Moscow Domodedovo Airport

Landed in Moscow with 5 hours till my flight to Toronto. At the transit security check the guard didn't believe the photo in my passport is really me. The way he looked at me I was afraid he was going to call the KGB (do they still exist?) to cart me off kicking and screaming to await deportation (HEY!  IN CASE YOU DIDN'T NOTICE, I'M LEAVING THE COUNTRY ANYWAY!)

Finally he waved me on and two automatic frosted glass doors slid aside soundlessly to let me into another world - a huge beautiful 4-floor mall with high-end souvenirs and lots of coffee shops. Unfortunately, to buy a coffee you need either rubles or a VISA/MASTERCARD. No dollars or euros. And nowhere to exchange them. So I used my credit card to buy a $12 cup of delicious coffee. Lucky I have VISA.

Anyway, here I am sitting at the coffee shop checking mails and stuff with the free wifi (that the information desk clerk says doesn't exist but, then, her English is almost nonexistent) and I open Jerrico's link to the video and burst out laughing. The way people looked at me made me worried they were going to call the guard who didn't believe my photo was really me.

Well, Sheri, we know it's really you. They probably think you're a movie star in disguise.

I wish I were in Toronto to greet you. I'm here in BC.

I hope that $12 for a cup of coffee was hyperbole.

Don't get in trouble Sheri.  This is a good promotion for VISA and MC!  Now I have to go watch Jerrico's video.  Hope you make it out of there without a hitch.

Thanks guys - I made it safely to Toronto and now can say I am freezing my extremities off in the cold here. But it's all worth it to visit my daughter.

And I'll probably gain back all the weight I lost in South Sudan where there are no sweets or cakes. This place is deadly!!! Tim Hortons and the like.

Brenda - I kid you not - $12 for a coffee.

Sheila - it would really be nice to see you out in BC. Love that province.

Without arms - how do you hug your daughter?

Achim - you've heard how lizards grow back a tail? well. . . .

... and with a last name like yours - anything is possible!  

Achim - you got it!!!

(rubbing regrown upper extremities together with a sinister smile on her lips)