Bila Tserkva Office Opens
Anna came over for drinks after the training session at Bila Tserkva and then we walked over to Kasak Mamai. But it was CLOSED! I couldn't believe it. I can't tell if it is closed permanently or just temporarily - I hope the latter because it is really good. So, after some hesitation, we ended up eating at the only other restaurant we know about near by - it's called Mokka - and it has fresh sea food on Wednesdays and Saturday - the only trouble was, this was Tuesday!! So Anna and I ordered Vareneki - a delicious Ukrainian dumpling like dish - like little raviolis filled with all different things (these were meat) and usually served with sour cream. Ed had Solyenka soup (a delicious meat soup usually served with a slice of lemon and a dob of sour cream). Anna and Ed were exhausted - they had taken the mashrutka to the office in Bila Tserkva (about a 1 hour ride). They did the same coming back, but made the mistake of taking a taxi from the train station, which is where the mashrutka stop is, because that taxi ride took over 2 hours!!!! It's normally a 10 to 20 minute minute ride. The metro, although crushing, would have had them back in 15 minutes. And of course Anna and Ed don't know each other well enough to just sort of sit there, not speaking to each other - they had to make conversation the whole time - talk about exhausting!!!
On Wednesday Anna went to Kharkiv to check things out for herself. I spent most of the day finalizing the details for our trip to Morocco, doing laundry, marketing - the normal tasks of life. I also had my last session with Katya in the pilates studio before she leaves for her London training. I had another really good session and I walked away feeling great. I asked her if there was someone I could train with in her absence and she suggested either of the two Julia's who work there. I asked her if she would speak to either Julia, and explain my situation so that I could work one or two times a week in her absence. So it looks like I won't have to go cold turkey for over a month after all. I think (and Katya thinks) I understand the principles well enough to be able to work with someone on an individual basis even if the trainer can't speak English. So I'm hopeful I won't lose a lot of ground.
Thursday was the grand opening of the Bila Tserkva office. Ed and I met Anna at the Hotel Gintama, where she is staying, and took a taxi to the International Renaissance Foundation office on Artema Street. We could have taken the tram, but we were dressed up. I was actually wearing high heals - granted, they are Arche washable nubuck high heels, with a very broad base at the bottom of the heel (not at all like the spiked heel shoes the Kyivian women wear) and, even worse, with rubber soles - but high heels nevertheless. We all piled into the waiting van - Anna, me (I'm the official photographer for the event), Ed, Roman Romanovsky who heads the project at IRF, Vasylyna Yavorska, the Project Coordinator in Kyiv, and another woman who was a representative from the Ministry of Justice. I've already had complaints from some of my more devoted readers about the lack of photos - but it is so time consuming to put them in the Blog. But I do realize that they make a tremendous difference, and I am going to come back to this entry and put some of the photos I took of the opening (not all 67 of them though!!) in later.
When we arrived at the office the place was abuzz with activity. Victor had everything really well organized. It's amazing what a difference there is between Bila Tserkva and Kharkiv. For one thing the Presiding Judge here is fantastic - he is really supportive of the whole project and has taken a personal interest in its success. Also, Victor is a really good manager - he found great offices, was able to get all the agreements in place (using the documents Ed had negotiated in Kharkiv), and organize the press conference and signing ceremony without Ed having to hold his hand every step of the way. He even had a blue ribbon across the doorway leading to the lawyers' offices, for an official ribbon cutting ceremony! The Chief Judge was there, as well as the Chief Investigator, Chief Prosecutor, all the lawyers, the head of the Bar Association, the Mayor of Bila Tserkva, the Director of Public Affairs from the Police Office - and lots of press. Everyone said a few words - Victor, the Judge, Roman, the Justice Department representative, the head of the Bar Association, the Mayor (who cut the ribbon), the Chief Investigator, the Chief Prosecutor, the police representative, and, of course, Ed. There was an official signing of the agreement between the police and the office of the public defender and then we all went out to a lunch of "American Pizza" organized by Victor. This was my first experience with the celebratory "business" lunch in Ukraine. And it turns out that everything I had heard about this occasion is true - everyone has to make a toast, and all eating stops during the toasts, so the lunch takes hours and hours. There were two tables with about 12 people at each table - everyone at the opening was invited (except the press), and everyone came, and I think there were about 8 toasts all together. We didn't finish eating until 4 p.m., and then we had a one and half hour drive back, followed by a dinner with Roman, Vasylyna and Anna!!
