The "Official" Signing Ceremony
I have finally finished inserting the photos into the Blog entry for Jodi and Don Gold's visit to Kyiv!!! Thank God!!!! It's a lot more work than it might seem!!! 
First of all there was the problem of accessing Jodi's photos - she uses snapfish, which provides high resolution digital photos, which I guess is great if you're printing them, but which means that it takes forever to download them!! Then there was the constant kvetching of Ed (the official Blog photographer - here he is hard at work!) who wouldn't stop bugging me about which of his photos he wanted included (all of them!). Why doesn't he do his own Blog???? Then it just takes forever to upload photos into the Blog and to do the layout - i.e., to place the photos so that the text flows nicely and doesn't get obscured by the photos overlapping. In order to do this properly you really have to keep publishing and editing over and over again, because there is no way to tell how the final product will look without actually publishing it first! I think I published and edited this particular blog entry at least 25 times. And with all this of course I have to deal with Ed's constant complaints and queries about why didn't I include this one, or that one!!! And with the problems of the internet here - frequently disconnecting and interrupting the uploads and downloads! I think it took about 7 hours all together!!!
Meanwhile, on Tuesday they had the "Official" signing of the Agreement with the Police. It had actually been signed on Monday,
but now the press was there - lots of press - and we were told that Ed was on the local TV news programs a lot that night. The venue was different too - this time we met at the actual police station that the PD's office will be servicing - Kominternovskiy - and all the PD lawyers were present, as well as Arkadiy, Gennadiy, Ed, Vicky, the General, a representative from the Ministry of Justice, the Chief of the Police Station, and the General's assistant. Ed was asked to say a few words, and he gave a great little speech, saying he knows that change is difficult, that is always easier to just stay the course, that he is so impressed with how cooperative the General, in particular, has been and that he is to be commended for embracing rather than rejecting changes which we all hope will benefit of the Ukrainian people. 
The press asked lots of questions, and Ed, through Vicky (in the lavender top), who is so good at what she does, answered them all. He said that every culture and system is different, and that it wasn't his purpose to impose the U.S. system on Ukraine, but rather to help the Ukrainian government establish a public defender office that would operate effectively within the Ukrainian Constitution and laws in particular, and the Ukrainian system in general. (In fact, the Constitution and laws are quite good in their protections of the rights of suspects and defendants - its the practices of the police and the courts, which often don't conform with the requirements of the laws and the Constitution, and application of these laws by those official institutions, that need reform. Of course Ed didn't say this!)
Ed wore the Kharkiv pin that I had bought him and looked very handsome and impressive as he responded to the press and the General. I was snapping away, and got some good photos - especially of the General, who is a very smart and practical guy, although you might not think so from this photo!! All of his questions or problems with the original draft of the agreement were very well taken, and in the end it looks like they have fashioned an agreement that might actually have a chance of working!! I hope so.
The PD lawyers were then taken on a tour of the police station. First they were shown the room where they will be stationed so that they can instantly respond when a suspect wants a lawyer, and so that the police won't have to wait to begin their interview of a suspect when he waives his right to counsel - the PD lawyer will be on site and can confirm immediately whether or not the waiver is voluntary. After that we went to look at the detention cells, which have just been remodeled and repainted. So, I must say, the cells didn't look too bad. But during this entire time we didn't see a single suspect or detainee! Maybe there's another section of the police station that we didn't see.
I went back after the signing ceremony and the tour to do a whole bunch of errands in preparation for our move to Kyiv. Among other things, I had to get the cash to pay the first and last month's rent for the apartment, and I also had to get enough money to pay for Ed's train tickets back to Kharkiv on Sunday, and then to Kyiv again on Tuesday afternoon. There's the matter of the minivan and driver that we hired to haul us and Belle and all our stuff to Kyiv at 7 a.m. on Saturday - I think it's going to cost about $400! YIKES!!! We've gotten spoiled with these $12 train tickets. But it's really the only way to get everything to Kyiv without driving ourselves crazy and wearing ourselves out - I still remember how difficult it was to get everything here, and we did that in two trips! When I went to the bank to withdraw some cash, I was told that they didn't have enough U.S. Dollars to meet my request (although I had plenty of money in my account)!! So I had to take half then and go back for the other half the next day! I also learned that the debit cards that we had gotten are not on this account (the Current Account which is in U.S. Dollars) - they are on an entirely separate debit card account, and we have to deposit Hryvnas into that account in order to use the debit card or withdraw money (only in Hryvnas) at an ATM. So now we have two accounts at Aval Bank, and soon will have a third - We can deposit U.S. Dollars in a Savings Account, and if we keep it in for a year we'll earn 7% interest, which will help offset the 1% they charge to take our U.S. dollars out of the Current Account. I suppose our banking system and options back in the States are just as complicated, but somehow it doesn't seem so to me.
