My first few days

It's really hard here, because I miss my friends so much. I feel like running away and just going home in secret. I really want to see my friends again. I'm glad we have phones and blogs. When I got to Russia and I looked out through the airplane window, my heart felt as if it would sink down to my toes. I couldn't beleive I was actually in the world's biggest country. I couldn't beleive I was staying here. It was so hard to beleive that everything was Russian. As I got into the airport, it felt so hard to understand that we weren't going back. It felt as if my heart would break.

Sure, with my Russian, I was a little clumsy, and I smiled some. But I am learning to understand that Russia is not like America. The way I'm getting used to it is in our apartment. For when you walk in the building, you walk into this smelly and very dirty door. I was sure our place would be so dirty, you would not be able to sit down in comfort. So as you walk up the stairs, the stairs are very very dirty. You can't even sit down and not have a body full of dirt. The railing is chipped; the windows are filthy. The only nice thing about it is the window at our floor. It's all flowery - pictures of flowers at the top. It makes it seem a little like home. Otherwise, there is nothing about the stairway that seems like home.

As you walk into our apartment, you have to use keys. The keys are much different from America's keys. They way you walk in is different. You walk in to this very big door, and you use a key to get through it. They you see two more doors in front of you. One is our neighbors; the other is ours. It is surpising when you walk into our apartment - surprisingly furnished and very clean. It isn't like the stairs, which I am very glad for. The first thing you do when you walk into a Russian apartment is come into a tiny little mud room where you have to take off your shoes. Then you walk into (in ours) the study part. Then, if you keep going, you come to a fork. Two doors are in front of you again: my room and the boys' room. I am very glad I have a room by myself. It makes me feel like we are at home again.

My room has a broken bulb. My doorway has a chinup bar - very nice sometimes. Then you walk into my room and right beside you is a little desk, connected to a bookshelf. To your right, there is a green and white checked sofa. Then is a bunk bed. I sleep on the bottom. It is cold sometimes to fall asleep, because there are no sheets. Sometimes it is hard to wake us, because I still have jetlag. In front of the bunk bed is a TV on a sort of book shelf with tons of movies. I like my room, because it is a nice quiet area with a window; it's a good place to run away to. I spend a lot of time making it my own. My thoughts are that I will always enjoy having a room of my own for this period while we are here. I will tell you about the rest of the house later. God be with you, and I hope He is with me too.