I have been waiting for a check drawn on one of our U.S. accounts, which I mailed in for deposit at another one of our U.S. bank accounts, to clear for over a month now, and was convinced that someone had pinched it and found that he or she could do nothing with it. But then I got a "mail arrival" email from Fern, telling me that WAMU had returned the check I had mailed in for deposit because I hadn't signed it! Well that explains it. Now I've sent off another check to myself, and I can calculate how long it takes to clear.
Today we got the word that they want Ed to stay in Kharkiv until we leave for the States on September 27, and when we come back on October 18 we will start in Kyiv. So I'm going to look for an apartment in Kyiv this weekend (Ed's coming with me on condition that he doesn't have to go with me to look at the apartments - but when I've narrowed it down to one or two, he will go look at it or them with me). It will just be nice to have company when I get back from running around, and we can test drive the hotel that we've booked for Jodi and her dad (and us) - if it's awful we can find someplace else. But the location is really great, and they take dogs, so I think it will be fine. In fact, one of the apartments I am going to see (owned by an American who lived here for 7 years and is married to a Ukrainian woman from Kyiv) is right around the corner. I'll either rent the apartment beginning September 6, and we'll stay in the apartment rather than the hotel when Jodi visits, or I'll try and rent it starting October 18. That poses all sorts of logistical problems (like where do I store my stuff), but I guess we'll manage somehow - it would save us quite a bit of money not to have to pay rent for three weeks, but on the other hand it would be much more convenient to get the apartment now, set everything up, and put everything away before we go back home for a few weeks.
I haven't been doing too much lately, but I'm on page 650 of War and Peace. I spent almost the entire day yesterday at Beatrice getting a mani/pedi followed by cut, color, highlights and low lights. I have no idea how it looks because after staring at myself in the mirror for several hours yesterday, I can't bare to look in the mirror today.
Ed is really losing weight - all this walking, plus he really has cut down on his food intake and especially alcohol intake - he just doesn't drink anything at all except water, tea and orange juice here. I have a beer every night, but he prefers the juice!! He looks great - totally flat stomach. Also, he's doing pilates from the book that Jennifer (my U.S. pilates instructor) gave me before I left (it's a terrific book). I, of course, am doing NOTHING and eating much more than before. I do walk, but not nearly as much as I should, given my caloric intake. I just can't make myself do the pilates without someone watching me and telling me what to do - I am a real exercise hater, even though I feel so much better after I do the pilates (I mean physically - my back and neck - not emotionally - I think I'm one of those rare birds that doesn't release any endorphins during exercise - there are such people).
I've been on the computer a lot, arranging appointments to see apartments, arranging to have funds transferred to our new Aval Bank account. (I made a side bet with Ed - I bet him that I would get my $1000 - that's the amount of the test transfer I am making - before he gets repaid the $1000 he advanced the office. I know I'll win this one!)
I also bought tickets for Swan Lake in Kharkiv on September 15. Even if I get an apartment in Kyiv starting September 6, I'll still come back for the day and evening to see Ed and go to the ballet with him. I want to see if it's as good as I remember. And also, I'll be able to compare it with the Kyiv Ballet because we are going to that on Ed's birthday with Jodi and her dad to see Sleeping Beauty at the Kyiv National Opera and Ballet Theater.
So now I have a few trips (two to Kyiv and one to Boston, NY, LA and London) to look forward to, plus the move to Kyiv, with all the organizing and planning and getting to know a new city that that entails. The burning question for us now is whether we hire a minivan and driver to take us and all our stuff to Kyiv, or whether we rent a large station wagon or SUV and drive ourselves. It costs twice as much to have the car and driver than to rent a car and drive ourselves, but I'm concerned about being able to follow the signs, read the speed limits, etc. - especially when we get into the city itself. I'm also worried about what would happen if we got stopped by the police for speeding or something. After what Ed's told me, I'm not sure I want to take any chances with having to negotiate with the cops here!
I've been seeing quite a bit of Vicky - trying to help her sort out what she wants to do with her life. I think she's decided not to take the job in Kyiv - it doesn't sound like it's what she's looking for. I'll be sorry about that, because I really like her and I would like to see her in Kyiv, but this is a really big move for her, and she's invested a good many years here at the Law Academy, and she probably shouldn't go unless it is a real step up and forward. She's also been helping me - showing me good takeout food places, a good shoe repair place, translating "highlights" and "low lights" to Yulia, my hairdresser!! She's going to translate for Ed again tomorrow at some meeting with the head of the local Bar Association. I think he should hire her for an hour or two a couple of days a week - say Monday, Wednesday and Friday - so that he can meet with the lawyers and discuss what they are doing, what has to be done, what meetings have to be arranged, what motions filed, etc. It's just too difficult and frustrating to do all this through Gennadiy - it isn't his job to translate and, truth be told, it would be a lot easier for both of them if Ed had a translator in his meetings with Gennadiy - I think they could get a lot more done more efficiently, and with a lot less frustration and exhaustion.
Ed is soooooo frustrated right now. They still haven't arranged a follow-up meeting with the police after the "big" meeting over 2 weeks ago. Any momentum they may have had is quickly being dissipated. And we all know the power of INERTIA - it gets harder and harder to make any headway as each day goes by. It would be so sad if Ed leaves here without having accomplished anything concrete - he has such hopes and dreams for this project, but he is stymied at every turn. For example, he told me that today they called over to one of the police stations to find out when they are going to post the sign with the PD telephone number. Oh, the policeman said, it's already posted - it's on the wall and I'm looking at it right now. So Gennadiy said, well how come the person who is standing right next to you, who happens to be one of our lawyers, can't see it!!!!!!!! This is routine. And don't even get me started on the administrative details - they still have no letterhead, no separate fax line, no business cards, etc. I'll bet anything that they don't have paper clips or staplers either! Things should pick up soon though - on September 1 all of Europe, including Ukraine, comes back to life!
I've been experimenting with the mail here. I asked Betsy to mail me an envelope or postcard from NY about three or four weeks ago, and it still hasn't arrived. Laura has sent me several postcards, some in English, and others using cyrillic letters, from Scotland, I think, and they haven't gotten here yet either. Last week I mailed myself an envelope from the post office around the corner and used cyrillic letters - it got here two days later. It was thrilling to see an envelope in our mailbox, even though I knew it was from me and that there was nothing in it!!! Today I mailed an envelope addressed to me in English from the same post office. I wonder if this one will ever get here!
I also opened a bank account here today at Aval Bank (which was recently bought by Raiffeisenbank Group, an Austrian bank headquartered in Vienna). Raiffeisen used to have branches in Ukraine, but Raiffeisenbank Ukraine was sold and Raiffeisen bought Aval - it seemed to me it would be best to have use international banking institution. It took me many phone calls to find a branch where they have someone who speaks English who can help me, but I did it - and the branch office is only a few blocks away. I went over with my passport and my visa (which is in my passport), and it was easy - after all the horror stories I've heard about the PD Office having such difficulty opening up a bank account I was prepared for the worst. But it was simple (but this is an individual account, not a business account, so it's probably much less complicated). It cost $10 to open the account and then $4 more to get debit cards for me and Ed to use at the bankomats. I tried to deposit $100 right away. I knew that foreigners had to have evidence that the funds were legally brought into the country, and I had the receipt from the bankomat showing that I had just withdrawn that amount earlier in the day, but no dice - foreigners depositing foreign or local currency must have a customs declaration in order to make the deposit!!! God I hate these stupid rules - how could I possibly have a customs declaration for money I withdrew that morning, when I arrived in the country 3 months ago and haven't been back to the U.S. since? Oh well, it was easily solved - I'm going to arrange to have the funds wire transferred from our U.S. bank (which doesn't charge us to send the money out) today. I'm going to start with $1000 just to make sure that I understand all the fees and costs involved. I believe I was told that there is no charge for funds coming in (other banks charge as much as 1.5% for U.S. dollar wire transfers into the account). I also believe that I can open a 12 month deposit account and withdraw the money after 30 days with no penalty, and continue to receive interest of 6.5% per month on whatever is in the deposit account. I think I can walk into any branch anywhere in the Ukraine and withdraw my money in U.S. Dollars at a cost of 1% and, finally, we can use the debit cards at any bankomat, but only in Ukraine, and only to withdraw HVAs. There is a charge of 1%, but not less than 5 HVA, to use the bankomat (plus whatever cut the bank takes in converting the dollars to Hryvnas). But in a pinch I can always take out 500 HVA from a bankomat (about $100) and pay a $1 fee. Otherwise I'll just get what I need for rent and such things from the bank in person, and then change the dollars at an exchange booth for a much better exchange rate. When I contacted our U.S. bank to find out what information they needed to make the transfers, I found that Aval Bank had given me everything necessary - account number, account name, bank name, SWIFT Code and a list of U.S. correspondent banks with their account numbers and SWIFT codes. So by tomorrow I should have the money in Ukraine and be able to withdraw it. In two weeks we should have our debit cards. Again, this is Ukraine, not Los Angeles, so I'm not counting my chickens (or my U.S. dollars) yet.
While I was at the bank Ed called and we arranged to meet outside the bank and have lunch together. We went to a restaurant around the corner from our apartment that we've been planning to go to for a long time. There's a big courtyard with a pretty garden, and little private alcoves off the courtyard with tables tucked inside. We chose to eat outside - and got English menus. It was fantastic - it's my favorite restaurant so far (with the possible exception of the one Oksana took us to in the woods). I had the most delicious blini and red caviar I have yet had in Ukraine (for $6.50) and then an order of potato pancakes with sour cream that was perfect (this cost $1.50 for 4 pancakes). Ed had a fantastic salad of chicken, mushrooms, prunes and walnuts in a sour cream sauce. It was really a great meal - and the menu is very varied and interesting and reasonable. I can't wait to go back. When the check came we found that even though it was incredibly cheap (78 HVAs, including tip and two drinks and bread and butter - they charge separately for bread and butter here), we didn't have enough money with us!! But fortunately this is Kharkiv, and there is a bankomat or money exchange booth every which way you turn - so I just went across the street and changed some U.S. dollars that I had brought with me to deposit in the new bank account (but which I couldn't deposit because I didn't have the required customs declaration). I was back in the restaurant in two minutes.
Ed was exhausted after trying hard to get things done at the office, and getting nowhere. He quite rightly feels that they will lose the momentum on the agreements with the police unless they move quickly to get them in writing, signed, sealed and delivered. But he's having a really hard time getting anyone here (anyone involved in the Kharkiv PD project, that is) to arrange the necessary meetings. There's always some problem - this one is on vacation, that one isn't answering his phone, the other one wants to speak to so and so before the meeting can be arranged, etc., etc. It's so frustrating. Ed feels that he's on the verge of getting everything in place, and that in the U.S., even assuming he had to deal with the most reluctant and laziest of bureaucrats, he would be able to get it all tied up by the end of next week. But he's beginning to despair of seeing anything really accomplished here. They still haven't transferred the funds from Kyiv to the Kharkiv office, and who knows when we will ever see the $1000 Ed advanced to the office. Today a new paralegal showed up (the last on quit), and now she (who has been working there about 4 hours), rather than Gennadiy, will be interviewing candidates for the position of Director's Assistant. Ed's given up having someone who is fluent in English fill that position - he told Gennadiy to just go ahead and find someone who can take care of the administrative details of the office. I think that's a big mistake - it's really impossible for him to convey to Gennadiy what he thinks should be done (motions, etc.) - it would be like someone from France telling me, in French, what legal motions to file. I can manage okay in French, I can get around and all that, but I certainly can't understand the nuances of the legal vocabulary in French, and I don't think that the lawyers in the PD Office can understand those nuances in English. To make matters worse on the "let's get things done" front, tomorrow Gennadiy has to go to Kyiv to get a visa (so that he can go to Wales from September 13 through 17 to look at the Public Defender's office in Swansea) and, even before that, on September 8, 9 and 10, all the other lawyers from the office will be in Sebastapol at the CEELI cross examination seminar. As I often comment to my scrabble partners "AAAAAARGH!!!"
