And the language I'll be learning is...

I made it safely to Ukraine! Finally! We left DC Tuesday (March 21, 2011) at 1:30 pm...headed to the Dulles International Airport that was about 30 miles away. It was utter chaos in the lobby at 1 pm when everyone was supposed to be meeting up with their travel buddies...think 106 people, with 100 of those people have 2 {heavy} checked suitcases, and most people having 2 carry-ons as well. It was a giant disaster. I have pictures, but the internet is a little shotty right now and I don't want to try to upload pics yet. More interested in getting a blog entry posted before I pass out from exhaustion!

It took us at least 2.5 hours to get everyone's baggage unloaded off of the 3 charter busses we took to the airport, checked-in, and through security. We flew Lufthansa from DC to Frankfurt, Germany...which was about an 8 hour flight. Luckily, it was overnight flight and I slept a little bit (read 2 hours maybe). Then we had a layover for about 2.5 hours (and had to go through security again) and finally left on another Lufthansa flight headed for Kiev this time! On both of the flights, we were given this combination of meals: dinner on the first flight (I got veggie pasta...not too shabby! I even ate zucchini...), breakfast on the first flight (fruit--yum! and some bread), and then breakfast again on the second flight (this was the interesting meal...eggs, potatoes, and spinach in one container and bread and a macaroon of some sort I think...). I couldn't eat the spinach or eggs...but the potatoes were great! After finally arriving in Kiev, we then were greeted at the airport with a ton of other PC employees holding up signs and helping us get our luggage. They threw it all in the back of this giant green u-haul type box truck, and we loaded up onto three charter buses (sidenote: people who went to Eastern Europe with me in 2004, the buses were very similar! They had a 2nd entry door halfway back, and 5 seats across in the back row. I, of course, sat in the back row with my new friends.). We were then on the charter bus for a good 2+ hours...going to our destination which I'm not sure what the name of it is. We are at the PC Arrival Retreat...and are staying at 2 different hotels very close by. Tomorrow morning, breakfast will start at 8 am and at 9 am, we go to our "cluster groups," which is the people that we will be in class with for the next 3 months. Would you like to know what language I'll be learning? I can't decide if I should post it or not yet...or maybe let the anticipation build up a little :)

Upon arriving at the hotel, we put our 2 pieces of checked luggage in a holding room. My shampoo and conditioner and face wash are in my big bags, but I have NO clue where they are packed...so I had to borrow or make due without. Luckily, my good friend Hayley was willing to share :) she's my Bama girl. They've split us up at the hotels by what we'll be doing here in Ukraine...so all of the Youth Development people are together. Quite nice actually!!

On Friday, we will meet our host family for the first time! Eeek! Can't wait. That also means that we can finally unpack some of our stuff for the first time. I am absolutely DONE dealing with luggage. When we arrived at the airport yesterday, they informed us that if our carry-on bag did not fit in the compartment that we could not carry it on with us...but that they would check it for free. That sent everyone in a PANIC because our bigger carry-ons typically had our business attire for the next few days, chargers, toiletries, etc. It turns out they could have fit, but I was just as happy not to have to deal with dragging it around (it probably weighs 40 pounds). We think that they told all 106 of us that they would check them for free because there really wouldn't have been any way that everyone's luggage could have fit overhead and at our feet on our long flight. So...long story short. All of my worrying and freaking out about luggage is done with! I don't have to meet any weight requirements or anything else for a long, long time!

I'm pretty beat right now. So I think I will go try to get to sleep. There is still snow/ice in some spots on the grass and other areas! It was definitely a bit windy when we all unloaded outside of the hotels...I felt like I was in Oklahoma again! And I'm definitely glad I have a lot of coats and layers. It is late spring right now...and there is still snow on the ground! There was also a giant pond we passed that was still frozen. Pretty crazy! I think I better head to bed. Goodnight! Thanks for the thoughts and prayers. Much appreciated :) been a great day and I can't wait to see what lies ahead.

Oh, and I guess I'll go ahead and tell you...I'll be learning...

RUSSIAN :)