Back to Харків (Kharkiv)

What a journey..Five airports and about 30+ hours of travel all up, but I finally made it, almost unscathed with about 2 hours of sleep! Yes the Vegemite and Tim Tams survived customs, but the luggage didnt travel too well. It was booked right through from Melbourne to Kharkiv, which meant I didnt have to go through customs and pick it up and re check it in at all. However, when I got to Kharkiv, no bag!!! I was lucky that Inna picked me up at the airport, as I had to go and report the lost luggage in the office. It is always handy having someone who speaks Russian there on hand to clarify and speed things along. The office actually located my luggage very quickly and told me it was in Frankfurt ! They should have it to me by tomorrow afternoon.

Finally get home & I'm almost too tired to sleep. Throw myself into bed and have a rarther sleepless night (garbage truck turned up at 2pm and made noise for about an hour, got up to have a wee and bumped into everything in the apartment, so I ended up turning on the lights& then I was wide awake!).


The airline called the next day and said they have the case, but the lock is not on the case and the zip is broken! My heart sinks as I think of all the gifts and DVD's I packed, very few clothes or personal items as I have all my winter stuff in Ukraine. Austrain airways deliver the case to PMU and Dima and I walk down to the gatehouse to receive it and have a look. Yep, it is my case and the baggage label from Frankfurt to Kharkiv is not attached to the case and indeed, the lock is nowhere to be seen and the bag is strapped up with Austrian airline tape, but funny enough, it feels about the same weight and after initial inspection, I can see a few goodies still inside.

These shots were taken from the plane to try and give you an idea of the size of Kharkiv 1.5 mill people live here, second largest city in Ukraine






 

Took these pics for insurance purposes. See how the KL-Frankfurt tag is intact, but the Frankfurt Kharkiv tag has been removed! A bit sus!

Anyway,I get home and open it up and you wouldnt beleive it, I think everything is there. All presents accounted for, all DVD's intact, even the AFL footy survived!...... more on that later...

The first two days of work were a bit of a blur.... It was great to see everyone again & I handed out the Tim Tams which dissapeared very qiuckly! I have one pack left which I am saving cause my IS guy was not in town when I got back. Seems he had a little problem with the authorities!!! Something about needing a VISA if you are going to work in Ukraine!! Unlike tourists! Now we have always known that Michal was a criminalist (see earlier blog about our brush with the military), but this was serious. Michal had to leave the country and return to Poland to get a visa to enable him to return to Ukraine. Fortunately, he had not overstayed his welcome, he came very close, so no criminal charges will be laid, however, he had to do some serious negotiating over two days throughout various regions of Poland to get his Visa. Miss you Mishka, come home soon so we can share Bear Crossing and Tim Tams together!

Turned on the TV when I got home to watch my favorite channel "Bloomberg" (the only English speaking channel I can get)........ Nothing, Nada..... no TV at all! So I raise an SR to my local help desk (sorry non PM people..... in joke), and a man arrives on Saturday morning to fix it and attend to the fact that I have no power in my bedroom! After about an hour, the TV is fixed..... sort of, an I have power back in my room. The only chanel I can now get in English is BBC! Which is great, when it works! There is something wrong with th reception in this apartment & whenever it rains, snows or the snow melts (which is every day), I have no reception! I have almost given up with the bloody thing! Its a good thing I brought all the DVD's from home. Yesterday I amused myself with a couple of episodes of Spiks and Specks & Bathurst early years (thanks Shonks). It was good viewing.

Last night, we wnet to Filipe and Paola's place for dinner. Meet Felipe and Paola.....

They are from Columbia and souch a lovely couple. Felipe joined the team while I was on home leave in Aust. Welcome aboard both of you and I hope you enjoy the journey as much as we have in the last three months!

Anyway, dinner was great , a lovely salad followed by a wonderful meal of fish and dessert and chocholate, washed down with wine and VODKA! Thanks Felipe and Paola..... That meal will be hard to beat! Sorry Mishka, you missed a good one! Music and salsa dancing followed, and a great time was had by all.

