Having fun in Ukraine !: Just another week in Kharkiv

Yep, things are back to normal. Im used to dressing in layers, wearing thick jackets, scarves, gloves and hats to ward off the cold. I think my tan from Melbourne has all but gone. :-( Michal is back from Poland with VISA in passport....., Sasha is somewhere...... having to exit and re-enter the country and Christina has left for her holiday in CUBA.... Last week we had 3 days for the first time when the whole team was together.. Vlad has just joined us from another project and makes the team complete of full time members.

Felipe and Paola were caught up in in incident last week involving some local police. They were taken into an undergound Metro office where they had no mobile coverage and were asked for there passports. Unfortunately, they didnt have their passports on them and so began a hour of interrigation for my friends... without going into details, they survived, and lived to tell the tale, but it is something I would not wish for any of my friends to go through.... beware of cops in ukraine.... Corruption is rife.

I am trying to brighten up the office a bit to showcase the worderful combination of cultures we have in the team. I have put up the Aussie flag in the office, Christina has put up the German flag and I am encouraging the rest of the team to bring their countries flags back to Ukraine to add to the collection. At the end of this adventure, I would like to take home the Ukraine flag with the names and messages of all the people I have met in this country written on it. It would be a great momento of my time here. It looks like I have to educate a few people in the office though. It seems that some people over here dont recognise the Aussie flag!!! I might have to bring back the Boxing Kangaroo flag back next time. That will provide a talking point!! Thanks mum, I know what you are doing at the $2 shop now if you havent already!

Team dinner at Puska this week where a few VODKA's went down.

This is the Aussie flag flying in Pushka and I am proud of my ironing effort.

A few of my friends enjoy my delight... Maryna and Christina

Mishka, you always have to get your face in the picture ....you Legend!!!

Pushka night was good, no need for a reason to celebrate and eat out, we just did. Thanks to Uncle Phil for picking up the tab.

Me and my best mates Mishka and Dima...Love you two to bits...xx

Always up for a hug with Dima and Christina

Filipe & I have bunny ears.....

Pasha, Maryna and Sasha

Sasha, Vlad (new team member) and Mishka

Pasha, Sasha and Sasha. There are a lot of Sasha's in Ukraine !!

The Original Sasha wearing the Aussie cap ... my special freind you are like a little brother to Mezz

OK, so that was Pushka.... I look in the fridge and pantry during the week & I really dont have much in the way of food.... I have been surviving on PM canteen food for a while, so I suggest to Michal that we stop off at TARGET (grocery store, not Target as we know in Aust), on the way home to get a few essentials. Write a list I say to Mishka the day before, so we dont forget what we need to get as it will be a quick stop. Michal is in desperate need of toilet rolls .... , so that will be the first priority!

The VOLGA stops at TARGET, and as quickly as we can, Mishka and I dart into the store. Dima stays in the VOLGA to guard our belongings. I tell Mishka to go hard left and to the back to the toiletries section and in no time, we have our toilet rolls. What else do you need Mishka? I didnt make a list....... he says!!!!... Hmm typical! So I dart off to get meat, cheese, ham,eggs etc. I occasionally see Mishka looking at things but not puting much in the trolley. We finally catch up and run to the checkout. I have spent $300 UAH and Mishka has about three things in his basket including wine. We run back out to the VOLGA and throw the groceries in the back of the VOLGA. I take out my bottle of wine from the boot and take it with me into the back seat of the VOLGA. Mishka does not follow my example and leaves his wine in the boot. As we head off home, Mishka says.... Hmm maybe that was not a good idea leaving the wine and eggs in the boot.... this ride home could end up with scrambled eggs and red wine in the boot of the VOLGA.. We laugh like crazy and every bump or ditch we hit in the road (which is a lot), we look at each other and laugh. We drop Mishka off at his place and as we get out at my place, I notice there are two lots of toilet rolls in the boot of the VOLGA! The one and only thing that Mishka desperately needed, he left behind!! I guess it will be another day of using newspaper to wipe your arse Mishka!!!! These are the funny things that help us survive in Kharkiv.

A quiet Saturday night at my place last night with the gang. I put the Essendon V's Collingwood game on the TV and tried to explain the game to the Europeans. They kept saying, but you throw the ball as they do in Rugby! No its a handpass I say.... It is difficult to explain Aussie Rules to these guys. It is like no other game in the world. We are indeed a unique country when it comes to football!!!! Dima has had the AFL footy blown up so in spring when the ICE has gone, I will take the team out to a park for a bit of kick to kick and see if the boys can take a few speckies... Really looking forward to that :-)

After the AFL game, I threw on a Pink DVD and we played Mastermind and Yatzee for a while. A bit of fun. I did forget however to get the vegemite out and let everyone have a taste!!! Where is my brain at the moment?

Masha and Mishka

Paola and Filipe playing Mastermind... which had them stumped

Well that's it for me for this week.

I see that it is up in the 30's again in Melbourne! It's 2.30 Melbourne time and I have just read the Herald Sun online and seen the tributes to Feb 7th Black Saturday last year. Shocking memories for those who were impacted by some of the worst fires in Victoria's history.