Hard to believe that the last time I had chance to write
this blog was before I went to Germany. So much has happened since then, I feel
like I could be a different person already.
While I was in Germany, my language skills improved, my life
skills improved and I met some incredible people along the way. The course
itself didn’t live up to its expectations, but speaking German constantly,
mixing with – and living with – people from all over the world, and being
thrown into new situations was the best preparation possible for the shock
change of lifestyle that I would be confronted with the moment I landed in
Russia.
The whole process of getting to Russia has been a whirlwind.
After receiving my Russian visa invitation whilst away for a month in Germany,
I had two days to send off all my documents and get them back in time to fly
off to Thailand. So, at 5am on Monday 13th August I took the train
down to London and, after an hour-long walk following false directions,
reluctantly handed over my passport – my lifeline – in the hopes that the
agency would return it safely to me with visa attached within the next
twenty-four hours. The following day, holiday luggage and straw hat in tow, I
returned to London and waited a tense two hours for my passport to return. The relief of having that document back in my hand was indescribable! After an exhausting journey on the underground, I
reached the Heathrow Holiday Inn where I would spend a sleepless night before
boarding the plane to Ko Samui the next morning.
I spent a blissful two weeks in Thailand, where the
exhaustion that had caught up on me finally manifested itself in my sudden
ability to fall into a deep sleep wherever I landed, including resting my head
horizontally on a shelf and up against a metal pillar. It was the holiday of a
lifetime and the holiday I needed: wakeboarding; waterskiing; taking a speedboat out to a national park; hiring huge catamaran and sailing to a neighbouring island called koh panghan; having our feet
nibbled by fish to make them soft(!); having massages; going clubbing; eating out in the best restaurants; shopping; riding an elephant; scuba diving in koh tao... Everything imaginable.
On the plane home I was struck by the sudden thought that in
just a few days I would be on a yet another plane, this time to a very
different destination. I had looked forward to my time in Germany but when
confronted by this prospect, all I felt was dread. I hadn’t known much about
what to expect when I got to Kassel, but I had already been confident using the
language and I knew how helpful Germans are when you’re lost or in trouble.
Now, I realised just how foreign Russia was going to be to me – how
inaccessible the language, how different the people, lifestyle and culture –
and it was terrifying.
In a way, I’m glad I had so little time between returning
from Thailand and leaving for Russia, because it made it impossible to stop and
dwell on what was to come; I just had to do it without thinking. My last few
days were a tumultuous collection of meetings and goodbyes – with my friends,
my boyfriend, and my family who I will miss so much. I will always remember the
last day before I left. Gramps had been let out of the hospital for a few hours
and we were walking him around the garden in his chair. The rain had finally
given way to bright, warm sunshine that lit up the surroundings and gave the
whole world a vivid hue, as if the flowers were breathing in the first, and not
the last, breaths of summer. Gramps was gushing with pride and admiration for
everything, as though seeing it for the first time. I remember thinking: I wish
I could capture this moment and play it back, whenever things seem bleak. I am
so glad I have this memory to take with me. It reminds me that despite
everything, there is always joy to be found in life.
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