Tales from the Gael

I have just eaten something with about a million calories, gorgeous burnt almond thing, and walked through the central square which is dominated by a fantastic flying angel statue marking independence. Fabulous pictures everywhere I look, old women selling flowers, gorgeous girls in very bright eye catching coats and fashions, marchers looking as though they have stepped out of a scene from Dr Zchivago and strange police wearing lovely furry hats.

I don’t have to worry as the city seems to have more hills than Edinburgh, so maybe I’ll walk it off!

I came with very little knowledge, or expectations, which I think is good, as I will not be disappointed if the experience doesn’t live up to anything that I had read or fantasized about.

John met me yesterday after I had the usual traumas and worries as I went through immigration, and my poor heart was having to cope with extra palpitations when I had my case weighed and it was over, (as I knew) but nobody seemed to care…then when I eventually got out at Kiev,  I felt like a rock star as I was mobbed with a crowd of big beefy black leather jacketed men holding placards but I just moved on, as I made my way like Moses through them. Only one whispered “Taxi?”

The drive into town was on an 8 lane highway, which cuts through a forest of thin birch trees. The city is new, and thriving, and quite grandiose….it has been burnt and bombed and destroyed and rebuilt so many times….I will take weeks just figuring it all out. Some of the new buildings are fantastic, imposing, classical and colourful.

Most of the buildings off the main Khreschatyk boulevard, are less colourful, and at this time of the year everything is brown, grey or black and dreary. The colours are muted and miserable, but John tells me the snow has just melted, and where it was all white and sparkling, now there is just piles of vile filthy slush. In time spring will bring forth the blossom and grass I hope!

I love the words for the months of the year….March means berezen, and means birch forests begin to bud, May is traven, which means grass begins to grow and June is Cherven, which means worms crawl from the earth!

Anyway, John has got us a very nice apartment, with a delightful carpet in a kaleidoscope of patterns and shades!!!!!! The whole building  is very warm, with loads of hot water which  is centrally provided all year round, except for 2 weeks in the summer, where you either wash in cold, or wear a peg!! He took me out last night, and we walked and looked and ate, then went to buy some vodka, and I had to choose from a about 8 shelves  of different assortments….I think I chose one from the Crimea. The façade of the building is a bit bleak, and grey, but I just feel like one of millions in my little box….with a steel door for protection!

He’s gone off to work, and I went and did my thing, and retraced the steps of last night, but had to come back and meet the man to connect me to the internet. He was very nice, and knew no English and was very old, and nearly fell over as he removed his shoes.

Monday, 3^rd April, 2006

 

The Opera

Its only early, and the washing machine is on, and sunlight is pouring in….the apartment is so warm, and I am looking out at the street called Institutska just below me.

Spring is here, the sky is blue and tulips are on their way.

John is off to work, and his boss, Mike arrived last night, so no doubt will commandeer all his time this week. I don’t mind if it puts John in a happier frame of mind, work-wise.

I am going to the International School tomorrow for an interview, and see around etc, so will meet up with Natasha at 7 in order to get some funny looking mini bus that costs about sixpence and she will look after me initially.

It has been a Godsend having her here, as she has been so helpful, first with getting John orientated and now me.

The weekend was all go, and now I can’t walk as my feet are crippled with blisters (and that was with my sensible walking boots)….the girls here are awesome as they strut around in precariously high f**k me boots! Several of them don’t have heels, they are just thin nails! Clackity clack and micro mini excuses for skirts…and even the larger figures warrants a look as they send out their messages with sugary shades of cerise lipstick that almost stick out like a cartoon from  their faces. My eyes are just out on stalks all the time.

I was vaguely impressed with Gerry buying some sassy green leather boots, but here they would just blend in no bother! I suppose the pressure is to capture a husband and start producing as quick as possible, while you have the looks, so every day is a possible chance so they just pull out all the stops, as you would have to!

We went to the opulent opera house to see La Traviata. Fantastic….packed, fabulous music, costumes, set….like something from another era. The surprise was it was soooo cheap. Less than ten pounds each and in prime seats. They sang in Italian but the ticker tape was all in Ukranian, so my basic Russian didn’t help too much.

John and I are coping quite well with all the signs and even managed a trip on the metro yesterday. It is so easy, providing you can make out the letters of where you want to go!

Shopping is easy too, and everything is available….just made one small error when I bought  a packet of salt instead of flour. Natasha said when she first arrived she bought what she thought was sugar lumps, and found it was washing powder that she was stirring into her tea!!! I did ask for a large vodka the other night (bolshoi bodka) and got 100ml….quite a lot!!! Just had to order a lot of orange juice to dilute it! The word for small is malinky (not spelt like that) but easy to remember!

Anyway it’s a new week, and I’m off now to sort out my school things, and read up for my interview tomorrow.

Monday, 10^th April

I am very efficient this morning, just hoovered and cleaned up and feel so RELAXED! This is the first week for ages that I haven’t been worried about something…whether its been Coates Gardens, or coming here or school etc. My only hurdle this morning is to break in a new pair of shoes that I bought in the January Sales….so I shall walk like a lady down to Krechatik, then probably hobble into the GUM look-alike store (from Moscow) and buy yet another pair of soft comfy flatties (that I have about a million of in Coates Gdns) and walk up the hill limping! What a day!

Yesterday John and I cruised down Krechatik buying plants. The country side had come to town, and the whole street was closed to cars, as the main street was turned into tent city, and all these miniature Dobies workers were selling apple trees, and seeds and compost and fierce looking hoes and trowels etc. We thought we should get some pot plants to cheer up our rather austere flat, and ended up with a mini vineyard! Well, we bought two grape twigs, and have high hopes that they will come into leaf and grow all around our tiny balcony (in the fullness of time!!!) Also got other bits and pieces, so now we are just the proper gardeners, peering into our compost with a lot of hopes!

The metro from Institutska where we live goes down two very very long escalators. I know I exaggerate, but they must be a mile down into the ground….and so to save us carrying all our purchases, we jumped on to the metro in Krechatic and were just transported painlessly for about sixpence!

Last week I went for my interview and saw around the school, which is a lovely bright shade of blue!

The buildings all around resemble a typical soviet housing scheme, grim austere and grey, but inside the atmosphere was happy and friendly and the classrooms seemed well equipped. Anyway got the job, Grade 1 starting in August, and in the meantime agreed to do some supply for them. So had Grade 3 (Primary 4) for Thurs and Friday. In the class I didn’t have one native English speaker, all were Russian or Ukranian or French, Swedish, Portuguese etc. I managed the transport, so felt quite confident after the first attempt without Natasha, and now I think I am quite confident on the metro…will make things a  lot easier in the winter.

Went on a field trip with the children to Chernobyl Museum. It was so so sad. Beautifully presented, with video footage, photographs and an English guide. On the way back our driver told us that he had been in Previot, and had seen the flames and his daughter had died.

The weekend was mixed. John has been having a horrible week, stressed out with work, long hours on the computer, and so just spent Saturday quietly. Sunday, after a few days of snow, the sun came out, and so we walked and bought a hairy mountain goat waist coat for me…very ethnic and hippy-ish and a rose quartz necklace that has been carved into the shape of a rose….so pretty.

So it’s a new week as I said, and I have no school as they have just broken for their Spring Break….so I shall just get on with things,,,,and maybe finally get back to The Tin Box!!! It has been mulling in my mind, and needs a good over haul at the beginning, so maybe I should just get on with it!

20^th April 2006

First hash

We did it! Joined the Kiev Hash, and the circle numbered 8 in total!!!! Newcomers made up 5…so it was a fun day! Other members were galivanting due to the easter holls, so maybe next time it might be different! There was no flour, just coloured strings in trees…and we got the metro over the Dneipro and ended up in a forest. Actually beautiful and a lovely walk. Beautiful sunny day, and I found a pasque flower that had just sprung up. (easter flower).  The only thing that spoilt it was the detritus of vodka bottles and general rubbish.

John excelled as ‘song master’ for the day…giving some very good solos!

Did go to the cathedral for easter, and were part of the crowds who held up spring branches and then got sploshed by the priest. I thought it was just going to be a delicate sprinkle, but no…you get a good soaking!

Aida and Giselle were fantastic. The ballet in particular was the best I have ever seen. The prima ballerina was treated like a goddess for everytime she did a solo, there were cries of BRAVO  BRAVO! or spontaneous clapping. Wonderful.

I have a cold and sore throat and have been feeling a bit grim, but the sunny days do help the spirits do they not!

 

Easter excursions

Tomorrow marks the 20^th anniversary of Chernobyl. I remember seeing the TV pictures and being aware that the cloud of radiation  was travelling over Europe in the wind. I think there were alerts about drinking milk and so on.

