... It's Been a While

So it turns out I don't get wireless in my temporary house (there is someone else in my long term apartment for the next few weeks). So I am in the макдоналдс that is about a ten minute walk from my apartment. Fortunately it is right above my metro stop so I can conveniently stop here either before or after work. 

A RECAP SINCE I LAST POSTED

-I had to move my flight from Friday to Saturday because of an issue with my visa... typical. Therefore I got a bonus night in Glastonbury.

-Got on my flight fine on Saturday, got to my seat and the arm rest was broken a.k.a. my arm was resting on hard metal things. I tried to use it to get upgraded... instead I got a blanket to put over.

- Got a Taxi from the airplane to my long term apartment, so I could get to my temp apartment. It took forever to get there, Moscow drivers are like New York drivers on crack (or more crack, whatever the case may be). Ina is very nice, she gave me tea and we chatted until the taxi got there... two hours later.

- Got to my temporary apartment and met my land lady Irina...she is not nearly as nice as Ina. Not realizing I speak russian, the first thing she said to Ina was "he's kinda fat". Ina and I had a  good laugh at her expense.

-Irina gave me a tour of the house. In the bathroom she made sure I understood the importance of not peeing in the sink. I laughed, she didn't get it.

-SLEPT

- Irina walked me to the local mall the next morning. I tried to get an power adapter for my laptop charger... couldn't. I tried to get a SIM card for my American cell phone... couldn't. Raise your hand if you are starting to see a reoccurring pattern here.

- Irina walked down to the metro with me, seeing as I had no idea where I was going I figured she was coming with. After I got on the train she said "if you can't find them just get on the train going in the other direction and come back". Politely, she waved at me as the train rolled away.

- Through dumb luck I found my way to the stop near my office, even after a number of transfers. Sergei was supposed to be waiting for me there. He was. Unfortunately neither had even seen a picture of each other before, so we walked right past each other. Without a cell phone I had no way to call him. I wandered around for quite some time. I was going to go home, but being stupid and prideful (Irina thinks i'm really stupid) I decided to search until I found it. I found the building the office was in (house numbers in russia often refer to a large number of touching, but not connected buildings) but could not find the entrance. I took it upon my self to wander down a dark, dirty, unlabeled alley. This led me to the entrance, I went to the fourth floor (where I was told the office is) where I found angry russian construction workers... I promptly moved my search to the third floor. I found the office... hooray.

- We ( Sergei, Natasha, Pat, and I) chatted had lunch, and bought me a cell phone. Being exhausted I returned home. It was a great day.

-SLEPT

- Woke up late for work this morning. The time on my cell is wrong. I asked Irina why she didn't wake me if she knew I was two hours late... she shrugged and laughed and reminded me not to pee in the sink.

- I went to work, worked, got my registration (in country necessity if you get stopped by the cops), and went home.

- That brings me to McDonalds , where I am now.

As you can see nothing around here is simple or easy... I guess thats part of the charm of the place? Hopefully I will settle into a good rhythm.

-Поздно...Крейг

...And So We Begin

This blog begins with me sitting in a Starbucks on the corner of Park and 87th waiting for the Russian Consulate to process my visa. I was once told by a Friend that you should expect everything in Russia to take three times longer than you would think, so that when it only takes twice as long, you are pleasantly surprised. I arrived at the consulate this morning at 9:00 for a 9:30 opening and there were already seventy-five people in line. Fortunately with Russians lines mean nothing. As soon as the doors opened it was more of a mad dash to form a mass in front of the door so we could most comfortably wait an hour to get in. Upon entering I was made aware that they do not accept personal checks so I had to call Mom, have her transfer money to my ATM so I could get cash, so I could get a money order, so I could wait in line again to get back into the consulate, to get my visa processed. An hour and a half later I was back in the consulate, only to be told that my invitation to Russia requested a dual entry visa, not a single entry visa, so I had to go back to the bank to get another money order for the additional sixty dollars it cost for a dual entry visa. (You can see how this process gets tiring very quickly). After waiting another hour to get in and avoiding the turf war that was starting between the Greeks, the Turks and the Russian waiting to get inn with me, I paid for the visa, which they kindly accepted and began to process my visa. I guess three times longer is a fair estimate... Which brings me to Starbucks, waiting here before I get in line at the consulate to get to get in, to get my visa.

Upsides to this taking so long:

-everyone around me speaks Russian, great practice

-I get to spend a day in the City (Its 50, windy, with scattered showers)

-I get to feel like a hipster, blogging in Starbucks

I'm writing this halfway through my NYC visa trip in hopes that posting this now will prevent anything else "bloggable" from happening.