Washington & Moscow..Two very different places.

*UPDATE: I'm updating this entry with some more details!

This is sort what I have for the last week.

I arrived in DC on the 24 and was extremely tired and as such didn't end up doing much, except for going to see the Expendables with Ana.  Hilarious movie!!

I spent the rest of the week in DC having an absolute blast with the most amazing person ever.  We saw all the good sites and even a few of the bad ones.  Luckily, this time our hotel wasn't in the absolute ghetto and there were no guys running around with straight razors and cops having to tackle him.  Ana and I saw pretty much everything.  We went to the mall, the museums (the space and flight museum was particularly amazing) and had a few other highlights.  We took a free tour of the Capitol building, which was simply amazing.  Great history and just pure awesomeness.  We did, however, have this really annoying old couple on the tour who seemingly wanted to prove our tour guide wrong at every turn.

We had some delicious Pho, I was able to see a few old friends whom I hadn't seen in several years and we were generally able to have an all around great time!  Perhaps the best time was sitting at a little bookstore looking through a book of different dogs.  Might sound lame to some, but we loved it!  This time in DC was also really nice because it wasn't anywhere near as hot so we were able to walk around without getting soaked with sweat.

There was also some "Restore Faith" deal at the mall, a Glenn Beck event with  Sarah Palin speaking.  It was a "non-political" (haha) rally to get Americans to restore their faith in, well, in whatever Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin seem to believe in.  Needless to say, I didn't hang around to find just what exactly these Tea Party People were spewing.  I still can't believe that he (Glenn Beck) is from Washington State...

Let's see, what else happened in DC? Ana and I got to check out the mall at night, which is, in my opinion, infinitely more gorgeous.  It's truly inspiring to see our nation's capital all lit up at night and to think about, truly think about, what we, as a country, had to endure to become what we are today.  On that note, we also visited Arlington National Cemetary. I have to admit that Ana was much more excited about this than I was, but when we arrived it, too, was simply gorgeous, but in a very humbling manner. We were able to watch the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which again was amazing.  Overall, the cemetary has the ability to really make you think.  You see all the graves (just a fraction of, but still so many), the people who have fought and died for this country and will make you stop in your tracks and make you more proud to be an American than you probably ever have. 

Anyways, our place was great and I had the best week I could have asked for with the best person ever!  However, getting to Dulles and checked into my flight proved to be a challenge.  The "25-30" minute bus ride took an hour and check-in for my flight was really long and a hassle.  I ended up making it to my gate right as it was my time to board.  Then I was off....

I arrived in Moscow to a balmy 45 degrees with strong winds and lots and lots of rain.  That was totally unexpected and I wasn't quite ready for it.  I got both my bags and ended up taking a cab to my hotel to spend the night to await my flight to Elista for the next day.  I hung out in the hotel and then caught the metro up to McDonald's to snag some free wifi.  I'd forgotten what a hotspot McDonald's is because the place was absolutely packed the couples hours I was there (yes I spent a couple hours in McDonald's, what can I say, it's like my Starbucks of Russia...haha).

Woke up pretty early (read 2 am - ugh I hate jet lag), and finally made my way to the airport.  It took me a long time as my hotel's taxi service was going to take about an hour, so I made my way one metro station and finally caught a cab.  The airport was even more stressful as I read the screens wrong and almost missed check-in, then got yelled at by the guy checking me in because I couldn't understand what he was saying.  My flight has currently been delayed two hours so I'm hanging out here at Domodedovo getting some blog time in.  Trying to check my bags here at Moscow has been a hassle.  My Russian speaking skills have failed me on more than one occasion and it's just been really frustrating.  I suppose that's what I'm most apprehensive about, the fact that I'm alone as a native speaker.  It's very scary.

Anyways, I'm going to see if I can board.  I have really no idea what's going on so I figure I better check it out.  Till next time.