RUSSIA

ok, so there's 7 indians, 5 Africans and 1 American in a 12'x20' room at midnight...sounds like the beginning to a joke, huh? no, just dinner last night. sam's friend, Deepthi, invited us to come for dinner last night (apparently dinner is typically VERY late in the hostel). the food was great, prepared by a number of the people there. i am SO looking forward to having some cooking lessons with the Indians! This is also a fun little bit of knowledge: yesterday i was on Faisal's computer (Sam's roomate from last year, from Jordan) and his computer is all in Arabic, and then i open blogger and it automatically opens in Russian. so i was working in two languages, neither of which i understand! but thanks to the unviersal position of stuff in Windows XP, i could figure it out. (except that on an arabic computer, everything is backward from what i'm used to). fun.

THIS JUST IN:
Faisal just called to say that they talked to the Commendant of the hostel and she says she will give permission for me to stay here and put it on the books. THANK YOU, GOD! Tomorrow we get to move in to our own room! so this weekend will be filled with cleaning and moving and organizing and finally getting a space to ourselves...and FINALLY unpacking! I love travel, but living out of suitcases, and having to dig through them anytime you want to find something gets old very fast. only one more hurtle to go - my invitation letter for a longer term visa. thanks to so many of you who have been praying through this with us!

Sorry to those of you from Dayton who are jealous right now...but tonight a group of us are going to IKEA. I've kind of been held prisioner inside until we got the permissions we needed, so I'm really excited about getting to leave the Hostel!

Pictures later. I'm out.

NIGHT.MARE.

WEDNESDAY:

1 delayed flight + 1 taxi ride from Harrisburg to Philly = 2 missing passports

1 found wallet + 1 additional taxi ride + $200 = 1 returned wallet and 2 found passports, but too late to board

2 rescheduled flights for 1 Angolan and 1 American = intended arrival in Germany 7 hours too late for transit visa

1 expired transit visa + $110 and 1 Howard Johnson = 1 night in Philadelphia

THURSDAY:

1 hotel shuttle to airport + 1 train ride to center city Philly = arrival at Honorary German Consul

2 sessions with German lady at the Philly Consul + 1 phone call to German Consulate in NY + 1 phone call to Lufthansa = 1 taxi to 30th Street Station + $210 = train to Penn Station, New York City, New York

1 taxi to German Consulate, NY + 2 sessions with German Consulate + 2 passport photos, 10 blocks walked, 1 call to Germany and $98 = promises to issue visa and Fed Ex 1 Angolan passport to Lititz, PA after receiving flight confirmation from Lufthansa

15 blocks walked back to train station during rush hour = photos at Madison Square Garden, The United Nations, and glimpses of Chrysler Building

1 train ride back to Philadelphia + 1 taxi ride to Center City, 1 train ride back to Airport, 1 hotel shuttle back to Howard Johnson = union of 2 family members who completed 1 drive to Phildelphia to pick up 1 Angolan, 1 American and 6 peices of luggage from Hotel

1 Hour and 30 minute car ride = arrival in Lititz, 2 showers and 1 night of very deep sleep

FRIDAY:

6 calls to Lufthansa + 3 cups of coffee + 7 calls to NY German Consulate + 2 calls to Philly Honorary German Consul + 2 calls to travel agent + 1 call to JFK = 2 waivers for paper tickets, 2 flight confirmation numbers for flights from JFK to Munich to St. Petersburg + 1 Fed Ex Tracking Number

i hate math.

I DO...

Lake Michigan Camping Weekend - South Haven, MI