Greetings from Russia ! ! ! !

After four airplanes and some 24 hours travelling, an almost lost piece of luggage ...a $30 US one block taxi ride, an overnight in Moscow and three Russian meals I'm finally in Chelyabinsk ... on a computer that the bed and breakfast has that only has a Russian spellchecker that thinks all my words are not spelled correctly...(so please pardon any English mispellings)  sigh...  I could not find my plug adaptor for my computer at home.. (I know I have two of them... somewhere) and now I know they are just the right kind... so I've not yet been able to plug my laptop in... and for some reason gmail is not showing me its rich text commands...

Well the trip went fine... I caught all the planes with no problem... In Yellowknife.. I decided to had carry my camera and computer... but put my luggage in as baggage..I was told that I could be checked by Jazz all the way to Moscow....  needless to say... I said the "pre-lost luggage" prayer several times on the way to Moscow..... and again while waiting at the luggage carousel... and waiting... and waiting.... when the luggage had stopped coming up the chute (can you say .. up the shoot??? it was coming from somehere under the floor I was on..) I waited a while.. after all sometimes luggage comes in spurts... but I figured since all the pairs of skies (oversized luggage) had already been regurgetated from the belly of the plane... that I had better strate making an effort to find my bag... more than just sitting there wathcing for it......  I looked around... anunder the flight number on the baggage crousel sign.. I say the text blink over from something in Russian to "Please contact agent".. I started looking for the "the agent"... someone in uniform... there I know I must have the right one when I saw this lady in uniform looking at a baggage claim check with a fellow in tow... When I approached her... she knew immediatly that I was looking for my bag... and after she spoak.. I know she wanted my baggage claim ticket... Seeing it she jesterd for me and the other fellow in tow to follow her... we did... into a little side office filled with passengers also looking for last bags.... after passing our claim tickets to a lady sitting behind a computer...who keyed the claim tag numbers into her computer... "the agent" had us follow her out of the office back into the baggage claim area... but much too fast.. we lost sight of her... until she noticed and came back for us.... we followed her apace into the throng of travellers... whe another "gagent" in uniform came up to her with out bags in tow... problem solved... without resorting to communication is spoken English ! ! !...

So there I am.. with all my bags in had.. standing next to another gentleman in the same condition as I... releaved and now able to think about something else than the potential of a lost bag... so I said to the other fellow... speaking to him for the first time...
Where are you from?
"Canada." he said.
Oh says I... where are you going?
"Chelyabinsk." he says...
Oh says I.. me too...
Hey.. says I.. are you by any chance a CESO volunteer too?
"Yes," he says, "my name is Peter."
Hi I'm George.. says I... glad to meet you... have you been here before?
"Yes he says.."this is my third trip."
Good.. says I... how about we partner up for the rest of the tip? (thinking about getting from where we are to the hotel for the night.. any everything that comes after... Id wish CESo had let us know that the two of us were on the same plane... )
"OK" he says... and we manage to get ourselves a taxi "consultant" who speaks English and has a wonderfully looking "official" looking yellow card haning from a string around his neck that says... in English... "Official taxi service"... Now I have my doubts about this fellow... but he says he knows our hotel... that its very near... only 800 metres away... but that ride will cost us $30 US... that seems steep... but Peter an I figure that the two of us and our baggage comes to only $15 US each and THAT seems reasonable... so we do it and after the 800 metre cab ride to the hotel (and it was indeed about a block or 800 metres away) it was worth it... until of course... we seen the sign... clearly printed in Russian and English that says
" Please be advised that our airport shuttle service runs every 15 mins."

OK.. busted... but at least we got there... had dinner and a beer... up intime for breakfast and this dispite it was "spring ahead, fall back" time change in Russia last night... and caught the free shuttle to the airport... ( I took pictures of the shuttle for the next CESO volunteers to travel this route)

So here I am in Chelyabinsk .. Its now Sunday and 8:45PM local time... that Sunday 9:50AM Yellowknife time... and I spend the afternoon chatting with the client through a lovely youg lady interpreter... having been well fed in this bed and breakfast..

Thats all for now... except to wish Kathy a Happy Birthday!!!

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GEORGE LESSARD
CESO-SACO  VA # 11799
http://www.ceso-saco.com

Information, Communications & Media Specialist
6402135 Canada Inc.

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X1A 2J1, Canada

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