The Work Week Begins
Tuesday June 13
We are very lucky because the weather here has been very cool – about 20 C or 68 F – so we can do without the air conditioner, which is promised to be installed by the end of the week. The air was cool and there were wonderful thunder storms during the night – we slept well, but Ed had a hiatus worrying about the presentation and orientation. We had set the alarm for 7 a.m. (it didn’t go off because I didn’t realize that the alarm ran on a separate battery, and that this battery was dead), but we woke up on our own. It was cool and rainy out – a very good first day from my point of view!
So now we are going to try and establish a routine – much like we have at home. Ed got up and took Belle for her morning walk, while I got up and started to organize breakfast. Ed came back, took a shower, got ready, and then we had our breakfast of cold cereal and toast and butter, along with our tea and orange juice – perfect.
Ed went off to his meeting. I did the dishes, made the bed and took Belle for a walk before coming back to do a little work on my blog. At about 11 I decided to go to the Pushkinskaya branch of the Internet Club that I had found next door to the hotel. I packed up my computer, battery and mouse in my briefcase (which is quickly falling apart – I’m going to have to get a computer carrying case soon) and set off for Pushkinskaya Metro station which is where the club is located. It’s about a mile walk so getting there was no problem – finding it was another thing. I saw the sign, went into the courtyard where I thought it would be and began approaching people with “Vuybushteh, deh Internet Cloob” and was directed this way and that, left and right, outside the courtyard, inside the courtyard – no luck. Finally, a guy with a name badge on his jacket got the idea across to me that I had to leave the courtyard and go around the corner. I did this and there was a big store (sort of a CD store) and a bank-type place. I tried the bank and they sent me to the CD store, and finally I understood that it was on the second floor of the CD store. I walked in and saw a familiar face – the girl who had been the cashier at the other branch was working here today. It was somehow wonderful to see someone I “knew” – she recognized me and pretty soon I was set up with my laptop. The only trouble with this branch is that they don’t have desks – the computers are on coffee table type things and you sit on a sofa type chair. That’s fine if all you want to do is check your email, but I wanted to get a lot of stuff done – most importantly I wanted to see if I could get on line and figure out why the dial-up service I had signed up for wasn’t working when I tried it at the apartment. I was there for about 3 1/2 hours before my back finally gave out and I closed up shop and started home. The rain had stopped and it was a gorgeous day – not too hot, sun shining, but not too bright – the walk was working out the kinks in my back and I was feeling pretty good.
Alona was supposed to have called me to update me on the progress of the high speed internet installation and help me find things I needed, but I still hadn’t heard from her. I began to walk home, and tried to call her, but her line was not available. I stopped in a mobile phone store (there are millions here), and found a wonderful young girl who spoke some English and who walked outside with me and took me half a block to a computer store where I could buy the printer/scanner/fax machine I wanted. Fortunately the language of computer geeks, like music, is universal – printer is printer, scanner is scanner and fax is fax – in English, in Russian, and in Ukrainian. The accent is different, but it’s easy to get the idea across. I ordered a HP all in one for $200, a keyboard with both English and Ukrainian characters for $8, and I finally found the necessary surge protector for $5.
On the way home I bought something (I can’t remember the name, but it’s some sort of fried dough with meat inside) from a babushka with a box of these things (there were about 5 varieties and I asked her to give me the one she likes best – at least I hope that’s what I asked her to do!). So for 25 cents I had my lunch, and an adventure to boot!!
I felt very satisfied with my day – one big task had been accomplished (the purchase of the computer equipment), and that is my goal here – get one thing you need done and you have accomplished a lot – that’s what I think!
I got home and Alona called and we arranged for Boris and Alona to come over at 7 p.m.
I was just getting ready to take Belle for her walk when Ed got home. He had had a hard day – he’s very discouraged about the orientation because the system here is so corrupt and the ability of a lawyer to do anything is so limited that it's hard to train a public defender (there’s basically nothing he or she can do – so how do you train him or her?). I left him to unwind while I took Belle out and then I went to the market to get some things for dinner. I bought more sausage, more cheese, more milk, more water, two beers and more of the cheese and sausage pies we had liked.
