Belle Meets The Shopkeepers And Susan Finds The Poshta
It's been a couple of days of just "living" in Kharkiv. No pressing errands to get done or tasks to be accomplished. Just going about the business of life and establishing our routines. Our mornings already feel like comfortable old shoes - we get up, I feed Belle and then, while Ed takes her for a walk, I get breakfast ready - not so hard - our famous Nestle Fitness without fruits (which they stock specially for me at one of the little markets - we consume one box every two days!), some orange juice (straight from a carton, not like the fresh squeezed juice that I make at home with the Valencias that I get at the Farmer's Market!), and of course our tea. Then I turn on the computer, check my emails and download either NPR All Things Considered from the previous afternoon in the U.S. or BBC Radio 4 so that we can listen while we have our breakfast and tea.
But first of all I check out the NY Times headlines, and yesterday saw that our friend, Bob Smith, whom we will see in two weeks in Moscow, satisfied one of the three criteria for enduring fame in our culture - he was on the front page of the NY Times having written the NY Supreme Court opinion deciding that the NY State Constitution does not require the state legislature to allow gay marriages. A few minutes later, I found that he had satisfied yet another of the three criteria - he was mentioned on NPR's All Things Considered (for the same reason). All that remains is for Will Shortz to have his name as either a clue or answer in the NY Times Crossword Puzzle and he wins the jackpot! The decision actually occasioned a rare legal debate in our household - Ed and I had a long and passionate "discussion" yesterday evening about whether it is a denial of equal protection to allow "opposite-sex" couples to marry, but not permit same-sex couples to marry. Guess which side of the "discussion" I was on! Actually, during the course of the "discussion" I really convinced myself of my position - when I had started out I was not so sure I was correct, but now I'm positive that I am!!
Yesterday we went to the posh store a few steps down on Pushkinskaya (where I had met the nice man with the two women who took me to buy sheets the day we moved in to this apartment) to see if we could get a couple of short sleeved "dress" shirts for Ed. This is what all the men wear here - Ed won't ever have to wear his suits or long-sleeved dress shirts. We took Belle with us, and she was such a hit - she always is - people always want to talk to her (through me of course - she doesn't understand Ukrainian or Russian!!). The sales girls (and they were girls, not women - only about 18 or 19 years old at the most) were just enthralled with Belle and practically forgot about poor Ed in the dressing room waiting for them to bring him the shirts we had picked out. We bought two shirts - one linen short sleeve and the other a very fine weave polo shirt style - all for about $150. On the way back we stopped at the market with Belle, and again everyone went nuts for her - what kind of dog, where is she from, is it a boy or a girl, etc., etc. So now everyone in these stores really knows us - not just because we are the weird Americans who try to speak Ukrainian, who must be living here because we come there all the time - but because we are the owners of that fantastic dog Bella!!
On Thursday I spent quite a bit of time typing up the Forms that Ed has created for use in the Public Defenders Office here, as well as helping design a letterhead for the office. We thought that this coming week was going to be real down time for Ed because he learned on Thursday that Gennady was going to Swansea for the week to look at the public defender office there. We thought we might take a trip to the Crimea, but after all the effort of organizing the Moscow-Riga-Vilnius trip I just didn't have the energy for another "big" trip, especially since we would be leaving for Moscow only a week after returning from this one. And I've already begun planning (actually, Jo has begun planning, and I've been joining in) our trip to Turkey with McGuires next June!! As it turns out, Gennady's visa for England hadn't even been applied for yet, so of course he didn't get one in time to go there this coming week! So maybe Ed and Gennady can spend some time this week getting the office organized and ready to open soon (although I don't know how much help Ed can be in getting furniture delivered and in hiring the office assistant). It looks like the timing of the opening of he office will be just awful - probably the week we will be in Moscow and Riga and Vilnius!! It's unbelievable - we had thought that by the end of July things would have been up and running for almost two months and that everyone would be winding down for the August vacation season!! I hope it either opens the week before we leave or else that it is even further delayed and doesn't open until August 1st. I think it will mean a lot to Ed to be there with all the lawyers and staff on the first day, but I can't see canceling or rearranging the trip at this point, not after all I've been through to get it organized! We'll just have to wait and see what happens. Maybe we'll get lucky.
