More 46 Hours...Maybe it was 48...(continued)
Where was I? Yes, saying good-bye to the faithful Zhenny (Zhen-ya).
We hop into the van at 10:45 for what should be a three and a half hours ride to Perm (200 km away). But, you can't get to Perm in three and a half hours if you drive under 57 km/h average. That is, if you drive at anything less than 57.14 km/h for even a few minutes, you will not get there in time. You must maintain 57.14 km/h for the entire distance, or speed up occasionally to compensate for the time spent at less than that set speed. Got it?
We drove most of the night at way less than 57.14 km/h. Oh, yeah. Roads had gone bad. Crossing the Urals at night, in the snow, at 40 km/h, is a bad way to get to Perm in a set time. Dear brother Eddy is also a Beatles fan. He wanted to hear just the right Beatles song to sing along with, but didn't know which track that was, so he would play 3 seconds of all the tracks on a CD until he got to the right one. Then he would joyfully sing along to "Let It Be" with all his heart. He learns english that way, too. Great exercise.
I don't bother to sleep. No real need to.
Ok, to make a long ride short. We get to the airport right after the check-in has closed. Well, maybe not right after. The plane was still on the ground, let's just say that. Pastor Eddy is a bit worked up that he might have driven to Perm for nothing, so he goes to the office to beg and plead to let us on. They relent, and allow us through. That is an amazing bit of daring-do. This is Russia, you know. Things are not meant to be easy here. But, we go through the check-in, scanning, and Passport Control. We are in the lounge, waiting for the boarding.
There is a large contingent of what appear to be Central American males. They are young, fun-loving guys, but too chubby to be athletes of any sport I can think of. What they are doing in Perm, I have no idea. It is frustrating to wonder, and have no idea. When we get on the plane, they behave like they have never been on a plane before, taking pictures of everything in sight. The stewardesses all get many flashes pointed at them. The act of the seatbelt safety demo is met with more flashes than the red carpet at the Academy Awards. Oh, and when she came with a box of (your choice: cheese or ham) pre-made sandwiches for breakfast, every angle had to be immortalized in digital memory. After breakfast, the team got real drowsy and it was great fun to snap eack other when they were sleeping with mouth open, and drool coming out.
We flew to Frankfurt Main in Germany. There was no reason to sleep along the way, as food I paid for was more important. Once in Germany, the trick of translating and spending Euros was more fun than snoozing, so...
Six hours later we board the big jet for the trip across the ocean. They feed or water you on this one every hour. It's like being in a hospital, so I hear, that as soon as you get to sleep, they come around to ask you if you are ok. Or feed you. Or give you a hot towel.
Then the movie was one I had seen (Zorro), but it was fun to watch again. I guess. Maybe I should have slept. But I wasn't really tired. I did cat nap two or three times, but never deeply, and never for more than a Seinfeld episode.
We arrived in the US on time at 5:10 PM, Saturday afternoon. We go through the Passport line easily, and wait for our bags. They never show, which makes it real easy to get through Customs. No bags, no declaration. By 6PM we are out and heading for the parking. It's 2 hour drive from PHL to home, and I am glad I wasn't driving.
We arrive at 8ish. I'm not ready to go right to bed. I want to see how many emails I got. I wan't expecting to see 3500. But, sometime right after I left, a SPAM filter expired on the email server and I began getting 300 emails a day. That's cool. So did everyone else at work, too. I was out of communication. Never knew it. Took a while to clean out all the "medical" emails and investment advice.
Got to bed and slept, finally, for 10 hours.
God was with us the whole way. There was only one time when I got real nervous, and that was the time I thought I might be stuck there for another couple of days. But, I would have said there was a reason, and would have not complained. I believe all that happens to us has a purpose. Buying the boxes of crackers with euros in the store in Germany and carrying them in my backpack was a good idea. I was able to bring something back. To eat.
I'd go again. In a minute. I had a bad cold, and lost my voice right after getting there. The ministry was never hindered. We got chased out of one village by the local branch of the KGB. We spoke before drunks and old women. The Bible School students were the best.
