Diary of first week back at work.

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Back at Work

Saturday, January 16

Hi Mom (and others)

It's our first weekend after our first week of work back here in Kyiv. It was a long week but that just makes Saturday more enjoyable. We slept in just to prove this was not a work day. Then we took our time getting ready for our first chore -- weekly grocery shopping. This is the shopping we do at our nearest open market. Since we both work, we have to devote either Saturday or Sunday morning to the process.

Today was pretty fun actually. I forgot the camera so we don't have pictures but it turned out to be a nice walk - despite the ice and slush. It's above freezing and the accumulated snow is melting a bit. There's still plenty around to remind us that it's still winter but it's nice to not worry about being freezing cold. The market is about 15 minutes away and we were able to even look up at the buildings a bit. For the past couple months, we have been walking with our heads down, looking for secure footholds on the ice. It's amazing how much nicer it is to walk with one's head up. (Speaking of ice, our sympathy to the US East Coast and your ice storm. It sounded pretty bad on CNN. After our Christmas visit to Maryland, we realized that Kyiv weather is not TOO much worse than much US weather and an ice storm like that is bad no matter where it is.)

We had gone to the market last weekend and it was pretty skimpy. There were only a couple handfuls of stalls outside and maybe twice that inside. That's less than a quarter of the normal compliment of merchants. And the pickings were pretty slim at each so I thought Winter scarcity had finally hit. Today was a different story. Our first clue was the large number of "bag ladies" who sell things off hand carts and bags on the streets leading to the big market. Today, there were dozens of them. Still selling things we weren't buying but when we reached the market, it was back to the size it had been in November -- plenty of choice for just us two. We bought bananas, apples, beans, salami, eggs and other staples. These are the things we live on!

After dropping off our load at the apartment I picked up the camera for our next excursion. On the way out of the building, Marianne checked the mailboxes and I posed by the wall where the phone lines are connected. I don't know which is in worse repair, the mailboxes that no one really uses or the phone lines that don't always work. Anyway, out on the street we went through a winter forest near the cable car station. We were looking for a display of old Russian icons that was advertised in our paper but, as often is the case, it was too well hidden for us to find.

So, we just got on the cable car and went down to the Podol district and did a bit more grocery shopping. Marianne was most excited when she found bread crumbs! I guess I don't understand the problem since we have tons of bread but she swears this was a real find. We also ran into these two street musicians who had just frozen in place.

We wandered around a bit since it was so warm, at least 35F. It was fun to see all the places we hadn't visited in weeks. We walked back up "the Spuce" (tourist street). St. Andrews church is always pretty and was in nice form with snow and evening light. Of course we also had our chance to see bad art.I assume this stuff sells because someone stands out here all day in the cold and they wouldn't do that for nothing. Would they?

Finally, we got home and settled in after our five hour walk. We debated how fancy we should make dinner but in the end decided on snacks and wine as we dined from our "coffee table". Pretty fancy furniture. (It's actually a box covered with a towel but we think that will become very stylish as soon as Martha Stuart finds out.)

We hope everyone has as good a weekend as we have had. As you can see, we don't need much to entertain us here!

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Originally mailed January 16, 1999. Re-formatted for website 29 May, 2001.

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