As I'm not doing much outdoors at the moment because of the slippery conditions, it has given me a bit of time to read over my blog entries for the last months. What a journey it has been.
I remember so well the really bad nervous feeling that I had in my stomach before I left home. It is a shocking feeling not knowing anything about a place you are going to spend the next 9 months of your life, thousands of miles away from your family & friends & not being able to speak the language. Hearing the stories about the gas being cut off in Ukraine in 2008 etc probably clouded the expectations a bit too. Even in familar Kuala Lumpur, the sick feeling wouldnt go away, except when I had the fish spa, which Frank insisted on, (thanks mate... you know how to get someone to take their mind off someting), and the day spent with Shonks watching Bathurst in the hotel.
On to Kharkiv... and somehow the feeling changed.... so quickly. I think it was a case of "snap out of it", you have to go to work, you have to buy food to eat etc, so you just get on with dealing with the difficult things. The first good thing was my lovely apartment. (Thanks Anya :-)) ..Just the right size for me and everything supplied.. almost! I Cooking utensils are a bit light on & hence no hearty meals are being consumed (even if I could read the labels in the supermarket). Mishka..... we must speak to Tanya (landlord), & organise so we can have our big feast. Sasha can bring the toaster & bread so we can have vegemite on toast.... :-)))
The lifestyle.... is totally different here from Australia, but you grow with it.. Food for me is unusual , & I it makes me appreciate a lot more the goodies I can buy at home & the freshness, although Maryna and Andrey are helping me with this. :-)) Winter has been long and hard to say the least! However, I am glad I have experienced it....(Did I really just say that?).... No more complaining about Melbourne weather from me. Everyone should come to far Eastern Europe just once in the winter to experience it. One recommendation ... Bring SPIKES or something to help with walking on the ICE!!!!
Ukraine people ! Apart from a couple of bad VOLGA drivers, I dont think I have met a nicer bunch of people, even though I can't communicate very well with them. I am facinated when I look out of my apartment window & watch all the goings on. It is a little bit like the TV series Melrose Place. Everyone seems to know each other. The local superamarket girls know me know & smile when I come in for my session of finger pointing for the items I need. I have not seen one incident of road rage, as we know it, since I have been here, everyone is calm on the potholed, icy roads. They let cars merge into the queue & generally seem to have respect for other road users... except pedestrians.... I'm not sure of the road rules, but it doesn't seem that you have to stop to let the pedestrians cross at the pedestrian crossing, which are not flood lit at night so you cant see the people till they are actually halfway across the road anyway!
Most importantly to me, the people belonging to and assocaited with PM that have helped me so far in this journey. They have really been teriffic and I can honestly say, without them, I would probably be back in Australia by now. Your pics have all appeared in my blog over the months & I hope you all know how much I appreciate the friendship we have. We have had so much fun & we have all supported each other in different situations. It has been great so far and we still have another 4 months and good weather to come.... Yey!!! Bring on spring so we can kick the footy around....... and see the countryside of Kharkiv !
Enough reflection.. Went and had my hair done again last night (Luciana they put some stange orange stuff in my hair... we must discuss what it is) and came out looking beautiful! Mishka and Mashka had the job of getting me home though the ice & so I met them at the restaurant next door to the hair dresser and had a beer with them as they finished their meal. On the way home I think Mishka slipped on the ice more than I did... He put it down to tiredness, I put it down to the couple of warming vodkas he had after the meal...LOL Tonight we are going to Stargorod http://www.kharkovinfo.com/kharkov-pubbrewery-stargorod.html for a few quite ales and some tucker. Half the team are off to Poland (Krakow) on Sunday for unit testing for two weeks & I'm coming back home for a short visit in a week and a half, so this is the last gathering we will be able to have as a group for a while. I'll finish this part of the blog now & go and do a few domestic things. I'll complete the blog with pics of tonights festivities tomorrow when I have more time. ...
Sunday morning now... We couldnt get in to Stargorod, so we ended up at Adriano's, a bit of a regular of ours. A few people couldnt make it, but it was fun as per usual. We finally finished Sasha's birthday present. It was a poster of us and the fun times we have had so far in Kharkiv, a boomerang to kill all those nastie snakes, spiders and things in Australia when he comes to visit, and a great Krakow guide, which will come in handy for him over the next two weeks. He was very happy with his gifts, even if they were a few months late !
Sasha not pulling a face for a changeMasha, get a couple of colour foils in that lovely hair....
It's noon already & I must get off my butt & get some food & water. Hopefully later this afternoon, I will visit Michal & we can play a little bit with my bolg header & get some new pics into it. So by the time you read the next blog, take a bit of time to view the updated pics before you read the blog.
Home on the 12th March to lap up some sun & colour. Back to Kharkiv on the 24th for a couple of days the off to Poland for two weeks of testing.
xm
Thanks to Mishka and Mashka for a nice meal, the blog header pic update & MP4 stuff. My IS guy almost failed in his conquest to get the pics updated on time before Australia woke up, but as per usual, he came through with flying colours as you can see. After Poland We will update the pics again.... for a bottle of Bear Crossing Chardonay.....of course :-))))
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