Although I had already been with the school, we went to the  Chernobyl museum on Saturday. The full horror of those first days after the accident must have been terrible. The abandoned villages, the old people leaving their homes carrying a frying pan and a cat, May Day celebration marches along Kreschatyk, where people were  totally unaware of what had happened. The firemen clearing up with no protection against the radiation, and young soldiers being told that all they had to do was 2 minutes of work. They all died of course. And the legacy remains….though I have seen little evidence in my short stay. People and children look healthy….but locals still advise that you should try and see where the produce you buy is coming from. Mushrooms and berries are not so good, but things are safe from the Crimea apparently. That is of course if you can read the labels!

Maybe the hospitals where they treat the thousands of children who suffer from thyroid cancer is somewhere else.

Did also visit the museum of The Great Patriotic War. (1942-45). It is under the plinth of the mighty titanium woman who stands 64m high carrying a sword aloft. Very Soviet….and you must not be tempted to call her Tin Tits!

It was all very atmospheric, with shot down planes, photos, the ususal stuff, until of course you see the concentration camps….all black with barbed wire. Horrible. The worst thing was a glove made from human skin.

9 million Ukranians were killed by the Nazis and Stalin’s policies of starvation. I am about to read a book called The Orange Revolution, written by a Ukranian journalist, Askold Krushelnycky…apparently  very enlightening in that he doesn’t mince his words about the mafia and the corruption that had this country up there in the top three in the world.

Every day things change, and every week its visable. I can actually see things changing in the four weeks I have been here.  Still, for  although the country is being bombarded by capitalism, Yushenko still hasn’t formed a government, a month after the elections. Who knows what will happen?

Also visited the Cave Monastry…where all these sainted mummified monks are in glass coffins in the hillside, and have not decomposed due to the dry conditions. Its been a monastery since the 11^th century. Its quite claustrophobic, way down under the ground, and you have to cover your head, carry a candle and not talk. I was asking a monk to light my candle from where he was sitting, guarding the entrance, and he kept touching his mouth. I kept saying, Oh I must cover my mouth as well with my scarf???/etc etc It wasn’t till later when I read the guide book that I realised….Oh dear. The bodies were actually all covered up, and only sometimes you can see a protruding finger or toe or something…and they are supposed to have healing powers, so there was a lot of kissing coffins and praying as you might expect.

Missed the micro miniature museum, where some guy has made horse shoes for flees and a chess set on a grain of rice. Such delights must wait for another day!

Yesterday was another Easter holiday…so we gadded off, by local bus into the country side. It was fantastic, rolling fields of grass, and trees that have all come into leaf and sunshine!

It was the architectural museum, set in acres of land…and all the little villages are representative of areas of Ukraine. One minute you were walking through a village in the Carpathian mountains, the next you were in the centre where the grain is grown etc.

Wooden churches, windmills, farmsteads, cottages all have their own particular style.  It was fantastic, and as it was a holiday there were masses of family groups out picnicking and enjoying the day. I tried shashlyk….barbecued pork It was DISGUSTING. Served with tomato sauce. I like my pork heavily marinated with soy sauce, garlic and honey thank you very much.

Must say, not tooo wild about the food, but do like the pancakes and potato dumplings!

This weekend we are off to Warsaw, as we are only on a 90 day visa….so thought we would take the opportunity of the May weekend to get out.

Today I am off to buy a casserole dish….and stock up on my stores.

31 APRIL 2006

The blues to Gerry

 I  am ailing...pulled a muscle in my calf, shear agony. I thought I'd been shot. Stupidly went on the Hash yesterday and it was a really long walk, along the banks of the Dniepro (very sandy..and even had a dead dog) but because I was limping I am now aching as I used so many muscles to compensate for the ones that were out of action....the bad leg I just pulled along like a bit of dead wood. Today I am so zonked and low, and should try to get back up on to my horse again, but feel too depressed and down to bother.

John's boss Mike is here and so that means I will be eating alone most of this week. Its a long day, when I don't see anyone.

Did have my Russian lesson today, but felt so sluggish. My Russian teacher from Edinburgh just emailed me. She is in Kiev for a few days, so I have invited her round tomorrow.  Looking forward to that.

Oh I forgot to say I had a HUGE root canal job on Thursday...so that was just party time again, and I have to go back for posts to be installed next .  Did I tell you I had a wizdom pulled as well? OI ZOI OI

Wednesday, May 31, 2006 – Spring Blues

Have had a bad day….I am not sure if you were able to read the messenger thing, when I said I was out the door this morning at 7.15 to go for my dentist’s appt at 9. Thinking the traffic would be horrendous, which it wasn’t I ended up getting there at 8 with the cleaner, so sat beside the fish tank for an hour, and then the dentist came and told me that the technician hadn’t finished my crown so could I come back tomorrow? So I set off and the heavens opened, and all the time I am still dragging my wooden leg, which is still agony, and got on a trolley bus. I saw a seat, and noticed that no one was sitting on it, so I did, and then realized why. It is soaking, and so I got wet knickers and trousers and had to sit there and pretend everything was normal. OH GOD.

Then the Russian lesson was so complicated. She is so patient, and we struggled through the lesson in the text book, and I felt so foolish. One good positive thing though, is that I am hearing stuff now. On the bus and on the street, words are permeating my skull, and I can understand the odd sentence. Slowly slowly.

I have vedg roasting in olive oil and garlic. The smell is divine. I have had to eat a pile of nuts to stop me eating bad stuff (like the tiramisu swiss roll that I got for Alina, my Edinburgh Russian teacher who visited yesterday!) She brought me honey on a comb, and fresh herbs that she said I had to chop up and eat raw with garlic, olive oil, S & P and cottage cheese mixed through. I did, and oh my goodness, I felt wonderful! John has been eating out most nights with Mike…he has the usual stresses when he is here, plus all the uncertainties of work. The Japanese Bank is over here now discussing with the top Ukraine Govt folk about the loan and the land where the new terminal building is to be so maybe it will be resolved this week. I hope so, as I hate living under a black cloud. I feel just like Winnie the Pooh with his rain cloud and his honey! My finger is permanently in the bowl. YUM.

  I do find the days go by and sometimes I don’t talk to a soul. I just take refuge in my apartment, and so do all my things, and sort my book etc,  but sometimes I wonder what is it all for? Away from my family, the few friends that I do have and living a life like a prisoner in Cell Block Institutska, complete with BBC world. I only see John for a couple of hours in the evening, and then he is back at the salt mines. Oh well…I told you I was blue, but I am sure it won’t last for ever. I did look at my biorhythms and they are quite accurate! Maybe when I start school things will be too hectic and then I will be moaning again. I just miss someone to chum about with. I think I have forgotten how to talk.

I shall go now and try and book a massage. Apparantly there is a woman, called Olga who will come to houses. John’s back is giving him so much agony. 

Our hot water is to be turned off on Saturday, and we won’t have any until 18^th. It will be like you on Eigg! How horrible is that? I am dreading it. Especially as its been rainy and dreich, and not contusive to having cold showers!

 3^rd May 2006

Poland

Hello again…feel so zonked after the weekend, and my mouth is still sore after its trauma. Jolly well hope it clears up soon. Have to go and get the stitches out tomorrow afternoon. Because dentistry is so cheap and the service is so good, clean, up to date I might ask him to do some of the crowns Paddy had planned for me. Well that’s after this extraction hole heals up first. Have to do a morning supply tomorrow at school, which I am not looking forward to. Hate supply. I am going to try out my new route on the Metro on my own…see if my IQ can get me by!

Went to a pub thing at the British Council on Friday night…nice and relaxed. Met quite a few teachers who were friendly. John sat with some other men…one who had been here for 12 years (married to a Russian lady) so he was getting all the low down of life in politics and just general mafia stuff. So scary. Apparantly a guy was shot in the back of the legs in Independence square in Kreschatic whilst I was getting my wisdom  tooth pulled on Thursday. So the thugs in black leather jackets are  still carrying out ‘orders’ it would seem. Foreigners are OK though.

Yushenko is a nice guy…just a banker but not really a politician, Tymoshenko is into dealings with gas and oil, the two are not compatible, so it looks as though the autocratic power is being taken from the President and instead the parliament will have a more democratic say…That’s what I can make out from the Ukranians I meet .but there is a feeling that no way will the country go back to how it was….people like this new freedom and there is a general ‘lightness’ and ‘open-ness’ so we shall see.

Makes me wonder about the fortune teller in Sydney when she said we might not be here for more than 3 months….who knows?

Saying all that I just love it here. It was wonderful to come “home” yesterday after our long weekend in Poland. Kiev is such a pretty city and of course its green now. Weather is hot and sunny and no doubt there will be a heat wave soon….such extremes. Compared to Poland where we couldn’t understand one word, or read anything…Cyrillic is now becoming familiar!!!