I told Ed to go home and rest - I was going to run some errands. Ed had popped the screw that keeps the fastener on his left sandal in place, and he really needs the sandals now because the toe problem has resurfaced. So I was planning on having that fixed today. I also wanted to look at a bookstore that Vicky had told me about - it's called BOOK - and she said they have books in English on the second floor - mostly classics - just what Ed wants. He's reading up a storm, and has been on a Russian authors kick (he just finished Dr. Zhivago), but in desperation he turned to my all time favorite, Pride and Prejudice (which we've both heard read by Glenda Jackson a couple of years ago) and he is loving it. Well, who wouldn't???
Vicky had told me about a shoe repair place and I went there right after lunch. They couldn't help me, but told me to go next door, where it was fixed in about 5 minutes. During that time I managed to have a "political" conversation with one of the guys there - he asked where I was from, and I told him I was from America. He said he likes America, and I said I do too, but I don't like George W. Bush. He asked what I thought of Putin, and I said I really couldn't say - I just don't know enough about him and his policies. Then he asked what I thought of Yushenko, and I told him I liked Yushenko two years ago but now I think he has betrayed the Ukrainian people. Now, I have no idea how we managed to communicate all this to each other - he spoke no English and I spoke no Russian, and there was a girl there who spoke a tiny bit of English. But I think we got through to each other, but I can't be absolutely sure. Anyway, he gave me his business card and I gave him mine (he wanted to know what I was doing in Kharkiv - so the card I have from the International Senior Lawyers Project, with my name and email, and their phone number and address, might give him some idea of what we're up to here).
Before going to the bookstore, I stopped at the printer that is doing my cards and the business cards for the PDs office. Good thing I went there. My phone number was incorrect, plus they left off the country code from my 310 area code Skype-in phone number and my 206 area code fax number. They also left off the "A" at the end of SUSAN in cyrillic (Ukrainian female names have to end in A or YA). I also looked at the PD Office business cards, and I added Ed's mobile phone number and his personal email address to his card. It looks like he'll be gone from Kharkiv shortly after he gets these cards, so I thought it might be useful if they contain some information that can be used when he's living in Kyiv! They also spelled his name incorrectly in English (EDVARD), and they spelled his last name incorrectly in cyrillic (RAKKER instead of ROOKER - long u sound). I told the printer that he has to get the other office cards approved by Gennadiy - that I have nothing to do with them. I think there are some other problems with them (e.g., there is one number for both fax and phone - BIG mistake - and they don't include the country code for that number - that's probably okay because all their activities will be local, but still, it's not quite right). Anyway, that's all their business, not mine.
Next I went off to the bookstore, but the choices were limited (some Henry James, some Edith Wharton, some Jane Austen) - no Russian authors translated into English. I'm going to let Ed go and pick out his own selections. I almost bought him The Wings of the Dove, my favorite Henry James', but I'm afraid it's not the best James book to start out with - I think a reader new to Henry James should start with Washington Square (which Ed has read), followed by Portrait of a Lady, and then the reader is ready - The Golden Bowl, Wings of the Dove, The Ambassadors - they are all great. So I left without buying anything.
I stopped at the post office - mailed myself the empty envelope - and made my way home (stopping at the market of course). I didn't get back until after 5, but we're both still full from lunch, so no dinner tonight. Just blogging, emails, scrabble and then War and Peace.
Today I got a comment from "anonymous," begging me to stop referring to Ukraine as THE Ukraine - the name of the country is in fact UKRAINE, plain and simple. I was criticized for my poor grammar - a sensitive issue for me, as many of you know (e.g., my favorite Anne Tyler character had to break up with his girlfriend because of her "unfortunate habit" of saying "between you and I"). The comment is indeed correct, but I rejected it because I won't accept anonymous comments. I know, I know, there is an earlier "anonymous" comment on the Blog, but that one came to me in the form of an email from our friend Raber who gave me permission to publish it as a comment. I published it as coming from "anonymous" because I thought it was funny, given the context. So to "anonymous" out there - thanks for your correction, but next time leave your name!! Here I am, exposed to the world in my Blog - if you want to leave a comment you have to let me and my readers know who you are!
I realized I made another mistake yesterday. When I was describing my encounter with the workers at LOOK, as I tried to get orange T Shirts with the map of Ukraine imprinted on them, I wrote that one of the workers mentioned "Yushenko" when I insisted on orange - and that is in fact what happened - they were clearly referring to the Orange Revolution. But I should not have said "tak, tak" when they said his name because, right now, I feel, as I believe most Ukrainians feel (based on my very limited poll!), that Yushenko has betrayed the Orange Revolution and all the Ukrainians (I think I can use the "the" there!) who supported him. He had 18 months to do something here, and he did nothing; and worse, he has now made an alliance with the very man that people here went out in the streets (in subzero temperatures) to demonstrate against. Everyone I talk to about it is says, "Why did we go out there in the freezing cold, why did we demonstrate in support of this man Yushenko against the fraudulent election of this man Yanakovich, whom Yushenko has now made Prime Minister?" It is a very sad state of affairs.
Today is Independence Day in the Ukraine, but the celebrations are muted. The plane crash near Donyetsck (in Eastern Ukraine, near Kharkiv) of a Russian plane traveling from Georgia to St Petersburg (all on board died, including over 50 children) has resulted in a National Day of Mourning in Russia, and an unofficial day of mourning here. Everyone here is talking about it - the women who sell the things in the market I go to were talking to me about it (they brought it up - things were not busy at the market, and when things are slow they always talk to me - when it's busy though they don't have time to do that). I even got a call from Oksana, who is now back in Chicago, who told me that her mother was really upset as were all her friends here in Kharkiv.
Yesterday was the anniversary of the liberation of Kharkiv from occupation by the Nazis (of course, that began an era of Soviet occupation!), and all of the festivities were canceled. Ed and I went out into the streets anyway at about 7 p.m., and although Sumskaya was bustling, as usual, the huge speakers and bleachers that were assembled in Lenin Square were lined up and unused. They've wrapped Lenin in scaffolding and draped the scaffolding with the Ukrainian colors - but when the lighting is right, you can see him, in silhouette, standing there, pointing!
The festivities for the anniversaries of both liberation and independence are now scheduled to be held on Saturday. We had planned to go to Poltava for the day, but I think we should stay here and see what goes on in Lenin Square. Shevshenko Gardens is also decked out, with flowers on the base of Schevshenko's statue and Ukrainian flags on either side.
On Tuesday, which was, without question, the hottest and most humid day so far, I spent the entire morning trying to find things and striking out all around. First Ed wanted me to see if I could find a "portable" copier that the PD lawyers can take back and forth to the two police stations, so that they can copy the investigator reports and other evidence gathered by the investigators, as was agreed to by the Regional Director of Police for the Kharkiv Oblast. They can't just buy copiers and leave them there because they'll be taken by someone, or used by people to make their own copies, exhausting the toner or ink cartridges. But it seems to me that the PD Office could buy something and put it in a cabinet or a case and lock it up, or devise some system (like the ones they have in most U.S. law firms) where the copier won't work unless you punch in a code number. I wasn't very hopeful - the best bet would be a cheap plain paper fax machine that also works as a copier, but that won't do the trick because they must have a flat bed copier so that they can copy from books and things like that.
After checking online without very much success (no light weight portable copiers that I could see), I went to the huge computer store MKC, and found a copier that's cheap (about $125), light weight (about 2 kilos), and not too awkward to carry in a box with a handle (just a little awkward- let's put it like this, I wouldn't want to have to carry it more than 10 feet!). Not ideal (especially because it's an ink jet and uses ink cartridges rather than a laser, which uses a much longer lasting toner cartridge), but workable. I reported my findings to Ed (including another copier that is much heavier (about 9 kilos), but which is truly designed to be portable - it has a pop up carrying handle, flatbed availability, and it's very compact and much smaller than the other. But it's way too heavy in my opinion - also much more expensive. He said that he and Gennady would go to the store later that day and get the light weight machine.
Having not yet expired from the heat, I decided to try and find what I was told by Ed is a store called "LOOK" where I could get orange T Shirts that have a green map of Ukraine printed on them. I wanted to wear one for the Independence Day celebrations (at this point in time the plane had not yet crashed and the celebrations had not yet been postponed). Ed had been told by the printer of the letterhead and business cards (who had such a T Shirt exhibited in his "office") that we could get them at "LOOK" - he even drew a map for Ed showing him where the store was located. Ed told me it was on Sumskaya, next to the Opera House - but that didn't make any sense at all because there are absolutely no stores near the Opera House - it's all park on one side and, according to the printer's "map," LOOK would be in the park, and both the Opera House and LOOK were on the wrong side of the street - impossible. Nevertheless, I walked the entire length of Sumskaya - from Lenin Square to Rosy Luxembourg Square and never spotted it. But I knew I had seen it, and that I had seen it often, which led me to believe that it was probably on Pushkinskaya - and if I was right the "map" would make sense. So off I went to Pushkinsaya, and there it was, right next to our apartment building entrance! Or I should say, it was in the building right next to the entrance to our apartment. The first door I went into was some sort of medical clinic - Oh lord, please please do not let me get sick or injured here!!!
LOOK, it turns out, was sort of an office on the second floor, not really a store. I managed to communicate that I was looking for T Shirts but that I didn't think I was in the right place. But a young woman working there got up and took me next door, and there I saw the very T Shirt we wanted, hanging with a few others with different logos printed on them. I really had to work hard this time to get myself understood - turns out that they didn't really speak Ukrainian or English - just Russian. But between the four of us (three of them and one of me) I managed to find out that they had no orange T Shirts - every other color except orange. I made it clear that I only wanted orange (one of them nodded and said "Yushenko" - referring I'm sure to the Orange Revolution - and I said Tak, Tak - yes, yes). They told me to go to a store and buy an orange T Shirt, and that they would print the map on the T Shirt the same day for $3 if black ink was okay, and $35 if I wanted green! I said black would be fine. They told me the name of the store I should go to, wrote it down for me, and said it was near Sovietska Monument, which I know well - a standard meeting place in Kharkiv how many real estate agents had I met there when we first arrived????).
Despite the sweltering heat I set off again for Sumskaya and Sovietska to find the store and the T Shirts - I wanted to see if the concert season had started at Organ Hall anyway (I had already checked the Opera House - no ballet until mid September, by which time I hope we'll be in Kyiv), so I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone. I couldn't help noticing what a huge police presence there was on the streets - regular cops, with their huge caps, army types with AK47's or the Ukrainian equivalent, and paratrooper type guys in blue camouflage (what good does blue do if you're not in the water or falling from the sky?) with red berets and really BIG AK47s or equivalent. I assumed that this was all in preparation for the events that would be taking place on Liberation Day and Independence Day. At least I hope that was the reason!!
I went nuts trying to find this store - and it was getting hotter and more humid by the minute. I thought my head was going to explode because of the barometric pressure! I asked about a dozen people, and they all sent me in the same direction, but I just couldn't find it. Finally, on what I promised myself would be my last try, the woman I asked pointed over my shoulder - I was, apparently, standing in front of the store in question, although I still couldn't find the name of the place anywhere on the building. It was one of those really horrible stores they have here that are like the kiosks in the subway, only crammed into a building. Each little booth-type place was more awful than the next, and I as I got further and further into the store it got hotter and hotter. I finally thought I was going to pass out, and I still hadn't found the T Shirts, so I just decided to call it quits and go home. I honestly thought I might have to find a taxi - I really felt like I was about to collapse. But I made it home, finally, and then I collapsed.
