MoldovAnn

My “Aha!” moment of the month was realizing there is a card reader built into my laptop – d’oh! No more excuses for not uploading my pictures because I can’t find the camera cable! So I am finally, slowly but surely, catching up on my photos to Flickr. I’ll post some highlights here eventually.

Last weekend was great. Saturday was an absolutely beautiful day and we went for a long stroll with friends Bill and Eilene, starting at the Lavra and then on to the new Holodomor (famine) monument. I had only seen it from afar, so walking up close and around the plaza I had mixed feelings. There was some controversy last year about the huge amount of money spent to build yet monument to the 1930’s famine. It wasn’t really clear why anothe rmonument was needed not very far from the simple yet elegant monument at St. Michael’s Cathedral. The new one certainly doesn’t touch me the same way. They did a really fantastic job landscaping the hill below the monument, though, with stairs and paths down connecting to the paths all along the hillside. The, honestly, impressed me much more. There are several sets of stairs going down below the monument plaza, which were roped off. We looked over the side of the plaza, down one level to kind of courtyard, where old tools and canoes and other items were strewn about. A man was working on some of them, and we went down to check it out. He snapped at us that the museum wasn’t open, the courtyard was off limits still. I translated for Bill and Eilene, and when the man heard us speaking a foreign language, he seemed to warm up a bit, or at least he stopped yelling. I asked him if the things were old, as we all looked at them closely and admired them. This really won his favor, and he got interested in telling us a bit more. He showed us the flour mill he was working on, and demonstrated how it worked by cranking the handle, which turned the millstone, and he pointed to where you would pour in the grain and where the flour would come out. He invited us to come back on opening day, August 24 (Indepedence Day), and we promised we would be there.

We continued on with our stroll, with a quick stop in the underground shopping mall at Ploschad’ Slava (Glory Square). Eilene and I found a huge box of Ukrainian motif cross-stitch patterns at the Ukrainian book store and we just went nuts! We both bought enough patterns to keep us busy for the next couple of years, I suspect, while still drolling over the beautiful patterns for shirts (which are far beyond my skills, that’s for sure). The walked continued through Marinsky Park, to European Square, past Indepedence Square, and down Khreshatyk. We ended up – tired, hungry and thirsty – at a cafe where we relaxed and did some people watching. We were looking forward to quiet evening at home.

As we were heading home later, a friend of Igor’s from Korosten called to ask where the Fortress is. Turned out he was in town for the weekend with his new girlfriend and wanted to see the place Igor has raved about so much. He tried to explain how to get there, but when Vlad called back about 10 minutes later, we realized it would be easier to just take them there ourselves. Many native Kyivans don’t even know there is a fortress right smack in the middle of the city, so we weren’t surprised when Vlad said he kept asking people where it was and no one could tell him. So we met up with them and took them to the fortress. The main exhibition hall, which has an incredibly impressive collection of Trypillian artifacts was closed for an exhibit change. We were afraid the fabulous collection would be taken away, but the ladies assured us a different exhibit was changing and the Trypillian items would still be on display. We’re curious to see what will be there next! So we suggested Vlad and friend check out the smaller exhibit hall, in a different building. We went to the little building near the exhibit halls where we’ve always bought tickets before, but were re-directed to the actual ticket booth at the entrance to the grounds. Looks like they’re getting kinda fancy, maybe even professional! So Igor and I walked over to the booth and checked out the schedule and prices. We asked for two tickets.

“No,” said the lady in the booth. “It’s too late, we’re closing.”
I paused, checked the sign again, checked my watch.
“It says the museum is open until 6. It’s only 5:10 now.”
“No, it’s too late. You won’t have time for a tour.”
“But we just want to look on our own, we don’t need a guide.”
“There’s not enough time.”
Finally Igor chimed in, tired and grumpy after our long day.
“We can manage it. We’ll be OK. Two tickets please.”

