Drink ‘n’ Dive

So, as everyone knows, my last name is not above… it is NOT Rover. It’s something else, that I’m not going to list here…

My ticket is issued in the name of Rover. Yes, you read it right: Rover. It’s a boo-boo, but on Friday night (after the travel agency was closed) when I called United Airlines to add my Mileage Plus number to my itinerary (what, you think I shouldn’t get 11k miles for this trip?), they didn’t have anyone with my real last name on the plane. That took my breath away, just a bit… So I was kind of freaking out. The woman on the phone told me that if she tried to change it now, Lufthansa would cancel my ticket. Beg your pardon, what? I called the travel agency and they weren’t open, and had no open hours on Saturday… I now realized that on Monday morning, when they opened, I would have to camp out at the agency until they got it right…

It is now Sunday, nothing else has been resolved and I will go to Whole Foods first and then to NEWS Travel Agency to correct the mistake. Because I really don’t relish the idea of showing up in Frankfurt (or at O’Hare, either!) with a ticket in the name of Rover and all my ID with a different last name… So, wish me luck!!

My group has had a full day of getting to know one another – it’s been good fellowship time. I was asked today by one of the participants (there are 4 of us, Noelle and the three guys: Brandon, Kurt and Gary) how many brothers I had. It made me wonder what gave it away… apparently it was the rapid-fire responses I have for things. Kurt bought us “super-sharp cheddar” for our sandwiches. Brandon said, “It didn’t cut me at all.” Noelle: “Well, you obviously didn’t do it right.” And for that, I have to say thank you to Britt – staccato responses have become second nature… HA!

We had delicious pizza this evening and now I’m finishing the laundry… We learned about the history of the church in Russia and worship in the Orthodox style – it’s fascinating. I’m very excited to see the things I saw in 93 in St Petersburg, and also excited to see the things I didn’t get a chance to see. There is a Cathedral of Spilled Blood in Petersburg that I didn’t get to see in 93 (I think it was under a 5 year remodel or something), that is now open. It’s gorgeous, from the pictures I saw of the inside, and the outside was amazing.

I’m very much looking forward to taking new pictures, that I’ll be able to (maybe this is all hypothetical) catalog and then actually print. I need to do that for Thailand as well, though. We’ll see how long it takes me. But, since I haven’t really done it for the 93 trip’s photos, I have 13 years, I guess.

Chicago is still a fun town, and I’m glad I’ve had the chance to wander it! Church this morning was fun, we went to Lake View Presbyterian, up near Wrigley Field. After that, we wandered in the heat to check out Wrigley Field. There are houses across the street from the ballpark that have bleachers up there – it’s crazy!! But, it was fun to see – apparently it’s all catered and such… I don’t even want to know how much it costs! I couldn’t imagine living in one of them.

FYI – it’s been hot as heck here! And in Russia, in Moscow it may be 73 degrees in the daytime – so that’s about a 20 degree differential. Yippee! And St Petersburg looks to be a tad warmer. It’ll be a nice change!