It poured later that day, and that helped a bit, but I still felt awful - my neck was still killing me because of the message - my right arm was killing me because of the way my computer is set up here, and my knee and hip were killing me because of all the miles I had walked! I had a sinus headache because of the weather, and I just couldn't do anything but go into the "cold room" and go to sleep.
Ed and Gennady never did buy the copier. Gennady is convinced he can find something more portable. I am convinced that he cannot, but I do not say so. In fact, I researched it on google and sent him the links to all "portable" copiers (not the same as portable printers, which can be quite small and light), with my comment that they had the Cannon portables at the MKC store we had all been to, but that I thought they were too heavy for the purpose. He agreed that they were too heavy and, in the end, I think they are going to go with Plan B (which I had thought should be Plan A all along) of buying two computers, one for each station, leaving them there permanently, and either locking the copiers up when not in use by the PDs or having some sort of access code to operate the machines.
On Wednesday Ed told me that CEELI was having a seminar on cross examination and that they were paying for all the PD lawyers to go to Sebastapol (in the Crimea) for the seminar. Oh, I said, you should definitely go - you can make contact with the CEELI people (who are in Kyiv). Ed agreed, although he was more interested in hearing what the speakers would tell "our" lawyers, as he refers to the PD lawyers. In fact, this is the stupidest seminar and the biggest waste of money in the world - to cross examine witnesses you have to actually have a trial, and since all the defendants confess after they have had their "talks" with the militia, they never do have any trials. Besides, Ed's about the best cross-examiner there is, and if anyone should be telling them how to do it, it's him! But of course I'm prejudiced! It seems that all CEELI does is hold seminars - it doesn't seem to work on any projects that will have actual application (like setting up a PD Office) - at least that's what others in the Ukraine tell me, and that's what it looks like to me when I read up on what they are doing. I'm really glad that Ed did not end up taking a position with them - they have about 20 people working in the Kyiv office - and it's so highly structured, with 2 people in Washington DC overseeing the Ukraine office (and other people in DC overseeing those overseers), plus a Region Director and a Country Director - the OSJI project is much more Ed's cup of tea. I don't think he would have felt that he could make a real difference if he had gone with CEELI, and here I know he thinks he might.
But then Ed told me when the seminar iss being held - September 8, 9 and 10 - just when we are supposed to be in Kyiv with Jodi and her dad. Now I don't mind going to Kyiv alone for this trip, but it is Ed's birthday - I had bought ballet tickets and I was really looking forward to going with him for the first time (neither of us has yet been to the Opera House in Kyiv). I'm also having Jodi bring over a bilingual hard cover edition of Dante's Inferno, translated by Robert Pincus, that I know Ed wants (it's a surprise), and I was planning to give it to him on his birthday. Nevertheless, I told him that he should go to the seminar if he thought it would be worthwhile, but that he should consider flying back to Kyiv late on Saturday afternoon (he will have been at the seminar for two full days) so that we can go to the ballet on his birthday. He could then go back to Kharkiv on Monday morning, and I would stay in Kyiv until Tuesday afternoon. I asked him to find out the schedule of the seminars to see if this was possible - and then it dawned on me - are these cross examination experts Ukrainian or American? If they're Ukrainian, and I suspect they are, does that mean that all of the seminars will be in Russian or Ukrainian and Ed won't understand a word of them? Ed was going to call Gennady and ask him to call the woman in charge of this at CEELI in the Kyiv office, but I said that he should call the woman himself (otherwise it would take at least a day to get this done, and then he'd have to work through Gennady's translation, which is never easy)- I had read her bio at the CEELI website and knew that she speaks English fluently. So that's what he did - and of course the seminars are all in Russian, and there are no printed materials either in Russian or English. Ed was really upset because he wants to know what "his lawyers" are being told to do. I said he should just ask them to each write a brief report (as part of the seminar activity) describing what they had gotten out of the seminar - then if he disagrees with anything or has anything to add, he can do so.
So it's settled - Ed will definitely be in Kyiv with me, at least for the weekend part of the trip.
I've been trying to figure out when I should rent the apartment in Kyiv. We leave for the States on Sept 27 and won't be back until October 17. I'd like to avoid paying the rent for this period and start renting on October 17, but that means I have to store all the stuff we have in Kharkiv somewhere, which is a real drag. I'm also running out of our prescription meds and I have to get them out of one of the boxes we left at the Renaissance Foundation in Kyiv, which are very hard to get at unless you take them all out. I think I may have a plan though - I'm going to see if I can rent one of the two apartments I'm seriously considering for three of the nights we'll be in Kyiv, and the other apartment for the other 2 nights, look at more apartments if there are any, and if not, take the one I like best and rent it for six months . We'd have to pay about $1000 for the hotel room in Kyiv for those 5 nights in September, so if I have an apartment that costs $2000 a month, I think I'm better off. That way I can stay in Kyiv after Jodi leaves, unpack all the stuff that's in storage at the Foundation, come back to Kharkiv to collect a lot of the other stuff that's here and bring it Kyiv, and finally have Ed bring the rest with him to Kyiv before we leave for Boston. I've emailed and called the real estate agents for the two apartments to see if this can be done. Because of the holiday today I probably won't know until Monday (we may have lost the apartment that was beautifully remodeled near Planet Fitness anyway - it wasn't clear to me whether that one is still available). I'm anxious to get going on this - I've always regarded Kharkiv as very temporary, so I have made very little effort to make this my "home" and, while Kyiv will be temporary too, I look on it as a longer term temporary thing, and I am planning on making it ours, at least to a greater extent than I have done here. I'm expecting to invite people over, have a dinner party or two, things like that - something we never ever do here.
Today it really rained hard - it was dark and thundered, and now it's almost chilly out! I LOVED it. My headache is gone, my aches and pains are greatly improved, and tonight we have plans to have dinner with Vicki, the woman who acted as Ed's interpreter for the meeting with the Regional Director and who works for Oksana's father, the Vice Regent of the Law Academy. Her English is fantastic and I'm looking forward to talking to her about lots of things.
I was just looking at the NY Times website, and what do I see but a picture of the woman from the Crown Prosecutor's Office with the logo behind her!!! Here it is - and I'm quite pleased that I was able to actually download the photo and post it on the Blog (it probably cost me $500 in megabyte fees to Kharkiv Online!!). It's amazing how much pleasure I get out of these small achievements! Also, I now see that the logo is even better than I thought - it's the scales of justice and a sword - just the right note for the Public Defender. I hope it doesn't violate every trademark and copyright law known to man to use something like this in Kharkiv! Anyway, it's not my decision - I don't get to choose the logo here. I don't think anyone knows who does get to do it!!
I was just finishing up the Blog, when Ed called to say that he was on his way home from the office and that he wanted to take me to lunch. He had to go to the printer and there were several restaurants nearby that we had wanted to try. He arrived shortly after he called - with flowers in hand - I LOVE that! Then we walked north up Pushkinskaya to the Pushkinskaya Metro station, which is about a half mile from the apartment, and then west on the cross street to a cafe that had been mentioned in one of the guide books as quite good - Napoleon. We went in, and they had an English menu, but it was very warm inside and I told the waitress "neh sehodiniy - dujeh zhorka" which I hope means "not today - very hot." She indicated that there was a cooler room in the back and it was a non-smoking room (probably the first and only one in Kharkiv)!! So we sat back there and ordered Okrakash (a cold soup sort of like cold Borscht but without the beets, if that makes any sense at all), crepes with caviar, a smoked chicken and pineapple salad, and fresh squeezed orange juice for Ed. I had a capuccino because they had Illy coffee and I always order a capuccino when there's Illy coffee to be had. While we ate Ed told me about the first case that has been sent to the PD office by the police. The defendant is a deaf mute and has been picked up for possession of some sort of dangerous weapon - either a bomb or a gun!!! I asked Ed which lawyer had been put on the case, and he told me that it was Oleg, the one who had been an investigator before becoming a defense lawyer. Of course the assignment of this case to the office by the police led to an interesting discussion among the PD lawyers about how to maintain the confidentiality between the interpreter (the suspect is after all a deaf mute and none of the lawyers are fluent in Ukrainian sign language) and the lawyer and client. Ed told me that the office had gotten many other calls as well that morning, probably because of the TV coverage the night before. Apparently the TV report gave the impression that this is a legal aid office, and not just a criminal defense office, so people were calling about automobile accidents, merchants who had cheated them, landlords who had cheated them, etc. I wonder who handled these calls since they still don't have a paralegal or a Director's Assistant.
After lunch Ed and I went to the printer (where Ed had been with Gennady the week before to get business cards for the PD Office) to order "calling cards" for myself (they'll be very simple with just my name in the center, and my Ukrainian cell phone number and my email address on the bottom - in English on one side and in Ukrainian on the other) and the PD Office letterhead (why didn't they order both the letterhead and business cards at the same time, I wondered - Ed wondered the same thing and chalked it up to the Ukrainian way - I'm not so sure, it just may be Gennady's way, but who knows). Ed (with the aid of my talent at pantomime and my expertise in "havorio po oohKryinski" - speaking Ukrainian) told him to print separate cards for each lawyer (everything was already written in both Ukrainian and English) and to use a logo that looked kind of like my Kharkiv pin, but without the Kharkiv symbol - instead of the symbol they had a diagonal banner with the initials of the office. After we left, Ed showed me a different logo that he had seen the last time he was at the printer with Gennady (another guy had this logo for something) that he liked better. I liked it better too - it looked sort of like a court building, with the initials of the office inside the building. We went back to see if the printer would do a proof of each logo (the cards will be in Ukrainian on one side and English on the other, like mine). Actually, I ending up asking the printer to do this because Ed got a phone call from Roman at the Renaissance Foundation, and since I was helping him communicate with the printer anyway, I just carried on without him. First I had to ask him if it was okay to use the courthouse logo since another of his customers was already using it. "Harishow, harishow" - it's okay, okay. Then I managed to explain what Ed wanted (there were at least 4 people working on trying to understand me). After Ed and I got home, we watched the BBC World News and saw the prosecutor from the Office of the Crown Prosecution in London announcing the arrest of more suspects in the planned airline bombings (in which, unbelievably, the crown prosecutor asked the press to please be careful and restrained in their coverage as the suspects were entitled to be presumed innocent and to due process of law!!! When's the last time we heard a prosecutor in the U.S., or the Attorney General, say that????) Behind the prosecutor was the logo for the Office of the Crown Prosecution - it's perfect. A very simple and elegant line drawing of a representation of the scales of justice in white against a dark blue background. I immediately googled the Crown Prosecution Office and got a picture of the logo, which I printed out. Maybe they'll end up using it here for the Kharkiv PD Office, with the Ukrainian colors, of course (yellow and a beautiful blue that leans towards turquoise - so the background will be Ukrainian blue and the line drawing will be in yellow, with the initials of the office in blue at the bottom - P D O in English and П Д О in Ukrainian). The proofs will be ready August 28, as will mine.
So, no War and Peace this afternoon, and no scrabble either (none of my scrabble partners made any moves). By the time we got home, it was time to feed Belle, walk her, and listen to Morning Edition, and (yuck) W's press conference.