When Ed and I got back to the apartment at about 5 p.m. the thought of going out again for another meal was positively horrifying, but I really can't complain since we so rarely have these "business" functions. Anna came by in a taxi at 6:45 and we met Vasylyna and Roman at a great restaurant (chosen with me in mind because I had talked all day about how much I loved Ukrainian food) called "Vareneki" which has the largest selection of vareneki in the city. I felt a migraine coming on, and to top it all off they had the usual ubiquitous TV on in the restaurant, with the booming music that doesn't match the image on the screen, and the speaker was right above my ear. I finally got them to turn it way down, took a migraine pill, and within a half hour I was ready to dig in - I was full, of course, but that didn't stop me! Roman ordered a selection of savory varenekis - meat, mushroom, liver, potato - followed by sweet ones - apple, cherry, and two different kinds of berries. Delicious! I can't wait to go back. We really had a good time too. It was good to get to know Roman and Vasylyna better - especially Vasylyna - I think I had her all wrong - sometimes emails and cell phones give the wrong impression about a person, especially when there is a language issue. Vasylyna was extremely nice, a lot of fun, wants to help in any way she can, and I genuinely liked her. So all in all it was a really nice evening.
As we were leaving the opening ceremony lunch earlier in the day, the woman who is the Chairwoman of the Bar Association came over and asked, through Vasylyana (because she spoke only Russian), what kind of law I practiced. I told her I had been a "business" lawyer - tax and business acquisitions mostly - and the Chairwoman asked to meet with me the next day! I was flabbergasted, but had to say yes. After she walked away I asked Vasylyna what that was all about. She said that Alla (that's the woman's name) wants to meet with me because I was taking the photos and she wants a photo to put on the cover of the Bar Association quarterly magazine, which will feature the opening of the office. She also asked to meet with Anna and Ed, so the next day the three of us went over to her office (Anna picked us up in a taxi, but it turns out her office is right down the hill from our apartment). I had actually put on a skirt and high heels again - a first in Kyiv for me I think - and my fur coat because it comes down to my ankles and, with a skirt on, it was essential to cover up as much as possible. The office is very well located in the center of town. The obligatory cakes and chocolates were sitting on the desk upon our arrival. We chatted for a while, with Anna acting as translator, and it turns out that Alla represented Yushenko in the Crimea during the Orange Revolution, and took a real risk to do so (she even had death threats made against her). She's a real networker - you can see why she's the head of the bar - she just wanted to meet us, make contact, assure me that if I knew anyone who needed representation in Kyiv that her firm would be the very best place to send them, etc. But it was interesting to see a lawyer's office in Kyiv. I'm sure it's one of the nicest around. Of course it has the usual Ukrainian entrance (horrible), but the office itself was nice, although nothing like what we are used to in the U.S. - and I'm not even talking about the really wealthy NY and LA law firms. But it had a desk, a computer, a fax machine and a printer - and someone in charge who really wants to bring in business and seems to be effective at it! What more do you need?
On Friday I met with my temporary pilates trainer - Julia. We had a great session, and of course she speaks English - she just says she doesn't! I understood her perfectly and I'm going to enjoy working with her. We set up two sessions for next week - Tuesday and Thursday. I'm really looking forward to it. The rest of my weekend was a total and complete bust - I had to spend the entire weekend undoing all the arrangements I had made for our trip to London and Morocco and redo everything, with the correct dates this time!