I was getting a bit slap-happy, started laughing and asked the lady if the museum doesn’t need to earn any money? There budget is OK these days? On pretty much every of the numerous occassions Igor and I have been to the fortress, we always get a lecture from the ladies about the poor state of the museum’s finances, so it just seemed utterly ridiculous that they would be turning away 2 paying customers. Then again, I’m sure she was at least partially concerned for us, that we wouldn’t get our money’s worth out of a 45-minute visit (I’ve run into this before, especially from older women,). It’s sweet that she was concerned, especially since the tickets cost 7 UAH each, less than $1. But it still makes me chuckle that the employees of a cash-strapped museum would refuse to sell someone an entrance ticket!

So we passed the tickets on, walked Vlad and friend to the door and headed again for home. His phone rings; another friend from Korosten is in town for a seminar and wants to meet. Igor (much to my guilty relief) sends me on home while he goes to meet Olga. He calls soon after and asks if it’s OK for her to come to our place, she doesn’t have a place to stay the night. Of course! So I whipped together some dinner, and having company was the perfect excuse to bake a chocolate chip cake. It was a fun evening, but man were we ever exhausted when we finally collapsed into bed!

Sunday was brunch at Arizona BBQ, always a pleasure, followed by a quick stop at a arts & crafts booth I like in the underground shopping mall at Bessarabska Square (such a great use of space in a densely packed city – go underground! Wish they’d make some parking garages that way, too). Eilene and I got some fabric and thread for our new cross-stitch patterns, and she loaded up on yarn for the hats she’s knitting for cancer patients. We finally ended up at home, blissfully vegging on the couch until bedtime. Whew!

The week has been equally busy, although with fun social stuff. Saw “District 9″ one evening – a lot more gore than I care for, but a good story line. Looking forward to the sequel (will it take 3 years to make?). Also went on a “Caribbean Cruise”, organized by the American Chamber of Commerce, along the Dnipro River. It was OK; the best part was hanging out with Igor and friends Bill and Eilene. Igor commented that there were a lot of “huntresses” on board, or “working devushkas”, as Bill put it. Dad hooked up with a couple pretty quickly and disappeared for the rest of the evening.

Igor and I are in week 2 of a “drying out” phase. We decided it was time to take a break from alcohol – too much of in the past few months, and way too many of the corresponding calories. Considering the main selling point of the Caribbean Cruise was the free “tropical” cocktails, we weren’t sure how our resolve would hold up. But we stuck to our non-alcoholic beer (which was surprisingly thoughtful of the organizers to have available!). When we got home, Igor commented, “Well, we made it through our first event without booze. Kinda boring, but we did it.” I don’t think it would have been more exciting or entertaining if we had been drinking, though. But it was a pleasant evening, something different to do.

The coming weekend will be chock full of fun stuff – Sunday is Flag Day, Monday is Independence Day, so lots of events planned throughout the long weekend. Saturday is the flower festival at the park by Rodina Mat’. Sunday is a flag-raising ceremony at Marinsky Palace. And after the parade on Monday morning, we are looking forward to checking out the new museum at the Holodomor monument.

I added a few more items to each column in the What We Love in the US and Ukraine list.

US: ice and its easy availability (hotel ice machines rock, bags of ice you can buy in grocery stores are bee’s knees).

Ukraine: the free luggage carts at Boryspil airport; the way drivers thank each other on the road by flashing their hazards a couple of times (like if you move over towards the berm to let someone pass you on a narrow road) – one of the only polite things drivers do on the roads here.

What are your favorite things?

I’m in Vladimir, Russia, this week. After the chaos at Boryspil last week, I made sure to be at the airport with plenty of time today, which meant getting up at 4:40 for my 8:20 flight. Taxi picked me up at 5:30, I was at Boryspil by 6:10, registration for my flight didn’t start until 6:30. It’s such a crap shoot at that airport!

It’s been a long day. It’s almost 1am local time, just an hour difference from Kyiv but I seem to have a new wind and can’t sleep. Things that I remembered today that I meant to write about earlier:

- Need to add “ice and easy access to getting it” to the list of things I love about the US, like ice machines in hotels and bags of ice at grocery stores. We spent days making ice for our margarita party this past weekend, which we used up in just a few short hours. Argh!

