Setting out

We haven't used this in a little while, so we've already had some challenges. So, consider this a "practice" posting. We posted with a map of Russia, for reference. Our last big trip was the other side of the world, and the picture included the South Pole, so I thought it only fitting that this picture feature the North Pole. As you can see, Moscow is on the FAR west side of the nation. It is about as far East as Turkey, and as far North as Scotland (almost as far North as Juneau, Alaska). It is 9 hours ahead of Central Time Zone (8 hours ahead of Eastern).

Moscow is 5000 miles from Chicago (going through NE Canada, Greenland, Sweden, and into Russia), and about 5800 miles from Dallas. So, by the time we get to ORD, we're only 13.8% there.

In the "West" we typically use the Roman Alphabet. Russian uses the Cyrillic alphabet, named for St. Cyril, who brought literacy to the culture centuries ago. So, our first step was to start learning the alphabet. Some letters are easy (T, M, K), some not too hard (C=S, P=R, H=N), and a little Greek (from those years of Engineering study) helps with a few others (G looks like Gamma, L looks like Lambda, D looks like Delta). Then there were the "others". Symbols that look like a square U with a kickstand, a square W with or without a "kickstand". But once we started getting the hang of the letters, some of the words became easy because they are spelled phonetically the same as in English.

Anyway, it's time to get back to preparing for the trip!

Bill (& Theresa)