The whole idea for the trip started because we wanted to see a particular ballet in London with Carlos Acosta on April 19, and also go on the Shakespeare Sonnet Walk, which we assumed would be Sunday April 22, because it has always been on the Sunday nearest Will's birthday. When I bought the ballet tickets last October I figured I might as well get tickets for my favorite ballet, Eugene Onegin, as well. It's last performance at the Royal Opera House was scheduled for April 12. So I got both sets of tickets. Last month we decided that, since we were going to London, and since airfares are so cheap from London to just about anywhere (while they are pretty expensive from Kyiv to just about anywhere), we should rearrange some of the trip so that we could go to Morocco (for only a couple of hundred dollars). So I exchanged the ballet tickets on the 19th for the same ballet on the 9th, kept our tickets for Eugene Onegin on the 12th, and got airline tickets on Easy Jet to Marrakech on the 13th. Originally I thought we would stay in Marrakech and take some day trips – but that was before I did my research - so we decided to ditch the return tickets and instead drive to Fez via the Upper Atlas and Sahara, staying two nights in two different desert inns on the way. So I got some cheap tickets back to London from Fez on the 21st. I also kept my eye on the website for the Globe Theater and got the tickets for the Sonnet Walk the second they went on sale online on February 12. Well, when reviewing things on Friday evening I noticed that we were not coming back from Fez until April 21, while the Sonnet Walk this year is on a Saturday – April 21 - and starts at 11 a.m. - and we don’t get back to London until 2 p.m.that day!!! And I knew all this BEFORE I got the tickets back from Fez. What was I thinking??? I'm just planning too many trips at the same time, plus trying to do all the ordinary tasks of daily living. Since there are no cheap flights back from Fez on the 20th, I had to rearrange everything. Now we fly to Fez instead of Marrakech (changed the Marrakech tickets to a flight to Split in September - maybe we’ll be able to use them, maybe not), gave up the tickets to Onegin (because there are no flights to Fez on the 13th, so I had to get tickets leaving London on the 12th), and drive from Fez to Marrakech instead of the other way around. Of course I had to change all the hotels (in Fez, Marakech and the two in the desert between the two cities), the car rental pickup and return date and place, and get new airline tickets. It took HOURS!!!!! But I got it done - only who knows if it's right this time. I even managed to get Onegin tickets (with a much better cast) for March 16 when we will be in London on our way back from Barcelona (another one of those trips that was planned around a ballet in London, but where we added 2 plays and another ballet and a trip to Barcelona while we were at it!!).
By the time I was finished I was really sick - and I mean really sick. I got up from the computer dizzy and shaky and feeling awful. I thought my blood sugar must be really low, so I drank some orange juice, made some dinner, and then got REALLY sick. I so wanted to throw up - but there was a big problem - earlier in the day, after using the toilet for all sorts of necessary things, I discovered that there was no water running in the apartment building - soooooo, no way to flush the toilet. The idea of being sick in there was enough to make me sick. I finally had Ed rig up a waste basket with a plastic bag lining and used that, and instantly felt better, but not great - just better enough to not wish I was dead. Soon after, I heard the sound of running water in the pipes in the walls, and went in and flushed the toilet - is there any finer sound than the sound of water rushing through a toilet - I ask you???
On Wednesday Anna went to Kharkiv to check things out for herself. I spent most of the day finalizing the details for our trip to Morocco, doing laundry, marketing - the normal tasks of life. I also had my last session with Katya in the pilates studio before she leaves for her London training. I had another really good session and I walked away feeling great. I asked her if there was someone I could train with in her absence and she suggested either of the two Julia's who work there. I asked her if she would speak to either Julia, and explain my situation so that I could work one or two times a week in her absence. So it looks like I won't have to go cold turkey for over a month after all. I think (and Katya thinks) I understand the principles well enough to be able to work with someone on an individual basis even if the trainer can't speak English. So I'm hopeful I won't lose a lot of ground.
Thursday was the grand opening of the Bila Tserkva office. Ed and I met Anna at the Hotel Gintama, where she is staying, and took a taxi to the International Renaissance Foundation office on Artema Street. We could have taken the tram, but we were dressed up. I was actually wearing high heals - granted, they are Arche washable nubuck high heels, with a very broad base at the bottom of the heel (not at all like the spiked heel shoes the Kyivian women wear) and, even worse, with rubber soles - but high heels nevertheless. We all piled into the waiting van - Anna, me (I'm the official photographer for the event), Ed, Roman Romanovsky who heads the project at IRF, Vasylyna Yavorska, the Project Coordinator in Kyiv, and another woman who was a representative from the Ministry of Justice. I've already had complaints from some of my more devoted readers about the lack of photos - but it is so time consuming to put them in the Blog. But I do realize that they make a tremendous difference, and I am going to come back to this entry and put some of the photos I took of the opening (not all 67 of them though!!) in later.