The political situation here is definitely having an impact on Ed's project. The President, Yushenko, and his former ally, the blond bombshell, Yulia, had been on the outs ever since he dismissed her as prime minister; but after the elections last spring it was clear that Yushenko had to either work with her or make a deal with the man he defeated for President a few years ago. Just before the deadline for forming a government was about to expire he and Yulia came to an agreement - she would be Prime Minister and her arch enemy, one of Yushenko's men, would be Speaker. But somehow, last week, that deal fell apart. The result is that there is currently no Minister of the Interior or Minister of Justice - and the public defender project is being conducted under the auspices of the Minister of Justice!! So, until Ukraine has one, this project is definitely going to have to deal with a lot of bumps in the road.
Last night (July 7) we were reading when, at about 9:30 p.m., weheard fire works, so we got up and looked out the window. Sure enough - fireworks (and really good fireworks at that)were being shot off very close by - it looked like only about a mile or so to the east of our apartment. I have no idea what the occasion was - but it was fun to watch. I love fireworks and I missed being able to see the display in the Marina on the Fourth that we usually watch from the canals.
Today we finally made it into the Crafts Museum, which I have to admit was not much to see. There was only one room with a few things displayed around the edges - the whole center was occupied with theater chairs (there is going to be some sort of "spectacle theater" there on Thursday at 7 o'clock - we might go, but the language issue is a real problem in the theater, unlike concerts or ballet). There were a few cross-stitched table runners, some pipes, a couple of bowls, some lacquered spoons - really nothing much at all, and nothing that really impressed me either with its great artistry or its charm. Ed thought you could buy things there, but it turns out that you can't. We did manage to get the woman who was in charge of the room to understand that we wanted to visit a store that sold such things, and she wrote down the address of a crafts store and pointed us in the right direction. She even went to the front desk to call the store for us. She conferred with the man at the front desk to get the phone number from him. He was a real character - his entire mouth was filled with metal teeth (and, by metal, I don't mean gold or silver!), and to get the phone number he pulled out one of those notebooks that all Ukrainians seems to carry around to keep all their important information. They couldn't get anyone on the phone, but we decided to go and find it anyway so that we would at least know where it was located. We walked in the direction the woman had pointed to, and asked at a news kiosk. There we learned that we should go to the metro and make a left - sure enough there was the street and building number 11 was right where it should be. We went in and found the store on the second floor, and it was open. (We would never have found this place - there is absolutely nothing outside to indicate that there are stores in this building.) More of the same stuff that we saw in the Crafts Museum, but there were some really nice typical shawls and we'll definitely come back to get some of those. When we told the sales womon that we would come back and that we were now living in Kharkiv on Pushkinskaya, she wanted to know if we were working here (she spoke a little English). I explained that Ed was a "volunteer," here to help reform the legal system and the courts. Ed added "and the militia," meaning that he was here to reform the police too, but at the mention of "the milita" she froze, and all conversation stopped. I think she thought that Ed was working with the police, and that frightened her.
Oh, I did stumble upon the local post office on Friday. I was going to see Olga at my travel agency to pick up our plane tickets to Moscow and Riga, and I thought that I would make another try to locate the post office on my way. This time I kept walking past what I thought was Building 28 and, sure enough, I found it across the street on what appeared to be a different street entirely, but was in fact the same. I recognized it because there were two post boxes outside - the first I've seen on the street here. Ed and I went over today, after the Crafts store visit, but it was closed for lunch. So we went to a cafe in Schevshenko Gardens near Lenin Square, had a couple of small salads, and then walked back to the post office. It's so much fun trying to communicate with people when theyreally try to help. The woman at the post office was darling. She didn't speak a word of English but we managed to get, and mail, a card for Jason's birthday. They sell the cards in the post office. When I was able to get the woman to understand that I wanted a birthday card for Ed's "ceen" (son) she asked me (in Russian, of course) "big or small?" I thought she was asking whether the card was for a little kid or an adult - so when I said "bolshoi"(that's big in Russian - I have no idea how to say it in Ukrainian), she pulled out this stack of gigantic cards!! We all laughed and Ed found a card on the rack behind her that he thought was bright and cheerful, and small, and we bought that. We also managed to buy five envelopes with airmail postage to the U.S., and we found out, after one of my best pantomimes, that we could rent a post office box for 80 Hryvna a month - not that we need it - no one is going to write us and a FedEx package won't fit in the box.