- Numerous crazy stories from Georgia. Such as…

I was all freaked out by the guy across the aisle from me on the Kyiv-Tbilisi flight, whose cell phone kept beeping throughout the flight. “Is your phone on?” I asked. “No, it’s off,” he said. “Strange, electronic devices rarely makes sounds when they are turned off.” He just stared at me.

As soon as the wheels of the plane touched the ground, two-thirds of the passengers jumped out of their seats and started getting their stuff from the overhead bins. The flight attendants asked a couple of times for them to sit down until the plane had stopped, but then they seemed to accept their defeat and just kept to themselves. I always wonder, where do those people think they will rush off to? The plane is sealed up tight, we’re still taxiing to the gate, yet it’s somehow crucially important that they get their stuff out and be ready to sprint out of the plane?

We hired a car and driver one day to take us to some cool historical sites just outside of Tbilisi. The driver stopped at a gas station on the way. There was a man sitting, maximum, six feet from the pump, smoking a cigarette. The driver got out, left the car running, and filled the tank. Igor and I looked at each. “I love you,” we said to each other, thinking these could very well be our last seconds on earth. We didn’t explode, thankfully, and Igor commented that he understands now that cell phones in airplanes is really nothing to these people.

When I departed from Batumi a week later, a woman got on the plane at the last moment and flopped down into the first available seat, which happened to be across from me. She buckled in as we pulled away from the gate. She starting searching through her purse, clearing becoming increasingly agitated. As we taxied to the runway, she unbuckled, stood up and took her luggage out of the overhead bin. She searched it as we pulled onto the runway, put it back, sat down again and searched her purse again. As the wheels lifted from the ground, she pulled out her cell phone, turned it on and dialed a number. I nearly had a heart attack.

“I can’t believe you are doing that”, I said to her. “I understand you’ve lost something, but it’s a question of safety.”
“Oh, calm down girl. I’ll just be quick.”
“And we’ll all die quickly.” (My imagination runs wild in a situation like this – all those unexplained plane crashes, were they because everyone on a plane turned on their phones?)
“I forgot my mobile phone in the airport,” she said, as if that justified everything.
“Your phone is more important than the lives of the people on this plane?”
Clearly she thought so.

As we ascended over the Black Sea, she called someone to tell them she’d forgotten her phone. I was contemplating calling my husband to tell him I love him.

People in this part of the world have a strange relationship to rules. I guess they would say the same about Americans, that we take them much too seriously. But I’m American and yes, dammit, I take my rules seriously, especially the ones that I understand to be about my safety and the safety of those around me. Do I think it’s absurd that in most of the US it is OK to operate a multi-ton motor vehicle after a couple of beers but it is not OK to walk in a park with an open alcholic beverage in your hand? Yeah, I do (how much damage can you do walking, for Pete’s sake?). Do I think there is logic to traffic rules? Hell yeah. I guess I understand somewhat risking your own life, and I recognize that some people (many?) don’t care about the lives of strangers around them. But driving like a maniac with your kids in the car, or standing up in a taxiing airplace with your baby in your arms, that I will just never understand. Even if you care for no other life around, how can you not care for the life of your child?

I’ve philosophized over this question with many an ex-pat. I do believe the insane rush to get your carry-on out and be first ready to exit the plane comes from the the mentality towards lines here, which is one of the biggest legacies of the Soviet Union (close but still not equal to the insane need to have any and all documents stamped; I swear one of these days I’m buying a unicorn stamp for all official business!).

I’ve concluded that if they don’t die from it the first time, they decide it’s OK to do all the time. There are many flaws to this theory, but it’s the only way I can rationalize the behavior.

We had a great 4th of July here in Kyiv. Since it actually fell on a Saturday this year, we got to celebrate the great day on the actual day even!

