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I’m continuing to adjust to living back in a city, with daily dog walks, running errands, and generally feeling like there’s not enough time in the day. In addition to that, I’ve realized that we are only 2 1/2 months from our departure to Nassau, and there’s A LOT to be done before then. I thought that since I’ve done this once before, things would be a piece of cake this time. But that was over 2 years ago and I’ve come to the conclusion that I remember absolutely nothing from that period of time. So the past week included a lot of list-making and generally figuring out what has to get done (or be purchased) before we can leave, and what can wait.
We’re back in Washington, DC for the summer. We arrived Sunday afternoon and Shawn started training on Monday, while I began the process of getting the house in order and exploring the neighborhood. We’re in a great location - Foggy Bottom - with plenty of green space, restaurants, and a quick commute for Shawn. Our apartment is an old row house and is the perfect size for a single person without any pets. We, on the other hand, are two people with a large dog. We knew it was going to be small, but when we got all our stuff in the house and it filled the entire first floor (of two) of the place, I almost started crying. But now I’ve got the mess under control, and although I’m constantly tripping over Laika, I think it will be fine for a few months.
Last night was the Marine Ball here in Kyiv. Every year, Marines around the world celebrate the birthday of the corp in November and this means a ball at most Embassies. And, yes, this is the event that the dress was for. Here are a couple shots from the evening:
We survived last night’s Halloween party at the Marine House unscathed. Mostly by leaving at midnight when the party was just really getting started. (Our excuse was the fact that Shawn had to be at work this morning at 8am.) Being the brave souls that we are, we actually walked the 15 minutes from our apartment to the Marine House in our costumes. The shocked looks we received were much more amusing than the usual scowls.
Here I am all by my lonesome on the 4th of July again. Last year I requested that someone have a Dairy Queen ice cream cone in my honor, and this year I’m craving a bowl of Hard Times chili and an ice cold Blue Moon. So if there’s anyone in the DC area reading this, indulge for me, okay? Particularly since I’m currently eating what passes for microwave lasagna here in Ukraine. (I know it says “lasagna” on the box and has a picture of a piece of lasagna, but what is this?)
I have an on-going discussion with Shawn and other friends here as to how exactly devushky become babushky. For those of you not intimately familiar with post-Soviet life, a little explanation is in order. Directly translated, “devushka” means “girl” and “babushka” means “grandmother,” however, the everyday meanings of the words are much deeper than that. On the street, devushky are the young women wearing stiletto heels, unimaginably short skirts, and walking with an air of overconfidence. To the untrained American eye, they can appear to be “ladies of the night,” however this is not so — at least in the conventional sense. On the other end of the spectrum are babushky who usually appear to be older than time itself, dressed in the most awfully mismatched outfits, and can be found selling things on the street that they themselves have obtained for free (such as rotten apples or last week’s newspaper). Because of these extremes and the generalizations that go along with them, women in the middle of these groups age-wise tend to blend into the scenery until you find yourself pushing into one on the bus. And so it appears that women here must quickly fall from devushka-hood to babushka-hood.
So I was kind of surprised that I didn’t get any questions about why all the protests and demonstrations yesterday. Perhaps you’re all smarter than I give you credit for. Or perhaps no one besides my mother even read my entry and she already knew the reason. (By the way, if you want to see some video of one of the protests in front of the Embassy, CNN has a video here.) Anyway, the reason was this:
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