When we arrived at the office the place was abuzz with activity. Victor had everything really well organized. It's amazing what a difference there is between Bila Tserkva and Kharkiv. For one thing the Presiding Judge here is fantastic - he is really supportive of the whole project and has taken a personal interest in its success. Also, Victor is a really good manager - he found great offices, was able to get all the agreements in place (using the documents Ed had negotiated in Kharkiv), and organize the press conference and signing ceremony without Ed having to hold his hand every step of the way. He even had a blue ribbon across the doorway leading to the lawyers' offices, for an official ribbon cutting ceremony! The Chief Judge was there, as well as the Chief Investigator, Chief Prosecutor, all the lawyers, the head of the Bar Association, the Mayor of Bila Tserkva, the Director of Public Affairs from the Police Office - and lots of press. Everyone said a few words - Victor, the Judge, Roman, the Justice Department representative, the head of the Bar Association, the Mayor (who cut the ribbon), the Chief Investigator, the Chief Prosecutor, the police representative, and, of course, Ed. There was an official signing of the agreement between the police and the office of the public defender and then we all went out to a lunch of "American Pizza" organized by Victor. This was my first experience with the celebratory "business" lunch in Ukraine. And it turns out that everything I had heard about this occasion is true - everyone has to make a toast, and all eating stops during the toasts, so the lunch takes hours and hours. There were two tables with about 12 people at each table - everyone at the opening was invited (except the press), and everyone came, and I think there were about 8 toasts all together. We didn't finish eating until 4 p.m., and then we had a one and half hour drive back, followed by a dinner with Roman, Vasylyna and Anna!!
When Ed and I got back to the apartment at about 5 p.m. the thought of going out again for another meal was positively horrifying, but I really can't complain since we so rarely have these "business" functions. Anna came by in a taxi at 6:45 and we met Vasylyna and Roman at a great restaurant (chosen with me in mind because I had talked all day about how much I loved Ukrainian food) called "Vareneki" which has the largest selection of vareneki in the city. I felt a migraine coming on, and to top it all off they had the usual ubiquitous TV on in the restaurant, with the booming music that doesn't match the image on the screen, and the speaker was right above my ear. I finally got them to turn it way down, took a migraine pill, and within a half hour I was ready to dig in - I was full, of course, but that didn't stop me! Roman ordered a selection of savory varenekis - meat, mushroom, liver, potato - followed by sweet ones - apple, cherry, and two different kinds of berries. Delicious! I can't wait to go back. We really had a good time too. It was good to get to know Roman and Vasylyna better - especially Vasylyna - I think I had her all wrong - sometimes emails and cell phones give the wrong impression about a person, especially when there is a language issue. Vasylyna was extremely nice, a lot of fun, wants to help in any way she can, and I genuinely liked her. So all in all it was a really nice evening.
As we were leaving the opening ceremony lunch earlier in the day, the woman who is the Chairwoman of the Bar Association came over and asked, through Vasylyana (because she spoke only Russian), what kind of law I practiced. I told her I had been a "business" lawyer - tax and business acquisitions mostly - and the Chairwoman asked to meet with me the next day! I was flabbergasted, but had to say yes. After she walked away I asked Vasylyna what that was all about. She said that Alla (that's the woman's name) wants to meet with me because I was taking the photos and she wants a photo to put on the cover of the Bar Association quarterly magazine, which will feature the opening of the office. She also asked to meet with Anna and Ed, so the next day the three of us went over to her office (Anna picked us up in a taxi, but it turns out her office is right down the hill from our apartment). I had actually put on a skirt and high heels again - a first in Kyiv for me I think - and my fur coat because it comes down to my ankles and, with a skirt on, it was essential to cover up as much as possible. The office is very well located in the center of town. The obligatory cakes and chocolates were sitting on the desk upon our arrival. We chatted for a while, with Anna acting as translator, and it turns out that Alla represented Yushenko in the Crimea during the Orange Revolution, and took a real risk to do so (she even had death threats made against her). She's a real networker - you can see why she's the head of the bar - she just wanted to meet us, make contact, assure me that if I knew anyone who needed representation in Kyiv that her firm would be the very best place to send them, etc. But it was interesting to see a lawyer's office in Kyiv. I'm sure it's one of the nicest around. Of course it has the usual Ukrainian entrance (horrible), but the office itself was nice, although nothing like what we are used to in the U.S. - and I'm not even talking about the really wealthy NY and LA law firms. But it had a desk, a computer, a fax machine and a printer - and someone in charge who really wants to bring in business and seems to be effective at it! What more do you need?
