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Normal Life on the Way To Winter

Sunday, October 15, 2000

Today, October 15, is the day in Kyiv when the heat is allowed to be turned on. For our other two years, starting the central heat was a big occasion because it had already been cold for two or three weeks. This year, knock on wood, it's still OK. Even better than OK, it's bright, sunny and almost warm. The market is still full and mostly outside. Last year this same scene had snow flurries obscuring the fruit man.

Both Marianne and I are back in our work routines. I mostly just write, meet, talk and listen. Occasionally I get to attend a dinner with my professional engineers. That's Bill on the left, Dan on the far right and a couple of dummies in the middle. (Or is it Bill and Dan in the middle and ...)

Marianne has more fun than I do. A couple weekends ago, we went with another teacher and her husband Marv out to the farms west of Kyiv on a scouting trip. Marianne and her friend Marilyn have a program where Marianne's big kids (11-year-olds) team up with Marilyn's six-year-olds once a week and do big-buddy/little-buddy projects. This month one week's plan was to "see, smell, hear and listen to the activities of Fall". All the kids would go out to the harvesting fields and experience what they could. Most of the students are just city kids so this would certainly be educational and a half-day out of the classroom as well.

Marilyn, Marianne, Marv and I had to scout out likely locations for this real-world experience. At out first stop, we pulled over and the teachers went off into a tattered apple orchard to examine the tress. Not many apples but lots of weeds and underbrush. Meanwhile, Marv and I are up at the car explaining to the field watchman that we just wanted to park a bit and let our wives wander around the orchard. The guard didn't seem to mind them wandering in his fields but he said the boss forbids any parking alongside the road. We pondered the rationale for this and fortunately, our exploring scouts returned before "the boss" had to be called. Stop #1, not so friendly.

Stop #2 was a nearby cabbage patch. Once again, the teachers wander off. Once again, a field guard comes racing over to us, this time on an old bicycle. This guard accused us of stealing his cabbage. Marv is a Canadian diplomat, fluent in Ukranian (and Russian if needed) and he tried to tell our innocent story. The guard was having none of it. Diplomat or not, we had to leave.

The next stop was peaceful, maybe because the crop had already been harvested. Here's Marv further risking arrest by standing in the field. Just before harvest, many fields like this are yellow with grain. When the skies are as blue, as they were this day, the scene paints the flag of Ukraine - a light blue field above yellow.

As a final stop, we paused a few minutes in an old village. Unfortunately, our pictures showed very little because all the little old homes were surrounded by high fences. The village seemed like nothing special, just a couple dozen homes with gardens all around. Later, on the real school trip, Marianne learned that this simple village, like many around here, was indeed special since it had been settled for over a thousand years - with remarkably little change in daily routine for the residents.

Last Friday, the big field trip happened: thirty-four kids and a handful of teachers in two busses. This time, instead of having guards chase the foreign invaders away, the farm workers invited the kids into the field to pick vegetables and take them home. So everyone got carrots, beets and squash. Marianne would also have gotten wonderful pictures -- except she forgot the cameras. Consequently, the kids got good grades on the trip but the teacher received an "F" for "forgot".

Speaking of forgot, I forgot to mention that we adopted a baby.. For one evening. That's Christopher with Marianne. He's the son of a teaching couple at her school. We offered to take over for as long as they wanted so they could enjoy a night out. It seemed like fun for everyone, even if it meant I had to stay up until midnight. (Shortly after this picture had been taken, both subjects were sound asleep.)

And that's not the only evening this weekend when we stayed up into the next day. Last night, we went with a bunch of friends to "Latin Night". The annual fund raiser is organized by the International Women's Club. Lots of talking, drinking, eating and even dancing. I would have danced more but, after we didn't win any of the door prizes, we voted to go home early. We're not REALLY party animals after all but we did enjoy it and will certainly add it to our annual social calendar. (Yikes ... I'm talking like a lifer over here!)

The fact of the matter is that we are comfortable here. The relatively late onset of winter has helped. If we can just keep THAT season under six months, our mental outlook will be OK. And if the weather gets too bad, this year we will just settle into our cozy living room, start a fire and enjoy our private nest.

Almost private. The last picture is from this month's "Salon" magazine here in Ukraine. Our apartment is featured in a nine-page spread. The pictures are wonderful but we'll need to use a Ukranian translator to see what the text says. We recognize that "Salon" (Ukraine) isn't the same as "Sunset" (California) but the paper is just as glossy, the pictures as professional and the writing undoubtedly as witty, charming and informative. Now, if we could just read it. Seeing our project "published" is fun. We don't care what size our little pond is, it makes us fish pretty proud.

So now, any of you can come to visit and stay in a famous residence. Free. Breakfast included.

In the meantime, we hope everyone will be healthy and happy -- and interested in writing an email or two.

John and Marianne.

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Originally mailed October 15, 2000. Reformatted for the web on May 22, 2001.

This page created on a Macintosh using PhotoPage by John A. Vink.