Ed Has A Very Successful Meeting And We Take A Day Trip To The Lavra
The picnic we were going to have at the lake on Saturday was postponed because the meeting that had originally been scheduled for the previous Saturday was reset for this Saturday (the 19th). The meeting was held at the former KGB Building, which is now the Office of Internal Affairs. Ed said the building is just gorgeous inside - beautiful marble and stucco and wood - he's never seen such a lavish building in the Ukraine, including the hotels (of course we haven't stayed at any lavish hotels here!). He, Arkadiy and Gennady met with the Regional Director of Police in Kharkiv (there are 9 police districts in the city of Kharkiv - the region - or Oblast - is even bigger), who is a Major General, the Assistant to the Regional Director, who is a civilian appointed by the Minister of Interior, the Chiefs of the Police Stations from which the PD's office will get their cases (Kominternovskiy District Station and Chervonozarodskiy District Station), five of their Deputy Chiefs, the Co-Chair of the Civil Council, which is a civilian watchdog organization, and one other member of that group. All the members of the police (they are called militia here) were in full dress uniform. There was also a TV reporter and cameraman! We found out later that, indeed, Ed was shown on Ukrainian TV making his remarks to the assembled dignitaries. Good thing he wore a dress shirt and his suit trousers (even though they have a hole in the seat which has been patched, very badly, by the local tailor).
The meeting was unbelievably successful. This time Ed had a really good translator - Vicky, the woman who works for Oksana's father (the Vice Regent of the Law Academy), and that made things a lot easier for him. Ed had drafted an agreement that included all the things that the PD office would like from the police - for example, a procedure pursuant to which the police or investigators will inform the suspect of his right to a lawyer and the availablilty of a public defender if he cannot afford a lawyer, a procedure by which co-defendants who cannot be represented by the PD because of a conflict will be referred to a member of the bar for representation, and a procedure by which any waiver of the right to counsel is counter-signed by the public defender after meeting with the suspect (even if the suspect is not represented by the PD office because of a conflict). He included provisions allowing the Public Defender Office to post a sign in the police station informing the suspects of their right to representation by the PD office (with the contact phone number for the PD Office), as well as provisions giving the PD the right to get copies of all reports and other evidence compiled by the police or the investigators. He got everything he asked for!! The Major General began the meeting by saying the cooperation of the Regional Director and Police Chiefs had been ordered by the Minister of the Interior (this was news to Ed - he had asked Arkadiy to call someone at the Minister's office and to have that person call the Regional Director to pave the way for this meeting, and he knew that Arkadiy had been able to get a Deputy Minister to call the Regional Director to let him know that the program had the approval of the Ministry, but no order from on-high had been issued as far as Ed was aware). He went on to say that this program would be implemented immediately, and that everyone was to cooperate with the new office. All of the proposals that Ed had drafted were accepted, and Gennady was told that the PD office would start getting cases today (Monday). There is one big problem lurking in the background. If, in fact, the stations handle about 200 cases a month, which is what Ed and Gennady were told, there aren't enough lawyers to even begin to service the clients - there are only 5 PD lawyers!!! Ed's idea is that they will only handle those cases where representation is "mandatory" under the Code of Criminal Procedure. But he thinks it is better to begin by saying that the PD Office will accept all cases, and see what happens. If, in fact, the office is overwhelmed, he will consult with the Regional Director and propose they limit the PD's involvement to mandatory cases. If not, they will take whatever cases come down the pike. So, after all this waiting, and after all these delays, this project may actually be getting off the ground this week. I hope so.
After the meeting Ed, Gennady and Arkadiy were invited to visit one of the police stations by the Chief of that station. When they got there, the Chief had changed into jeans and a T shirt. He showed them around, and Ed saw a room that would be perfect for use by the PDs to interview their clients. He inquired about it, and the Chief agreed to let them use it. He even offered to let them staff it with a lawyer 24 hours a day, but Ed thought that this was probably a bad idea - sort of like embedding reporters with the troops - pretty soon, you get to really know these guys, your loyalties begin to shift, and your ability to serve your real constituency (in this case, the suspects - in the case of the press, the public) becomes compromised. They also met the "interrogation squad." Ed said they look like the defensive line for the Raiders!!
I was really glad that Ed had had such a good day. My day was not so good. I have been gradually sinking into a depression since I got back from Kyiv. Actually, I was sinking into to it before, but I was buoyed up by the prospect of the trip to Kyiv and the search for apartments there. I was a little bummed about having to go alone, but still, I got an awful lot done and felt good about it. Now that I was back in Kharkiv I was having trouble keeping myself amused (boredom leads to constant eating, which leads to feeling really bad about myself, which leads to more eating, and so on). War and Peace is terrific, but I actually find reading here a little difficult - there is no really comfortable place to sit and read - the sofa is pretty stiff and hard, and the bed is too low to the ground and a combination of too soft and too hard.
Anyway, I was as low as I have ever been on Saturday. My big adventure for the day was to go out to try and find a laptop carrying case. I found them easily at MKC, the big electronics and household appliance store here, but discovered that they cost more than twice as much here as they do at home! So instead of buying one I emailed Jodi to ask if she would bring one to me if I order it from Amazon. (I first carefully checked out the new carry-on rules from TSA, from British Air, and from BAA - this case is within the guidelines, and they now allow laptops, ipods, cameras, cell phones, etc., to be carried on.)
Ed tried to lift my spirits by taking me out to dinner at Puska, which is right across the street and looks sort of like a Bavarian cottage. (Oksana, the woman who's father is Vice Regent of the Law Academy, had told us about it.) We went in to a pleasant air conditioned room, decorated like a Bavarian farmhouse. There is a very large terrace in the back, surrounded by what is meant to look like a Bavarian village, where we decided to have our dinner. It's very cute, very reasonable and the food is good (but not fantastic). I had my usual (red caviar and blinis) and some sauteed vegetables (my first in Ukraine - really good, not overcooked and drenched in butter!), and Ed had chicken on skewers, cole slaw (with Roquefort instead of mayonnaise) and corn on the cob. This corn was good - sweet and juicy - unlike the corn I had bought at the market and made at home a few weeks ago. I felt better, and we had the road trip to Svyatogorsk planned for the next day.
We got up at 6 a.m. yesterday so that we could get ready (i.e., eat breakfast, have tea, feed and walk Belle) before meeting Gennady and Nella, and their friend Dima (who was driving us in his car) outside at 7:30 a.m. I brought a hat, a skirt and long sleeved shirt with me in case I had to wear them to get into the cathedrals at Svyatogorsk. More on that later.
Because it was so early it was very pleasant out. Ed and Gennady and Nella sat in the back. Dima drove and I sat in the front on the pretext of getting carsick in the back seat - actually not such a pretext under these conditions - I am prone to carsickness in the back seat, and when it's hot and crowded it can be particularly bad, especially if the road is winding, which this road was not, thank goodness). I brought the seat as far forward as possible so Ed could have every bit of space available, and got a taste of what Ed's life must be like all the time - my knees were touching my nose, and all I could think of was - if we have an accident, or have to stop short, my knees will be crushed as they smash against the dashboard, regardless of the seat belt (which I used - no one else did). Of course I had taken the MedJet plastic ID card from my suitcase and fastened it instead on the fanny pack I was wearing - just in case! I was able to keep my window open almost the entire trip (at one point Dima put on the air circulation vent and closed my window so that the air would come in through the vents - fortunately he realized soon enough that this was not sufficient), so it was actually pleasant with the nice breeze coming in as we zipped down the road at about 40 miles an hour. There was absolutely no traffic as it was Sunday. We passed both supermarkets I had been to by metro (Target - which, Oksana told me, has nothing to do with Target at home - it's an entirely different, unrelated company), and Post, where I had been with my Ukrainian conversation teacher, Yrena. We also passed a monument at a place that is very similar to Babi Yar - it is also Something "Yar" (yar means deep valley), and it too is the sight where the Nazis and Ukrainian police lined up thousands of Jews and shot them. Dima told me that his grandparents are in that place. I told him that my great grandparents may very well be there too, who knows. My grandparents made it out in the early 1900s when they fled the pogroms. I know that my maternal grandmother arrived from somewhere in "Russia" - which was almost everywhere in Eastern Europe at that time - Poland, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Belarus, Romania, Moldova, Georgia, etc., etc. - in 1905 at the age of 17, alone. My paternal grandfather must have come from somewhere in the Ukraine because our name -Spivak - is Ukrainian, but I have no idea where his shtetl might have been, and I can't find anyone who does know.
We also passed the old huge plants that had dominated the Kharkiv region during the Soviet era - the bicycle plant (which had been the largest in the Soviet Union), the milk plant, the beer plant, the sputnik plant - monuments to cosmonauts, monuments to the war dead, the Soviet markers for the entrance to the city of Kharkov (the Russian spelling) erected in 1954. There was a building called the Coliseum, which was quite nice looking and which houses the steam baths. There was also a building called the Cultural Center. Apparently during the Soviet era there was a cultural center for each plant, where they had their own ballet companies, opera companies, theater companies, and sports teams (which competed with other plants' sports teams) And then we passed the housing that had been constructed by the Soviets to house all the plant workers - it was called Rogan and it was huge - like Soltava - so huge that they have to have a tram system just to get you from one building to the next.
The drive was mostly through the countryside though - vast fields of sunflowers (raised for oil), and corn. There were very poor villages along the way and occasionally people selling their produce from baskets on the side of the road. Dima works as a radio engineer (he and Gennady and Nella had all met at engineering school - we passed that school too) and we saw a radio tower in one of these towns, the construction of which he had overseen. Before that Dima had worked as an engineer on the gas pipeline, at the main office based in Siberia. I tried to find out how things had changed for him after 1991 - he had stopped working for the Soviet owned enterprise, but I still can't quite figure out who he is working for now - whether it is for himself, or for a company, or what.
The drive was 200 kilometers and took about 2 1/2 hours. Towards the end of the trip it began to get very hot with the sun beating down on the car. As we approached the Lavra (a Lavra is a special status granted to only 3 monasteries in Ukraine - the one in Kyiv which is very famous, one in the Ternopil region, wherever that is, and Holy Assumption Cathedral at Svyatogorsk - and apparently one of the things that comes with this special designation is the strict enforcement of a rule that women must wear skirts - no trousers allowed!) there were billboards on the side of the road with pictures of Holy Assumption Cathedral and the words "Listen to Your Heart". This is apparently a very holy place. That doesn't stop the souvenir sellers from lining up on the path to the monastery that you access after you park your car! They sell all sorts of crap there, including the batteries that we bought after we discovered that our camera batteries had run out of juice. Well, these "new" batteries must have been so old that they were already out of juice - after putting them in we still got the same message on the camera - change the batteries!). I'd post a photo of all this now, but we had no batteries for the camera!
We did manage to take a few photos before the old (and then the 'new') batteries ran dry. Here you see me (before I wilted) standing on the bridge over the Donets River leading to the Lavra, with Holy Assumption Cathedral on my right (the lowest cathedral) with the blue bell tower next to it, and then a series of monastery caves in the chalk cliff leading to St Nicholas Cathedral, which is built into the chalk cliff and stands above it towering over the Donets River.