It rained a lot in Warsaw but we saw the sites, and went on a city tour…and ate dumplings and walked for miles. Did buy a pair of  very WHITE trainers with pink and white sequins in C&A ( imagine!) Real shops with glass fronts….shops in Kiev tend to  look so forbidding and unfriendly…you can hardly tell they want to sell anything!!!

Got train to Krakow and then a connecting train to Auschwitz….it was a terrible experience. Sombre, even after 60 years, the enormity of the horror is just beyond comprehension.

After the tour of the camp, we sat waiting in Auschwitz station. We ate oranges. Both of us were quite affected by the experience.

Yesterday we got back to Kiev and now John is off to work and I have all the washing hanging from our little balcony.

5 May 2006

I have been wearing my ‘London’ military jacket non stop, also my red and white striped jumper….I just love them. Have large reservations about my white legs….not fit for the public just yet! But where to air them that’s what I ask?

I actually don’t really want to go anywhere….last weekend was quite exhausting. Before I leave I would like to see Odessa and the Crimea but maybe another time.

Tomorrow my Russian teacher comes, and I feel really bad, as I haven’t revised anything for 2 weeks. I might take my notes and go and sit in the Marynski Park and see if I can read them over in the sunshine.

Thursday, 11^th May

VE Day

We bought some fizzy wine and drank it on Tuesday night,  put the world to rights as you do, forgot to eat, and woke up with such a sore head. Then I had an hour long Russian lesson…Oh dearie me.

I have learnt the phrase ‘scajitia pajalusta oo vas yeste’ which means ‘tell me please, do you have……?’

I was telling John and he said his secretary had him chuckling as just that morning, she had asked him in English….’ Tell me please, do you have a see saw?’ Oh the joys….I just wish I had the confidence to go out and try it….but feel I am not really equipped, as all I can say is ‘ the map is on the right!’ and other useful things like that.

There’s not a lot to report….apart from spring showers and lovely green grass everywhere. Went to a remembrance day (VE day) celebration at the monument to the unknown soldier…and we were overwhelmed at the thousands of people who had taken over the road in order to make their way to pay tribute, all carrying a small bunch of red tulips. I will never be able to look at those flowers in the same way again.

Ancient soldiers with chests dazzling in medals…. men, proud in their old  uniforms, I suppose from the big wars, but also men who had been in Afghanistan and the more recent skirmishes in Chechnya. I love the faces of the bent and crippled baboushkas, and the young smooth faces of the priests, bedecked in their long black robes. We were amazed at   the sheer numbers of young families and just ordinary folk that had come out.   Sad, patriotic folk songs blared from loud speakers which were balanced on  top of beat up old Ladas. At one point I think I recognised ‘Kalinka!’

Anyway today I have smothered my face in false tan lotion….so hope I don’t turn orange or come out in spots. I should really do my legs….they would be an aid to shipping at the moment. ( as a marker of course).

5 June 2006

Chestnut trees

If the Plane tree is the symbol of Aix-en-Provence then the Chestnut must be the tree of trees here in Kiev. They line all the boulevards, dominate the parks and arboretums, and this spring they have excelled themselves in their candles. This weekend it has been glorious, the sun has shone, and the sky has been blue, but the walkways have been covered in white fluff. Looking out of our window I see blizzards of blossom floating, and it’s as though a kapok mattress has been shredded and all the soft fluff is falling like snow. Anyway, it’s the beginning of June, and I checked my biorhythms and sure enough I have been scraping along the bottom of the ‘feel good’ chart, hence the blues of last week.

We were supposed to go on an outing on the Dniepro on Saturday with 90 others, organised by the British Council, but John took ‘a turn’ on Kreschatik, in the morning, and had to be resuscitated by an ice cream and a couple of bottles of water. I think he was just too hot, the temperature was over 26C and he was in his winter fleece. Anyway we decided not to risk the boat and instead had a wonderful afternoon on Andriyivski uzviz (Andrew’s Descent) where all the best souvenir stalls, overflow on to the cobblestone streets. I am always torn between looking at matrushka dolls, amethyst necklaces, fabulous pottery, medals, samovars or tall, slinky model look-alike girls in seriously high heels tripping down, and staying upright. I know if I wore anything higher than my flip-flops or trainers I would be stopping to put on elastoplast or just falling and breaking a neck or an ankle or something worse.

Apparantly St Andrew climbed the street many moons ago and placed a cross at the top then went back down. There is a fabulous church there,

which has a soft malachite- coloured domed roof and we have been told there is beautiful music performed there on a Sunday evening. We must go sometime. Usually we are so tired on a Sunday night, either after a Hash outing or just a day out, we haven’t been as yet.

Anyway we bought lovely trinkets and then retired to drink a Slavotich beer and eat pancakes stuffed with apples and cinnamon. They were so good, that afterwards, we were full of such bonhomie, we lurched out and straight away John bought me a very bright red poncho. The lady selling nearly kissed him with delight, and wouldn’t give us a bag and insisted I wear it down the street as an advert for her stall. When I got to the bottom, I thought I too was going to have ‘a turn.’ I was boiling!

At the bottom, there was a funny old baboushka sitting in her colourful flowery head scarf and pinny and thick men’s socks. Her face was wrinkled and she was so brown and dusty. All around her were 14 dogs, of all ages, asleep at her feet. There were no chains or leads and just a bowl for their water. These ladies apparently have wonderful stories to tell, many of them were in the Red Army, and drove tanks and carried rifles, as well as being the main support for their families. Millions of men were killed first by the Nazis and then by Stalin. The prison camps rarely sent anyone home, and so these old women had to carry on. It’s sad to see them now, begging in the underground, or selling their vedg on little trays.

My teaching friend here, Natasha went to the central railway station to get a sleeper to Odessa, but she was constantly pushed to the side….as the soviet way still persists. You get served first if you either fought, or are a descendant of someone who fought in the Great Patriotic War! If you are not, then move aside! She waited quite patiently then when it was her turn and she got the glass partition, she was told ‘Nyet!’ Now it was closed. She did say things are improving, but sometimes its hard to see! Slowly slowly.

The worst thing, is the surly attitude of sales girls in shops. They have no interest in selling and make it as difficult as possible…So different from the markets.

John and I decided to take the Metro to the most outlying stop to see what was there. We were just faced by huge horrid soviet style blocks….no character, very seedy and makes Westerhailes or Niddry look like a resort! But as always, where ever we end up,  there is someone playing a balalaika and  singing, and outside the station  there is always a row of ladies standing to attention, holding up blouses or bras. Sometimes there might even be hoover parts! You just have to smile.

We did find a produce market, and bought huge bags of cherries and strawberries .  Fabulous. They say the fruit here is so fresh, they have no insecticides on them, and even the odd worm likes an apple. Hmmm!!

I had my Russian lesson today, and after grumbling to John that all this grammar wasn’t helping my conversation skills in the market, she waltzed in and didn’t talk English once. Oh my goodness. I was at sea. Still I can answer a lot of her questions, so must be learning things I suppose.  I felt so hopeless at the weekend when I tried to pay 40 grivnas for lettuce and spring onions that only cost 4. I shall persevere.

Also had a massage lady called Olga come to the house this afternoon. She was very brisk, strong and had to sit on a chair (as she had a bad back!!! Ha Ha)  Still it was good, although I have never had my tummy done before and I was quite taken aback when she set to on my chest….I thought she must be checking for breast lumps! I just kept my eyes shut, and talked about the weather!  I was only really trying her out for John, as his back is really locked up from sitting at the computer all day. So, she is coming back Friday night to do him.

Tomorrow we are going to see the ballet Romeo and Juliette….I shall make pancakes with red caviare for John to eat, and put a little whisky and water in a plastic bottle, as he won’t get a chance to go home first. Such luxuries, yet so cheap and simple.

13^th June, 2006

 Our Hash was brill. We did the reccy on Saturday, then on Sunday we went out again in the morning, to find a circle place, and to find a convenient place to buy beer, then we led the Hash in the afternoon. It was so sunny and the walk was in the park below the Lavra Monastery (where the monks are embalmed) and through the woods and then down along the Dniepro. Everything was so lush and green. I had forgotten all the grasses and flowers etc

I was Hash Music, so you can imagine that….Julie Andrews sings Hash songs in a high soprano!

We ended up at a Metro station next to a fishing market, where there was about 300m of stalls all selling rods, boats, waders, hooks, bait you name it. We bought 2 fishing chairs! They fold up like a baby’s pushchair, so very handy for the car when we go on picnics, (when we are old and have tea in a lay-by.) Just had a massage from Olga. She is seriously good.