Christina, Dima & Maryna

Filipe and me

Andrey, me and Pierre-Andre

Dima & me

Us learning the Salsa

And here is how the professionals do it.... It was good to watch

Look what I had for lunch on Saturday............... black gold...thanks Eee & Lynda

The bread is not the sort of bread we have in Aust, so Vegemite on toast is not quite the same.... Still tastes good though!!!!!

I must admit, its nice to be back in Харків  with my mates, but I do miss the warmth. It is quite mild for my home coming -1 as I write this (I can see all the Aussies quivering in their thongs), and it looks like it is going to be a mild week ranging from -3 to +3, but then next week it gets back into the -18's again Ugh!!!

Still dont have full movement in the knee which is frustrating given it has now been 4 weeks, but the Doc did say it would take a while for the swelling to completely go down. Everyone has been great helping me get around & I did have a very slow walk to my local supermarket by myself yesterday, but with the conditions as they are I am still very tentative. Guess I will be a bit like a tortise for a while... slow and steady......

More soon

xm

Oh, forgot to mention. Catnap cattery e-mailed me yesterday to tell me my babies have been moved into the Presidential suite! They look happy and still fat. Thanks Jarom

Time to fly back to Ukraine

Hmmm. How hard is it to leave +26 degrees and fly back to -23 degrees. Yep folks that is what it is today in my second home Kharkiv. I have spent the last few days in the sun, having the great Aussie BBQ and enjoying being home. Must thank Mum, Dad & Sooty in particular for putting up with me at their place almost every day since I've been home. Love your view & enjoyed every moment of each visit, but not loosing to dad at pool. I have managed to get quite a good tan, relax and the knee is coming along well but still a way to go yet. Spent a bit of time at work while at home catching up with mates and doing a presentation on what I am working on in Ukraine, so I still have my finger in the pie, although I must admit, I dont feel I belong anywhere at the monent. You cant get too involved in work in Aus and you are too far away from Ukraine and the time difference doesnt help keeping in contact with my mates back there. Will check in tonight though to see what you are all up to.

I have packed my bag, unpacked it and repacked it about 3 times. Everyone at home has been generous with stuff to take back to make my life enjoyable, but I just cant fit everything in. I have lots of goodies for my buddies in Ukraine.... but some of them will have to wait for the appropriate time to be given..!!! Can't say any more on that yet. Christina, Michal, Sasha, Dima, Felipe, Maryna & Pierre-Andre, I'm bringing back some games & stuff to keep us occupied during the winter weekends.

I've had some great e-mails for Ukraine telling me how much they miss me and this is the incentive I need to come back to the ICE..... It nice to know people appreciate you and have formed really good freindships...

So to my mates in Aus, enjoy Australia Day tomorrow (Public Holiday). Fly the flag, chuck a snag on the Barby for me and have a few beers for me while I fly back to Ukraine.

N. Keep in touch & you will be fine. Just remember to aim high & beleive in yourself. Lisa, next time I come home we need to plan a little better. Eee & Lynda, MEXICAN on my next return please. To all at PML, keep me up to date with the gossip. You have been very quite over the last three months. Mum & Dad.. Thanks for everything. It has been just what I needed.

Jarom and all at Catnap. Thank you for looking after my babies. I know they are being well looked after and loved. But remember, they are my babies... Love them to bits while I'm away, but you need to be prepared to give them back to me after this adventure is over..... Thank you, thank you, thank you, you are wonderful, loving animal caring people.

To my Ukraine mates, I will see you on .... I think it will be Thursday at work.. arrive back on the 27th from Vienna, so yes after 30+ odd hours of flying, I wont be in at work after I fly in. Wait for it though.... You will know when this tanned Aussie chick is back in town.

Mishka, I have noticed you have updated the pics in your blog. Its time to share another Bear Crossing bottle with me again and update my pics. I also have some new technology that I need help with MP4 ?? I dont understand, please help!

My last meal in Aus will be a Traditional Meal... at the footy..... meat pie & sauce.

As for me. Dinner, then going back outside to get the last rays of the day. Bed, then domestic stuff around the house before flying out tomorrow at 3.30pm

Cheers

xm

Home with friends

Have had a wonderful day today. Went with mum to buy some fresh fruit at a local place we know about 10km from home.

