Leading up to Christmas

The Christmas decorations are going up and they do it quite well here in Kharkiv. Not just a few lights on the trees in the street but the whole trees have lights! Snow is predicted for this week so hopefully a white December 25th for me. However, Ukraine celebrates Christmas on the 7th January, so, I will be working on December 25th!! Most of the STA’s will be going home but Sasha and I will be in Kharkov for Dec 25th and new years eve and we will go to the big square (where Lenin’s statue stands). I’m looking forward to seeing in the New Year with a good friend and my adopted country!

Coming home on the 5th of January for a much needed fix of warm weather, sun, family and friends. Flight home takes me via Kharkiv, Vienna, London, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and finally Melbourne over two days. This is the best option!! Others included 8 hours stop over at airports in Kiev, Frankfurt etc and added an extra day to the trip. Tried every airline and route possible but everything else was shocking.

I am looking forward to a good Parma & chips, fresh fruit,,,,, cherries, apricots, nectarines and apples that don’t taste like flour when you bit into them! Water out of the tap (George, you cant drink the water),and reading the Herald Sun in the lounge, listening to the news (in English) shit, I am even looking forward to the PML Moorabbin canteen food.... fresh bacon and eggs!!!!
Catnap has sent more photos through of my babies & news that they are starting to come out of their shell a little bit. It is a comfort to know they are being looked after well & getting special treats for Christmas. Thanks Jarom & all at Catnap Cattery at Knoxfield in Victoria, Australia (Nice Plug)

Work is fine and nearing the end of the blueprint phase. Next phase is hard work, developing the system, testing, training etc..... but we have a good team and I have confidence we will deliver the results.

We have decided to have a ski trip! Yes they ski here and apparently, the ski fields are not too far away.... I’m not sure about this, this place is very flat. I cant see any hills !! I will be contacting my Ukraine saviour Inna and asking for advise on where to go and how to get there. My IS guy has added a cooment to my blog (see below) after it has been published, reminding me that we also agreed to build a snowman and make it the best in the district... carrots for the nose, hat, sticks for the arms etc   *&(#   I am going to need 40 degrees plus when I get home to thaw out!        Also need another trip to the hair dresser before I come home, sorry Essa, I dont think it will last till Jan !!!

Last night was the usual Friday night except Sasha was going home on Saturday morning at 6am. Good food at our favourite pizza place & we toasted his Sashas trip with vodka....... 5... I believe... right guys?

Lessons in Russian.
It means your mood... loosely translated

It was very cold.....
-4 to -7 at night

















ET come home..........See what Vodka does to you!!!

For some reason I was awake early on Saturday morning & so knowing that PML was having the Xmas party that night, I text Frank & told him to say hi to everyone for me. When I came back from the local shop, the phone was ringing! Yep, my mates are at the party and decided to call! So nice to hear their voices amongst all the noise and music :-) thanks for the call guys & hope you had fun & the after effects weren’t too bad !! Please send me the link to the photos so I can see you in your finest moments, hopefully Kafritsas with his shirt on !

Sunday..... snow all day and cold!
View from my apartment



















Monday 7-12-09. Coming to work this morning was ... interesting to say the least. First, I nearly went A over T as I came out of my apartment, sliping on the ICE on the footpath and roads. I wondered how the VOLGA would handle the icy roads, but given the weight of these things, it traveled OK. They try and spread sand over the ice to help the pedestrians and cars stop slipping. We didnt see any accidents, so maybe it works? Still its a bit scary, so I am glad the traffic slowed down to accomodate the conditions.

We are going to buy Xmas decorations for our apartments this week to try and get in the mood a little bit.

It looks like Australia and Germany will be playing the first World Cup match 13th June 2010 while we are sitll in Ukraine. I think we will have a big party as it will be me (Australia ) against Christina (Germany).

We all got issued with our handy cards today, so now we have Ukraine tax file numbers and bank accounts. Not quite like having a Swiss bank account, but its better than carrying around bucket loads of cash

Folks, feel free to leave comments on the blog....

Пока!

xm