We got to the entrance (after passing women with signs asking for a halt to business enterprise at this holy place) and Nella and I were blocked from entering because we didn't have skirts on. (I hadn't taken mine from the car because Nella was sure we didn't need to wear a skirt - I was pretty sure we did, but I wasn't going to challenge a native on this point!) What's really funny about all this is that most of the men there were wearing T Shirts, almost all with slogans and other things on them, including English sayings such as "shit happens" - and that's fine - and all the younger women are wearing teeny tiny mini skirts with spike heels - and that's also okay. But tasteful long pants on a woman - "Neh Mozhne" - FORBIDDEN! Nella tried to reason with them for a while and then she and I and Dima went back to the car - I thought I would put my skirt on over my pants (a lot of women had shawls or scarves draped around their pants) and that I would give Nella my shirt to wrap around her pants. We went back to the entrance (this entails about a 1/4 mile walk back and forth to the car in SCORCHING heat), and I was admitted, but not Nella. So she had to go back and buy a scarf from one of the vendors on the path to the Lavra. You can only visit the Cathedral during services in the morning or late afternoon, so we were anxious to get in while the service was on (turns out it goes on until about 11:30), so we told Nella to meet us there. We approached the Cathedral doors and my path was blocked by two Ukrainian Orthodox priests (or monks?) in long black cossacks and high hats with veils (how come they don't pass out from heat stroke? God must protect them!!) because my arms were bare. And Nella, who was now back on the path, had my shirt. So I waited outside, and when Nella came back, I put on my shirt and went in with her. It was HOT AS HELL in there - there were masses of people, and for some reason it wasn't naturally cool like most churches I have visited in Europe. And I was basically wearing two layers of clothing and a hat, which is great in the sun, but is just hot inside a church! I saw the iconostasis (a word I now know thanks to our visit to the Kremlin with Bob and Dian and Emlen), watched the priests for a few minutes, listened to the women and priests singing for another few minutes and left to wait outside in the shade, where I was able to remove my second shirtand my hat. There was a fountain with "holy water" in it, and we all splashed some on our faces, each of us had his or her own reasons for doing so(mine was to cool off), and then watched as the procession of priests (or monks?) - there must have been about 50 of them - left the church, followed by the pilgrims and other worshipers. They all marched into a hall next to the Cathedral. A man standing nearby heard us wondering in English what they were doing, and told us that they were going in for a communal meal. We asked him how to get to the caves, and he told us, but also told us that they were closed to the public until September. We then asked how to get to St Nicholas, and he told us that too (the main way was closed and we had to go around the back way). I told Gennady that I had read that you can't visit St Nicholas except at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. (it was now about 11:30). He thought that the man who spoke to us didn't know what he was talking about but was just acting like he knew the way (and I think he also thought that I didn't know what I was talking about either), but he checked with some official and confirmed that the caves were closed, that St Nicholas would be open in another two hours, and that we had to go there the back way.
We decided to have lunch and walked back down the path towards the car. I was terrified that we would drive somewhere for lunch - the car would have to be at least 250 degrees by now! It was at least 97 degrees out, and in the sun it was just unbearable. (I keep thinking about those poor soldiers in Iraq, where it's over 120 degrees and they are wearing those heavy uniforms and boots and carrying heavy stuff - how do they do it????) But it turns out we were just going to the car to get the huge picnic Nella had packed. There was a nearby cafe where you could buy beer and water, so we went there and parked ourselves on a bench in the shade, bought the beers and water, and unwrapped a feast - a huge bowl of mesom and kapuska (meat and cabbage) perogies, a huge bowl of kapuska varenekies, a big jar of ratatouie, fresh tomatoes and cucumbers, delicious beef salami and bread, and breaded chicken cutlets. She must have been cooking for days. Everything (except the salami and bread) was homemade. We drank beer, and ate and ate and ate. And talked and talked and talked.
The talk was all about how bad things were in the Ukraine - the political situation and Yanakovich (which I completely agree with), and then the corruption (which I have to take on faith - I just don't know enough about the system here - and neither does Ed, really - everything we learn about the corruption is second hand at best - but it is impossible to imagine how we would ever witness it ourselves directly). Gennady, who spent some time in the U.S. - Cincinnati is the "sister city" of Kharkiv, and many people here (inlcuding Vicky, the interpreter) went as exchange students there, beginning about 10 or 15 years ago. He also saw a bit of the country while he was in Cincinnati - I know, for example that he went to NY. But he seems (at least to me) to have this impression that everything is wonderful in the U.S. and everything is terrible in Ukraine. For example, he will point to the souvenir sellers outside the monastery grounds and say, it's terrible, you would not have this in the U.S. Really? I don't agree, but I say nothing! He'll say that this business with the skirts in the Cathedral is completely arbitrary, and just made up on the spot, and that this would never happen in the U.S. Really? Again, I don't agree, but say nothing. I know that there are plenty of places where stupid arbitrary rules are applied - maybe not related to dress codes because we have become such an informal society (although there were at least two occasions when I was asked to leave the Metropolitan Club in NY because of the way I was dressed, and I still remember when, in 1969, I was wearing pants and a tunic top that came down to about 2 inches below my ass, and had to take my pants off to join my parents for dinner at La Cote Basque in NYC - no pants allowed - an unbelievably short skirt (actually a longish shirt) is okay, but no pants!). He'll remark on the cars parked on the river bank where it is not really permitted, and say that people in the U.S. would not do such terrible things. Again, I don't agree, but hold my tongue. I wonder if everyone feels this way. I really want to be able to get another point of view - I have to find some other Ukrainians that I can talk to about all this. Is everything really so corrupt here? Is there really no way to get on in life without bribing your way in? I don't think I'll ever be able to know first hand. I'm just going to have to talk to as many people as possible. I'm going to see if I can arrange to have lunch with Vicky - she seems to be a very informed person, and her English is great.
I wonder if this skepticism is the result of my experience with the spread over the internet of the story that photos depicting the damage in Lebanon had been doctored to create more sympathy for the Lebanese "victims" and demonize the Israelis. I got an email from a friend with a link to a video showing and describing in words all the doctoring that had been done by Reuters, AP and the NY Times (showing a rescue worker who had been photographed in earlier photos now "posing" as a victim being rescued). Now, I happen to know the father of a NY Times photographer, and I happen to know that he was in Beirut and Tyre during the war, and that he took lots if not all of the photos used by the Times. So I emailed Portis and asked if any of the photos were Tyler's. Well, I learned that ALL the photos were Tyler's, and that photos had been run in the newspaper the day before the website video montage that was cited in the web link, and that this particular photo had been correctly captioned (i.e., the rescue worker had fallen and hurt himself in the rubble and was not himself being carried out of the debris). Apparently, when the NY Times website put together the photo video show, they incorrectly captioned one of the photos (not properly identifying the "victim" as one of the rescue workers who had hurt himself during the rescue operation, but simply calling him a "victim" of the bombing). This was immediately called to their attention (as it should have been) and the Times issued an immediate correction, pointing out that the photo had been correctly captioned in the hard copy of the Times the day before. Of course, if I hadn't known that Tyler was in Lebanon taking photographs for the NY Times I would have believed every word of this link I had been sent because I wanted to believe it - because it supported my position and pre-exisiting opinion (i.e.,that most of the world and the world's press is biased against Israel). So my new motto seems to be "Don't Trust and Do Verify," at least to the extent you can. I've always felt that Roshomon says it all - you listen to one side, and then you listen to the other side, and all you can know for sure is that neither side has got it completely right. You sure as hell don't know what really happened, and you probably never will.
After lunch it was hotter than ever. I had decided even before the trip to be a good sport, no matter how hot it got, and do whatever was agreed upon by the group, but I sure was hoping the group would decide to go back soon and skip St Nicholas!!! We did decide to skip St Nicholas (mostly on Ed's urging - I'm sure because he knew I thought it might kill me), and walked down to the river bank, where lots of people were swimming and picnicking instead. It was hard to find a shady spot and we walked away from the bank for a bit, but the ground was just covered in litter and garbage. Nella was really upset that people would do this, and I must say it is very unusual to see this here. The city is remarkably clean. There are workers, mostly women in orange vests (clearly official city employees) out early every morning, sweeping the streets and sidewalks with twig brooms (here's a snapshot of them at work on the street below our apartment windows). So this was not at all representative of the general conditions here.
We finally found a spot near the river bank - on the opposite side of the Lavra, looking directly at it. Those little squares in the chalk cliff are the windows of the monks' cells that are built into the caves. I wish we could have seen the caves -they would have been quite cool - I think they maintain a constant temperature in both winter and summer - and walking up to St Nicholas inside the cave would have been pleasant. But we will thoroughly explore the Kyiv Lavra with Jodi and her father in early September, so all is not lost.
Nella had brought a blanket, so she and Ed and I lounged about while Gennady (who is incredibly fit - he loves both watching and playing sports, is an avid swimmer and ice hockey player and, I'm sure, runs and works out every day) swam across the river and back (he said the water was about 78 degrees), and Dima (who is quite plump and not at all fit) looked on. Gennady was all for going up to St Nicholas, but Ed vetoed that and suggested we go back because we had to feed and walk Belle. We gathered up everything, trecked back to the car, loaded it up, piled in (it was HOT in there), opened the front windows and drove off. I got to keep my window open the whole way back - even so, it was quite warm, but not killer hot. I dozed off a couple of times - we were all a little tired, and the heat and the noise from the open window really prevented us from talking very much. We got back at about 5:30 and Nella gave me a huge sack of perogi to take with us. It should last us at least a couple of weeks!
Ed and I were too tired even to read. Ed had a bowl of cereal, I had some fruit and sour cream (and as much chocolate as I could find). I saw on the NY Times (online) that there had been serious flooding and mudslides in Alaska, in Jason & Sandra & Allan's neighborhood, so we Skyped Jason & Sandra to make sure they were okay. Their phone had a funny sound, and I think it was out of order, so we tried the cell phone - but with no luck. We then Skyped Jed and Jenny (no luck there either, but at least I'm not worried about them), and Ed called his mother. I took as long a shower as the hot water permitted (about 3 minutes), and fell into bed (after I fed, and Ed walked, Belle). We both were asleep by 9 and didn't wake up this morning until 7.
Ed's off to the office to see if they can finalize arrangements with the police stations, and I'm happily engrossed in my Blog, obviously. But now I think I'll venture out to cancel my massage appointment for tomorrow (my head and neck didn't feel very good the day after the last one - she doesn't have that funny headrest that they use in the U.S. which allows you to put your head flat, face down, and still breathe, so I think I ended up doing some damage to my cervical spine - not permanent, but unpleasant for a few days). Then it's back to scrabble and War and Peace.
Things have been very boring in Kharkiv the past few days. I'm ready to settle on an apartment in Kyiv and move! We do have plans this weekend though - a picnic at what is reported to be a beautiful lake, with Gennady and his wife on Saturday, and then a trip to Svyotogorsk (the cave monasteries) on Sunday with Gennady and Nella. I'm a little anxious about both trips because it's supposed to be 97 degrees with 85% humidity here this weekend and the car we are going in (there will be 5 of us in a small car) is not air conditioned. I wanted to rent a bigger, air conditioned car (we would rent and pay for it, of course), but Ed thought this would be insulting to Gennady, and I guess it would be, but I do so poorly in the hot, humid weather, and very poorly in a car under those conditions, especially in the back seat, and especially squashed between two other people, which is where I will be. Also I do find it a little exhausting to be with Gennady because he talks all the time (usually about law and the legal system in the Ukraine) and his English, although not bad, is still difficult to maneuver around in. I hope this works out - maybe the weather will surprise us.
The only thing of note that is going on here at the moment is the ongoing dispute between me and the Senator Apartments, where I stayed in Kyiv last weekend. I wrote an email complaining about the conditions (no hot water in the shower) and the way it was handled (offering me a room with no air conditioning, or a room with no windows, or a room that smelled very strongly of fish). All they could offer me in their emails were their "sincere apologies" for my "inconveniences" and their "hope" that I would not be so inconvenienced during "future" stays! I contacted VISA and disputed the charge (asking for a credit of one night's stay). About 5 minutes after I did that I got an email from the Senator offering me a discount of $20. I emailed back and told them that I rejected their offer - saying it was too little too late - and outlined all the things they could have done, but did not do, at the time the problem arose. I also told them that I suspected it was only because I had contacted my credit card company (which, I assume had contacted the Senator Apartments), that they were taking any action at all beyond offering apologies. This began an unbelievable dialog of about 10 emails offering the most amazing excuses - first, it was not a problem with the Senator but with the City because sometimes the water pressure didn't function properly (they had to have a reason why I had hot water in the sink but not the shower, especially since there is a separate boiler in each room supplying constant hot water). I told them I thought this was pretty remarkable since this was the only room in the place that seemed to be affected by a city wide problem. Then they told me that they had made it clear in the correspondence that all the single rooms were in the basement. I, of course, being the organized anal-retentive person that I am, had copies of all the correspondence, and there was absolutely no mention of this fact in any of it. I told them so (and offered to send them, as well as the credit card company, copies of all the emails). Then they said that it wasn't in the correspondence for this reservation, but in correspondence relating to a reservation I made in March (for our first few nights in Kyiv upon arrival from the U.S. and before going on the Kharkiv), and which I canceled two days after I made the reservation because they don't allow dogs!! I told them that my secretary had made and canceled that reservation almost 6 months before, and that I had never even seen the correspondence - it's true that I never looked at the booking form once they told me no dogs allowed. They finally emailed and asked exactly what I wanted. I told them I wouldn't pay for the first night of my stay. Now I guess it's up to VISA to decide whether my position is correct.
