Leaving Russia

Friday, August 17th 3:10 Naushiki, Russia

We've been sitting here at the border station for over two hours. It is possible it might take another 9 hours--nobody knows. Everyone is just wandering aimlessly, wondering where to go, what to do and when we will get through! And why is this process so inefficient?

We left Irkutsk last night at about 8:45pm after saying good-bye to M, going to Moscow, at about 4pm and then Andrei and Zheniya at 8:10, going to Omsk. We had to say our good-byes to Roma, Julia and Masha from the street, in a quick good-bye. It is better that way. It was sad to see our GBT and Russia experience come to an end. It was two fabulous weeks full of hard labor and hard laughter. There were group bonding games that made me pee my pants, food that filled me to the brim, and endless hours of conversation, story-telling and jokes. There was a week-long killer game. I was killed on day three by a bomb at dinner. Then the second week we had special friends. Everyday we got a little flower bouquet, a candy, a present, or a note! It was fun and always brought a smile to everyone's face knowing someone was secretly sneaking around preparing gifts.

But even without the games and songs, people connected--stereotypes were broken and friendships were forged!