We loaded up the car with friends and tons of food, met up with some other friends in their car, and proceeded to drive back and forth across Kyiv for a couple hours. That wasn’t the fun part, believe me, but it took us awhile to find an acceptable spot for our cookout. The folks in the other car wanted to go to a beach along the Dnipro River in the southwest part of Kyiv, but when we got there we were all disappointed and disgusted with the mounds of trash everywhere. Igor put it rather mildly – “not appetizing.” So we headed back across town to the forests on the northeast side of Kyiv. The spot was perfect – no one else seen or heard, almost no trash, and the added fun of getting to test our Toyota 4-Runner off road – woohoo!

The Americans cooked hamburgers, the Ukrainians cooked shashlik. Everyone ate the too-die-for brownies that Eilene made (although I noticed only the Americans were excited about the also too-die-for peanut butter cookies). We grilled fish and veggies. We had salads. And of course beer, wine, juices and other drinks galore. We played frisbee. We laughed until our sides hurt watching Bazooka the dog try to bury her stick somewhere close to China.

We dragged ourselves home late in the evening, tired and content. It was a really great day, and best of all that we could spend it with friends.

That’s the question I get asked frequently from both sides of the pond. Actually, Ukrainians usually say “It’s better in America, right?” and Americans often ask “What do you miss about living in America?”, but the general idea is an interest in what is different between life in the US and in Ukraine (or at least that’s how I choose to interpret those questions).

I always answer the Ukrainian question by saying “Some things are better in Ukraine, some are better in the US”, which opens the door for me to comment on a few of the areas where the average Ukrainian could contribute to improving society: litter, reckless and dangerous driving, smoking, etc. Being in the US for a month recently, I was asked several times about what I like better about life in Ukraine, and I talked about the delicious, truly organic food, the safety, the freedom. While it wouldn’t hurt to have a few more regulations in some areas (consumer protection, for example), I don’t get a 12-inch long receipt from a Ukrainian store with extensive warnings that are common sense and detailed outlines of how they are NOT liable for anything at all. I think we’ve gone off the deep end in the US trying to shirk all responsibility for anything and everything. Don’t get me wrong, Ukrainians don’t like to take responsibility either, that seems to be human nature. But at least they haven’t codified it in the law and the lawyers haven’t created a whole industry of trying to make someone else pay for the fact I spilled my hot coffee or I don’t know how to properly use a toothbrush.

Anyway, before I digress any further, I thought I’d share the non-comprehensive lists of things Igor and I love in both countries. We’ll keep adding to it as things come to my mind, and please feel free to leave comments about what you love too! (And if anyone knows how to insert a table or columns in a WordPress post so these can be side-by-side lists, please email me.)

United States

Ukraine

Spring is definitely coming out of hibernation these last few days in Kyiv. There’s such a feeling of relief each year when I realize we’ve made it past the hump, we survived another dark and dreary winter. I always stock up on something to keep me occupied during the winters, and this year it was cross-stitch and American TV shows. I watched the entire series of Homicide: Life on the Streets and The West Wing. I’d loved both series when they originally aired, but never saw the first season of Homicide, or the last couple seasons of either series. Can I just say, holy cow did West Wing ever rock! And talk about life imitating art – it was a bit freaky to watch the last two seasons of West Wing in the months following the election and inauguration of Barack Obama. Homicide was a great series, too, but it got under my skin to watch it so intensely, so many episodes back to back. I realized I needed to take a break when I started to see killers and rapists everywhere around me. Kind of like if you watch The Sopranos too much you start dropping F-bombs like there’s no tomorrow.

I also caught up to the broadcasts of Battlestar Galactica and Lost. It was bittersweet to watch the BG series finale last week, but frankly I can’t wait for Lost to wrap up too. Both series seem to get a bit lost (no pun intended) for awhile there, but BG pulled it together really nicely at the end. I’m gonna miss those folks. They had some interesting lessons to share, for both the business and political worlds.