On Friday I met with my temporary pilates trainer - Julia. We had a great session, and of course she speaks English - she just says she doesn't! I understood her perfectly and I'm going to enjoy working with her. We set up two sessions for next week - Tuesday and Thursday. I'm really looking forward to it. The rest of my weekend was a total and complete bust - I had to spend the entire weekend undoing all the arrangements I had made for our trip to London and Morocco and redo everything, with the correct dates this time!
The whole idea for the trip started because we wanted to see a particular ballet in London with Carlos Acosta on April 19, and also go on the Shakespeare Sonnet Walk, which we assumed would be Sunday April 22, because it has always been on the Sunday nearest Will's birthday. When I bought the ballet tickets last October I figured I might as well get tickets for my favorite ballet, Eugene Onegin, as well. It's last performance at the Royal Opera House was scheduled for April 12. So I got both sets of tickets. Last month we decided that, since we were going to London, and since airfares are so cheap from London to just about anywhere (while they are pretty expensive from Kyiv to just about anywhere), we should rearrange some of the trip so that we could go to Morocco (for only a couple of hundred dollars). So I exchanged the ballet tickets on the 19th for the same ballet on the 9th, kept our tickets for Eugene Onegin on the 12th, and got airline tickets on Easy Jet to Marrakech on the 13th. Originally I thought we would stay in Marrakech and take some day trips – but that was before I did my research - so we decided to ditch the return tickets and instead drive to Fez via the Upper Atlas and Sahara, staying two nights in two different desert inns on the way. So I got some cheap tickets back to London from Fez on the 21st. I also kept my eye on the website for the Globe Theater and got the tickets for the Sonnet Walk the second they went on sale online on February 12. Well, when reviewing things on Friday evening I noticed that we were not coming back from Fez until April 21, while the Sonnet Walk this year is on a Saturday – April 21 - and starts at 11 a.m. - and we don’t get back to London until 2 p.m.that day!!! And I knew all this BEFORE I got the tickets back from Fez. What was I thinking??? I'm just planning too many trips at the same time, plus trying to do all the ordinary tasks of daily living. Since there are no cheap flights back from Fez on the 20th, I had to rearrange everything. Now we fly to Fez instead of Marrakech (changed the Marrakech tickets to a flight to Split in September - maybe we’ll be able to use them, maybe not), gave up the tickets to Onegin (because there are no flights to Fez on the 13th, so I had to get tickets leaving London on the 12th), and drive from Fez to Marrakech instead of the other way around. Of course I had to change all the hotels (in Fez, Marakech and the two in the desert between the two cities), the car rental pickup and return date and place, and get new airline tickets. It took HOURS!!!!! But I got it done - only who knows if it's right this time. I even managed to get Onegin tickets (with a much better cast) for March 16 when we will be in London on our way back from Barcelona (another one of those trips that was planned around a ballet in London, but where we added 2 plays and another ballet and a trip to Barcelona while we were at it!!).
By the time I was finished I was really sick - and I mean really sick. I got up from the computer dizzy and shaky and feeling awful. I thought my blood sugar must be really low, so I drank some orange juice, made some dinner, and then got REALLY sick. I so wanted to throw up - but there was a big problem - earlier in the day, after using the toilet for all sorts of necessary things, I discovered that there was no water running in the apartment building - soooooo, no way to flush the toilet. The idea of being sick in there was enough to make me sick. I finally had Ed rig up a waste basket with a plastic bag lining and used that, and instantly felt better, but not great - just better enough to not wish I was dead. Soon after, I heard the sound of running water in the pipes in the walls, and went in and flushed the toilet - is there any finer sound than the sound of water rushing through a toilet - I ask you???
posted by Susan Spivak at 4:13 PM
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