Hello from Khanty-Mansiysk

I'm finally here in Khanty-Mansiysk in our hotel! My teammates and myself definitely have traveled a long way. Some of them have been traveling for 48 hours so I consider myself lucky to have traveled for only 24 hours. Howeeeverrrrr, my clothes baggage didn't get on the JFK plane to Moscow so I'm now in "survival" mode until my bag gets here. Oi! My snowboarding bag is here, though, and that's what really matters :)

The experience has been interesting thus far. There are some noticeable cultural differences right off the bat when we arrived in Russia. What we consider rude is considered normal for the Russians. For example, they don't smile or make little comments if you make an eye contact with a stranger. They just don't change their facial expressions. They also don't avoid eye contact. They'll just look at you with unchanging facial expressions. It's a little hard not to take it personal at first, but it's easy to get over it. If they bump into you, they don't apologize or look back. They just keep on walking. Sounds the Russian culture has that in common with the deaf culture, eh? :) It'll be interesting to see what else I'll learn about the Russian culture.

So far, it's crazy to think this hotel room will be our home for the next couple of weeks. We have wifi, but I can only update my blog via computer. Originally I can update via my phone and i could add my pictures but... ah. that requires having a phone service. Soooo my plan backfired on me but thankfully my roommate has a computer so I'll borrow it every now and then, but it'll be a challenge to upload pictures so I'll do my best! Remember, you can follow deaflympics2015 on your facebook or go to http://www.2015deaflympics.org/. They post more frequently than I do :)

Nothing really is happening right now really. People are getting settled in the hotel. We don't know when we will check out the slopes or what our mode of transportation is or even where the closest drug store is so I can buy some personal hygiene stuff if my bag doesn't get here today. I hope to get some answers later this morning!

Side note: It's 6am here which means 9pm EST. If you want to add this time zone on your phone, look up "Yekaterinburg, Russia" - That'll give you our time zone. Cheerios! :)

Travel Day

Today will be a long day of traveling on the plane! I'm due to arrive Russia tomorrow morning. First time overseas. Hyped! Can't wait to see my American team at the JFK airport and travel with them. They'll help make the time go by faster :)

Catch you on the flip side!

3 more days! Can't express how excited and anxious I am! I'm working on learning some Russian with this app on my phone, but it's a slow process!

Rail Jam at Mt. Holly

Super happy. I fell a lot today at the rail jam. Rusty but starting to get my feet back. Turns out I won first place at Mt Holly's rail jam and got a brand new Roxy snowboard out of it. Tessa won second and got herself snowboard bindings. We're some lucky ladies up in here!

Oh. Remember, if you have donated or contributed towards my fundraiser, please send me an e-mail with your MAILING address to: jennifer.berrigan@gmail.com! 

Halfpipe in the making!

Just got news that the halfpipe is now being made!

And we finally got some pictures of the slopestyle setup!

This just got real!

19 days left!

Fundraiser Goal update

So excited to share that my fundraiser goal is $100 away from being met. This means I'm going to the Deaflympics for sure. Head over to gofund me to acknowledge all the wonder people who donated. They came out of the woodworks to show their support, and I'm beyond touched by this. Words can't describe how humbled I am to see all of this.

Time is going to fly by now with all the things I need to do to prepare for this. Only a month away! I can't believe it!

http://www.gofundme.com/d3r80o 

Update

Hello all - I've been quiet on the front, I know. Winter semester kicked in after the holidays, and I've been focused on picking up work to foot the bills. I'm also now a snowboard instructor at Mt. Holly, so I've been going to their clinics and getting my training done. 

I've been waiting to get updates on the Deaflympics and finally got my answers over the past weekend! 

Here's the information I've gotten thus far:

Deaflympics Schedule:

Flight Schedule:
We will be flying out from JFK on March 23 around 4pm to Moscow.  Jack is working with the Russian Federation to fly from Moscow to Khanty-Mansiysk.  We will return on April 6 around 4pm. 

Fundraiser Goal:
I'm still halfway from my fundraiser goal of $5,000. The deadline is Feb 20th or I can't go! Please help me spread the word! I'm still working on adding more fundraiser events. Ain't easy! 

I appreciate your ongoing support! World goes 'round because of people like YOU. <3

GOFUND ME LINK: http://www.gofundme.com/d3r80o