Ed's First Meeting At The PD Office
Ed had his first meeting at the new offices today at 10 a.m. I wish he had taken his camera with him - Ed says the place is a real pit - it's a third floor walk up and it's filthy. The windows are so dirty you can't see out, the walls desperately need to be painted, and all the furniture is squeezed in so tight that it's hard to imagine how the people will fit in too! Ed reported that Gennady had asked the women - there are two women lawyers and the "paralegal"(who used to be the Minister of Justice for the Kharkiv Region), plus a young woman who was acting as a translator (and will probably be the director's assistant) - to clean the place up, but that they objected because they weren't dressed properly for the job. I didn't believe him, of course. I just thought he was teasing me (I'm usually very gullible and take the bait right away). But it turns out that it's true!!! I don't blame Gennady - he's a product of the culture he was raised in. And I did get a little sense of this at dinner with him and his family - he spoke almost exclusively to Ed (so much so that I changed seats with Ed so that I could try and talk with Nella and Yrena), and there was a bit of the "patriarch" about him. Anyway, I'm glad I'm not working there!!!
Ed said the meeting went well, all things considered - but there is a real problem because Gennady has had to do everything, from finding the office, renting the office space, buying the computers, installing the computers, etc., etc., and at the same time he's had to maintain his practice. None of the lawyers have signed contracts with the Foundation yet, and none of them are being paid yet. In addition, Gennady doesn't have access to an account with funds that he can use for office expenditures. Everything has to be approved by the Foundation - protocols have to be sent in with three separate bids, all bearing the official stamps of the stores offering the products, etc. This is a 100% cash economy, and I'm sure Gennady doesn't have cash to spare that he can front while he waits for reimbursements. Ed was so worried that things would really get started the week we are in Moscow and Riga, and that he would miss out on being here at the beginning but, as it turns out, they will probably spend all next week finding someone to clean the place up and paint it, and installing the computers and connecting the network. So it may just work out that our trip is perfectly timed! I don't see anything really happening until August 1. And then of course there are all the political problems in the Ukraine (not to mention the Middle East) - a government still has not been formed - who knows who will be prime minister - whether the government will backslide into further corruption and totalitarianism or whether the Ukraine will continue its march towards true independence and securing human rights for all its citizens. We'll just have to wait and see.
I had another meeting with Yrena, my Ukrainian conversation partner. This time instead of flowers she brought me home made red wine!!! Her mother has a house with a garden and grapes, and they make this wine themselves. We had a taste, and I have to say it was pretty sweet - sort of like an even sweeter Manischewitz. Not exactly to my taste. Yrena stayed an hour and a half, and it was exhausting, and even more discouraging than the first session!! But I have to push on. After I called it quits - I was just unable to say another word in Ukrainian, she told me that she was going to the supermarket and asked if I wanted to go along. That would have been a great experience, but Ed had just called to tell me that he would be home in 15 minutes. Also, I was very preoccupied with some work that has to be done at our house, and it was just about the time that everyone would be waking up in LA and I could try and contact the people I needed to speak with. We agreed to meet on August 1, my first day back after Moscow, Riga and Vilnius, and her last day before she leaves for the Crimea (back on August 16), and we'll go to the supermarket then. I'm really looking forward to that.
On Thursday the water truck comes at 4 o'clock, so I gathered up all our 5.5 liter bottles (which are $1.50 each 
when at the market, but which only cost 20 cents each to refill from the water truck). There was a big line today, so I had to wait a little before my turn came. But they are so fast and efficient at the truck - they just keep that water running and keep sliding the bottles under the spout. We were done in no time and ready to drag the now full, and surprisingly heavy, bottles to the elevator. It's times like this that I am especially glad that we don't live in a walk-up.
At 7 p.m. Yrena, Gennady's daughter, came over to get her instructions on the care and feeding of Belle. God, I wish Ed had taken her picture - she had on the most amazing outfit. She was wearing a skin tight red top that was strapless and wrapped around her ribs and tied above her midriff. Her skirt was a micro mini jeans skirt with a big intentional hole on her upper right thigh!! She was wearing yellow underpants (one couldn't help but see) and really high stiletto heeled sandals. She had a terrific red nail polish on her finger and toe nails. We went through Belle's routine - I fed her and showed Yrena what she ate, then took her for a walk with Yrena - god only knows how she manages to walk on the grass with those heels, but she does - came back, gave her the key and our cell phone numbers and told her to enjoy herself. She works from 9 to 7 without a break!! So Belle will have to last that long without a walk, which I think she can do. Yrena works about 3 minutes from our apartment. I'm awfully nervous about this, but Yrena offered to text message everyday and let me know that everything is okay- that's great, but now I'll worry because she's bound to forget to text message one day and I'll go nuts thinking something is really wrong!