This is the Orchard we go to. Product is so fresh









Picked up the fruit & veg & decided to take the back road to Eastland shopping centre where we picked up a few "things" for mates back in Ukraine.  On the back road, we came across a very common sign in Australia.

This pic was taken in relative surburbia in a place called Wonga Park..  and yes you do get  Roos grazing here. Sasha, this is real life in Aus. Im not shitting you...



Next stop was Easland where Mum & I went to Australian Geographic and ABC shop where a few purchases were made. Mishka, purchase was sucessfull and the entire gift will be great :-)

Home to Mum and Dads for a lunch of prawns and salad....... yum! then off to Naomi and Jasons's place.

Naomi is a sales woman, (and a very good one at that), who sold  Mum and Dad their retirement village house.  & we have become good mates. I think the first social engagement we went to was at her house to watch the AFL grand final,(wait for it Kharkiv, its coming) ,& we had a great time with heaps of food and drink & I ended up staying the night on the couch with her two dogs Maisy and Freckles. In the morning I realised Maisy had wedged herself between the couch and me to get the best comfort and warmth for her. So typical of loving dogs. Here are pics of Maisy & Freckles .

Maisy on her favorite place on the couch with tounge hanging out










Waiting for food.....

I am beautiful!

Freckles







Sadly, Maisy died over the Christmas period. When Naomi told me the news, I was devistated. Such a wonderful little dog.  Maisy, rest in peace sweetheart, you had eight fantastic years with a wonderful family.  Naomi, you can't replace her, but given time your heart will grow again and you will adopt another needy pet. .

My mate Naomi xx









Beautiful Jason... N's fiance

TJ....  My other IS man, watch out Mishka!









Working hard to get some strength back in the knee. I'm in a brace for a while to help with stability, especially when I hit the ICE again in Kharkiv. They havent taken the leg off yet, which is good news!

Got the results of the MRI & both the doctor & Physio, (Kelly... thanks for getting me back to relative normal), said thay cant beleive how lucky I have been. Could have been major ligament damage and even broken bones. I have come out of it relatively unscathed. Torn cartlige under the knee cap, slight damage to the ligament at the back of the knee, bone bruising and lots of other medical tems they used that I cant remember. Doc says it will take a good 4 weeks for full recovery. Its been 18 days now & I still have some swelling which is frustrating, as I still dont have full movement. So to my mates in Ukraine, I will need a little help when i get back getting around, especially when I'm outside. Pierre-Andre, need to get acquainted with your gym in Kharkiv. Dima, Michal, Christina, Sasha and Felipe, Maryna, Anya, Inna,  maybe you can organise a sled for me and you call pull me through the streets....LOL

Some more visitors in the backyard.

Mum & Dads cat Sooty
Big fat girl

Me planting a big kiss
on Eee (Ian). I couldnt say
Ian when I was young
so I just called him Eee

We went to Club Ringwood to celebrate dads birthday. Good meal & then we threw a few dollars in the Pokies. None of us ever seem to win anthing apart from Dad....... and of course, he won AUD$90 or UAH $670! Not bad for 15 minutes !

Been catching up with friends from PML

Jim

Danny

Peter

Bob, John, & Gayle

all good mates who encouraged

me to take on the Ukraine

project.

Its been fun catching up with work collegues. They all ask the same questions. What is PMU like? It is like every other PM factory I have visited. Big and very clean. The processes are the same, the problems are the same, although their uptime is better than ours, and the people are the same. Tobacco workers whinge about change and the politics is as bad as PML. The other questions they ask are about life in Ukraine. I tell them that for me personally, it is a little hard outside of work as you have the language barrier, and the extreme cold, which I dont think I could ever get used to coming from a sunburnt country (have you heard of that phrase Sasha?). However, as I keep saying, I am enjoying the experience, I am still alive, although battered and bruised, and I want to go back to experience a green, warmer Kharkiv, with all my very good friends.

As for travel plans when the weather gets better, we are planning to go to Crimea, near the Black Sea, during May when Ukraine has some linked public holidays. There will also be a visit to Poland for system testing during March/April, so Michal will be able to show us his country. I would like to get up to Lithuania to visit the Coutts family, but again that will have to be a long weekend. Prague is the other place I would love to visit, baut maybe near the end of my stay or on they way home.

