Thursday April 3rd

Greetings from Ukraine,



I apologize for not posting since Monday. Yesterday our internet wireless modem died on us without cause or warning. Our facilitator promised that either yesterday afternoon or today he would have the modem fixed or replaced and returned to us. It is now nearly dinnertime and still no modem, so Shirley and I opted to find an internet café for dinner and while at it, check email and post to the blog. We found this particular one fairly close; it was empty when we got here and now its jammed. At least for right now we have limited internet access until we get our wireless modem back.
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No word yet about a new appointment. Our facilitator said that today the SDA was very busy with meetings. He even said that the SDA employees were spread so thin, he couldn't see how anyone could have had an appointment today. Needless to say he was unfortunately unable to do any of his daily pestering. But as Scarlett O'Hara once said, "tomorrow is another day".


Yesterday we were moved out of our apartment by our facilitator before noon. Our new apartment is fairly close to our last one – maybe a mile or so away - but in a much quieter corner of town. We are actually closer to the Shevchenko park and the “Pok n Pop” (Rock N Roll) café that I wrote about in my last post. We feel that this apartment is in a better spot. We like being in a much smaller, quieter area without having to defy death everytime we cross the street. On the other hand we only need to walk a half block in either direction to get to one of two major thoroughfares. A grocery store is right on the corner and there are restaurants all over the place if we opt to go out. Our apartment itself is fairly spacious and has two beds compared to the one bed that we’ve had in all of our previous apartments. Interestingly, the spare bed is in the kitchen. Now when it comes to interior decorating I’ve always thought of myself as the clueless type; the right side of my brain has never been the dominant half. Yet even to a fashion invalid like me, having a bed in the kitchen seems to be a little off. On the other hand there is a practical side to this. Anyone for breakfast in bed??


Today was a cold, drizzly day which I am told is typical of Ukraine in the Spring. We went to the The Russian Art Museum that we wanted to go to on Monday but found that it was closed. Our guide book described this Art Museum as being full of art from both Russia and Ukraine. In fact we found only a small fraction of the works of art to be from either of those countries. The admission price was a little higher than the guide book said, probably because they have a special Asian art exhibit showing from March 26th through April 27th. Cost of admission was 16 hrivnas – about $3.20. Not exactly bank busting and well worth the afternoon out of the apartment. Fortunately the Museum had handouts in English describing most of the art. The Asian art exhibit seemed to be pretty heavily patrolled by both ushers and security. First of all we were not permitted to wear our overcoats; we had to check them in at the front. Then during our walk through the exhibit we were always being watched by at least one person. Sometimes more. Shirley noticed that security seemed to focus on only us. I don’t know if the Museum people were paranoid about theft but it would have been pretty tough sneaking a huge vase or a huge rug out of there even if I had my overcoat. Once we got to the regular Museum displays, the “patrols” seem to lighten up (or maybe the Museum people realized how harmless we were). There was a lot of Indian and European Renaissance stuff. There was also a huge selection of art from the Islamic parts of the world. For my own reasons I tend to avoid Muslim anything but even I will admit that the paintings, the Turkish pottery and especially the handmade Persian prayer rugs were all very ornate and beautiful.



Within half a block of the Museum is that Rock and Roll Café that I wrote about in Monday’s post. Since I already posted a picture before, no need to do it again. Shirley and I couldn’t resist checking it out and walked over there just for the sake of going in. The moment we stepped into the place, we were assaulted by Rolling Stones music. In fact that was all we heard overhead during our entire 45 minute stay. Now to an old Stones fan like myself, I didn't mind a bit - and anyone else in Kiev who likes the Stones would love it here. The music included some live versions of classic stones as well as some Russian/Ukrainian remakes; I didn't realize it at first until I heard a female singer saying how "dzumping dzack flash" is a gas gas gassss. The Cafe itself was very Applebee’s-like, not bad but somewhat trendy and definitely pricier than your typical Ukrainian places to eat. Two coffees and two plates of French fries cost about $13 including tip; kinda comparable to prices at a restaurant in the States but if you compare it to two full dinners at a Ukrainian Cafeteria-like place for about $9 total, then its obvious that being trendy is a costly hobby here in Ukraine.


We cruised by a University which was pretty active with students crisscrossing between the buildings (if you can figure out the name of the University, let me know). We figured that a place like a University would b a perfect place to look for an internet café so we began keeping our eyes peeled for anything with a WIFI sign in the window or the word “INTERNET” in Russian (at least we can read that word). Surprisingly we never did see an internet café anywhere near the University. However we did spot an interesting looking nightclub called “MEMPHIS” right by the campus. It was complete with Egyptian graphics outside of the building. We were surprised at the good deal of traffic going in and out of MEMPHIS and all of the “traffic” looked like college students, or at least people around the age of 20. I know that college kids will always be college kids; back home we also frequented the Philadelphia hot spots during my college years. Thing is, even we usually didn’t start THIS early (or at least those of us who graduated didn’t). We saved all of that fun stuff for the weekends which usually started on a Thursday night. Here – it was 3pm on a Thursday afternoon – and these kids were already getting cranked up. Who knows, maybe they’re the ones who have their priorities right and it was us college kids back in The States that had our heads screwed on backwards!


We’ll certainly keep everyone posted with our progress with the SDA and referrals. Our last wait for an appointment took a little over two weeks. Looks like that’s about what it will take this time around too.


Thanks again for reading the blog. God bless….



S&S