Our_Story_Page_2--NOVOSIBIRSK_JAN

    Now I will continue on with my story and tell you how I met Yana the second time and what she has come to mean to me! Well I found out a couple of days after our first date that YANA DID WANT TO SEE ME AGAIN!!
"YAHOO!!!", Ok, it's cool. I thought that this might happen!
     On our second date I was waiting downstairs in the lobby of my hotel for Yana. I think that Yana was a little bit late. And then I saw her!!! She was wearing a bright red ski jacket with a matching red ski hat (the hat was so cute!). And she was also wearing regular blue denim jeans!   And she had the most wonderful smile on her face!
   As Yana entered the hotel and started to walk over to me I was not able to move, I was temporarily paralyzed by what I saw. The most beautiful girl I had ever been in a room with was coming over to see me! She had dressed down in regular clothes to match what she thought I would be wearing in order to make me feel more comfortable! And she had a huge, sincere, beautiful smile on her face too!!!
          For a while longer I was unable to move. I looked at her smile and considered what this wonderful smile might mean to me. I looked at her ski jacket and at her clothes and then I realized that I was being impolite and I heard myself saying. Move damm it MOVE!   Do not keep this lady waiting!
      When I finally go up and found my feet Yana was almost all of the way to me! I only made it to the end of the sofa that I had been sitting on before we were together!
    Yana was beautiful, probably the most beautiful girl I had ever seen before but she exuded warmth, kindness and happiness so I reached out and greeted her like I would a loving friend that I had not seen in years. I hugged her and kissed her gently on her cheek. My hands reached out for hers at the same time that her hands seemed to be searching for mine.      When our hands met each other, I marveled at the way her hands felt in mine, and I marveled at the way it made me feel. I looked at Yana's face and at her smile. She was beaming with happiness and I was too!
      This evening Yana presented me with three wonderful gifts. One was a framed painting of a Siberian Winter Scene complete with trees, cabin and a river.

(Just the kind of home I would like to someday have, in Siberia). This painting hangs right above my desk in my office so that I will see it every time that I sit down to work. The next gift was a ceramic thing that you hang on the wall. It looks like an upside down horseshoe with words on it. And on the bottom there is a coiled snake with big funny eyes! Yana said that this was to commemorate the Chinese Calendar and it's year of the snake. But the best gift that I received that night was the incredible warmth and charm of this most wonderful girl!
     After another couple of wonderful evenings with Yana I decided to extend my stay for a second time so that I could spend more time with her. I then spent most of the next 9 evenings with Yana. The last evening that we spent together was the evening before my early morning 26th of January, 2001 flight to San Francisco. This flight was to take me away from Yana and away from the peace and happiness that I felt whenever she was near.
     It was a little after 3:00 a.m. in the morning so Yana and I were late meeting Victor down in the lobby of my hotel. He drove US to the airport where only one of US would depart and the other would stay.
     I held on to Yana as tightly as the circumstances that we were in would allow. I held on to her hand, and I sat very close to her. I looked at her face and tried to memorize everything I could about her and about the moments we had left with each other.
     When we arrived at the airport I saw a vendor selling flowers so I bought Yana some more flowers. Yana loves Roses and her favorite are pink colored roses. This vendor did not have any pink roses, only red ones so this would have to do. I so much wanted to show Yana just how much I cared for her and just how badly I wanted to stay with her. Yana accepted these roses with a sincere smile.   Yana told me that when I leave her to get on my plane that I should not say goodbye.   She said instead of goodbye we should say only "see you later".
     Sometimes Yana and I communicate with the help of my Notebook Computer and a translating program called Stylus. Now that we were sitting together at the airport, only a few minutes before I was scheduled to leave, we had no time for computers. So we communicated with each other the same way that we most often do. We spoke to each other using the language of feelings and emotions. We also spoke to each other using the simplest of words spoken slowly.

     You would be quite surprised at all of the different things that can be communicated in this way and you might also be surprised to learn that there are some things that can ONLY BE COMMUNICATED IN THIS WAY! Or at least some things that can be best communicated in this way!
      My very last gift to Yana was a list that I made up at the airport a few minutes before my plane was to leave. It was a
list of several of the special things that I did not want her to forget. I will try and reproduce that list here. I said "Yana do not forget":

1. Leg Hugs. 2. Small Houses. 3. Sliding on the snowy sidewalk. 4. Popa Hugs. 5. The special hearts that we made each other at the New York Pizza Restaurant. 6. Holding her hand in the pocket of my jacket as we would walk together on the street, and other special things! And I told her not to forget that I would come back to see her as soon as I was able to.
     Now it has been less than 3 weeks since I have last seen Yana.   I have not earned any money in that 3 weeks and I have very little money left to run my business. But all I can think ABOUT IS YANA!
     So tomorrow the 12th of Feb. 2001, I will board a plane in San Francisco, California and I will fly to Istanbul, Turkey where I will meet Yana the following evening. She is going there to buy clothes for her families business but I will be going there to find the peace and happiness that I left when I left Yana in Novosibirsk, on the 26th of January. And I will also be flying to this city so that I can personally deliver the Valentines Day gift that I bought for her. And through this act and this gift I hope to show her how much I care.
     Wish me luck!
READY OR NOT YANA, HERE I COME!!!!!!!!!!!