Journal 9
Monday - 01-24-11
Funny, how the things you do and say can lead to conversations *entirely* unexpected!
Case in point, that Facebook status I posted at the end of the night (or the end of the last journal entry) led to a completely random instance of flirting with one of the Marines here in Moscow this morning.
He was busting my chops (teasing me), thinking I was being morose and mopey. The next thing you know, we're bantering back and forth at each other through messages.
It's not going anywhere, of course. We're on opposite ends of the spectrum, I suppose you could say, when it comes to what we're looking for these days, as far as romance is concerned.
It was just interesting watching Life throw a curveball. Ha ha ha.
**********
I started writing this journal this morning -- of course, I couldn't know what was to happen this afternoon...
Moscow's Domodedovo Airport was bombed…. 35 people are dead, 152 injured, at last count. The bomb went off in the International Arrivals hall… It's a place I've been through a handful of times, now…
Obviously, at this point in time, we have no idea who was behind the attack, or why it was carried out… I imagine suspicion will fall on Chechen groups. They were behind the female suicide bombers of the Metro, last March.
[February Update: To my knowledge, after checking the news follow ups, a summary of what has been released to the public so far about the attack is as follows:
Around 36 people were killed; as many as 180 or more injured.
It's said that the power of the blast was considered to be equal to somewhere between 2 and 5 kg (4.2 - 11 lbs) of TNT.
The bomber was a man from the North Caucuses, according to Russia's Federal Investigative Committee.
The attack was aimed at foreigners more than Russians.
Domodedovo is Moscow's busiest airport, and its main International hub.]
*****
As I checked for news updates, I was horrified to see that, early on, there were already (cellphone) videos of the immediate aftermath of the bombing being posted online. I did not watch any of them myself; but I did see comments being flung around, describing the, "piles" of bodies, and I wondered, "Where has compassion, and respect for the dead gone?"
When my host mum came home, I asked her if she had heard the news. She hadn't, and of course, when I told her what had happened, she asked me to tell her everything. There wasn't much to tell at that point… Just the basics: when the bomb went off in international arrivals, the latest number of dead and injured was such-and-such, and that no one knew who was responsible.
My host mum asked what the bombing would mean for the new group of students who were supposed to be flying in at the end of the week. I told her I wasn't sure, but I was sure to hear from our director, Jon, at some point soon.
For now, I'm just praying, as the country is, for the injured, the dead, and the families and loved ones of everyone effected by this terrible incident.
I'm reminded, some, of the Metro bombings back in March -- life will continue on tomorrow, independent of today's events; though potentially with people feeling more wary, and certainly, with a stepped-up police presence. Beyond that, however… Nothing will have changed, and everyone will just keep trying to survive. It's all you can do, in the face of random terror like that.
~Moscow Kitty
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