Monday, 19^th June, 2006

June weekend

Well, its Monday and I am in turquoise, had big plans for a hairdressing adventure this evening…was supposed to meet a lady outside the Opera House with my towel and then we would be on our way to some house to get my hair snipped, but its all off, due to some personal tragedy, so the locks are destined to grow this summer. Instead I shall venture forth in a minute…and get some provisions. Have plans for escabeshe tonight. Its that Peruvian fish dish, where there is a great deal of sour cream, red onions and coriander required.

I have coriander.

Yesterday John and I decided to find out where the number 527  marshrutka bus went. I mistook the letter ‘L’ for ‘P’ and thought it might pass my school and end up in the Peragova park where we visited earlier on, so we were quite agitated as all sorts of strange scenery passed our eyes, and we had no idea where we were heading! At one point we thought we were off to the airport, but then we swerved off, and ended up in Lysova, the last outpost of the Metro on the red line. We found another farmer’s market…hence the coriander, plus bulging kilo bags of cherries and strawberries. Oh my goodness, I have never seen such succulent berries.

We then headed off to explore the Hydropark…where apparently there is everything for everyone’s taste. Noisy disco music and gaming machines, a sedate park with an accordionist, where  all around are seated elderly folk who come to dance with each other in the summer months. So sweet.

We walked past all these delights, and ended in a woody trail, where thick lush vegetation took over. The trees in this city are awesome, it is truly a tree lovers paradise (ie me) Well as we zipped down a lane, not very sure where it would end up, we suddenly caught up with a couple of young lovers (they are really two a penny here). She was in a green bikini with seriously high heels, and he of course was fully clothed!

We followed them, like elderly chaparones, and suddenly we came out on to a white sandy beach! It was beautiful, quiet and hot hot hot. We lay down amidst the masses of flesh, and John removed his shirt (eventually) and I hitched up my skirt and we drank a warm beer each and ate the strawberries. Afterwards we looked like two happy friends of Dracula, as we emerged from the woods with red stained mouths!

It was unbelievable to be lying on the edge of the Dniepro looking back at the golden domes of the Cave Monestry, the huge statue of the titanium warrior lady that guards the city, on white sand.

Anyway we lay there and watched the usual beach dramas and sights. Huge fat lady in tight purple swimsuit, skinny goddess beside her, gorgeous young men, and a sweet little girl that ran down to the water’s edge and pulled down her swimsuit and squatted down and peed on top of the water…then pulled everything up and ran back to her towel! Obviously no one told her that it was ok to do it when she was submerged!

I read this morning that if you really explore this park land you can come across gay, straight, clothed and nude beaches! I wonder how we would have reacted if we had come upon one of those, without having been pre-warned! What fun!

Ended the day in the Marynski Park.  By this time the brides had mostly gone….but in the last two weeks with the temperatures soaring, the classical June bride has been out everywhere being photographed beside all the city’s beauty spots. Sometimes I have to plough my way through about 7 little wedding parties knocking back the champagne or posing or laughing gaily and tripping through the grass in their white meringues for the movie camera just to buy an ice cream. Life is so tough sometimes.

We sat on a little wall and just watched the skateboarders,  rollerskaters and family groups perambulate about. All this to a quartet of strings! On a little stage in the summer, there are live concerts every evening (very well attended) and totally free. You can sit or stand and watch the lot, or move on as you feel the urge. Sometimes there are dances, and you can watch the samba and so on. However we watched a violin, grande piano, double bass, and accordionist play something very wild and interesting. A lady was also watching and decided to leave quietly in the middle. Imagine her horror as she inadvertently kicked an empty beer bottle and it went careering down the steps! Oh the shame. You wouldn’t get that in Covent Garden! There are also big concerts that are held in the massive sports stadium…a few weeks ago there were the Black Eyed Pees, and soon Jamiroquai is coming to town. I am not sure if that is good or not. Maybe for some?

All this is such a contrast from the street kids we see. They seem to like their wild freedom, and although the govt does provide orphanages etc for them, and training schemes they prefer to live like wild creatures. We saw two boys asleep on a wall by steps that led down to the river. They were out cold, and we could see how deeply ingrained the dirt was on their skin. They just had filfthy, raggy clothes as you would expect, yet they looked so vulnerable and young, maybe about 12 or so. I just felt an urge to hug them. As John said they would have whipped my purse and been off in a jiffy!

It’s also interesting that the only people we see begging are very young mothers, usually with babies at the breast, or the old baboushkas, but they tend to be selling something pathetic, like sad vegetables or posies of cornflowers. Down in the Metro stations there are also maimed men, lacking legs, obviously ex soldiers from the Afghan war.

We have never seen young men begging here. It makes me sick seeing all those able bodied young guys sitting along Princes Street. I remember Denise saying how she was so annoyed with one beggar lady who sat across from the Caledonian Hotel….she never looked that badly off as she always had her hair freshly dyed!

Talking about dyed hair…it is a rarity to see any woman here with their normal colour. The favourite hue is metallic crimson, and second is metallic orange. Then there are the usual variations of blonde, and streaks. It’s wonderful. It’s quite refreshing to see a young child with a glossy shade of mouse!

Today is the last day of our 2 weeks with no hot water. I had imagined it would be barbaric and horrible, but in fact its been very therapeutic and fun. Amazing how clean you can get with a large pot of boiling water. I felt like a model for Degas or Van Gough…’Lady at her toilet’ sort of genre!

Olga is going to take John to a local hospital to get his back scanned, as she is afraid that the massage might be too invasive if there is something wrong. Hopefully he will find out this week. In the meantime he finds whisky and champagne are very good alternative relaxants!

4 August 2006

Japanese evening

A Japanese Evening

Mr Nakatani works in the office with John and is very untypical Japanese. He is boyish and falls about laughing all the time, and he just loves Music and Opera and chattering to people. We think he is mid 60’s to 70. Most of the Japanese John has worked with have been quite reserved and sullen, and had found outlets for their stress in wild drinking and karaoke. Here in Kiev, however, they seem to be more mature in years, and John has seen little evidence of them ever letting their hair down.

Also it is unusual for them to have their wives with them. Most ladies prefer to stay in Japan, collect the pay check and rear the kids. The men seem to spend all their lives overseas sending the money back home!

Well, not Mr Nakatani. Kayo is with him, and she just loves Kiev. She has 6 Japanese lady friends, from the embassy mostly and she is bright and funny.

Last night we traipsed up to their 4^th floor apartment, not far from ours and were met with the grinning duo. We were given large blue boat-like slippers that he had been liberated from Austrian airlines and we then ate a delicious Japanese meal in the kitchen. John was thrilled to see all his favourites lined up…cucumber, lettuce and spent the evening trying  surreptitiously  to pick them out. I was given special vodka with chilli in it…very nice with mandarin juice! The pudding was served in 4 tea cups. Like us, they are at the mercy of the landlord, and these apartments have just the basics, 4 plates, 4 soup plates and so on. No extras!

The highlight of the evening came when we were ushered into the sitting room, and sat on the sofa facing a keyboard balanced on two overnight cases. Mr Nakatani proceeded to give us a little tune, with a lot of coughs, stops and starts, that he had learned when he had had lessons from a pretty young lady in Bankok apparently.

Then Kayo came in, and declined the invitation to play, saying that it was, as yet ‘her secret’. Whilst saying this she  lifted up a sheaf of music, stood infront of us, cleared her throat, glanced at her captive audience and launched into song…we had ukranian folk songs, a Japanese ballad about red shoes and then  a selection from the Italian operas! Her voice was very good, deep and expressive…and obviously trained. Her time in Kiev has been spent by visiting the opera house nearly every night, and the Philharmonic as well. Then two afternoons a week she has  piano lessons and singing lessons. John and I were very impressed, but a little afraid to look at each other! He said he was trembling in case he was suddenly asked to do his thing.  He said he was ready to leap up, find his note on the keyboard (like she did) then launch into the Wild Rover! Hmmmmm!

So after a while, we stood up and left…I felt it was a bit abrupt but  John assured me all the Japanese do that.

I am wondering what to do, when we return their hospitality! I could practise The Fairy Wedding Waltz, or John Peel, or maybe we could play charades? I liked the idea  that Dilly’s book club had of everyone choosing a poem, and putting it in the middle, discussing it, then guessing who it was that had brought it. Our new friends are obviously active entertainers, so we must be ready! None of this passive sitting around and getting drunk. NO NO NO!

Today there was a massive rain storm, felt like the end of the world. Everything went black before eventually it rained.

Explained my headache. I thought it was the chilli vodka.

