Flags are coming down!

Readers, there was at least one more blog that I wanted to post before the final goodbye, but I just ran out of time. Now that Im home, I have a couple of days before I go back to work, so in between seeing family and friends, I have had time to finish the blog of the festivities of the last few days..... so here it is..... lots of pics, not much commentary, but not many words are needed to realise that we had a great few last days!

Yes time is running out & all the flags are being brought down off the walls in the office, so people can write their personal messages on them.

Australia, Ukraine
Germany

Poland








Russia and Swiss













The parties are in full swing still and here are a few pics from the last few days. No words are needed, the pictures speak for themselves  ! You have to remember that we had all been working extremely hard and without a single day off for 15 days or so, so we were all extremely tired and sometimes a bit flat, but as always, we had fun.

First of all, we had to finish off the
second ever bottle
of VODKA I pruchased in
Ukraine!
Wake up Mishka!



Then we had to go to the bank to withdrawl all our money from our Ukraine bank accounts

Thanks Masha for the tranlation...

Now that we were rich, we could party again! Friday 25 June!

 On the balcony of Dima's apartment. Great views

The view from Dima's apartment

On to a restaurant for a kabab feed

 

 

 Dima and the girls having fun

OK...... onto the picnic Sunday 27th June. We had been wanting to get out of town and see the countryside and have a picnic. So Andrey and a few of the boys, purchased meat, salads, beer and hired a mini bus and off we went. It was a great spot by a river and a few of the team even had a swim, some by accident! The sun was shining and we played volleyball, badmitton and kicked the AFL footy around.

 Mishka meditating!

 Christina kicking the footy

 Mishka, what are you doing??

 

 

 Playing volleyball

 Only an Aussie can drink beer and play volleyball at the same time!!

 The feast !

 Sasha S enjoying the sun

Two very special friends

The boys playing the fool

A bit puffed ! Just having a rest

The swimmers.... well Mishka paddled and splashed! The rest swam

Home time

The next day Monday 28th June, we had booked a table at Stargorod. We had been trying to get into theis place for ages, but it was hard to get everyone organised. This was our last chance within our group to say goodbye before the official goodbye with senior management and co at the PMU do at Baden Baden the following night.

Inna & I

The flag!

As always, Mishka and his harem!

Christina asleep..... I told you we were all tired!

Yes we did eat and it was good!

OK.... next party.... the last official PMU party. It was fun with singing and dancing, good food and company. There were a lot of different faces from the normal crowd. Uncle Phill put on a nice do and as it was a farewell to us ... the STA's, so we enjoyed the hospitality.

Dima, me and Sasha S

Christina

The work team....well... a few missing heads

Mishka and Sveta

A special moment with Sasha

Whats the secret Sveta ?

Mishka and his farewell speach..

My Dima, always the gentleman

And then the night before I left when Mishka, Masha and I went to Pivo Bar for my final meal in Kharkiv. It was a subdude night, none of us were in the mood for anything... but I pulled out the Polish flag and made Mishka write a message on it and sign it. It was a special message that he wrote and I will display it proudly and remember the moments.

Miahka and Mashka with the signed Polish flag.... talk about last minute !!

As I sit here looking at this blog, I cannot think how I will move on from this experience. Mishka left Ukraine today and sent me a text from Kharkiv airport the made the tears well in my eyes.... It doesnt get any easier even when you get home. This post is a little out of order but I will fix that before I get it published !

Thanks to my family in Ukraine once again for an experience that I will never forget.......

xm