July 26th: New York City to Mechanicsville!

We landed at JFK and stood in long lines that really didn't take that long. I picked up my bags and headed out of the claim area to find..... no one waiting for me!! I went outside, no one. I cruised around a few hallways...but my wife was nowhere to be found. I called her cell phone from a pay phone because there was no reception in the terminal. So I found a seat near where all the people from my flight were slowly coming out. The man that sat quietly next to me for 10 hours came out and was looking for his daughter. He sat down next to me and we began a rather late conversation for two people who probably won't ever have any more contact. It turns out that he was waiting for his American daughter and that he was a physics professor at the U of Moscow. His university had started a special high school in Moscow just for higher math and science. They had tried to make some connections with American high schools, but had not been successful. I told him about my experiences and videoconferencing with Russian students in Penza. We exchanged emails and will try to connect this fall! Obviously, we should have started talking in Moscow and we would have had lots to talk about for 10 hours! His daughter came around the corner and we were introduced like we were old friends. She said that a lot of people were waiting in area C - our flight was exiting from area A. I went to area C and found my wife and my brother who were waiting for me to arrive at the wrong gate! Welcome to America!

We trained and subwayed to Penn Station. We went to the Hampton Inn in Manhattan. And then.....DINNER in AMERICA!!! The most amazing thing happened at a nice deli/restautant in Manhattan. The deli serves cucumbers and pickels for a snack/appetizer to everyone - Russians had cucumbers with everything! They also gave each of us a small dish of cole slaw. Now, what is slaw made of????? CABBAGE!!!! And then, the waitress comes to get drink orders. Her name was Iryna and her accent was definitely from somewhere in Russia!!! It is hard to leave Russia, especially when coming to NYC!!! Well, I had a Philly cheesesteak with onions and mushrooms, kethcup, fries, and all the ICED TEA I wanted to drink!! It was wonderful to be back the US of A!!

My wife, Judy, and I went to Ground Zero the next day and saw one big construction site. They were definitely in the foundation mode for the new building. Not much history to see. We took the subway north and took a tour of the United Nations. The Broadway shows we wanted to see had no seats together so we went out to dinner again and just relaxed.

The next morning, we took the Acela train to the BWI airport stop. Judy's sister and brother-in-law picked us up and took us to their house where Judy had left our car. We drove home, picked up our daughter Megan and promptly went out to OUTBACK for a great steak and shrimp dinner. It was great to be back home!!