Otherwise, no other news, just wonderful summer sights. Colour is everywhere….wild prints, pastels, floating skirts and matching shoes.  The most memorable is what the older lady is wearing as a follower of fashion. It seems lime green ankle socks are the thing, matched with open sandals. A kerchief on the head and a wrap around pinny. I had to pinch myself and remind myself that I am in a capital city  without a tractor in sight. By contrast the sweet young things are on a different planet from their granny. Underwear, preferably see through, matched with high stilettos are the thing to be seen in as they strut their very beautiful and skinny bodies about!

The ladies in the post office prefer a more authoritarian belted gabardine, preferably in grey or navy, matched with orthopaedic black lace ups. Stalin might well be alive and well!

Talking about capital cities, Mr Nakatani says Kiev is richer than Tokyo…so many posh posh cars, and vulgar signs of wealth…yet in the country side it is desperate. Worse than Vietnam.

Must go….dasvedanya!

3 September 2006

September

This year seems to be going by so fast. I can’t believe its September already. We have been so spoilt by the fabulous summer, and the feeling that we have actually had value for money for all our summer purchases! Normally I buy pastel T shirts and silly shoes and they lie there waiting for an airing after a couple of strolls down the street. Then they end up as vests under winter woollies!

Not so this year, everywhere we have been the weather has been glorious.

Now the inevitable clouds and rain have come zooming in, and yesterday we were actually in leather jackets.

I had my first week of school and after each day I have come home like an invalid, and lay prone on the sofa and fallen asleep by 9. Woke again all fresh at 4am and so the days took on this cycle from hell. God I felt like death.

My class are sweet. From Bulgaria, Hungary, Russia, Holland, India, Korea, England, US and I am waiting for one to come from Israel. 3 have no English at all. Never mind,  it has been fine, and we have started all the reading and writing and so on, and I hope we will have a good year. I have Miss Natasha as my teacher aid, but I feel so lost without Miss Ha from Hanoi. We worked together for 3 years, and were such a good team.

The rest of the staff seem to be mostly from N America. There are a few Brits but I have really only met the Primary dept. Still, its only early days. Apparantly we are having a staff bonding session next Saturday, as we are hiring a boat and are going for a sail on the Dniepro together. The following Saturday we are being taken to the Antique market. Sharon our Primary Head bought the most fabulous diamond ring there for just $200. I may look for a samovar. (Posh tea urn!)

Yesterday we went to Petrivka market where there is a huge warren of stalls specializing in books and CDs etc. Had to smile as there was a stall specializing in human anatomy, obviously for medical students, and there were all the detailed diagrams and pictures of the foot and the brain etc, and right next to it, was a stall specializing in hard core porn!!!! So from the academic diagram to the very real specific!! (in techno-colour!)

I am very excited as I found a sewing stall and have bought a long strip of white material on which I am going to do a huge cross stitch extravaganza. In Ukraine they have these hangings in all the homes, and you can buy them in touristy shops. They are predominately red and white  and are made as gifts for kids that are to be wed, or kids who have passed exams etc. So as I made my quilt in Vietnam, I am going to have my project from here as well. So far I have done two rows. If you blinked you would miss it. It’s going to take forever…and when will I have the time? Aaaaargh!

Russian lessons have taken a back seat, but I have said I will resume next week. I must persevere as daughter Gerry is coming out to visit at the end of October, and then we are taking the night train to Moscow and will see the sights, and then hopefully go to St Petersburg as well. Looking forward to that.

Today John and I are setting the Hash. If you wanted you could look at the website…for Hash in Kiev….and you will see all the pictures. Look at Hairline and you will see us. I am dreading today as we have to meet at Lybidska, lay a trail in the woods, come back into town and meet the hashers, then go off to the woods again and do the hash with them. Tonight I feel it will be another night of being unconscious on the sofa, then back to school tomorrow. It is also dreary weather. Poured with rain in the night…and the cars sound very sloshy down on the street.

I am going to Geneva on the 20^th September for a PYP conference. That might be nice, so looking forward to that!

John is well. He has befriended another Japanese collegue and they have ‘lunch and conversation’ together! It all sounds very funny, and Mr Matsumoto has a very refreshing take on everything. We really should return Mr and Mrs Nakatani’s hospitality before they return to Japan, but the thought of entertaining those two just adds to my stress!

30^th September, 2006

Autumn leaves

Saturday afternoon.

I feel as though my heart is going too fast.  I had plans for a read of the novel and then a lady-like zzzz and instead I am all agitated and can’t settle.

This morning we joined some of the teachers from school on a wild goose chase looking for the monthly antique market. The venue had changed so after a few vain attempts our two mini busses were parked in the middle of no where.  Sharon our elementary principal decided to call President Yushenko’s body guard to find out where it was. Apparently Yushenko always goes on the last Saturday of the month. So Misha the bodyguard gave the instructions and off we went again. Still no luck. She called him back, and got an ear ful, as apparently Misha was in the Crimea! I can’t imagine anyone calling Bush up to ask where something was! We do have Yushenko’s two daughters at school and their personal bodyguards sit all day outside their classrooms, with their guns at the ready.

Anyway we asked to be dropped off in Kreshatic and drank coffee and ate cake instead.

I seem to have settled into school, and the days are beginning to take on some form of routine. I do love the 7 am march down to the metro station, where now the chestnut trees that line the street are red and gold. I hum to the voice of Yves Montand in my head, as I watch the autumn leaves swirl down…tres romantic! ( I went to his funeral in Paris you know!)

My  course in Geneva was good, I really enjoyed it. It was also good to get out of Kiev for a while and away from school.  I went with Maria, a young teacher from Canada  whose father is Ukranian. She is very passionate about the country and the culture, and has been reading the English News on national TV since the summer. She was so funny as she told me how they make her up (very glam, and glitzy like they like their women)  She is totally done up  from the waist up, but she just wears her jeans and trainers under the desk. She controls the auto cue with an old electric guitar pedal on the floor! She was saying she sometimes misreads the auto-cue and told all the visiting English speaking world that the quality of imitation drugs was on the rise, then she had to cough and say, that is the quantity of imitation drugs is on the rise!.

Anyway we had fun trawling through the shops in the evening, and then I had to sit and watch her pick her food and not drink as I ate up heartily with a carafe of nice white wine. I suppose that is why she is thin, and I am not. Whilst in Geneva I was in culture shock as I saw so many Africans and asians on busses and so on. Kiev is very very caucasion.  It is rare to see a coloured face anywhere. In fact I haven’t seen any gay people either. Maybe I don’t get out enough.  We were told of  an incident where three Africans were knifed and killed at the Arsenala Metro about a month ago. Apparantly it was a group of skin heads, who hang out there and who, allegedly have a great racial intolerance. In previous years many students had been sent from Africa to the then Soviet Union for communist training, then of course independence came, and the end of that way of life. These people from African countries are trapped here, with no money to get home. Many  married and so integrated but the repercussions came, when the marriage soured. My friend told me of a wife who turned her husband over to the militia, for non payment of support and terrible tortures and beatings occured. The guy was on life support for two months and fortunately the American Embassy came to his aid. My friend had met the man at a church meeting prior to this, and so had become involved in his life.

When I was on the Hash the other week I told a girl about working at an international school and she asked me where the children came from. I reeled off a few countries, and then she said,’ And do you have any niggers?’ Oh dear.

Gerry and I have decided not to visit Moscow in October. It will be too expensive for her, with visas and extra flights etc, so instead we will take the train to Lviv in Western Ukraine and explore there, as well as Kiev of course.

I didn’t realise until this morning how privileged we are to live beside the Marinsky Park in the old classical part, very close to the centre. Most of the travelling we do is underground in the Metro, so this morning as we did a bus safari of the city, searching for the antique market we saw the outskirts, and horrible soviet high rises, all uniform, run down and shoddy. If it wasn’t for its many parks and beautiful trees, people would have little escape from a very bleak existence.

John has nurtured a new relationship with another Japanese collegue, Mr Matsumoto. They have lunch together everyday, and Mr Matsumoto scribbles down all John’s little phrases and idioms. ‘What is this Sutto-San? What do you mean  by all these words? ‘Don’t mention it? And why do you say ‘I wish’ …’ What do you wish, and why don’t you want to mention it’ Aaaaargh! Where is the dictionary when you need it!

……

The latest was Mr M had had  a laundry crisis and had no socks, so decided to buy some new ones….he took out his bare foot and was measuring all the socks against his foot to the surprise of the other shoppers. John was mortified. But even worse was yesterday when he decided that he needed something  for his toe infection, so he hoisted his leg up on to the pharmacist’s counter for her to have  a peak! He is 52 and short.

As well as all his eccentric manners, he has a passion for glass, and has bought the most ungainly glass giraffe with widely splayed legs….Just the thing to take back to Japan (in one piece)

My children in school are a mixed bunch, but I have one very loveable little American boy who is at the age where he still believes me. He was running wild when we went on a trip to visit a monument, so I asked him to come and hold my hand. He was quite put out and asked why?  I told him it was because he was so special and I was afraid I might lose him.