The city is turning brown from the heat and lack of rain. When I walked Belle this morning there was hardly any grass left - just brown stubble. The trees are still green, but there's a blanket of brown leaves on the ground too. I know I'll look back on this time with fond memories when it's 20 below in Kyiv in January, but right now the thought of winter, and white snow on beautiful old Art Deco buildings, thrills me. I'm sure it will be dirty and slushy and slippery and hard to get around - and too cold to go out - but my imagination still clings to that Xmas card perfect looking scene.
Last night we had dinner with Oksana (the woman I had met in Beatric, whose father is the head of the Law School in Kharkiv) and her two children, Vlad (20) and Lucy (8). She picked us up in a taxi in front of Beatric, and from there we drove to a great restaurant in Gorky Park called Okhoteyi Dvor. It has a "hunting" theme, and the menus were in these fantastic leather hunting pouches with cartridges (fake, I assume) in the neat holders, and a leather strap and buckle to close the whole thing up. Oksana did most of the ordering (except for the blini with red caviar, which I added!) and we had a magnificent feast of many appetizers (a salad with veal and mango, marinated tomatoes and haricots vert - Lucy warned us not to each too many of those because they make you fart - a platter of smoked sturgeon, salmon and trout, the blini and red caviar, and another salad of cucumber and other greens), and then a seared tuna steak and a pork shashlik that we all shared, except Lucy - she got her own coteletti. And best of all, the "hleeb chornay" - black bread. Sooooo delicious - made on the premises, and as Lucy says, awesome!! We also had a delicious bottle of Borola (Vlad had a cognac to start!). It was such a lovely setting - in the woods really - and Lucy is an incredible charmer - I don't envy Oksana in a couple of years!!! She'll have her hands full with Lucy. She is so smart, and so beautiful and so full of confidence - she's going to drive the boys mad! We told her that we only had grandsons, and wanted to adopt her as our granddaughter, which seemed to please her.
We all jabbered away, everyone glad to have someone new to speak English with, although Vlad speaks Russian and Ukrainian and Lucy understands Russian. Vlad was born in Kharkiv - Oksana was a gynecologist in Kharkiv, married to a dentist (who works in the same building as Beatric). After her divorce she went to the States on a fellowship to study genetics in Chicago, where she met her current husband, who is Lucy's father. Oksana told me that there is a pilates instructor at Beatric, but that she's on vacation and will be back next week. She's going to speak to reception about arranging something for me!!! She also knows a fantastic translator for Ed - Vicki works for her father and also teaches English at the Law Academy. (Earlier in the day Ed had fired the woman who was working as the Director's Assistant and translator at the office - she just made things a lot harder, and more unpleasant, rather than easier for him. At the same time he learned that the paralegal, who had been the former Deputy Minister of Justice in Kharkiv, quit because of the uncertainties of the political situation - she'll probably become the Minister of Justice in Kharkiv now!!)
Ed snuck off as if to go to the bathroom and took care of the bill. Oksana later tried to do the same thing, but found that we had beaten her to it. We all left in a taxi together and dropped Oksana, Vlad and Lucy off at the apartments owned by the Law Academy, where she is staying, but only after I made a date with them to meet them at Beatric the next day (today) at 11 a.m. with Belle. Lucy was soooo excited about meeting Belle!
When we got home I asked Ed how much the meal cost for the 5 of us. It was very expensive by Kharkiv standards - 1410 HVA, or $285, and with the tip a little over $300. Oh well, it was delicious and fun and, by our standards, not at all bad for five people, including a fairly expensive bottle of wine, a cognac, coffee, tea and bottled water.
This morning I took Belle with me to Beatric, and Lucy was already standing by the door waiting for Belle. She was a little too exuberant and made the mistake that many kids do with a little dog they want to play with - she tried too hard. Belle, being the snob and princess that she is, would have none of it. The harder Lucy tried, the more aloof Belle was! We all sat outside on the balcony at Beataric, in the shade, while Lucy tried to get Belle to play with her. Oksana and I had coffee and she called Vicki (the translator who works for her father), who agreed to come over and meet me. Vicki arrived in about 15 minutes - she speaks English extremely well and is very experienced in working with lawyers. We had more coffee and talked about Ed's project. Lucy told me I had to have a Beatric fruit parfait, which is basically a really rich sherbert- ice cream that they make there every day out of whatever fresh fruits are available. It was really good and very, very rich! And the perfect thing for a 98 degree day!
Ed had been at a meeting with the Chief Judge of the Kharkiv District Court, but when he got home he came over to meet Vicki too. He was exhausted after 4 hours of meetings and trying to communicate without a really good translator (relying on Gennady and Arkadiy instead). We talked with Vicki for a while (Oksana and her kids had to go visit her parents and left just after Ed arrived). She's going to try and find someone who can fill the administrative assistant post as soon as people get back from vacation (which, in her words, people take "very seriously" in Ukraine - i.e., they are gone all of August) and offered to help out if Ed needs her during August. I hope he uses her. I think she could make his life a lot easier and these meetings would be far less exhausting.
Ed took Belle home while I went to the market. When I got back to the apartment Ed was drafting some letters, so I got to work on my Blog. I actually had two comments posted! Very exciting. Comments are so rare - so few and far between. As I typed away on the blog I tried to remember what I had ordered for dinner last night. I remembered absolutely everything that we had all shared as appetizers, and I remembered what everyone else had ordered, but I could not for the life of me remember what I had ordered - maybe a first for me! I usually have total gastronomic recall. Ed couldn't remember either. I looked at the bill and tried to figure it out - I could decipher some of the things (it is in Russian, so my Ukrainian-English dictionary wasn't much help). There was one expensive item that I could not figure out so I thought that was probably what I had ordered. I called Oksana to see if she could translate for me. My phonetic reading of the word was useless, and she asked me to text message her with the English spelling of the Russian word. I did this, and she immediately rang back to tell me that the word "obslujevaneh" is "SERVICE"!!! I laughed and said that in that case the guy got a really good tip since Ed left another $30!!! But at least we now know the word for "service" in Russian. Ed had been out meeting with Gennady when all this was happening, so when he got back I told him. He was really pissed because he had asked the waiter about service, but I think the guy just didn't understand what Ed was talking about - I really don't think he was deliberately trying to deceive him. At least, I hope not. (In fact, when I got the Visa charge online later, the additional service Ed had added wasn't included!)
Wow, what an exhausting, up and down roller-coaster few days this has been. I woke up on Thursday with my first really horrible migraine since we left the States – a combination sinus headache and migraine that woke me up at 5 a.m., and went away after about 2 hours and some very heavy drugs!! I slept until about 9:30 and then, very, very slowly, began to get up. Belle had stayed in bed with me while Ed got ready and went to the office. I dragged myself up and around, caught up on emails and before I knew it, it was 1 p.m. and time for my second pedicure, with a manicure of course, my hair color (my roots, my roots!!), and my massage with Oksana, that Oksana (the other Oksana - the one whose father is head of the Law Academy and who lives in Chicago) had told me about. A perfect day for one who is recovering from a migraine!
Everything went okay – I decided to go for a French manicure, and I didn’t like it (especially when I could take my lenses off and get a really good look at those glaring white tips). I tried to tell her I wanted a very subtle white – not so stark – but words and pantomime failed me on this. I just went for it, didn’t like it, and bought some nail polish remover today in Kyiv and took it all off. It looked really cheap and tacky – not at all the way Teresa used to do it for me! The actual manicure and pedicure were good however – no cutting, just pushing back and filing, just the way I like it. The color is a different story. I wanted a darker base for the roots, but it ended up covering all my highlights and low lights and such, so it looks kind of flat now and not at all interesting or even alive! And it’s already getting too long, but I’ve decided I have to wait for Yulia for the cut, even though I was willing to take a chance on someone new for the color.
Then came the massage. Now that was fabulous!! This woman is great – hot stones, some fabulous stuff that felt like a loofa – very relaxing but also energizing. I felt great by the time I left (at 6:30!!) I called the Chicago Oksana to thank her for the referral and also see if I could arrange for Ed to meet her father – he’s hoping to be able to get a lead on someone who can act as the Director’s Assistant at the office because the woman who now has the job is useless (she wants to be a lawyer, not an administrator - she has graduated from the law academy), and her English isn’t that great so her translations are not very useful either. It’s been really frustrating for Ed. He can’t wait to get rid of her – she just sulks whenever he or Gennady asks her to do anything. I’ve also emailed my Ukrainian conversation “teacher” about this job to see whether she has any interest in it – she is way overqualified, but it pays very well by Kharkiv standards ($200 a month) and Ed would be flexible about the hours so that she could continue to teach and have time with her 14 month old. I doubt that she’ll want to do it, but maybe she’ll know someone who will.
I barely had time to make dinner, catch up with the day’s emails, and pack before getting to bed so that I could get up at 5:45 for the train to Kyiv.
Ed and Belle escorted me to the train by metro. Even at 6:15 on Friday morning it was pretty crowded and we had to hold Belle to protect her from the crush. We got there in plenty of time, I got situated in my seat, and Belle and Ed left. I must say it warmed my heart to see Belle looking at me enquiringly as Ed tried to take her away. She is such a sweet girl.
I was in one of the first class cabins that only has 3 seats (instead of 6 with 3 and 3 facing each other, separated by a formica folding table). Since Ed hadn’t come, we had a nice empty seat between us to put things and spread out. I asked the woman in the compartment with me if she would mind if I turned off the awful TV that blares nonstop and repeats and repeats and repeats. She had no problem with that, thank God, so at least the ride was quiet. I was too tired to read War and Peace, and I had an intermittent conversation with the woman in the compartment with me. Her name is Angelika, she is 36 years old, she has an 11 year old daughter who just spent 2 months in the Crimea with her paternal grandmother, and now Angelika's mother is taking care of her daughter. She was on a business trip – she studied to be an economist (which I think is more like an accountant – my manicurist this time, Lila, had been an economist for 7 years and then switched to being a manicurist because she didn’t like the fact that she had no contact with people), but then switched, and is now working for a computer company while studying psychology! She travels a lot – she goes to Kyiv frequently and she’s been to Jordan, Turkey, Malta, Greece, France, Egypt, England and Poland. She works out by doing Akido (some sort of Japanese warfare thing), and she also gets her hair cut and her makeup done at Beatric. I asked who she used and she told me “Olga – in the veep room” – it took me awhile to figure out that the veep room was the VIP room!!
While I was on the train I got a cell phone call from the agent I was scheduled to see on Saturday morning - none of the landlords would be available on the weekend - could she show me the apartments on Monday? No way - I was leaving Sunday. How about this afternoon, I suggested, at about 4:30 (after my 3 p.m. appointment with another agent, and before the 6 p.m. opening of Gilah's show at Soviart). Okay - we both agreed to meet at the Senator Apartments at 4:30.