I've been doing more research on things to do in and around Kharkiv - and there are quite a few: Gorky Park, Forest Park and the "children's railway" that connects the two. There is also an aerial tram that leaves from Forest Park and a race track near Gorky Park (but where, exactly, is another question - and finding out whether it is open now will take me at least a day!!). We have to see the Soviet suburb that houses 600,000 people in Soviet-style communal apartments, and we also have to go bowling at either Exspres or Argos or Misto (but first I have to find them!). Finally, I think we have made progress in locating the circus, although I'm not sure about that yet.
But right now, I have to join Ed and watch the match between Portugal and Germany for third place in the World Cup.
But first of all I check out the NY Times headlines, and yesterday saw that our friend, Bob Smith, whom we will see in two weeks in Moscow, satisfied one of the three criteria for enduring fame in our culture - he was on the front page of the NY Times having written the NY Supreme Court opinion deciding that the NY State Constitution does not require the state legislature to allow gay marriages. A few minutes later, I found that he had satisfied yet another of the three criteria - he was mentioned on NPR's All Things Considered (for the same reason). All that remains is for Will Shortz to have his name as either a clue or answer in the NY Times Crossword Puzzle and he wins the jackpot! The decision actually occasioned a rare legal debate in our household - Ed and I had a long and passionate "discussion" yesterday evening about whether it is a denial of equal protection to allow "opposite-sex" couples to marry, but not permit same-sex couples to marry. Guess which side of the "discussion" I was on! Actually, during the course of the "discussion" I really convinced myself of my position - when I had started out I was not so sure I was correct, but now I'm positive that I am!!
Yesterday we went to the posh store a few steps down on Pushkinskaya (where I had met the nice man with the two women who took me to buy sheets the day we moved in to this apartment) to see if we could get a couple of short sleeved "dress" shirts for Ed. This is what all the men wear here - Ed won't ever have to wear his suits or long-sleeved dress shirts. We took Belle with us, and she was such a hit - she always is - people always want to talk to her (through me of course - she doesn't understand Ukrainian or Russian!!). The sales girls (and they were girls, not women - only about 18 or 19 years old at the most) were just enthralled with Belle and practically forgot about poor Ed in the dressing room waiting for them to bring him the shirts we had picked out. We bought two shirts - one linen short sleeve and the other a very fine weave polo shirt style - all for about $150. On the way back we stopped at the market with Belle, and again everyone went nuts for her - what kind of dog, where is she from, is it a boy or a girl, etc., etc. So now everyone in these stores really knows us - not just because we are the weird Americans who try to speak Ukrainian, who must be living here because we come there all the time - but because we are the owners of that fantastic dog Bella!!
On Thursday I spent quite a bit of time typing up the Forms that Ed has created for use in the Public Defenders Office here, as well as helping design a letterhead for the office. We thought that this coming week was going to be real down time for Ed because he learned on Thursday that Gennady was going to Swansea for the week to look at the public defender office there. We thought we might take a trip to the Crimea, but after all the effort of organizing the Moscow-Riga-Vilnius trip I just didn't have the energy for another "big" trip, especially since we would be leaving for Moscow only a week after returning from this one. And I've already begun planning (actually, Jo has begun planning, and I've been joining in) our trip to Turkey with McGuires next June!! As it turns out, Gennady's visa for England hadn't even been applied for yet, so of course he didn't get one in time to go there this coming week! So maybe Ed and Gennady can spend some time this week getting the office organized and ready to open soon (although I don't know how much help Ed can be in getting furniture delivered and in hiring the office assistant). It looks like the timing of the opening of he office will be just awful - probably the week we will be in Moscow and Riga and Vilnius!! It's unbelievable - we had thought that by the end of July things would have been up and running for almost two months and that everyone would be winding down for the August vacation season!! I hope it either opens the week before we leave or else that it is even further delayed and doesn't open until August 1st. I think it will mean a lot to Ed to be there with all the lawyers and staff on the first day, but I can't see canceling or rearranging the trip at this point, not after all I've been through to get it organized! We'll just have to wait and see what happens. Maybe we'll get lucky.
The political situation here is definitely having an impact on Ed's project. The President, Yushenko, and his former ally, the blond bombshell, Yulia, had been on the outs ever since he dismissed her as prime minister; but after the elections last spring it was clear that Yushenko had to either work with her or make a deal with the man he defeated for President a few years ago. Just before the deadline for forming a government was about to expire he and Yulia came to an agreement - she would be Prime Minister and her arch enemy, one of Yushenko's men, would be Speaker. But somehow, last week, that deal fell apart. The result is that there is currently no Minister of the Interior or Minister of Justice - and the public defender project is being conducted under the auspices of the Minister of Justice!! So, until Ukraine has one, this project is definitely going to have to deal with a lot of bumps in the road.
