I am so happy to be back in the States! My flight was delayed in Moscow for 4 hours which means I was waiting for about 7 in the airport, but I finally made it. My uncle was at JFK to pick me up and we did a conference call with one of my other uncles and my mom. It was a nice welcome back home. I stayed with my uncle and his family for a day in NY and am now in South Carolina visiting my spiritual mom, Sarah, and her husband whom I hadn’t seen for 4 ½ years At the airport we didn’t recognize each other at first because it had been so long.
It’s been really great to be back. I’ve been dealing with a loss of words though. When my uncle took me to Starbucks, I ordered a peppermint mocha and apparently couldn’t remember the word for whip cream so I said, “with out the whip, foam stuff please.” The barista behind the counter probably though I was a little off kilter ☺. It’s been fun having American food again. So far: American-Chinese, NYC bagel, NYC hot dog, Waldorf salad. I’m in the South now so that has been a cultural food experience too. My friend Sarah was ordering at Cracker Barrel and I thought she was speaking a different language. Everything seems to be sweet down here, even my sourdough bread tasted sweet yesterday. So far I’ve tried hush puppies, collard greens, and other things I don’t remember the names of. I know I’ll be getting boiled peanuts and exploring other traditional foods in the next couple of days.
I went to two museums yesterday of American history. After being in Russian museums and learning about their history it’s been fun to be introduced back to American history and culture. Even though we are a young country I think America has had a rich history so far and a lot of tragic events as well. It’s said that more people died in the Civil War than any other war in history. This was hard to digest since I was very impacted from learning about the Siege of Leningrad when I was in St. Petersburg. It lasted 3 years and killed around half a million people. The preservation of history is very strong here in the South and I’m looking forward to exploring even more American history in these next couple of days.
