Catching Up

This was a real "do nothing but sit in front of the computer and get all my chores done" kind of a day. First, I had to write my complaint letter to Marriott hotels about the 20% rip off at the Moscow Marriott Tverskaya, and send a "disputed charge" message to Visa. When we made the reservations at this hotel (which was supposed to be in the city center, but which was actually 3 metro stops away from the center) online, they told us that the total for the three nights would be $912.14 including the 18% VAT. They also indicated that we would be paying in rubles at the "hotel's conversion rate at the time of checkout." I assumed, as anyone would, that this would be the prevailing conversion rate, although, granted, I expected it to be at the least favorable end of the range that always exists for currency exchange. From the time we made the reservation, until the time we checked out, the rate of exchange ranged from 26 rubles to the dollar to 28 rubles to the dollar. It was never higher than 28:1. Unbeknownst to us, the hotel uses a fixed conversion rate of 32 rubles to the dollar, no matter what the actual exchange rate at the time happens to be!! So when the email confirmation stated that we were going to pay around $912 dollars, it really should have said that we were going to pay 912 Euros, because that's how much more we ended up paying because of the artificial exchange rate. This really pissed me off, especially since, when I calculated what we would actually be paying - almost $1200 - I realized that we could have stayed at the Savoy, a fabulous small hotel in the city center, with breakfast included, at about the same price! So I sent my email off to Marriott (they replied telling me that my complaint had been received and that they would address it within 15 days), and then another to Visa, disputing $275 of the total charge. I'm sure it will get me absolutely nowhere, but it really is not right. The website should make it clear that when you make a reservation in Moscow you will be paying that number of rubles which equals the quoted dollar rate , multiplied by 32. That way you can easily do the math and figure out that you won't be paying $900, but that you will be paying almost $1200 when the dust clears. In fact, I actually looked at a few other hotels while we were in Moscow, and all their rate cards describe the cost as x number of "units" - say 250 units - multiplied by 32. That is the amount of rubles you will have to pay. Very clear - the word dollars is never mentioned - so no confusion. Maybe Visa will be able to work on them and get the reduction (we're VERY good Visa customers, but we've never stayed in a Marriott before and probably never will again), but I doubt it.

Next I had to send out emails to various Kyiv hotels to see if I could find one that will let us take Belle with us when we go for the art opening on August 11. But, as it turns out, leaving Belle here, in the care of Gennady's younger daughter Marina will not be a problem. Marina loved staying with Belle - slept with her, took her on lots of walks, and paid lots of attention to her. In fact, Ed called while he was meeting with Gennady to tell me that Marina asked if she could come by this evening after work to visit Belle because she missed her! Of course I said yes. At about 6 p.m. Ed called again and told me that Marina was downstairs waiting for Gennady before coming up because she was embarrassed about her English! I knew from my experience with her sister that her English was probably quite good, so I went down with Belle to find her and bring her up to the apartment. The minute we saw her Belle ran over and was jumping all over her! And here they are - Belle and Marina. And of course Marina is thrilled to stay with Belle, especially since we have satellite TV and an air conditioned bedroom! Marina had left a good deal of food here and she hadn't touched one thing of ours - I tried to give her the food she had left but she insisted that it was for us - not only that, she brought us a box of beautiful chocolates (I guess she figured out that we really like chocolate since we had about 5 bars of dark chocolate in the fridge). We had bought her a box of Laima chocolates from Riga (the most famous chocolates in Latvia, and the box had a beautiful picture of Riga on the front),which we practically had to force on her. We had also left some money for her, and it was sitting on the table when we returned - again she refused to take it when I tried to give it to her again. Now I'm trying to figure out a way that I can leave Belle with her when we go to the States in late September and early October. But by then we will probably be in Kyiv and won't have an apartment in Kharkiv anymore. She works full time and goes to law school part time, so she wouldn't be able to come to Kyiv and stay with Belle - but maybe Belle can stay with her at the house she lives at with her parents and sister. By the time we leave for the States we will only have been in Kyiv about 2 weeks, so we probably won't have found someone reliable to take care of Belle - it would definitely be worth the train ride to take Belle to Marina before we leave, and pick her up when we return. I'll have to work on this.