It has been wonderful being home, having the sun beating down on me. I have missed it, and when I have finished my stay in Kharkiv, I will be coming back to Melbourne winter :-( so that will be three winters in a row without a full summer. Not good for this Aussie chick who loves the warm weather.

Speaking of winter. It's mid summer here and we are having a bit of a cold snap..... seems to be following me! In Melbourne we have had snow ... Yes snow in the middle of summer....in the high country, not in the city, thats about 300km away. Still, cold in Melbourne, +15.....chilly!!! (Not compared to Kharkiv), but here cold and in need of heating.

Thanks to Mum, Dad, Eee, Lynda, Jenny E, Kim, Naomi and others for all the DVD's I am taking back to watch, beats watching local TV.

This is probably going to be the last blog from home. If there is anything else that happens, I will write about it in the next blog from Ukraine. To my Ukraine friends, please try and find a way of melting the snow and ice for my return. For my Aussie mates, its been good catching up. Lisa, next time we plan it a little better.

Cheers
xm

Home with Family

For those Aussies who have been reading about me and my mates in Ukraine, the next couple of blogs are for my Ukraine based friends. I want to show them a bit of Australia and in particlar, Melbourne and my friends and family. So, here we go. Lots of Pics. Bye the way +28 here today hehehe,  -6 in Kharkiv.


I live in a suburb of Melbourne called Nunawading.  I live about 25km from both the PM office and the city
http://www.street-directory.com.au/sd_new/mapsearch.cgi
You can use the link above to have a look at the map and get a feel for directions.
This is my house

Its called Merrin's Manor

These are some of the local visitors I get in the backyard

Cocky. These guys can give you a nasty bite  Sasha

Kookaburra

And my babies Bella and Middy. Still in the cattery and Middy has cracked the shits with me. Turned her back on me and sulked in the corner. They are still both fat and healthy, and being well looked after. Thanks Jarom & staff at Catnap Knoxfield.

The first couple of days back involved doctors and physio appointments to get the knee sorted out (more on that later), visits to mum & dads and eating the local delights.

Me doing exercises to strenghthen the knee

Dad & I have a pool competition going. The looser of each of three games puts in $1.00 At the end of the year we all go out to lunch on the winnings.

Me at Georges

this was a great burger

Havent yet found a good hamburger in Kharkiv (Mc Donalds doesnt count) and Georges in Croydon does a great beef & burgandy pie washed down with an Aussie beer! Have been to Georges twice since being back & still havent had the favorite yet.

I get to drive my car

A little bit nicer than a VOLGA, no offence to my Russian and Ukraine mates.

OK, so that was the first couple of days. Next was someones birthday! Thank you everyone from Ukraine for your birthday wishes. So nice to get them from so far away. I celebrated with family and the traditional Aussie BBQ. Fine day and temperature was +25. Brother, Ian (Eee), sister in law Lynda, Mum & Dad & Shirley, one of mums freinds all came up to Mum & dads house and a feast was had. I went back for seconds, (food and wine), and lots of pics were taken. Here we go again.....

Eee & sis

Lynda

Fresh fruits of summer... Yumm

My Mum, thanks Mum and Dad for a great day at your place ......xm

Eee got a ride in a V8 Supercar as a gift from Lynda for Christmas. This is what a real powerful Aussie car looks like in action in one of our famous races Bathurst (remember second blog, Kim & I watching Bathurst?)

And this is Eees trophy from his ride in one very fast V8 Supercar....Shit hot!!

And the last pic for my good mate Sasha. This is a Magpie. Dont confuse it with the AFL team that everyone loves to hate, although often their behaviour is the same as the footballers! Sorry Deb & Sam,(havent heard from you for ages, are you in the country?). These birds can take your eye out with those extremely sharp beaks of theirs. Hehehe, just another part of Aussie nature that you have to watch out for (along with spiders, snakes, sharks, stingers) when you visit, but these Aussie creatures are a lot more compassionate than Ukraine ICE!!!!!!!!

More very soon

xm         Did I mention It is +28 here today? ????