| Standing in the airport in San Diego, I began to wonder | | | | At 8 a.m., Grea Waters from Kentucky appears out of |
| exactly how long it was going to take to get to the | | | | the Seattle mist. We have our second professor and |
| city of Chita in Siberia. The combination of a vodka | | | | he speaks fluent Russian. This is a big relief as I had |
| hangover, three flights, one train ride and a jump over | | | | spent a lot of the previous evening contemplating my |
| the international date line didn't help. At first glance, it | | | | Russian skills. That is to say, I had none. I couldn't even |
| looked like a total of two days, which wasn't bad for | | | | pronounce the name of city we would land in, |
| going to the other side of the earth. | | | | Khabarovsk. I nearly had a panic attack during the night |
| I should have paid more attention in math. | | | | when I bolted up in bed upon the realization that I would |
| The itinerary for getting from San Diego to Chita read | | | | have no way of knowing how to get to the train or |
| like this: | | | | when to get off. You see, the Russian language is |
| 1. Fly from San Diego to Seattle. | | | | based on the Cyrillic alphabet. There is no way to wing |
| 2. Meet charity representative and other professor. | | | | the Cyrillic alphabet. For example, the letter "y" is |
| 3. Fly from Seattle to Anchorage. | | | | pronounced "ch" as in Charlie. I was in definite trouble. |
| 4. Fly from Anchorage on Aeroflot [gulp] to | | | | Would the rest of my life be spent riding around |
| Khabarovsk, Russia. | | | | aimlessly on trains? The continued grinning of Tom |
| 5. Take train from Khabarovsk to Chita. | | | | Dickinson didn't make me feel any better. |
| How bad could it be? Very, very, very bad. Did I | | | | Our flight from Seattle to Anchorage was uneventful. |
| mention "bad"? | | | | Yes, we flew Alaska Airlines. While waiting for our |
| Day 1 | | | | connection in Anchorage, two thoughts kept running |
| The flight to Seattle was no problem. I met Tom | | | | though my head. First, isn't Aeroflot the airline with all |
| Dickinson, the founder of Siberian Intercultural Bridges, | | | | the crashes? Second, how did a man from Kentucky |
| but we couldn't find the other teacher. Turns out the | | | | become fluent in Russian? I mean, what about his |
| flight to Anchorage wasn't till the next morning, so it | | | | accent? I was feeling less confident about my |
| didn't really appear to be a problem. Around midnight, | | | | translator and decided to investigate. I started rubbing |
| our attitude changed and we had written off the | | | | my temples when he told me that he had never been |
| teacher. | | | | to Russia. |
| Day 2 | | | | Alas, there was no turning back. Trust me, I tried. |