Merry (weird) Christmas.

Under the category "ways I never though I would spend Christmas," sitting in Kofe Hauz at 5:00AM waiting for the metro to open with Emma, Carrie, Maneka and Zach is definitely on the top of that list.

We didn't quite plan on staying out all night... just saying good bye to everyone on the bus to the airport and then returning home.... but it got later and later.... and then we thought we'd just stay with Yulia and everyone at the airport until everyone went through check in.... and then all our stuff was still on the bus anyway, so we had to wait for that.... and then it was four in the morning and we were dropped off back in the center of the city with the hopes of some 10 ruble McDoland's ice cream but the closest one doesn't open until 7:00am. So we sat in a good old 24 hour Kofe Hauz -- what else are they good for as their coffee is a billion dollars -- and waited until the metro opened and generally bonded over having the weirdest Christmas to date. In fact, the whole evening was just so insanely bizarre that I wasn't even that sad getting left behind by everyone for the third time now. At least the next time I go to that airport on a bus with a group of people leaving, I will also be getting on the flight with everyone, so it won't quite have that abandoned feel that I've gotten so used to.

And so, this is the strangest Christmas of my life, as in six hours I need to be boarding a train to Moscow, and then I will be spending Christmas evening on an overnight train to Kiev. If you had told me even just last year that this is how I would spend December 25th, 2008, I never would have believed it. This is just all so crazy.

But still, merry christmas to everyone at home.

I miss you, I love you, I can't wait to see you in January if possible.

Enjoy this photograph of Putin I found on the internet:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!