Last night (July 7) we were reading when, at about 9:30 p.m., weheard fire works, so we got up and looked out the window. Sure enough - fireworks (and really good fireworks at that)were being shot off very close by - it looked like only about a mile or so to the east of our apartment. I have no idea what the occasion was - but it was fun to watch. I love fireworks and I missed being able to see the display in the Marina on the Fourth that we usually watch from the canals.
Today we finally made it into the Crafts Museum, which I have to admit was not much to see. There was only one room with a few things displayed around the edges - the whole center was occupied with theater chairs (there is going to be some sort of "spectacle theater" there on Thursday at 7 o'clock - we might go, but the language issue is a real problem in the theater, unlike concerts or ballet). There were a few cross-stitched table runners, some pipes, a couple of bowls, some lacquered spoons - really nothing much at all, and nothing that really impressed me either with its great artistry or its charm. Ed thought you could buy things there, but it turns out that you can't. We did manage to get the woman who was in charge of the room to understand that we wanted to visit a store that sold such things, and she wrote down the address of a crafts store and pointed us in the right direction. She even went to the front desk to call the store for us. She conferred with the man at the front desk to get the phone number from him. He was a real character - his entire mouth was filled with metal teeth (and, by metal, I don't mean gold or silver!), and to get the phone number he pulled out one of those notebooks that all Ukrainians seems to carry around to keep all their important information. They couldn't get anyone on the phone, but we decided to go and find it anyway so that we would at least know where it was located. We walked in the direction the woman had pointed to, and asked at a news kiosk. There we learned that we should go to the metro and make a left - sure enough there was the street and building number 11 was right where it should be. We went in and found the store on the second floor, and it was open. (We would never have found this place - there is absolutely nothing outside to indicate that there are stores in this building.) More of the same stuff that we saw in the Crafts Museum, but there were some really nice typical shawls and we'll definitely come back to get some of those. When we told the sales womon that we would come back and that we were now living in Kharkiv on Pushkinskaya, she wanted to know if we were working here (she spoke a little English). I explained that Ed was a "volunteer," here to help reform the legal system and the courts. Ed added "and the militia," meaning that he was here to reform the police too, but at the mention of "the milita" she froze, and all conversation stopped. I think she thought that Ed was working with the police, and that frightened her.
Oh, I did stumble upon the local post office on Friday. I was going to see Olga at my travel agency to pick up our plane tickets to Moscow and Riga, and I thought that I would make another try to locate the post office on my way. This time I kept walking past what I thought was Building 28 and, sure enough, I found it across the street on what appeared to be a different street entirely, but was in fact the same. I recognized it because there were two post boxes outside - the first I've seen on the street here. Ed and I went over today, after the Crafts store visit, but it was closed for lunch. So we went to a cafe in Schevshenko Gardens near Lenin Square, had a couple of small salads, and then walked back to the post office. It's so much fun trying to communicate with people when theyreally try to help. The woman at the post office was darling. She didn't speak a word of English but we managed to get, and mail, a card for Jason's birthday. They sell the cards in the post office. When I was able to get the woman to understand that I wanted a birthday card for Ed's "ceen" (son) she asked me (in Russian, of course) "big or small?" I thought she was asking whether the card was for a little kid or an adult - so when I said "bolshoi"(that's big in Russian - I have no idea how to say it in Ukrainian), she pulled out this stack of gigantic cards!! We all laughed and Ed found a card on the rack behind her that he thought was bright and cheerful, and small, and we bought that. We also managed to buy five envelopes with airmail postage to the U.S., and we found out, after one of my best pantomimes, that we could rent a post office box for 80 Hryvna a month - not that we need it - no one is going to write us and a FedEx package won't fit in the box.
I've been doing more research on things to do in and around Kharkiv - and there are quite a few: Gorky Park, Forest Park and the "children's railway" that connects the two. There is also an aerial tram that leaves from Forest Park and a race track near Gorky Park (but where, exactly, is another question - and finding out whether it is open now will take me at least a day!!). We have to see the Soviet suburb that houses 600,000 people in Soviet-style communal apartments, and we also have to go bowling at either Exspres or Argos or Misto (but first I have to find them!). Finally, I think we have made progress in locating the circus, although I'm not sure about that yet.
But right now, I have to join Ed and watch the match between Portugal and Germany for third place in the World Cup.
posted by Susan Spivak at 9:02 PM
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