Deckard's trip report - POST #5
First Meeting * July 4th, 2001
When the plane came to a complete stop, my heart was beating fast as I unbuckled the safety belt. Would she be waiting just outside the plane? All my attempts at slowing my heart down failed. I exited the plane last, and no one was waiting for any of the passengers. The plane was sitting in the middle of the airfield, with a couple of large vehicles parked nearby. I realized that we must first wait for our luggage to be handed to us from the plane, then wait for a transport vehicle to take us to the exit gate which was mainly just an archway with a barred and gated door, behind which many people could be seen waiting for us.
After the transport vehicle stopped near the gate, I exited. I let other people move in front of me, as I was carrying two heavy suitcases, and a backpack on my shoulders. The others quickly got to the gate, and some officials in police-like uniforms opened the gate. People began to slowly filter through. As I approached the gate, the din of voices became very loud, all of it in Russian. It seemed to me that everything was happening so fast, yet in slow motion. A few Russians/Ukrainians spoke to me, but I had no idea what to say, or what was expected of me. I only said "Nyet", hoping they would let me concentrate on my priority. I had only Luda on my mind. Where was she? Was she even here? What will she be like in *real* life??? As I passed under through the gate, there were people everywhere, all of them with their attention on people coming through the gate. Twenty feet in front of me a tall man suddenly waved and shouted over the din to me. "Hi, Brian! I am Eugene!!" he shouted. My mind vaguely registered that he was speaking English, and that it was the husband of the agency's owner Olga, who had told me that she and him would meet me there at the airport with Luda. "Hi, Eugene!!", I shouted back. I couldn't help but smile, I knew that Luda must be close, but where??? I started to walk toward him. Suddenly, fifteen feet in front of me, in the failing light of dusk, a girl in a blue evening dress stepped into view and said "Hi, Brian!". It was Luda. And she was more than I dared imagine. My world changed. I became only dimly aware of anything else. The loud voices in Russian from the crowd suddenly seemed almost muted. There was only Luda. As we neared each other, I nearly dropped my suitcases while trying to set them down in a hurry, and I have no idea how long we hugged each other, but I remember laughter from everyone else, the faint scent of perfume, the excitement in her voice as she said she missed me, and finally the shouting airport officials, upset at us for nearly blocking the flow of traffic. We reluctanctly broke off our embracing, and I remember being introduced to her father and sister, and the agency owner, Olga. I noticed Luda's father and Eugene carrying my suitcases, and for the first time in the last 20 hours, I just completely let go, no longer worrying about my (finished) journey, my luggage, my safety, everything... there was only Luda. She wrapped her arm under mine, and held onto my arm with both of her hands tightly, and we walked in a zigzag line (almost as though intoxicated), laughing, in a direction I cannot remember, for a length of time that I cannot remember, just away from the airport. We arrived at her father's car, and Olga and Eugene said their goodbye's and invited me to visit their club when I had time. Luda's father and sister sat in the front seat, while Luda got in the backseat and literally pulled me into the car to sit next to her. I couldn't wait to, and for the next 20-30 minutes (I lost track of time), Luda and I were affectionate with each other. We alternately hugged, held each other close, whispered into each other's ears, held each other's hands, embraced and laughed. I already knew I loved her laughter and voice from my phone conversations with her, but both were more lovely than I dared to imagine. Oh, I thought she was beautiful too, and she wore a drop dead gorgeous blue evening dress that was cut low in the back and seemed to cling tightly to every part of her. (Out of the 45+ pictures that she sent me at my request during the 6 months of our correspondence, not ONCE did she ever send me any picture in which she dressed up like this, or even close! Much later she told me it was because she did not want me to fall in love with her pictures. Ahh, clever, I thought.)
I asked if they were taking me to my apartment and she said "It's a surprise!".
****SIDENOTE*
As I knew I would be staying in Simferopol for quite some time, I did not want to impose on Luda and her family by staying in their home. So I arranged for Luda and Olga to find me a low cost apartment not far from her house. Supposedly, they were going to get me this apartment and I would pay a small amount of money, but instead, I ended up staying in her home the whole time. All things considered, I think this worked out better, as I got to see a Ukrainian household every day, and see the interactions between the family. I saw their way of life and I pretty much became a part of the family as I stayed with them and the parents treated me like a son. I got to see the pros, and the cons of their way of life. If I had stayed in an apartment, I still would have seen a lot of their lives, but not nearly as much.
*END SIDENOTE ****
The car eventually stopped, we got out, and Luda stayed with me in the street outside their house, while father and sister went inside, then some unknown number of minutes later (insert more affection here), I heard father and sister shout out in the darkness.
Luda said excitedly "Let's go!". Once inside, I met her mother, and I took my shoes off, and they quickly ushered me to the dinner table. It was perfectly set to accomodate 5 persons, and full of dishes that were elaborately decorated. We sat down, Luda and I next to each other, and father poured the champagne and toasted to our meeting, and my safe journey. We ate merrily, talked about my journey, joked, took pictures every so often, and sat at the dinner table for a while. Then all of us retired to the living room, where they put a bunch of photo albums in my lap. Luda sat next to me, and as I flipped through the photo albums, Luda provided the verbal captions for me with input from the family. Afterwards, Luda pulled me to her room for some privacy, and for the first time I got to look at her in good lighting, without any distractions. I felt that I must be in a dream, and I know it must have showed on my face, because Luda kept asking me "What??!" "What is it?!!". I gave her a flower that I had brought all the way from Texas, and we held each other's hands for some time, during which I realized how tiny her hands were.
I was exhausted from almost no sleep in 2+ days (since I couldn't sleep but only 30 minutes before catching the first plane in Texas), yet I didn't want to go to sleep. But finally we said goodnight to each other at almost 1am.
My journal entry for that night is below...
Looking back on it, I was definitely in Cloud 9...
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7/4/01 12:51am Simferopol time, Wednesday.
THERE ARE NO WORDS
to describe .... anything about how I feel, and how I have felt in the last 4 hours. To even assume, for one second that words could describe my feelings... is absolute hogwash!
but, then again, I have to say *something*
She is ..... ------- and ------ and --------- and SO much more beautiful in person. She IS beautiful. No doubts about it!! I finally told her so. I haven't really slept since Saturday night.
Didn't sleep Sunday night, cept for a 30 min. nap in the morning, and only took winks of naps while on 3 different planes. Very uncomfortably so.
So I am exhausted yet so excited.
I'm here! I'm in Crimea. I have met Luda, she is incredible. Her family is incredibly nice.
I received the MOST HOSPITABLE welcome that I've ever recieved. EVER. EVERYONE just went out of their way to make my experience totally unforgettable.
MY HEAD IS SPINNINGGGG......
My SUMMER HAS BEGUN
ZZZZZ
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(My blanked out words in the journal are exactly that in my journal. I just had no adjectives in my vocabulary to use to properly describe her, so I just left them blank.)
I slept soundly, and when I awoke, the fairy tale would continue.
---- To be continued in POST #6 ----