That night we had dinner with Mike Willard, our friend from Kyiv whom we had met through Terry Pristin. He was in Kharkiv promoting one of his books, which has just been translated into Russian. He had spent the day driving to Kharkiv, having a press conference, meeting with a potential new client (he has a PR and business consulting firm with offices in Kyiv, Moscow and Istanbul). The next day he was lecturing the students at the University before leaving for Kyiv. Ed and I really wanted to go to the lecture, but, as it turns out, Ed was stuck at the office, trying to get everything done (there are tons of details that have to be seen to) and I had a lunch date with Vicky at Buchara. Mike brought two guys with him - one of them, Maxim, is the grandson of a famous Ukrainian poet, Maxim Rylsky, and Mike's press relations guy, and the other, Rostic, works for Mike's company, looks 14 but is really 25 and speaks English perfectly - I mean really perfectly - hardly any accent at all. I had to pick the restaurant, and I was tempted by Buchara because it is so close and pretty, but they don't take credit cards, and we wanted to pay for this dinner - Mike had taken us out our first night in Kyiv, and he had arranged to get the Sleeping Beauty ballet tickets for us - and Kharkiv was, after all, "our" city! So instead we went to Ochotniy Dvor, the really pretty restaurant that Oksana Stashis had introduced us to. We thought we would probably eat inside, it's getting quite chilly out at night now, but once Mike and his companions saw the setting we decided to eat outside instead. The restaurant provides big thick blankets to wrap around yourself, but even so I think I caught cold. (All the restaurants with outdoor seats have these blankets available for their customers - it's a great idea, but how long can this continue??? I haven't seen any outdoor heaters here. Another thing all the restaurants here provide are big vases for the customers to bring the flowers they have bought - either for celebrations, or to take home - so they won't wilt or die before the meal is over!! Another great idea because in this culture everyone brings flowers to celebrate even the smallest occasion.) I'm still glad we sat outside, even though it really was quite chilly - you feel like you are in the middle of the woods, and there was a fantastic trio with a terrific jazz singer. She must have been American - she was young, beautiful and black - and she sang wonderful standards. (It was a really nice change from the usual blaring rock music that you usually get in restaurants here - the other night when we went to dinner with Vicky we had to leave the nice part of the restaurant and sit in the bar because we couldn't stand the music - it was so loud you honestly couldn't hear what anyone at the table said.) I can't believe we didn't go over and talk to her - ask her where's she from - where she will be next, etc. How stupid was that!! The food was good too - everyone loved it. In fact, we all ordered the same main course - pork shashlik - it was so tender and juicy and well-seasoned - yummy. I, of course, started out with my usual blini with red caviar - I just cannot get enough of that stuff. Ed and I decided to try a desert, and I ordered what I thought was poppy seed cake (Rostik was away from the table when we ordered and couldn't translate for me!), but turned out to be "honey cake." I didn't like it at all, so Ed ate the whole thing. In fact, the waiter had misunderstood and brought two, when we wanted to split one order, but we gave the extra one to Rostik who said that it was one of the best he had ever had.
Mike had his car and driver with him and we had the restaurant call us a taxi to get back. Our cab driver had gotten lost on the way to the restaurant - this is the second time we've had cab drivers who couldn't find their way to restaurants that appear to be quite popular and crowded! And this time I even had the card from the restaurant - with the name, address and phone number. We finally had to call the restaurant for him so that they could tell him how to get there. It took over a half hour to get there (it's a 10 minute ride), and I felt so bad for the driver because gas is so expensive, that we gave him an extra 5 Hryvnas (he had of course initially demanded 50, and we had said 20, and he had said okay). So this time we wanted to make sure the guy knew how to get to our apartment and that the price was right. We enlisted Rostik's help and in two seconds he told the guy where to go and got the 20 Hryvna price we wanted. I hope we see more of him (and Max and Mike of course) in Kyiv - he's really lively and fun - loves American music, like the jazz singer we heard. Turns out he's also a lawyer, but stopped doing that almost as soon as he had gotten his degree. He joined Mike's company as a translator, but they quickly found that he was too good to be just a translator, but I'm still not sure exactly what it is that he does!!