This morning I had discovered that Belle had a very loose back tooth, and I was anxious about whether she needed immediate medical attention - whether it would get infected or become abscessed - but fortunately it just fell out a little later in the day and everything looks fine - no bleeding or anything, and she really doesn't look like she's in any distress. I'm sure I'll worry about it anyway, even though I probably would never even have noticed that it had fallen out if I hadn't seen it wiggle this morning!
All this worrying (I'm also worrying about whether I'll be able to call a taxi, and actually have one show up at 4:30 a.m. on Saturday morning), and trying to speak Ukrainian (I also listened to tape 23 today - hopeless - why do I bother????) has exhausted me. Time to go to bed.
Ed said the meeting went well, all things considered - but there is a real problem because Gennady has had to do everything, from finding the office, renting the office space, buying the computers, installing the computers, etc., etc., and at the same time he's had to maintain his practice. None of the lawyers have signed contracts with the Foundation yet, and none of them are being paid yet. In addition, Gennady doesn't have access to an account with funds that he can use for office expenditures. Everything has to be approved by the Foundation - protocols have to be sent in with three separate bids, all bearing the official stamps of the stores offering the products, etc. This is a 100% cash economy, and I'm sure Gennady doesn't have cash to spare that he can front while he waits for reimbursements. Ed was so worried that things would really get started the week we are in Moscow and Riga, and that he would miss out on being here at the beginning but, as it turns out, they will probably spend all next week finding someone to clean the place up and paint it, and installing the computers and connecting the network. So it may just work out that our trip is perfectly timed! I don't see anything really happening until August 1. And then of course there are all the political problems in the Ukraine (not to mention the Middle East) - a government still has not been formed - who knows who will be prime minister - whether the government will backslide into further corruption and totalitarianism or whether the Ukraine will continue its march towards true independence and securing human rights for all its citizens. We'll just have to wait and see.
I had another meeting with Yrena, my Ukrainian conversation partner. This time instead of flowers she brought me home made red wine!!! Her mother has a house with a garden and grapes, and they make this wine themselves. We had a taste, and I have to say it was pretty sweet - sort of like an even sweeter Manischewitz. Not exactly to my taste. Yrena stayed an hour and a half, and it was exhausting, and even more discouraging than the first session!! But I have to push on. After I called it quits - I was just unable to say another word in Ukrainian, she told me that she was going to the supermarket and asked if I wanted to go along. That would have been a great experience, but Ed had just called to tell me that he would be home in 15 minutes. Also, I was very preoccupied with some work that has to be done at our house, and it was just about the time that everyone would be waking up in LA and I could try and contact the people I needed to speak with. We agreed to meet on August 1, my first day back after Moscow, Riga and Vilnius, and her last day before she leaves for the Crimea (back on August 16), and we'll go to the supermarket then. I'm really looking forward to that.
On Thursday the water truck comes at 4 o'clock, so I gathered up all our 5.5 liter bottles (which are $1.50 each 
when at the market, but which only cost 20 cents each to refill from the water truck). There was a big line today, so I had to wait a little before my turn came. But they are so fast and efficient at the truck - they just keep that water running and keep sliding the bottles under the spout. We were done in no time and ready to drag the now full, and surprisingly heavy, bottles to the elevator. It's times like this that I am especially glad that we don't live in a walk-up.At 7 p.m. Yrena, Gennady's daughter, came over to get her instructions on the care and feeding of Belle. God, I wish Ed had taken her picture - she had on the most amazing outfit. She was wearing a skin tight red top that was strapless and wrapped around her ribs and tied above her midriff. Her skirt was a micro mini jeans skirt with a big intentional hole on her upper right thigh!! She was wearing yellow underpants (one couldn't help but see) and really high stiletto heeled sandals. She had a terrific red nail polish on her finger and toe nails. We went through Belle's routine - I fed her and showed Yrena what she ate, then took her for a walk with Yrena - god only knows how she manages to walk on the grass with those heels, but she does - came back, gave her the key and our cell phone numbers and told her to enjoy herself. She works from 9 to 7 without a break!! So Belle will have to last that long without a walk, which I think she can do. Yrena works about 3 minutes from our apartment. I'm awfully nervous about this, but Yrena offered to text message everyday and let me know that everything is okay- that's great, but now I'll worry because she's bound to forget to text message one day and I'll go nuts thinking something is really wrong!
This morning I had discovered that Belle had a very loose back tooth, and I was anxious about whether she needed immediate medical attention - whether it would get infected or become abscessed - but fortunately it just fell out a little later in the day and everything looks fine - no bleeding or anything, and she really doesn't look like she's in any distress. I'm sure I'll worry about it anyway, even though I probably would never even have noticed that it had fallen out if I hadn't seen it wiggle this morning!
All this worrying (I'm also worrying about whether I'll be able to call a taxi, and actually have one show up at 4:30 a.m. on Saturday morning), and trying to speak Ukrainian (I also listened to tape 23 today - hopeless - why do I bother????) has exhausted me. Time to go to bed.
posted by Susan Spivak at 6:27 PM
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