‘Is it because you just love me a lot?’

Oh the innocence!

7 July 2006

Vladimir

Yesterday started out well…sunshine and then a quick ‘shop’ then lunch.

At 1 pm we were all prepared for Vladimir…..

He was booked to massage me from 1 – 2pm and John from 2 – 3pm.

John was very nervous about a man ‘doing’ us….and I was excited, thinking of strength and strong hands etc (as you do!)

I was instructed by John to wear 3 pairs of knickers and his very horrible running shorts and to keep covered up at all time.

The man arrived, middle aged in denim, and speaking very little English.

He disappeared into the bathroom and I waited on the bed, stretched face down on a sarong, covered in a white silk dressing gown.

He came in, and I just got a glimpse of shorts and a white T shirt, as he shut the door very firmly, then leant over me and unhooked my bra and threw it to the side then set to work.

I thought a dozen hands were on my body as he rubbed and kneaded and pressed all his massive bulk on to my unsuspecting neck. He never said a word, and then he moved down to my lower back and did the same.  For twenty minutes he just worked away at my lower back.  When it was over, I could only stagger out, and somehow dress and then it was John’s turn.

The man had gone back to the bathroom and changed into a dry white T shirt, and came out like a ninja warrior. White bandana round his head, and purposely closed the door of the bedroom….and I sat and waited, and tried to read.

When he came out, John just looked at me, and said ‘Bloody Norah!’ (I think that must be an English expression!) ‘Did he do the same to you as he did to me? … Bloody Hell!’

We paid him the $20, and he kissed my hand and blew us both another kiss, and said he would see us next Saturday!

We had both been so stressed and tired at the end of the week, shoulders and neck all sore and tight….well we were like floppy dolls all night, and today the sun is shining and we are just all zippy and off to the market to buy beetroot.

What a waste of time and money all these hours we spent in Asia with these mamby pamby girls…..Deep sports massage is the way to go…………LONG LIVE VLADIMIR!!!!

29^th October 2006

Sunday morning…, with the clocks gone back.

I am very happy this morning, in fact I feel like the cat that is strolling around with a mouse in its mouth.

The sun is shining, John is off running somewhere and Gerry is asleep  in the sitting room and I have had my nose in the latest ‘Hello’ magazine and am now updated on all the celeb gossip from the UK.

My body is still languorous and delicious after my 4^th pummelling by Vladimir. Sometimes its good to be alive.

John and are both addicted to our Saturday afternoons. Vlad doesn’t stand for any thing getting in the way for a proper massage and afterwards he pulls the sheet down my back and kisses me between my shoulder blades and says in a deep heavily accented voice ‘Good?’ Then after he has pounded John to within an inch of his life he kisses us both and yesterday as I gave him a drink of water, I asked him if he would prefer vodka, but he shook his head and said ‘Nyet’  so I asked him if he didn’t like vodka…He roared, ‘I am a Russian! OF COURSE I like vodka!’  And he was gone.

The last few weeks have passed, and I have just been involved in school, the daily commute on the Metro, accompanied by the rousing music and passionate Ukranian songs that send us off to work. I stand and stare at the costumes that appear before me, the beautiful people standing out like luminous creatures against the universal uniform of the black jacket. Men form walls of shiny leather, and I shuffle along, beside them, engulfed by them like a slow march in a prison camp. All is silent, all is calm as we make our way on to the escalators at Libistska. The belly seems to be something all men acquire here, and I have to laugh inwardly some mornings when I am cushioned and pinioned in between what feels like a living mattress that totally engulfs me.

I had my birthday recently and John gave me a white fur hat, so I am looking forward to wearing that .

The temperature dipped to freezing for a while and we were so miserable as the heating hadn’t been turned on…its on a central system so the whole city gets turned on at the same time. Then when it did come on, the temperature zoomed up and so all the windows have been flung open….crazy as Ukraine is still having a row with Moscow over gas supplies. Still I suppose the Siberian winds will hit us soon and we will be thankful for all the heat we can get.

Gerry and I are getting the night sleeper to Lviv (on the west of Ukraine) on Tuesday, where we will spend a couple of days. Its supposed to be charming, and ancient and totally unspoiled.  No stag nights or hen parties spoiling the medieval charm as has happened in Prague. Mind you the night that Kiev beat Scotland at football was reminiscent of Glasgow on any football Saturday. I felt quite nostalgic when I saw the kilts and jimmy hats and was quite proud of our supporters, as they posed for photos and managed to keep their kilts down! (unlike at home!)

I am looking forward to seeing the sites again with Gerry, and seeing it all through her eyes…wish I had persevered with my Russian lessons, but just couldn’t cope with school and being tired all the time. Will just have to trot out my standard phrase, ‘Ya ni pannimayo’ ie I don’t understand!

Have decided that real ground coffee does not agree with me. It acts like an adrenalin injection straight into the heart. I feel so unwell…Now that I have found that out, I can stop giving myself the frighteners thinking I am about to keel over. I was moaning away last Sunday, as we made our way back from town…when suddenly we were faced with a massive procession of orthadox priests and monks coming down from St Michael’s cathedral. The deceased was carried in a gold covered coffin, by the pall bearers, all looking like Rasputin look-alikes (The middle one was puffing and blowing…he was clearly struggling) The holy men, about a thousand in all, wearing all the different robes from different denominations, purple, black, green, white, with high hats and long long beards sang in a solid deep baritone of a dirge. It was awesome. On the pavements the holy ‘groupies’ came from all walks of life, Baboushkas, and old crones, families and church groups that had obviously travelled to Kiev especially. The deceased must have had the same clout as the Pope. I hoped some of the holy healing powers had washed over me and maybe the clash with mortality had given my heart the required kick start…away from ground coffee beans!

5 November 2006

Hello from snowy Kiev,

Well after the leaves fell it snowed. No nonsence about that…..Autumn lasted about a fortnight then yesterday the temp dropped and the snowflakes fell. We had been out to the farmers’ market in the morning and little flurries were falling, and we just wished we had our camera to record all the bundled up sellers with their faces like the fruit and vedg they were selling. Nothing genetically modified in that place!  We came  back laden down with beetroot, pumpkin and carrots and such like and bought a lovely white lacy shawl which I draped around my head and around my neck and shoulders….so cosy and makes me feel like ‘Lara’.

John is now back in his skiing beanie and so the hot summer months have just become a memory!

Gerry has made a good recovery from her emergency gall bladder operation.

The drama of that snowy night, where we had to rush her to the military hospital, and then watch her being wheeled away with the doctor signing the cross at the closing lift door, as it took her down to the operating theatre, was just awful. Now, of course she has some super pictures in her phone of Doctor Victor with his very tall hat (a bit like a chef’s) and his two gold eye teeth. She really liked all the staff who cared for her, and we left with lots of hugs on Friday. Her 5 boulders are still wrapped up, and she keeps meaning to photograph them for posterity!

The first thing she did was wash her hair….and consult the google machine to find our what had happened to her! She is now on a restricted diet for a month until her body gets used to the changes.

Yesterday we ventured out to Kreschatic and walked about, but it was so cold, so we took refuge in the very classy Bessarabska market where we saw rolls of lovely white fat, that is the staple in all Ukranian households. They even have bowls of it on the tables for you just to dip your bread in. Mmmmmmm! Of course there were also masses of red and black caviar, smoked salmon and the usual mountains of pommegranites and so on. Makes me wonder why we take the metro way out to the sticks to buy from baboushkas that display all their wares in big sacks on the ground in the freezing cold.

Anyway we hiked up the street to Shevshenko Opera House and bought tickets for a ballet on Tuesday night. God knows what it is, or who it’s by. My reading of the cyrilic says its Lisova Pisnia…but I could be wrong as the Russian and ukranian writing is different. The picture showed tutus and they were on their toes, so I am sure it will all be very beautiful!

We got home and had dinner and watched the old 70’s movie Abigail’s Party…my God, it was weird but funny! Just like an am-dram production! Then the snow really started big time. The world suddenly was white. This morning as I look out, I am daunted  as we had such a different itinery planned. Not sure I fancy trudging round the Lavra Monestry looking at the tombs with the preserved monks in all this snow.

We cancelled Vlad this week, I don’t think Gerry’s tummy could have survived his treatment…though as a trained masseur I am sure he would have just done her neck and shoulders….but you never know!!!

Half term is over and its back to school for me on Tuesday. Gerry will leave on Wednesday and then its all down hill till Christmas….my only horror is I have 5 weeks of playground duty to get through.

Otherwise nothing much else to report….

