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An Ordinary Start of
School
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An Ordinary Start of
School
September 13, 1999
Hi People,
I just noticed that we have not sent anything since our trip to St. Petersburg. So, it's about time but this will mostly be an "ordinary" diary -- just our ordinary life, no trips, no unusual events, no unusual weather. Marianne and I are both back at work. We're enjoying the weekends and the Fall weather. We just celebrated our first full year and it's surprising how much at home we feel, considering how absolutely lost we were a year ago. The diaries back then may have given the impression we were just a couple of adventurous duffers off having fun but reality was that we asked ourselves every day if we had gone the wrong way. Kind of like the anniversary card Marianne brought me this summer.
But we're back. We now know it's normal to wash chicken s--- off eggs and to see fireworks over the church outside our windows. Our lives here have a wider swing between the good and the not-so-good when compared with "the old country". On our good days we say "That's why we're here!" On bad days we still say "Why are we here!". Maybe it's inevitable when volunteering to live anywhere temporarily.
We have had a guest or two lately and that has been fun. Marianne particularly likes helping friends spend THEIR money. Here she's helping our friend Lief (of the exploding Sport Hotel fame a couple months ago) buy a coral necklace. We're not sure why Ukraine has good coral but it does seem to. Also good amber if you want to plan your next trip here. The other thing we do with guests is eat. This was a very nice restaurant floating on the Dniper river and we went there with work friends. That's my office mate Peter and his wife Laura on one side and me, Marianne and Marty, a US visitor on the other side. The restaurant setting was made to look like a mountain hunting lodge. Fun surroundings and good food as well.
Marianne's work has started too with all the teacher-types recovering from their extended time off. Each year starts with a nice quiet bar b que at the Director's house. His house is out near my office so I get to drop by and meet all the new teachers. Overseas schools have a fairly high turnover because many expatriates have one- or two-year contracts. These social gatherings are a good opportunity to tell scary stories about the upcoming winter. However, the school seems to recruit Canadians and people from the Northern US so they seem unfazed. Just wait, they haven't seen the drainpipes yet.
By week's end, the quiet bar b que has given way to a rowdy T.G.I.F. party, courtesy of the Canadian embassy. Maybe those guys are OK after all - except they speak a funny English ya' know. On Sunday, we had yet another school function, this time at "Perigova", a park where examples of old peasant architecture are placed is natural surroundings. By now I have a zillion pictures of the place but had to add a few more. Of course the main purpose of the picnic is to meet parents and our new teacher-friends. Our last picture shows what happens when teachers decide to give each other haircuts. David, Robert and Rob promised to offer similar cuts to all comers every five weeks throughout the year. I think I'll pass although short hair (or no hair) is something of a Trotter family tradition.
Well Trotters and others, I have to go to work. We hope you enjoy yet another little look at life in Kyiv, where the winters are long, the hair is short and half the Americans are Canadian.
Regards,
John and Marianne
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Home Diaries Best Pictures Road Trip
Originally
sent September 13, 1999. Reformatted June 4, 2001.
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