After I got in to Kyiv, right on time at 1 p.m., I decided to take the subway to the Senator Apartments, which looked to me to be about ½ block from the Universitet station, which was only one stop from Voksall (the train station). I had even considered walking from the train station, it looked that close. My "Kiev In Your Pocket" (a great resource for Kyiv travelers) said it was very easy – just look for the Green M for the Metro to the left as you exit the train station – the only trouble is that there are several exits, including two from the old station and two from the new station that was added on to the old one several years ago!! I had also packed with abandon, thinking that "if it fits in my rollie I’ll bring it," and I had several changes of outfits, my just in case kit, and my laptop, with its heavy battery. So the thing was pretty heavy. And, of course, the escalators in the station were not working. Needless to say I went to every exit but the right one before I finally found it (each try involving several stair cases!). It took me almost an hour to find my way out of the station and into the Metro station, which also involved a few stairs, before the blessed escalator came in view. I got two tokens (total cost, 1 HVA), found my train without any problem and emerged from the metro one stop later, on the wrong side of a very big street (Tara Shevchenko), which meant more stairs down into the underground passageway, and then up again. I finally found the Senator Apartments, about a block away.
I was very curious about the Senator Apartments. When I had first started looking for apartments in the Ukraine, this was the first thing I found that gave me hope that I could find something I could live in. All the other furnished apartments had the most awful furnishings, but these looked really nice. I had booked a studio because I knew we wouldn’t need a kitchen this trip, but I was going to check it out for Jodi and her dad and for other friends who come to visit. It was a bumpy start – I arrived on foot, alone, and with an open umbrella because it had started to rain. There was a guy standing by the door but he didn’t make a move to help me hoist the bag up the stairs or to open the door. So I made my way in and went to the small reception desk. The foyer is very small, with the usual marble/granite that the Ukrainians are very fond of in their renovations. The receptionist told me her colleague would help with my luggage to the elevator (which was literally two steps away), so I said I could handle it myself. She gave me the key to Room 1 – I went down – yes, down – to the basement level!!! The door opened and the room smelled like fish. I went up and asked if there was something else available because my room smelt funny. She said “yes, that is a problem with the rooms in the basement and all the studio apartments (i.e., the one room apartments) are there.” But she thought she might have something better (i.e., no smell), although smaller. It was better (no smell), and definitely smaller (who cares!).
I was rushing like mad because by now it was 2:15 and I was scheduled to meet my first real estate agent at 3 p.m. several blocks away. I just threw everything down, studied my map and went out with my folding umbrella and maps. I ran into the first big difference between Kharkiv and Kyiv – on the Kharkiv map, everything looks like it’s miles away, and turns out to be practically around the corner. In Kyiv, it is just the opposite – and not only is it miles away, it is usually up and down several hills, often very steep and paved with old, irregular cobblestones to boot!! I had started off at a nice pace, but as three o’clock approached I really started rushing, made the wrong turn, found myself hopelessly trying to get my bearings when my cell phone rang. It was the real estate agent. She asked me where I was, and I said I wished I knew, but I would ask someone and ask them to tell her. I stopped a nice woman who was about to go into one of the underground shopping center/pedestrian crossings. She was unbelievable – she spoke to the agent for some time and then gave me back the phone, took me by the arm and led me down to the underground, through some stores, out another exit, and indicated that I should wait and someone would drive by to pick me up in 10 minutes! Victoria soon drove up (she had a car and driver) and I hopped in. We drove around in the rain and rush hour and I saw three or four of the usual depressing apartments. I also saw one that was very much like our Kharkiv apartment (not depressing, cheap laminated furniture, but decent looking - that is, if you don't look too carefully) that was very reasonable for Kyiv ($1500 a month). I felt it was time well spent because she could get an idea of what I didn’t like, even though we didn’t see much of anything I did like.
I was set to meet the other agent at the Senator Apartments at 4:30, but I could tell I was going to be late, so I called her from the car while we were stalled in a massive traffic jam in Podil (the old city district), to ask her to wait for me. I didn’t get there until almost 5 p.m. and she and I barely had time to shake hands before we zipped off with her car and driver. The first place we saw was really terrific. I absolutely loved it - but of course there are a couple of problems. The kitchen is beautifully done with granite counter tops, a built in cook top, a stainless fridge, Finnish wood and smoked glass cabinets (none of those separate pieces that fit together to make a kitchen that I now live with), a great double sink and a brand new microwave. BUT no oven!!!! All of the other furniture is very high quality too, as is the lighting and the bathroom fixtures – really nice pots and pans and dishes and silverware too. There’s an airconditioner in the bedroom and the living room, there’s satellite TV with two TVs (I think there are two), there’s a combo washer-dryer and also a dishwasher in the kitchen (maybe he’ll trade the dishwasher in for an oven!!). The floors are beautiful and the space has a really nice feel. It’s on the first floor, but it’s still high enough above the sidewalk that you don’t feel that you’re part of the street scene, and there are very attractive bars on the windows so you don’t feel like you’re in a prison. I’d need to have another wardrobe installed, there just isn’t enough space for our clothes (the owner told me that it was originally built for short term stays and then the owner changed his mind, and that’s why there is no oven and only a small wardrobe). I would also need a desk for my computer. I was assured that this could all be arranged. I was very encouraged.
By now it was 6:00 and Gilah’s art opening at Soviart was scheduled to start at 6. I had emailed her earlier to let her know I’d be late, but I still wanted to get there as soon as I could. I even called the gallery, but she wasn’t there yet. I asked them to give her a message and let her know I’d be there by 7:30
The agent and I went on to see a couple of real dogs (speaking of dogs, this agent had asked in our email exchanges if I had any pets, so I had told her about Belle, and these apartments all would permit her – a big relief), and then finally I saw a really beautifully renovated apartment in the Podil district, but it has no furniture – that would have to be obtained, and god only knows what sort of crap they’d put in there. But the kitchen and bathrooms were great, as were all the basics. This one was huge – 2 bedrooms, an eat in kitchen – much more space than we need. But at least I had some things to think about.
Meanwhile Ed called to tell me - guess what- the meeting on Saturday with the Chief of Police had been canceled! Big surprise! The reason for the cancellation was, however, a surprise - but so typical of what it's like in this country now that I should not have been surprised. It seems that Yanakovich (the "bad" guy) had finally been installed as Prime Minister, and one of the first things he had done was fire the Kharkiv District Police Chief!! But first he initiated a criminal investigation into the two Cabinet Ministers and investigators who had themselves investigated a corrupt gas/oil deal that Yanakovich had been involved in before the Orange Revolution got rid of him!! Poor Ukraine!
The agent dropped me off back at the Senator Apartments and I turned on the shower first thing to get the hot water going for a quick shower. Except no hot water ever came – it did get luke warm, but that was about it. But when I turned on the water in the sink it was hot!! I jumped in and out of the shower, threw on some clothes, asked reception to call me a taxi and told them about the hot water problem. They said they would fix it while I was out.
I negotiated the price to the gallery (20 HVA) with the taxi driver, and arrived at just about 7:30. Gilah was being interviewed so I went to look at the exhibition (I can’t really comment on her art, as I am a total ignoramous about things artistic), but I could tell that they were very spiritual. Gilah and I finally caught each other’s eye and introduced ourselves to one another. We discovered that we live about 2 seconds from each other back in Venice. Gilah introduced me to her friends Bernard and Susannah who had come from Bratislava (where the exhibition had first been) to see it again. I gather that Bernard is an artist too and I asked him why he was living in Bratislava (capital of Slovenia), and he said “my girlfriend lives there,” and pointed to Susannah. After talking a bit I learned that Bernard has actually been to Kharkiv!!! I was astounded. Why, I asked!!! His girlfriend (a different one - at a different time), of course!!! I was beginning to understand this guy!
At about 9:00 Gilah, Bernard, Susannah, and the curator of the show, Tatiana, and I, went out to dinner. I was absolutely starving, having had nothing since my bowl of cereal at 6 a.m. (not at all like me!). The gallery, it turns out, is right on Alexander’s Descent, right next to the charming little hotel where Ed and I had stayed when we had come to retrieve our baggage. So I remembered that funny little restaurant “Chasing Two Hares” that was a few doors down and suggested dinner there. Done, they all said, and in we trooped. Tatiana found the menu an absolute scream – she was laughing so hard she couldn’t stop. This restaurant takes it’s name and décor from some cult Russian movie, and apparently the items on the menu were written in a similar style (although the English translations were very straight forward). When they asked for her order, she said "I'd llike the menu" - which she really wanted to buy. It had a thick leather cover, and they said it would cost her 200 HVA (or about $40 – actually not bad, just for the leather!). She explained that she didn’t want the leather, and then the waiter offered to sell the menu to her for 30 HVA, but she, apparently, found this outrageous. I thought it was a pretty good price because the paper was very thick, high quality stock!
Gilah and I talked mostly about mutual friends, how to deal with termites in the house - I recommended Home Savings Termite Control which eliminates the termites by injecting this drying stuff in the walls so you never have to tent the house, and it’s guaranteed for 10 years - the trials and tribulations of building a home and making home repairs, and the joys of travel. We tried some Georgian red wine, and split, amongst all five of us (except Susannah ate practically nothing), a rabbit pie, blini with red caviar, potato pancakes with red caviar, and veal with juniper and pumpkin. In addition, each of us ordered the fantastic red borscht with the puffy parker house roll type breads with garlic. We closed up the restaurant at 11:30 and had them call a taxi for us. We were all basically going in the same direction. By this time it was pouring, but when the taxi came I went out to negotiate. The driver came back to the restaurant to read the name of the street on the card from the Senator Apartments. He said it would cost 30 HVA, I said no, it had cost 20 to get there, he offered 25, and I said no, and by the way, we have to drop all these people off on the way. He did his outrage pantomime and then Tatiana said “well, okay, I’ll pay the extra 10 HVA.” Again, that soviet mentality – you do what you’re told. So I just said that we would pay 30 HVA and told Tatiana to forget it – I would pay 20 and the others could pay 10 (she was just going to the metro stop nearby). I hate to nickel and dime these guys, but I also hate to be taken advantage of, the way we were by everyone for about the first two weeks here!
I didn't sleep too well - the pillows are awful at the Senator Apartments and they don't have any feather or down pillows available (at least not for the basement rooms!). And you can hear every sound in the halls - every key that turns in a door, every word said by anyone.
The next morning I didn't have anything scheduled until noon, when I was going to see what sounded like a great (and very expensive) apartment, right smack in the middle of Kreshchatik, which is sort of like being on Fifth Ave and 52nd St in NY. Gilah and I had talked about my joining her and Tatiana (who used to be an official tour guide in Kyiv) for a visit to a couple of monasteries, and I was hoping to be able to meet them at the gallery at 12:30. Meanwhile I wanted to check out all the hotels that Jodi and I had talked about, and I wanted to find the location of an apartment that I couldn't see yet, but which would soon be available at a very good price for a 6 month minimum rental. I wanted to get going right away, so I turned on the shower to let it run and get some hot water going, and of course nothing had been done the night before to fix it - still no hot water. I made do with the luke warm water, had a cuppa (I had bought some tea and milk on my arrival), and wrote a note for the receptionist (who was not there) telling her about my on-going problems with the hot water in the shower, and asking that they either fix the shower or give me a new room.