First of all there was the problem of accessing Jodi's photos - she uses snapfish, which provides high resolution digital photos, which I guess is great if you're printing them, but which means that it takes forever to download them!! Then there was the constant kvetching of Ed (the official Blog photographer - here he is hard at work!) who wouldn't stop bugging me about which of his photos he wanted included (all of them!). Why doesn't he do his own Blog???? Then it just takes forever to upload photos into the Blog and to do the layout - i.e., to place the photos so that the text flows nicely and doesn't get obscured by the photos overlapping. In order to do this properly you really have to keep publishing and editing over and over again, because there is no way to tell how the final product will look without actually publishing it first! I think I published and edited this particular blog entry at least 25 times. And with all this of course I have to deal with Ed's constant complaints and queries about why didn't I include this one, or that one!!! And with the problems of the internet here - frequently disconnecting and interrupting the uploads and downloads! I think it took about 7 hours all together!!!Meanwhile, on Tuesday they had the "Official" signing of the Agreement with the Police. It had actually been signed on Monday,
but now the press was there - lots of press - and we were told that Ed was on the local TV news programs a lot that night. The venue was different too - this time we met at the actual police station that the PD's office will be servicing - Kominternovskiy - and all the PD lawyers were present, as well as Arkadiy, Gennadiy, Ed, Vicky, the General, a representative from the Ministry of Justice, the Chief of the Police Station, and the General's assistant. Ed was asked to say a few words, and he gave a great little speech, saying he knows that change is difficult, that is always easier to just stay the course, that he is so impressed with how cooperative the General, in particular, has been and that he is to be commended for embracing rather than rejecting changes which we all hope will benefit of the Ukrainian people. 
The press asked lots of questions, and Ed, through Vicky (in the lavender top), who is so good at what she does, answered them all. He said that every culture and system is different, and that it wasn't his purpose to impose the U.S. system on Ukraine, but rather to help the Ukrainian government establish a public defender office that would operate effectively within the Ukrainian Constitution and laws in particular, and the Ukrainian system in general. (In fact, the Constitution and laws are quite good in their protections of the rights of suspects and defendants - its the practices of the police and the courts, which often don't conform with the requirements of the laws and the Constitution, and application of these laws by those official institutions, that need reform. Of course Ed didn't say this!)
Ed wore the Kharkiv pin that I had bought him and looked very handsome and impressive as he responded to the press and the General. I was snapping away, and got some good photos - especially of the General, who is a very smart and practical guy, although you might not think so from this photo!! All of his questions or problems with the original draft of the agreement were very well taken, and in the end it looks like they have fashioned an agreement that might actually have a chance of working!! I hope so.
The PD lawyers were then taken on a tour of the police station. First they were shown the room where they will be stationed so that they can instantly respond when a suspect wants a lawyer, and so that the police won't have to wait to begin their interview of a suspect when he waives his right to counsel - the PD lawyer will be on site and can confirm immediately whether or not the waiver is voluntary. After that we went to look at the detention cells, which have just been remodeled and repainted. So, I must say, the cells didn't look too bad. But during this entire time we didn't see a single suspect or detainee! Maybe there's another section of the police station that we didn't see.I went back after the signing ceremony and the tour to do a whole bunch of errands in preparation for our move to Kyiv. Among other things, I had to get the cash to pay the first and last month's rent for the apartment, and I also had to get enough money to pay for Ed's train tickets back to Kharkiv on Sunday, and then to Kyiv again on Tuesday afternoon. There's the matter of the minivan and driver that we hired to haul us and Belle and all our stuff to Kyiv at 7 a.m. on Saturday - I think it's going to cost about $400! YIKES!!! We've gotten spoiled with these $12 train tickets. But it's really the only way to get everything to Kyiv without driving ourselves crazy and wearing ourselves out - I still remember how difficult it was to get everything here, and we did that in two trips! When I went to the bank to withdraw some cash, I was told that they didn't have enough U.S. Dollars to meet my request (although I had plenty of money in my account)!! So I had to take half then and go back for the other half the next day! I also learned that the debit cards that we had gotten are not on this account (the Current Account which is in U.S. Dollars) - they are on an entirely separate debit card account, and we have to deposit Hryvnas into that account in order to use the debit card or withdraw money (only in Hryvnas) at an ATM. So now we have two accounts at Aval Bank, and soon will have a third - We can deposit U.S. Dollars in a Savings Account, and if we keep it in for a year we'll earn 7% interest, which will help offset the 1% they charge to take our U.S. dollars out of the Current Account. I suppose our banking system and options back in the States are just as complicated, but somehow it doesn't seem so to me.