I decided to take my shower before Boris and Alona came over and started running the water so that it would get hot. About 20 minutes later it was still cold, so I gave up. I told Ed we would have to alternate shower days and that tomorrow it was my turn. I was not happy with this turn of events since we had been assured that there would always be a supply of hot water in the apartment.
We had another nice dinner during a terrific thunder storm before Boris arrived, alone, at 8 p.m. (Alona had called to say that he would be late). We were nervous because now he would see that Belle was with us. But she was great – quiet and friendly and he took to her immediately after we assured him that she would not destroy the apartment. He looked at my picture of “Bark Park Friends” which is hanging in my “office” (the eating area of the kitchen), and then at Belle, and I explained that in America we have special parks for dogs. He was stunned, to say the least!
It turns out his English is really quite good, so we were able to discuss things without Alona’s help. The first thing I told Boris about was the hot water problem. He fiddled with something outside the apartment that he said had been turned off, and told us that the problem was now solved – in a few hours we would have hot water and then we would always have hot water. Great! Then we asked about the installation of the high speed internet, asked him to replace some burnt out light bulbs, told him about the disgusting oven, asked him whether we could have some sort of mesh cover for the sink drain to keep food from going down and clogging it up, and finally asked him whether we could get the HBO and BBC channels by paying extra for the satellite. He also tried to help me with my dial up connection, but we weren’t able to get on line, either with the program I had installed before I left the States or with the Internet Card I had bought earlier that day (turns out that this card isn’t even for Kharkiv – well at least it was only $5). At the end of the day he promised to call me at 11 the next day and told me he would come over with the light bulbs, the mesh filter, a couple of waste baskets, a new card for the TV to get the extra channels ($150, but probably worth it), and that he would arrange for the installation of the high speed internet RIGHT AWAY. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.
All in all a pretty good day – and tomorrow I get to shower first!!!
We are very lucky because the weather here has been very cool – about 20 C or 68 F – so we can do without the air conditioner, which is promised to be installed by the end of the week. The air was cool and there were wonderful thunder storms during the night – we slept well, but Ed had a hiatus worrying about the presentation and orientation. We had set the alarm for 7 a.m. (it didn’t go off because I didn’t realize that the alarm ran on a separate battery, and that this battery was dead), but we woke up on our own. It was cool and rainy out – a very good first day from my point of view!
So now we are going to try and establish a routine – much like we have at home. Ed got up and took Belle for her morning walk, while I got up and started to organize breakfast. Ed came back, took a shower, got ready, and then we had our breakfast of cold cereal and toast and butter, along with our tea and orange juice – perfect.
Ed went off to his meeting. I did the dishes, made the bed and took Belle for a walk before coming back to do a little work on my blog. At about 11 I decided to go to the Pushkinskaya branch of the Internet Club that I had found next door to the hotel. I packed up my computer, battery and mouse in my briefcase (which is quickly falling apart – I’m going to have to get a computer carrying case soon) and set off for Pushkinskaya Metro station which is where the club is located. It’s about a mile walk so getting there was no problem – finding it was another thing. I saw the sign, went into the courtyard where I thought it would be and began approaching people with “Vuybushteh, deh Internet Cloob” and was directed this way and that, left and right, outside the courtyard, inside the courtyard – no luck. Finally, a guy with a name badge on his jacket got the idea across to me that I had to leave the courtyard and go around the corner. I did this and there was a big store (sort of a CD store) and a bank-type place. I tried the bank and they sent me to the CD store, and finally I understood that it was on the second floor of the CD store. I walked in and saw a familiar face – the girl who had been the cashier at the other branch was working here today. It was somehow wonderful to see someone I “knew” – she recognized me and pretty soon I was set up with my laptop. The only trouble with this branch is that they don’t have desks – the computers are on coffee table type things and you sit on a sofa type chair. That’s fine if all you want to do is check your email, but I wanted to get a lot of stuff done – most importantly I wanted to see if I could get on line and figure out why the dial-up service I had signed up for wasn’t working when I tried it at the apartment. I was there for about 3 1/2 hours before my back finally gave out and I closed up shop and started home. The rain had stopped and it was a gorgeous day – not too hot, sun shining, but not too bright – the walk was working out the kinks in my back and I was feeling pretty good.