26 November 2006

Famine

Days are just running away with themselves, and it’s Sunday again. Dreich, damp and miserable but the thermometer has crept up, so it’s not as freezing as it has been. I told you about having a fun shopping day last week, and trying on all the fabulous furs and so on, so sumptious.

Went back to the doctors and had the results of my stress test and cholesterol, and the latter is perfect, so yippee back to a proper diet again. Hated miserable no-fat cottage cheese etc. The extra systoles were quite alarming. 1,494 in 24 hours and the worrying score is just 600…so no wonder I was always so tired. Have to take some intense course of pills for a month, then they will taper off eventually to just aspirin and that will be that. So, a storm in a tea cup and it looks as though I don’t have too many worries to fret about, so lucky I did go for that check up. Now just hope I don’t get run over by a bus.

Had an in-service yesterday…most annoying as it was Saturday, but at least the woman was good and I felt quite zippy after it. Met John in Kreschatic and decided to go up Andreivsky to view the shirt that I saw with Gerry. The light was fading, and it was difficult to make out.

When we came back down, we passed St Michael’s and St Sophia’s. There was a massive crowd of people. The two squares in front of the churches were a sea of little candles in red glass jars….music was playing and people stood silently. There was no formal organization, all was spontaneous, and then a man sang in a deep bass voice. It was a vigil that we have never seen the like of before. There is such a calmness in these people.  Busses were parked along the streets, where ‘pilgrims’ had travelled from all over Ukraine. It was the anniversary of the famine, in 1932-33 where 7-10 million people starved to death. Stalin had swept in and taken all the crops and left the people to starve. Stories of utter devastation are told and remembered. People ate human flesh to survive. There is so much sadness in this country’s history. It has been oppressed and seen so much human suffering for so many years. Now the wonderful independence and Orange revolution of 3 years ago is just a memory, as it seems Moscow still pulls the strings and the oligarchs are still in control, with their mafia style thugs to enforce their control. Victor Yushenko would seem to be just a figure head.

Saying all that, in our world we are not really affected, people in school are jolly and helpful. There is a caring that I have never witnessed in any other country. Where the old people are given seats automatically on the metro or trolley bus, where a well dressed lady will bend over and retrieve a hat for a drunken boy who has collapsed on a train or on the underground, where she will then pat his shoulder and  there is such compassion shown. We witnessed a drunken man shouting up the street carrying a white stool yesterday as we waited for the bus. Inevitably he lurched forward and fell in a heap, and was unable to get up. Immediately 3 men came forward and hauled him up and put him on his stool. The man sat very precariously and John and I wondered how long he would sit there, in the cold in the middle of a bus queue. The stool had one very wobbly leg!

Today we should go to Lisova and stock up on fruit and vedg, but it’s so bleak and miserable from my hawk’s nest up here…I may have to be catapulted out. As you can see by my vocabulary I have become an expert in ‘simple tools’ as my class and I have been doing so many experiments all week. Why did I not learn about pulleys and levers when I was at school? Maybe I would have been better in physics later on. As it is I will draw a heavy curtain over those scores. We are putting on Giraffes Can’t Dance for our end of term hoolie. So far my extra systoles have just about made my heart leap out of my jumper as we have been doing the eightsome reel and I have plans for the Canadian barn dance and the waltz. Victoria (next door with the other Grade 1) has befriended Manuel from Guatemala, so her class is doing the cha cha and the tango, as well as the rock n roll! By the end of next week my hair will be standing straight up on end!

Vladimir is coming this afternoon…John is dreading getting his arms and neck hammered and pulled and is growling about getting another person. We shall see.

Sunday, 17^th December 2006

Fur coats

Dear Don,

It was wonderful hearing all your news about Hanoi. I left vowing I had had enough and would never want to go back, but yet when I heard  the words The Green Tangerine and  Hanoi Towers and so on, a million memories flooded back. It was and is a special place and we did have a lot of fun there. I love looking at all the old photos of the pho sellers and the crowded pavements and remember the nights walking about trying to find a taxi (God bless the Melia!).  Also all the good friends we made and memorable moments and evenings that we shared.

Here it is unseasonably warm, sun is shining, and John and I felt silly yesterday as we tramped around the miles of market at Petrivka looking for a winter coat for me. Somehow the thousands of dollars that they were asking didn’t seem to be justified!

I did try on a long black mink with hood, and felt so delicious and warm and seduced by the luxury of it all, it was a relief that it was a bit small.

Today we are going to another market at the end of the Metro over the Dniepro, and then back to Andreivsky. I can’t believe how rejuvenated I feel after my King and Queen of flu bugs.

School ended on Friday, thank the Lord. Gerry is coming up for London for the whole holiday period, and of course Natasha is there already. She is absolutely loving her animation course, and seems to be so enthusiastic. Such a change from last year when she was like Pooh Bear with a rain cloud over her head. I have an image of her trying to photograph ‘Christmas’ in Princes Street Gardens, as we watched the skaters and the lights being switched on, and all the razzle tazzle of the German Xmas Market. ‘There’s nothing to take’ and I had to stand and hold the light meter as she steadily lost the plot and eventually stomped off in a rage. So you can see why I am glad that she has changed from photography!!

Gerry is busy as ever, and is scheduled to go to Seoul in January. She certainly gets about. I am so looking forward to spending decadent days with them both and ogling the TV and spending too much money on the Sales.

Sadly Nicko is still in Australia. He crashed his car, broke his foot then got done for drink driving…so he had to sell his ticket home and pay all his fines. The final straw came when he was told the landlord wanted the apartment back on 23^rd December as he wanted to refurbish it. I managed to speak to him last Sunday, and he sounded fine, though he said this was the worst year of his life. My heart is so sore for him.

My heart problem seems to be fine…almost finished a month’s aggressive course of drugs, and I already feel as though my heart isn’t racing as much. I shall take all my records from here to give to my doctor in Edinburgh and just get his second opinion.

John had a double root canal last Saturday. He was in the chair for 2 hours and came out shell shocked! Poor thing had quite a bit of pain Sunday and Monday so took the prescribed pills he was given. He ‘googled’ them on the internet . Such a bargain, as well as curing the pain they give you ulcers and damage your liver! Oh the joys! They went into the bin, but I suppose lots of things do that too.

He is so looking forward to a break. He has been on his ‘wheel’ for 5 months without a break. He is finding the work hard, as well as frustrating. All the Japanese consultants have completed their man-months and returned to Japan, leaving him with their work which he has to turn into legible pre-construction documents. If he had long hair I think he would have pulled it all out by now. The Ukranian engineers are young and inexperienced and have a very laissy-faire attitude so he is freaked about the way time is passing and his inability to get the work from the various people. Personally I don’t think he needs pain killers from the dentist to give him ulcers.

We have said goodbye to Vladimir.  Time to part company before it all ended in tears! I am off on Friday back to Edinburgh….I shall miss Kiev, it truly is a beautiful city.

Dasveedanya! And adios!

Sunday, 21^st January  2007

January Blues.

Hello Hello! 

Hope you are well, and I wonder what will happen in your life this year?

Started off all set to write and say hello and hope you are well and just catch up for the New Year. Got delayed as I decided to try and clean the black marks from my chest, caused by the electrodes from the 24hr heart monitor I had to wear. The nurse just gingerly wiped them with a piece of wet tissue. I tried to wipe them with neat vodka last night…to no avail. I saw a small bottle of something that Gerry left after her op, so thinking it was surgical spirit I dabbed it on, only find it was deep turquoise and won’t come off. I have tried rubbing it with a loofa, memories of the oven cleaner appliance that I experienced in the Mongolian Bath house in Seoul, where the girls nearly scraped off my entire epidermis. So it’s a disaster…I am bright red, and look as though I have vermillion tattoos all over my intimate places and the bath mat, rubber gloves and washing machine top have also been marred. Oh God.

Apart from that, the heart is fine. Certainly was yesterday as we went on an epic walk up through the monastery and down along the Dnipro. Felt it was about 15 miles, but that was because a blizzard got us, so we were bent into the snow, like Dr Zchivago, John feeling that the purchase of a fur lined hat with ear flaps had at last been justified. Had to stare in shock and wonder as a stretch limo pulled up at a monument and the inevitable bridal party got out, and posed for photos in the driving snow, then opened a bottle of champagne and toasted each other. The bride looked very lovely(though bedraggled) in her fairly tale dress, complete with white fur stole. They must be hardy, or already very drunk!

I was distraught that I was wearing my new 1920s look-alike black hat. I left the house looking like thoroughly modern millie and ended up looking like a snowman. So off to Tsum and purchased another red one…with two flaps at the back, that hang in gay abandon, looking a little chic or maybe a little like Davy Crocket’s sister. Which ever.