That night we had dinner with Mike Willard, our friend from Kyiv whom we had met through Terry Pristin. He was in Kharkiv promoting one of his books, which has just been translated into Russian. He had spent the day driving to Kharkiv, having a press conference, meeting with a potential new client (he has a PR and business consulting firm with offices in Kyiv, Moscow and Istanbul). The next day he was lecturing the students at the University before leaving for Kyiv. Ed and I really wanted to go to the lecture, but, as it turns out, Ed was stuck at the office, trying to get everything done (there are tons of details that have to be seen to) and I had a lunch date with Vicky at Buchara. Mike brought two guys with him - one of them, Maxim, is the grandson of a famous Ukrainian poet, Maxim Rylsky, and Mike's press relations guy, and the other, Rostic, works for Mike's company, looks 14 but is really 25 and speaks English perfectly - I mean really perfectly - hardly any accent at all. I had to pick the restaurant, and I was tempted by Buchara because it is so close and pretty, but they don't take credit cards, and we wanted to pay for this dinner - Mike had taken us out our first night in Kyiv, and he had arranged to get the Sleeping Beauty ballet tickets for us - and Kharkiv was, after all, "our" city! So instead we went to Ochotniy Dvor, the really pretty restaurant that Oksana Stashis had introduced us to. We thought we would probably eat inside, it's getting quite chilly out at night now, but once Mike and his companions saw the setting we decided to eat outside instead. The restaurant provides big thick blankets to wrap around yourself, but even so I think I caught cold. (All the restaurants with outdoor seats have these blankets available for their customers - it's a great idea, but how long can this continue??? I haven't seen any outdoor heaters here. Another thing all the restaurants here provide are big vases for the customers to bring the flowers they have bought - either for celebrations, or to take home - so they won't wilt or die before the meal is over!! Another great idea because in this culture everyone brings flowers to celebrate even the smallest occasion.) I'm still glad we sat outside, even though it really was quite chilly - you feel like you are in the middle of the woods, and there was a fantastic trio with a terrific jazz singer. She must have been American - she was young, beautiful and black - and she sang wonderful standards. (It was a really nice change from the usual blaring rock music that you usually get in restaurants here - the other night when we went to dinner with Vicky we had to leave the nice part of the restaurant and sit in the bar because we couldn't stand the music - it was so loud you honestly couldn't hear what anyone at the table said.) I can't believe we didn't go over and talk to her - ask her where's she from - where she will be next, etc. How stupid was that!! The food was good too - everyone loved it. In fact, we all ordered the same main course - pork shashlik - it was so tender and juicy and well-seasoned - yummy. I, of course, started out with my usual blini with red caviar - I just cannot get enough of that stuff. Ed and I decided to try a desert, and I ordered what I thought was poppy seed cake (Rostik was away from the table when we ordered and couldn't translate for me!), but turned out to be "honey cake." I didn't like it at all, so Ed ate the whole thing. In fact, the waiter had misunderstood and brought two, when we wanted to split one order, but we gave the extra one to Rostik who said that it was one of the best he had ever had.Mike had his car and driver with him and we had the restaurant call us a taxi to get back. Our cab driver had gotten lost on the way to the restaurant - this is the second time we've had cab drivers who couldn't find their way to restaurants that appear to be quite popular and crowded! And this time I even had the card from the restaurant - with the name, address and phone number. We finally had to call the restaurant for him so that they could tell him how to get there. It took over a half hour to get there (it's a 10 minute ride), and I felt so bad for the driver because gas is so expensive, that we gave him an extra 5 Hryvnas (he had of course initially demanded 50, and we had said 20, and he had said okay). So this time we wanted to make sure the guy knew how to get to our apartment and that the price was right. We enlisted Rostik's help and in two seconds he told the guy where to go and got the 20 Hryvna price we wanted. I hope we see more of him (and Max and Mike of course) in Kyiv - he's really lively and fun - loves American music, like the jazz singer we heard. Turns out he's also a lawyer, but stopped doing that almost as soon as he had gotten his degree. He joined Mike's company as a translator, but they quickly found that he was too good to be just a translator, but I'm still not sure exactly what it is that he does!!
posted by Susan Spivak at 10:18 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home