Sorry for the Silence

It has been a very busy time at work the last few weeks. While I’m still learning how to do my job and who everyone is, I also have to actually do the job and learn to live in Kyiv. Between that and trying to get decent internet access at home, it has been difficult to blog much. This week looks a bit more promising for time. We’ll see.

The weather has really been great recently and from what I’ve heard, most of the summer is like this. It has been about 80 degrees every day and mostly sunny. The chestnut trees and lilacs are in full bloom and the city looks great. The men shed their shirts and the ladies trade in the mini skirts for the micro-mini skirts. Summer is here. So are the tourists. Today I went down to the “Spusk” which is a long curvy cobblestone street lined with souvenir vendors. The quality varies wildly, but you can find some nice things there. Today there were about eight full-size tourist buses unloading their passengers. This actually makes purchasing more difficult for me because the vendors assume I’m just another tourist when clearly I’m a local.

We’re doing a good job and trying out new restaurants and discovering the various Ukrainian “fast food” establishments. We found a good one the other day called “Potato House.” It’s a Mexican place. Not too shabby actually. We’ve actually had better luck with the quick eateries than the nicer spots. The fancier places tend to be much more expensive and kitschy, but worse on service and with no noticeable improvement in food.

Progress toward home internet access is advancing. We’ve identified a company that can provide it. I went to their offices last weekend with a friend who speaks better Russian than I do and we made the order. They followed up with a call earlier this week and my poor secretary ended up fielding the questions. They sent a few bills which my poor wife had to take to the bank to pay. Now, in theory, we will have internet in “fifteen days” according to my secretary. No more, no less. Jennifer has promised to blog about the bank experience later today so be sure to check out Patchwork Planet for that.

That’s the quick version of life in Kyiv. I hope to have some pictures up for you soon. In fifteen days to be precise.