Went to Andreivsky, and cruised down and marvelled at the stall sellers, huddled against the snow and wind, and one shouted at John, “You look like a Russian, dress in Russian clothes, but I can tell you are not a Russian!” Quick as a flash John turned and said, “Maybe it’s because I smile!” They are so dour, and the girls look a little like beautiful androids.

Christmas was nice, actually the whole holiday was nice….seeing people, catching up, listening to voices in shops that I understand, cooking, and just enjoying Coates Gardens. Gerry spent the time with us, and Natasha dropped in a lot, so it was good seeing them and shopping and just enjoying the time.

Now it’s back to the early morning rush for the Metro, standing in the crowds and being squashed into the trolley busses. School is fine, busy with report writing and another assembly to put on. Tomorrow we are off to an orphanage for sight impaired kids.

Weather has been like the rest of Europe…unseasonably warm, and we watched the awful hurricane winds hit Britain and Germany. So far we have not had the deep snows that we expected…just the odd freezing flurry.

The biggest news in our world at the moment is that John has resigned from his job, and so have I. He was heading for a breakdown or ready to murder his Japanese colleagues and Ukrainian contractors. That with his chronic back pain, and headaches from the computer…he decided life is for living. So we should be out of here at the end of June, and then who knows….we might stab each other if the life of cycling and walking and just having a good time gets too much!

So dasveedanya for now, must brave the horrible rain and go to the supermarket. Would much prefer to sit in and do my embroidery, which is (by the way) coming along! Now I have a deadline to finish it!

Take care, sorry I have no scintillating news of massages and such like…but it’s January, and I think we all have the post Christmas blues!

Kiev – 25 March, 2007

The sun is pouring in and Beethoven is playing and I feel very virtuous sitting here in my make-up and not much else. Just tried on 2 body warmers…wondering if it’s the day to cast off the winter coat.

The ethnic goat skin extravaganza that I bought with such enthusiasm last year seems hard and scratchy, and just walking from the bedroom to the sitting room has left a raw patch on my neck where the skin has been glued on to the woolly bit. Might have to try slicing it off with the fruit knife. (the collar bit). So a project for the morning I feel. (Just done it….and it’s a bit better)  Incidentally my embroidery is coming on in leaps and bounds…looking pretty damn good if I say so myself! So many cakes and cups of tea have been threaded in along with all the reveries that have made up my life over the last few months.

John and I had a social day yesterday…we met Stan and Judy in Podil for lunch. We were alarmed that we weren’t going to eat till 4pm, (brunch? Help!) So we had to have a fried egg sandwich first then off we went down Andreivsky. We met and spent the afternoon visiting various art galleries and churches, that without local knowledge we would never have seen.

Podil looks to me like something out of the Wild West…low buildings and wide streets. Apparently it means the hem. It’s the hem, or the bottom of the city, where all the workers would have lived, close to the river.  Now its trendy and bohemian. ( I should have worn my goats skin waist coat and looked like a proper hippy)

We don’t know this couple. Judy does supply teaching at school and she suggested we meet up, so it was an interesting afternoon. Judy is 55 from New York and is married to Stan who is Russian and they have been in Kiev and Russia for the past 15 years. He has had many careers, but at present he is director of a big charity project for the jews, (or something).

So as virtual strangers we went into the gallery of modern art, and were confronted with penises galore. I felt as though I was seeing an adolescent boy’s jotter…so many ‘naughty’ images that usually dominate when testosterone is rampant. So Stan explained all this pornographic ‘art’ and the feelings of freedom and being actually ‘allowed’ to express nudity, religion and politics with such graphic accuracy. We stood bemused looking at 3 ‘bondage’ studies, where the very lithe and beautiful blonde was trussed and tied naked to the branches of a tree. It was obviously painful as one picture showed all the wealds that had occurred from the ropes cutting into her wrists.  I could just imagine a nice couple walking their dog through the woods and coming across the model and photographer in action! The mind boggles!

There were other strange images of dental x rays and the usual bizarre turns of imagination.

Some of the galleries were down funny alley ways, and so much of the art looked like childish doodles…and I felt quite a fraud keeping a straight face and trying to look interested.

The contrast was incredible when we visited the churches. The iconic art and murals of eight or nine centuries was unbelievable.

We visited one church or monastery that is a pilgrimage sight for many from all over Europe. There was a coach load from Belarus when we went in. One of the features is a natural spring of ‘holy water’ in the court yard. We dutifully lined up and cupped our hands and had a small drink and a prayer, and then Stan read the sign on the wall. I imagined it said, ‘drink here and you will thirst again, but drink from the spirit and you will have life everlasting’ or whatever…memories of the Jesus Well in Crieff, when I was at school. But no…it just said, ‘Don’t wash your feet or your clothes here’.

We called into an apothecary museum which is also a working pharmacy, and I bought some soap made to an 825 year old recipe. It is reputed to give you soft skin…so I had a go last night and they DO NOT LIE! I shall go back and get a truck load, if I can ever find my way back through the tangle of streets!

We had lunch in a Georgian restaurant, thank the lord again for Stan, who just ordered up for us. It was different and delicious, but the main high light was Stan himself. His stories were magical, and he gave us lots of pointers. The reason Ukranians don’t smile outside, is that they see no need to smile without a reason; it’s a sign of idiocy or perhaps prostitution. So there we are…we have been critical of all these gorgeous girls strutting about like androids, when really it is we foreigners that have the problem, flashing our dental work to all and sundry.

He and Judy lived in Moscow and another town somewhere beginning with S and he was the director of 4 Coca Cola factories. We asked about mafia and he said he had to pay $4 million for protection, and one day he came out of the office and the mafia were on one side and the KGB on the other. Judy had rung him and asked when he was getting home, he replied, its not when…but if!

Judy, not to be out done told of the time when she was walking past a building innocently, when suddenly a big cavalcade stopped and the VIP got out and then all his gun men and security guys made a circle round him their heads whipping about for pot shooters…until the guy got in the door. Judy meantime, felt very exposed as she wondered if maybe the possible assassin might just settle for her!

These were the days when people would drive around all day searching for a packet of Marlboros (as if anyone would??? but I am not a smoker) and there was bread queues etc. Stan was there on his own at the time, and he was with a Swiss colleague (in his 40’s), who was very interested in this young 17 year old. Stan was so embarrassed as he felt like a pimp at the disco with the pair of them. He sat between them, as Swiss guy says, ‘Tell her I want to f…her) Stan says, ‘No, you can’t say that…say  you love her’ Swiss guy says, ‘ How can I say that; I have a wife and 3 daughters, just say I want to f…her and would $10 be alright?’ So Stan relays the message. The girl was very excited and asks Stan if this is a good price!!!

So we talked about the government, Yushenko, Timoshenko and the corruption and the traffic police. It was interesting … and then we waddled home … totally full of Georgian soups, and meat and hot spinach. Got home and collapsed and returned to our staid world of the brown chairs and lurid carpet.

Today is market and food buying day…and then another week of school. Time is flying!

3^rd April. 2007

Since the rally at the weekend things have escalated, and Yushenko dissolved parliament yesterday, and the crowds are gathering in Independence square, and masses are arriving from Russia to support Yanukovich, so its looking a bit scary. We are all on alert at school and everyone has been told school may be cancelled tomorrow. The traffic and congestion is terrible with such crowds. Who knows what will happen. As we live very close to the parliament we see all the tents where people are settled for the duration, in the Marynski park. Apparently the police back Yanukovich (the PM) and the army back Yushenko (president) There may be clashes.

Natasha arrived for a week, and the sun shone and we whisked her around the monuments and churches,

ate pancakes with red caviar and then she and I took the night train to Lviv, a small city bordering Poland.

The big sleeper had seen much history by the looks of things, and it was all so strange as we were bundled on to our bunks and awaited to see who our berth companions might be. It turned out we only had one man sharing with us. He was a customs and excise inspector, on his way to Lviv on business. He had no English, we had no Russian (apart from hello and how much) but it turned out that he and Natasha had done standard grade German at school. Long ago I was testing her on her vocabulary and one of the sentences was, ‘I have a guinea pig and two cats’. I remember saying at the time, ‘well that doesn’t sound very useful.’ Little did we know that the Customs and Excise man would ask Tasha if she had any pets!!! She dutifully trotted out her sentence and he was most interested!

Lviv was delightful and charming. We wandered around looking at statues, buying necklaces and eating fondue and drinking a bottle of wine. We were so overcome with sleep we went to the cemetery and lay down by a grave and slept for an hour.

I chose a young eighteen year old to rest beside; he had a nice face on his tomb stone. The return journey was less interesting, and we just spread out our purchases and wanted to wear everything at once!

I have lost some of the early diary accounts for Jan-June of 1997, but here are some pictures of Christmas and the frozen days of January and February. Please note the nude bathers…apparently the thing to do, for long life and beauty treatments!!!