Alona was supposed to have called me to update me on the progress of the high speed internet installation and help me find things I needed, but I still hadn’t heard from her. I began to walk home, and tried to call her, but her line was not available. I stopped in a mobile phone store (there are millions here), and found a wonderful young girl who spoke some English and who walked outside with me and took me half a block to a computer store where I could buy the printer/scanner/fax machine I wanted. Fortunately the language of computer geeks, like music, is universal – printer is printer, scanner is scanner and fax is fax – in English, in Russian, and in Ukrainian. The accent is different, but it’s easy to get the idea across. I ordered a HP all in one for $200, a keyboard with both English and Ukrainian characters for $8, and I finally found the necessary surge protector for $5.
On the way home I bought something (I can’t remember the name, but it’s some sort of fried dough with meat inside) from a babushka with a box of these things (there were about 5 varieties and I asked her to give me the one she likes best – at least I hope that’s what I asked her to do!). So for 25 cents I had my lunch, and an adventure to boot!!
I felt very satisfied with my day – one big task had been accomplished (the purchase of the computer equipment), and that is my goal here – get one thing you need done and you have accomplished a lot – that’s what I think!
I got home and Alona called and we arranged for Boris and Alona to come over at 7 p.m.
I was just getting ready to take Belle for her walk when Ed got home. He had had a hard day – he’s very discouraged about the orientation because the system here is so corrupt and the ability of a lawyer to do anything is so limited that it's hard to train a public defender (there’s basically nothing he or she can do – so how do you train him or her?). I left him to unwind while I took Belle out and then I went to the market to get some things for dinner. I bought more sausage, more cheese, more milk, more water, two beers and more of the cheese and sausage pies we had liked.
I decided to take my shower before Boris and Alona came over and started running the water so that it would get hot. About 20 minutes later it was still cold, so I gave up. I told Ed we would have to alternate shower days and that tomorrow it was my turn. I was not happy with this turn of events since we had been assured that there would always be a supply of hot water in the apartment.
We had another nice dinner during a terrific thunder storm before Boris arrived, alone, at 8 p.m. (Alona had called to say that he would be late). We were nervous because now he would see that Belle was with us. But she was great – quiet and friendly and he took to her immediately after we assured him that she would not destroy the apartment. He looked at my picture of “Bark Park Friends” which is hanging in my “office” (the eating area of the kitchen), and then at Belle, and I explained that in America we have special parks for dogs. He was stunned, to say the least!
It turns out his English is really quite good, so we were able to discuss things without Alona’s help. The first thing I told Boris about was the hot water problem. He fiddled with something outside the apartment that he said had been turned off, and told us that the problem was now solved – in a few hours we would have hot water and then we would always have hot water. Great! Then we asked about the installation of the high speed internet, asked him to replace some burnt out light bulbs, told him about the disgusting oven, asked him whether we could have some sort of mesh cover for the sink drain to keep food from going down and clogging it up, and finally asked him whether we could get the HBO and BBC channels by paying extra for the satellite. He also tried to help me with my dial up connection, but we weren’t able to get on line, either with the program I had installed before I left the States or with the Internet Card I had bought earlier that day (turns out that this card isn’t even for Kharkiv – well at least it was only $5). At the end of the day he promised to call me at 11 the next day and told me he would come over with the light bulbs, the mesh filter, a couple of waste baskets, a new card for the TV to get the extra channels ($150, but probably worth it), and that he would arrange for the installation of the high speed internet RIGHT AWAY. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.
All in all a pretty good day – and tomorrow I get to shower first!!!
posted by Susan Spivak at 2:33 PM
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