I set off at about 10, and within a half hour I began to see what Kyiv is all about - and why the most important thing about an apartment is location, location, location!! I walked to the address of the apartment that is in the process of being renovated (of course, I went the very longest way possible), discovered it is on the outer edge of the city center, and that to get back into the center you have to walk up a very big hill. This all took well over an hour. Then I set off to find the Hotel Rus, which was the only hotel I had found so far that would accept Belle. This was really difficult! I ended up walking in a complete circle around it, without being able to actually get to it, for about a half hour. This hotel is one of those real Soviet Uglies - I saw the rooms (also Soviet uglies) and decided that we should not stay there under any circumstances - too ugly and too far out of the city (and up a big hill, by the way). I made my way to Kreshchatik and was about to try and get into the apartment building to see the apartment at 21 Kreshchatik, when my cell rang - the owner of the apartment calling to tell me that he was out of Kyiv and that he couldn't arrange for me to see the apartment that day!!! I told him I was leaving the next day, so it was today or never. He called back and told me that he had arranged for his "business partner," Tanya, to meet me in a retail store located on the ground floor of the apartment building (which is a great, huge, prewar building) at 5 o'clock. He described her as a black woman and so I wasn't worried about having any trouble spotting her! Not in Kyiv! Meanwhile Gilah called to tell me that I had to wear a skirt to the monasteries that they were visiting, so that put the kabash on that expedition for me - no way I could get back to the Senator Apartments, change, and get over to the gallery in time. Besides, I thought it would be a good idea to check out all the other hotels Jodi and I had talked about and also the neighborhoods of the apartments I had seen. The agent on Friday had also told me that there was a new sports center, called Planet Fitness, on the street of the furnished apartment that I really liked, and I wanted to see if they had pilates there.
I managed to stop back at the Senator at about 2 o'clock for a few minutes to see what was happening with the shower. The receptionist apologized for my difficulties and then said there was another room available - that they had checked the shower and that it definitely worked. She showed me the room (still in the basement), and it looked fine, and then she said that she thought she should mention that this particular room doesn't have air conditioning!! Forget it!!! She then showed me another room that she described as smaller yet, which it was, but this one didn't have a window!!! FORGET IT!!!! She then said that if I wanted to, I could use this windowless so-called room to shower in! Not a very good solution, in my view. Okay, she said, they would keep working on my shower! What's really amazing about all this is that there were plenty of vacant apartments (not in the basement), and I had told her when I checked in that we might be looking for a long-term rental(6 to 8 months) starting in September. Why she didn't just up grade me for the one night is really a mystery to me - what great PR, and at no cost to them. Not the Ukrainian way, I guess.
It's too long and boring to describe here, but suffice it to say that I literally walked from one corner of the city center to the other, up hills, down hills, through parks, around parks. I really think I walked about 15 miles. I didn't even stop for lunch - not even a morosivo!! I went down to Podil to check out a couple of hotels there and, after walking up and down Andrew's Descent twice, I decided to take the Funicular back to St Michael's, after checking out Hotel Impressa (I wasn't so impressed with the lobby and they are booked in September). And I did find a hotel that will take dogs, is charming, small, reasonable, in a good location, and has rooms available for September 7 to 12 - Gintama is the name, for all of you who need a reasonable, nice hotel in Kyiv! But most important, I got a much better feel for the city and the different districts.
I still had time before my appointment at Kreshchatik, so I went over to Planet Fitness and got the official tour. It has a swimming pool, a cardio gym, a training gym, a spinning gym, and PILATES!!! I have really missed Jennifer and my pilates - the question is, can I find an instructor as good as Jennifer, and who speaks English??? Unlikely, but at least there is some hope. Even if she doesn't speak English, I know enough that I might be able to understand the corrections without words. I got the prices ($20 an hour for private pilates classes, plus a $400 fee to join the club for 6 months). This is a big plus for the apartment on this street! I'm sure that in the dead of winter, when it doesn't get light until 10 a.m. and turns dark at 3:30 p.m., and it's below zero, I won't be too anxious to walk very far to do my pilates!
I walked over to the Kreshchatik apartment at 5 p.m. Tanya spotted me and came over to introduce herself. A good thing she did! Tanya is not a black woman - she was dressed in black and has black hair!!! I told her that Alexsander had said she was a black woman - and she pointed to her outfit and said "dah" - I explained that in America a black person means someone with dark skin - we both had a good laugh about that. The apartment is on the 8th floor with a small open balcony (with a railing around it of course) right on Kreshchatik. That would have worried me (traffic noise, etc. - this is a very big and busy street), but I was there in the middle of the day on the weekend when they close the street to cars but when people walk en masse on Kreshchatik (at that moment there was a Hari Krishna march going past), and with the windows closed I couldn't hear a thing (the kitchen window was open and I could hear it, so I think these double windows really work). It's a nice place - with all the necessities - high speed internet, 2 air conditioners, 2 satellite TVs, DVD, CD player, king size bed, pretty nice furnishings, but not fabulous, nice floors etc. It's a fantastic location, but it's too expensive, and the fittings don't compare to the first apartment I saw on the same street as Planet Fitness. I'll have to see what I can do about negotiating the price way down.
I decided to go back to Podil to walk around the neighborhood of the nice, but as yet unfurnished, apartment that I had seen there on Friday afternoon. As a result, I definitely ruled out Podil - as charming as it is, it is just too hard to get there and back on foot because of the very steep hill. Also there is massive construction and renovation going on throughout the neighborhood (because of the charm of the old city and the profits to be reaped in renovating it). So basically the streets are a mess, and the traffic jams on Friday were enough to put me off, even though I won't have a car. It's too bad - the as yet unfurnished apartment in Podil is really great. Well, maybe if they offer to furnish it with great stuff and reduce the rent I'll change my mind!
I was working my way back to the Senator Apartments - on the opposite side of town - from the apartment in Podil when I stopped to check my map before making yet another trek up a huge hill. There were three young guys standing there (I thought I had heard them speaking French to one another), and one asked, in English, if he could help me. I shoved the map at him and said "Where am I?" He and the other two guys showed me and I confirmed that the way up was on the street I was facing, and they said they were going that way and would go with me. Turns out that two of them are Italian, from Milan, and the third is from Kyiv. They were just great - we talked about Ed's project, about how much damage I think Bush has done, about the political situation in Ukraine (and Italy), apartments, the cost of living in Kyiv, and on and on and on. One of them had a digital cameras and kept stopping to take photos - some of them with me in them. He promised to email them to me, but I haven't heard from him, so maybe he's just forgotten to do it, or maybe he hasn't had time to do it yet, although he said he would send them right away. Oh well, maybe they were just having fun teasing an old grandmother, but I certainly enjoyed myself.
We parted ways at St Sophia's and I walked back to the Senator, stopping at Fontan, a nice outdoor cafe at the foot of Zoloti Verota (Golden Gate - a stone and wood structure that was part of the original fortification of the city), and had my standby blini with red caviar and a dark beer, before literally limping back to the Senator. The hills had really worked their magic on my right hip and knee, and I was just hoping I hadn't done any permanent damage.
I got back to my room at about 9 p.m., and am now convinced that miracles do happen - there was HOT WATER in my shower!! And, man, did I need it. I was sweaty and stinky and achy. The long hot shower was just the ticket - that and 1000 milligrams of naproxyn and a nexium, that is!
Another sort of sleepless night on Saturday (those pillows really were horrible!), and I took my time getting up and ready on Sunday. I packed, had my tea, watched BBC World News, and checked out at 11, leaving my bag at reception while I went to meet yet another agent to see three more apartments. My appointment was at 1 p.m., so I took a leisurely walk to the apartment's address (on the top of the hill, as is the Senator), and was just sitting down to order a coffee at a nearby cafe when my cell phone rang - big surprise - the real estate agent calling to say that there would be no showing of this apartment today - the owner couldn't do it - could we meet at the next apartment address on Pushkinskaya (in the opposite direction and very close to the Senator) at 1:30. Okay, I was getting used to this by now.
I walked over to the apartment and met Igor there (he was a few minutes late, so this time I did succeed in getting a coffee at a nearby cafe - thank god, there is always a nearby cafe!). The apartment is in a good location (on the same block as the Premier Palace Hotel (where the least expensive room is $450 a night!). It wasn't bad, had some real wood furniture - not my style - very old fashioned but, still, very high quality stuff. And it was big - two bedrooms, eat-in kitchen and good sized living room. There was no air conditioner because it's an old building and it stays pretty cool in summer and pretty warm in the winter, but the landlady would install one if I wanted it. The landlady was really nice - and she loved that I had a few Ukrainian words (as opposed to Russian). Her daughter lives in Tennessee, so she would want the rent paid in dollars, by wire transfer to her daughter's account there. This, believe it or not, would be the easiest and simplest arrangement for us, so that is a plus for this apartment.
We then walked (I should say ran - this guy really walks fast) to the next (and last) apartment. The is one is a fabulous location. It's right behind the center of Kreshchatik, on a small street called Olginstaya. It's really on a little square, with a pretty round garden in the center, with nice benches to sit on. On one side of the square are the back of the buildings on Kreshchatik, on the other side is a lovely pre-war building that houses the Ukrainian National Drama Theater. And then there is the apartment building on the third side. It's just lovely - and even the entrance has been renovated (marble and granite of course - but still, a big plus as I find these unrepaired entrances pretty depressing). The apartment has a lovely balcony on the square, has all the amenities I need (ac, high speed internet, satellite TV, etc.). The furniture is not great, but it's not the laminated fake wood stuff either. I would take it in two seconds - it's not even outrageously expensive - but the kitchen is awful - the same separate pieces that are pushed together with cracks in between each piece that we have in Kharkiv. If only the guy who redid the apartment next to Planet Fitness had redone this one!! Ohmygod, it would be a dream come true. But in any case, we have some real possibilities here - this sure ain't Kharkiv!!
I started to walk back toward the Senator, but I had a couple of hours before I had to pick up my suitcase and head for the train station, so I sat down on a bench in the Botannical Garden and called Ed, and then called Igor to see if I could get in to see that apartment with the beautiful location one more time before I left - he tried to arrange it, but the landlord couldn't make it. So instead I went to the lovely restaurant in the Botannical Garden where we had had dinner with the OSJI gang when we first arrived. This was my last hurrah, foodwise, before the long 6 hour train ride, so I ordered - you guessed it - blini with red caviar and iced tea.
I made it to the metro and the train station easily - with plenty of time to spare for a delicious morosivo (the soft Dairy Queen style) - vanilla dipped in chocolate! I was in 2nd class which, in my opinion, is better than first class - the seats are more comfortable, you are not sitting a claustrophobic compartment with 5 other people and a TV blaring - instead you have the whole car, with seats 2 and 2 (separated by an aisle) and one TV on either end. Somehow the TV is not as annoying as it is in first class. The ride was uneventful (especially since I had Ed's seat empty next to me) and I could work on the Blog until the battery on my laptop ran out.
There was one fascinating couple on the platform as I was waiting to get on the train - an American or Canadian man (with a wedding band on) who spoke very little Ukrainian or Russian, with a Ukrainian woman who spoke very little English. There were lots of kisses and "parashow, parashow" (or is it "harishow"???) or "okay, okay" coming from him, and I thought he was saying good bye after spending the weekend with her in Kyiv. But he got on the train with her and they sat across the aisle from me. I really wish that damn TV hadn't been on, because I would have loved to hear what they (mostly he) were saying. I got the impression that she wants to get married, or at least to emigrate, that he is balking, but still trying to keep her calm so that he can spend the rest of the time he expects to be here with her. Who knows? But I did think she started to weep at one point, and that he said he didn't want to talk any more and went to sleep while she dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. It seemed pretty sad to me.
I called Ed at about 10:30 to make sure that he had not fallen asleep or that, if he had, he had time to wake up and meet me at the station, but there was no answer. I figured that he had either forgotten his phone when he and Belle left to pick me up (although it was pretty early to leave - the train didn't get in until 11:30 and our apartment is only about 15 minutes away by metro), or that he was in fact asleep and didn't even hear the phone. So I left a message and told him that if he wasn't there I would just take a cab and see him at home.
Well, he and Belle were there when I got off the train - Ed with lovely flowers in his hand and Belle squealing beautifully! We jammed ourselves onto the crowded subway and got home just after all the street lights switched off at midnight.