Ed had gone to the office to help Gennady work on the contracts with the lawyers hired for the PD Office. He came back after a couple of hours to tell me that he had decided to lend the office $1000 so that Gennady can get the place cleaned and painted, get the computers hooked up, etc., without having to wait until the return of the Renaissance Foundation staff on August 22. Ukraine is a strictly cash economy - you can't even write checks - everything is done by bank transfer or in cash (and, on very rare occasions, using credit cards). So Gennady will deposit our $1000 in the office bank account and then, when the funds are transferred from the Renaissance Foundation to the Kharkiv office account, the office will transfer $1000 to our U.S. Bank account! Then we'll have to withdraw the $1000 as Hryvnas, using a "bankomat" here (basically an ATM). They certainly got their money's worth (especially when you consider that they are not paying Ed), when they got Ed for this job!!!

I'm trying not to get too depressed over the fact that we will be spending another 6 weeks, at least, in Kharkiv. First of all we're going to Kyiv next weekend. And Yrena, my Ukrainian conversation teacher, will be back on August 17 and I can resume my meetings with her. Then Jodi and her father will be coming to Kyiv early in September, and Belle and I (and maybe Ed too, depending on what's going on in the office at the time) will go to Kyiv to show them around. And then we leave on September 27 for 3 weeks in the States. I also hope to go down and visit Michael and Jeremy in Umbria before they leave for Capetown in October. It would probably make sense for me to go just before I go to Kyiv to see Jodi, or just after she leaves, since I have to fly out Kyiv to get to Italy. So it looks like I will hardly be in Kharkiv at all!

Ed brought Gennady back with him from the office so that he and Mary(Marina) could go home together. Gennady had a couple of beers and told us how difficult it has been for his daughters, both of whom are extremely bright (and gorgeous, I might add). Even the higher education system has its corruption - you have to bribe your way into university and, even worse, you have to bribe your way into a career afterwards. For example, his daughter wants to be a notary which is a type of lawyer here (sort of like a solicitor in Britain - they don't go to court, but they handle all sorts of legal matters). There are a limited number of notary licenses here, and even after you have passed all the necessary exams, if there are no licenses available you can't practice, unless you are able to "purchase" one from someone who is retiring or leaving!!!

We made plans with Gennady to take him and his wife and his daughters to dinner on Friday night at a restaurant a few steps away from our apartment. The restaurant is call Buchara - it serves Uzbekistani food and it's in a lovely little park with both indoor and outdoor tables. Marina knew the restaurant - she said the food was good but the people were bad! We asked what she meant by that - was she talking about the waiters, or the diners?? Turns out she was talking about the customers - she disapproves of the fat old rich men who bring young beautiful women to the restaurant! We made a few other suggestions, but she said that Buchara would be great and we decided to meet there at 7 p.m. on Friday.

Marina and Gennady left at about 8 p.m. Ed and I had some delicious perogies for dinner, with a beet salad and a cucumber and tomato salad. Then Ed made a Skype call to his mother (that is I placed the call and Ed put on the headset and spoke to her!!), and to Jed and Jenny. I didn't get to talk to Jenny because she was feeding Jackson some cereal by the time Ed and Jed finished talking. Ed went to bed to finish reading War and Peace - I get it as soon as he's finished and I can't wait, especially after visiting Moscow and seeing some of the sights referred to in the book - like the church that Natasha attends. I finished "Dead Souls" during our trip and I also listened to Roth's "Everyman" on the bus ride from Vilnius to Riga, so I'm ready for a really engrossing long book. I thought I'd spend a few minutes on the blog and handle some emails (replies to my inquiries for apartments in Kyiv and also hotels in Kyiv for next weekend) and ended up spending another hour typing away. So now I am definitely ready to hit the hay.