And during all this TV watching, I’ve been making good progress on my cross-stitching. I finished two small projects then moved on to two bigger and more complicated ones. I finished the second of those last week (I thought it was never going to end!) and decided it’s time to try my hand at what I really wanted to be doing – a rushnik, or Ukrainian embroidered towel. It’s daunting to pick up the long cloth and start the first of what will be thousands of stitches, but it’s exciting. I honed my skills all winter long with this project as my goal, and with the new spring I start working on that goal -yeah!

The only downside to all this cross-stitching is that I haven’t been reading much, since the two don’t really go hand-in-hand, so to say (hence the extreme TV watching all winter long). I did read a few good books in recent months, but not nearly as many as in past winters. As usual, my reading list is on GoodReads.

I’m back home in Kyiv, wondering when that magic moment occurred and Kyiv became “home.” It is home because my husband is here, first and foremost. My work and friends are here, too. I love being in Columbus, too, my other home, where my family and friends are. And I’m always amazed at how quickly and easily it is to reconnect with those close friends I see once a year, if I’m lucky.

I slept for something like 14 hours Tuesday night, and enjoyed a quiet day with Igor on Wednesday. He took me to the fitness club he joined recently, and signed me up as well. It felt great to have a good workout, and I’m looking forward to us getting in shape together. There are saunas in both the men’s and women’s locker rooms, which of course was the big selling point for Igor. I was kind of bummed we couldn’t use the sauna together, but as I was in mine I heard sounds on the other side of the wall and started to wonder… “Igor, is that you?” Sure enough! So we sat in our respective saunas and chatted through the wall, being the only people in either one. It was cute.

I’m back to the office today, which will be great. I miss my colleagues!

I’m in Washington DC – well, actually in Virginia for a couple days visiting friends then moving to a hotel in DC where I’ll be for our annual week-long meeting. I was a shopping fool today, possibly burned a hole right through my AmEx. Man, I love it.

Weird US observation – there’s a lot of water in the toilet bowl. Also, I felt a little freaked out to be surrounded by English everywhere I went today. And I had to laugh out loud in Target when there were 2-3 people in each of 3 check-out lanes and it was like a major emergency – they were calling people back from their freakin’ breaks to deal with the “rush”. I didn’t stand in a line for more than 5 minutes anywhere today. It’s like hours added to my life, all of which can be happily spent buying more stuff. What a great country.

We were back in our old neighborhood the other day, visiting the Lavra with some friends. It hit me like a Mac truck how much I miss Pechersk! It wasn’t just that everything was familiar, somehow the entire atmosphere of the neighborhood feels different from where we are living now. I was hesitant to tell Igor that I missed the area, worried he’d be upset or I don’t know what. I finally told him, and he looked as relieved as I felt – we both miss Pechersk soooo much! We decided that as soon as we can, we’ll move back there. I don’t care if it’s farther from my office, it feels like home there. We also decided our next move will most likely be to an apartment that we purchase. Real estate prices are falling, and it just might be possible for us to buy a modest apartment in the coming year.

It’s weird to be more financially secure than we’ve ever been, thinking about things like buying our own apartment, in the middle of a global economic crisis and living in a country that has been hit quite hard. (Well, my retirement funds have tanked, but otherwise…) Although we are personally benefiting from the strong dollar right now, I do sincerely hope that the hrivna stabilizes soon so that so many other people don’t suffer any longer.

С днём благодарения!

Today is a working day for us here in Kyiv, even at a place called American Councils for International Education (we are taking Friday off, though). We’ll spend this evening with at the Campsey’s, with dad and some other Americans. This will actually be my first Thanksgiving dinner with Americans since I’ve lived in Ukraine, and it will be Igor’s first “traditional” Thanksgiving dinner – turkey and all!

I am very thankful for so many people and things. First and foremost for my wonderful husband; I couldn’t ask for a better partner in my life. I am thankful for my family – parents and siblings both by blood and by marriage. I’ve been thinking about mom a lot lately, and I am especially thankful for the last conversation I had with her 2 days before she passed away. It was an “unscheduled” phone call, I’d had an “unknown” caller on my cell phone and thought I’d better check with my parents if it had been them calling on a Thursday about something important. Nothing had happened, thank goodness, and it was a really nice conversation with just my mom. I am thankful that my last memories of her are so warm. It’s hard to believe that it’s been over three years now since I last saw her and hugged her.