Let's go...
We hop into the van at 10:45 for what should be a three and a half hours ride to Perm (200 km away). But, you can't get to Perm in three and a half hours if you drive under 57 km/h average. That is, if you drive at anything less than 57.14 km/h for even a few minutes, you will not get there in time. You must maintain 57.14 km/h for the entire distance, or speed up occasionally to compensate for the time spent at less than that set speed. Got it?
We drove most of the night at way less than 57.14 km/h. Oh, yeah. Roads had gone bad. Crossing the Urals at night, in the snow, at 40 km/h, is a bad way to get to Perm in a set time. Dear brother Eddy is also a Beatles fan. He wanted to hear just the right Beatles song to sing along with, but didn't know which track that was, so he would play 3 seconds of all the tracks on a CD until he got to the right one. Then he would joyfully sing along to "Let It Be" with all his heart. He learns english that way, too. Great exercise.
I don't bother to sleep. No real need to.
Ok, to make a long ride short. We get to the airport right after the check-in has closed. Well, maybe not right after. The plane was still on the ground, let's just say that. Pastor Eddy is a bit worked up that he might have driven to Perm for nothing, so he goes to the office to beg and plead to let us on. They relent, and allow us through. That is an amazing bit of daring-do. This is Russia, you know. Things are not meant to be easy here. But, we go through the check-in, scanning, and Passport Control. We are in the lounge, waiting for the boarding.
There is a large contingent of what appear to be Central American males. They are young, fun-loving guys, but too chubby to be athletes of any sport I can think of. What they are doing in Perm, I have no idea. It is frustrating to wonder, and have no idea. When we get on the plane, they behave like they have never been on a plane before, taking pictures of everything in sight. The stewardesses all get many flashes pointed at them. The act of the seatbelt safety demo is met with more flashes than the red carpet at the Academy Awards. Oh, and when she came with a box of (your choice: cheese or ham) pre-made sandwiches for breakfast, every angle had to be immortalized in digital memory. After breakfast, the team got real drowsy and it was great fun to snap eack other when they were sleeping with mouth open, and drool coming out.
We flew to Frankfurt Main in Germany. There was no reason to sleep along the way, as food I paid for was more important. Once in Germany, the trick of translating and spending Euros was more fun than snoozing, so...
Six hours later we board the big jet for the trip across the ocean. They feed or water you on this one every hour. It's like being in a hospital, so I hear, that as soon as you get to sleep, they come around to ask you if you are ok. Or feed you. Or give you a hot towel.
Then the movie was one I had seen (Zorro), but it was fun to watch again. I guess. Maybe I should have slept. But I wasn't really tired. I did cat nap two or three times, but never deeply, and never for more than a Seinfeld episode.
We arrived in the US on time at 5:10 PM, Saturday afternoon. We go through the Passport line easily, and wait for our bags. They never show, which makes it real easy to get through Customs. No bags, no declaration. By 6PM we are out and heading for the parking. It's 2 hour drive from PHL to home, and I am glad I wasn't driving.
We arrive at 8ish. I'm not ready to go right to bed. I want to see how many emails I got. I wan't expecting to see 3500. But, sometime right after I left, a SPAM filter expired on the email server and I began getting 300 emails a day. That's cool. So did everyone else at work, too. I was out of communication. Never knew it. Took a while to clean out all the "medical" emails and investment advice.
Got to bed and slept, finally, for 10 hours.
God was with us the whole way. There was only one time when I got real nervous, and that was the time I thought I might be stuck there for another couple of days. But, I would have said there was a reason, and would have not complained. I believe all that happens to us has a purpose. Buying the boxes of crackers with euros in the store in Germany and carrying them in my backpack was a good idea. I was able to bring something back. To eat.
I'd go again. In a minute. I had a bad cold, and lost my voice right after getting there. The ministry was never hindered. We got chased out of one village by the local branch of the KGB. We spoke before drunks and old women. The Bible School students were the best.
Let's go...
posted by Jeff at 4:53 PM
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