First Day in Samara

Just completed our first day in Samara.  Got up at 11 a.m. - slept straight through the night and only woke up when Sister Connell knocked on our door to find out when we were coming down for brunch she had prepared and to complete required paperwork.  Elder Connell is like unto Carl Hatch - he gets up at 4 a.m.  He's a farm former kid from Idaho.  After we completed that we spent the rest of the day in the very nice apartment we have next to the mission office and next door to the mission prez.  I laid down at 2 p.m. and promptly went to sleep until 5!  Even mom - not a regular napper - fell asleep on the couch while reading!  We got up and Mom rummaged through the cupboards, found some pasta, found some cheese of some sort in the fridge and made a delicious mac and cheese.  Came out of the oven delicious!  The Connells took us for a walk about 6:30 and we walked along the beautiful Volga River which is across the street from our apartment.  We walked for an hour of so - lots of people outside - and enjoyed the evening.  Tomorrow we're going to the bank to exchange our leftover dollars for rubles and going to the little store nearby to buy some fresh fruit.  Everyone raves about the veggies and fruits so we're gonna try some.  The carrots have been mentioned particularly and I'm a lover of carrots.

The Aeroflot flight last night was neat - the flight attendants are very much like stewardesses in the 60's.  Bright orange uniforms, very pretty, well-dressed and hair styled nicely. When the plane landed there was cheering and applause!  We were so exhausted last night! Got to bed about 2 a.m. after meeting the Connells and the Assistants and the mission driver - Ramon - who picked us up.  The driver has a hard job - with all these visa trips everyone has to take he is constantly taking missionaries to and from the airport at 2 a.m.  You leave for your visa trip at 2 a.m. and return at 2 a.m. the next day...not a fun, relaxing adventure.  The law is being changed to only require trips every six months but we don't know when or if that will apply to us.

Found out we have a CES training conference in Turkey in February.  They have it in Turkey because the cost is better there.