I am thankful for my wonderful friends, all over the world. I am thankful for my great colleagues and a job that I love.

I am thankful for ice cube trays and tomatoes picked from the vine and homemade wine and the internet and public transportation and warm clothes and sunny beaches and my iPod (OK, my dad’s iPod until I replace the one I killed) and decaf coffee and my cat and warm fresh bread and blue cheese and podiobooks and chocolate-covered halva and so very much more.

We are moving! We finally found an apartment that we like, with a manageable commute to my new office, with a price that doesn’t make us ill at the idea of paying it every month. We’re moving out of the center of Kyiv, though, which is going to be an interesting change for us. And not just out of the center, but to the edge of Kyiv – two bus stops past the last metro station. But wow, is it ever quiet out there. And there’s a giant park nearby, a forest really. We are really looking forward to some long walks there.

We are also literally “moving up” – to the 10th floor! Even though we’ll be far from the center, we’ll have an amazing view, and we’ll see the weekly Kyiv fireworks from our balcony, instead of just hearing them but seeing nothing through the high-rises that surround us now.

And yes, there’s an elevator.

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The temperature has finally dropped enough that the centralized heat was turned on a few days ago. We’d been waiting for that before we gave the cat her quarterly shave. I decided to give it a try this time, and the cat actually laid down in the tub when I got out the electric shaver! Guess she was ready to lose all that insulation. Igor somehow just couldn’t stand by and let me manage the process, and I finally handed over the shaver. He’s getting better at it, but Pepette’s patience is not endless, and she especially hates it when he shaves her legs and head. She looks utterly ridiculous, but she’s happy! She got some extra special yummy treats for being such a good girl, had a good sprint around the apartment to demonstrate her new-found energy, and is now curled up on my lap purring like mad. Ah, how I love my monster.

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My new job is starting up slowly but surely. There’s a lot of stuff I have to do before I can really start doing my actual job – set up my office, buy a laptop and other equipment, hire my assistant, etc. The computer I’m using until I get my laptop is a dinosaur, and frustrates me to tears with its slowness and lack of capacity. The IT guy did something today that made it a bit better, but man I can’t wait to get a new computer.

They weren’t kidding about the 50% travel! By the end of this year, I should travel at least to DC, Budapest, Moscow, and one or two cities in Ukraine. But I can’t schedule any of it yet because the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is taking forever to do my new visa (because my visa is based on my employment, I had to get a new one when I changed jobs). They’ve had my passport for going on six weeks now, and it is also frustrating me. On the other hand, I have this sneaky feeling that I should enjoy the inability to travel while I can, ’cause soon enough I’ll be traveling a LOT.

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Saturday was my three year anniversary in Ukraine. It’s incredible to think how much has happened in these three years. I came here expecting to stay a year, maybe two, and I just updated my profile with the State Department’s Travel Registration to “staying indefinitely”. Three years in this apartment is also almost a record for me – the second longest residency in one abode since I moved out of my parents’ 18 years ago.

Life is good. I’m so glad, and very grateful, that I’ve found my place in the world, here with Igor. And the monster (aka Pepette).

———
I downloaded 5 seasons of Homicide: Life on the Street. I loved the show when it was on air, but discovered it only after a couple of seasons. I really enjoyed watching from the beginning now and getting all the ‘backstories’ that I had missed before. Man, what a great show.

I’m also still working on my embroidery. I finished three small projects so far, one of which I want to frame and give to Igor’s mom for her birthday. My current project is by far the most ambitious to date – eleven different colors and a pretty complicated pattern. I’m ready to be done with it and try out the Ukrainian patterns I bought during our recent trip to the Carpathians. I’m about half way through it, argh. One cool side effect is that I am catching up on my podcasts, and the Podiobooks and Librivox books that I’ve been wanting to listen to. But now I’m way behind on my stack of paper books. *sigh*