We knew there was another couple from our adoption agency taking this trip with us, and we knew they would be flying in through South Korea also. Any American on the flight from South Korea to this city in Russia in probably adopting, so everyone is checking each other out, looking for signs, like someone carrying a large envelope of x-rays. Brad was convinced that a couple sitting in the next row of waiting area chairs was our fellow adopters because, get this, they had a box with what looked like the Columbus electric company logo on it. When I asked why they would be bringing a box from the electric company my husband panicked and explained, "They must be bringing electricity." uh, sure.
  • I think my favorite part of the trip was my husband noticing the one hole putting green located directly outside the window of the waiting area. What is odd about this is that it is located right on the tarmac, right where the planes are waiting. The even odder thing about it, though, is that we were on the second floor. This putting green was located on the ledge, right outside the window, with no foreseeable way to even climb up there to play. After Brad pointed this out to me I had visions of the plane crashing due to a golf ball being lodged in some important part needed for flying.
  • And, of course, the terrifying dog standing guard in the baggage area of the tiny Siberian airport.

No comments:

Post a Comment