Google Earth And Other Things

Thanks to Joe Fogarty, Ed's second cousin Jen's husband (is there a word for such a relative??), I have discovered Google Earth and have located our apartment building and other landmarks!! It is just amazing. If it's a live satellite feed I can go outside and wave to everyone at an appointed hour, the detail is that good. Now I'll go to Google Earth and look for 217 Sherman Canal - maybe I can see Gillian and Steve sitting in the garden!

It looks like Ed might have an ingrown toenail - maybe not such a big deal in the U.S., but quite worrying here. It looks infected and it's slightly terrifying to think of going for medical care (especially if it involves any cutting!!!) here in Kharkiv. I have a supply of antibiotics, but I'm not sure which one is best for this purpose, so I'm going to email our internist and see whether Cipro or Amoxicillin is the answer (I have a feeling it's Amoxicillin). I'm having Ed soak his foot in hot water, but I'd really like to get some boric acid - how the hell do you say boric acid in Russian!!

I went out yesterday to try and find some sandals for Ed so that his toe could get some relief when he has to leave the apartment (and then has to wear shoes). I took one of his slippers with me (not as heavy as a shoe and, in this heat, every ounce you carry matters!) as a measuring tool. I found a pretty okay looking pair (claiming to be Dolce and Gabanna, no less - and they actually may be the real thing because they cost $60, a fortune here) that just made it in length. I brought them home, along with more juice, bottled water and other necessary supplies, and they fit!!! And they don't even look too dorky. A real success.

I finally got some frames for the photos I brought over with me. And I found the most adorable little frames for pictures of Allan and Jackson (now I just have to get Jed and Jason to email me some photos that will fit in these!).







I got a really beautiful frame that will be perfect for the small picture of us with Scott & Joan. There were some very useful, simple frames for $3 each, and I got a bunch of those for my photos of me, Allison and Laura at our college reunion about 10 years ago, Beanie & Muffin (pictures of Woody and Belle came with their own frames to the Ukraine!), the McGuires and Waldens and us at Emerald Isle, and the photo at Susie's birthday lunch at Lucita's in 2001. I got a very cute frame for Allan's Christmas photo too.

I still need some more frames - I have a picture of us with Laura & Portis on New Year's Eve in Vienna that I want to include, as well as pictures of Jason and Sandra, and Jed and Jenny, that are musts. I also need a really big frame for the Bark Park Friends collage that Jill made (the holiday group Bark Park photo is beautifully mounted by Jill on black paper and doesn't need a frame). But I'm quite pleased with my choices so far. It took this long to find a shop that sells any frames at all! These were found in a Kodak store near Soveitskya Monument. It ended up costing more than I had expected ($60 in all), and I had to go change money to make the purchase. I went to about four money changers, but none of them had any Hryvnas!! I finally gave up, but fortunately this is one of the few stores in Kharkiv (maybe in the Ukraine!) that takes credit cards, so I was able to get the frames after all.

I then went to my current favorite food shop on the corner of Sumskaya and Poet's Square. I got some great looking salmon, tomato and cucumber salad, cold borscht, more of the blintze looking things, with different fillings this time (I like food surprises!), two other unidentifiable objects that look delicious, and a variety of perogy (the little hot breads stuffed with different fillings). There were two young girls who helped me identify the fillings - there was meat, cheese and chicken, three different fish varieties, onion (I had that the other day - I was actually able to identify that one myself!) and one that they didn't know the word for - so the pantomimes began. One girl drew a circle on the side of her belly and I began guessing. Stomach? No. Intestines (tripe)? No. Kidney? Bingo! No thanks, I said. I ended up with the cheese and chicken, and the beef, which I just had to eat on the spot! Ohmygod was that goooooood. I also got some sweet ones (cherry, strawberry and apricot) for Sunday breakfast. This entire feast cost me $10 - definitely enough food for lunch today, dinner tonight and dinner tomorrow night too, for both of us! I had the borscht for lunch and I almost swooned with pleasure - cold, full of beet slices, dill and masses of sour cream.

I set up Skype so that Ed could use Skype-out and call Jed at a prearranged time of 7 a.m. Saturday his time (5 p.m. Saturday our time), and also Jason (no appointment made, but he was home). At these rates (2 1/2 cents a minute) we can afford to keep in touch!!

We had the salmon and salad for dinner, and then the most delicious vanilla ice cream (it's so much richer than the ice cream back home) and chocolate truffles! Not bad!! We made an early evening of it and retired to the cool bedroom to read. I fell asleep at 8:30 p.m. and didn't get up until 8 a.m. It's really amazing how well we sleep here since it doesn't get dark until about 10 p.m. and it's bright sunlight by 5 a.m.

We had our sweet perogy for breakfast (not as good as the savory, in my opinion) and we're spending a quiet day at home - Ed is soaking his foot, I'm doing my blog, we're both reading the weekly Kyiv Post, and then we go to Tosca at 6 p.m. tonight. I hope it's as good as the ballet - but that might be too much to expect. And anyway, we really do have to save some pleasures for our stay in Kyiv!!