I’m afraid I’ve been a bad blogger lately. As I’ve noticed that the days are getting quite shorter, I think the pre-winter blues have set in. There was even a forecast for snow today (although it hasn’t happened yet). And Shawn was diagnosed with pneumonia this week. Nothing says winter like sickness spreading through the Embassy community like wildfire.
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Sometimes I’m just too nice for my own good. Yesterday was one of those times. A newcomer to the Embassy, who just arrived three weeks ago, desperately needed someone to watch her dog yesterday. Knowing that it was probably going to be a disaster, I went ahead and said yes. I’ve got to have some serious good karma built up by this point - I’m just waiting for it to catch up with me.
In Kyiv, September 1st is the first day of school. This morning the sidewalks were packed with parents walking their children to school. It was easy to see which kids were headed to class for two reasons. First, kids here dress to the nines on the first (and last) day of school. All the girls were in their best dresses with fluffy white bows in their hair approximately equivalent to the size of their heads. And the boys were all wearing suits - I even spotted a couple little boys dressed in tuxedos. Very classy. Second, it’s traditional here to take flowers to your teacher on the first day of class. From small bouquets of 5 roses to huge flower arrangements (again, approximately equivalent to the size of their little heads) - I can only assume that most classrooms look like funeral parlors on September 1st.
So I finally have some photographic evidence to share that I have done more than walk the dog and watch television all summer. Although I did do a significant amount of both of those things, I admit.
After some very autumn-like weather last week (rainy and downright chilly some mornings), we’re back to mid- to upper- 90 temperatures (F) this week. This has led to some extremely lazy behavior on the part of Laika and myself. Mosly involving laying on the couch and watching the Olympics. Thank you Eurosport 24-hour coverage.
We were at the pet market and Shawn was working hard, using a sleeping ball of black and brown fur, to convince me that we could handle dog-ownership. Unfortunately, as soon as we got said ball of fur into the taxi to go home, she started emitting a high-pitched shrieking sound that I knew I never wanted to hear again. I spent the next month or so being abruptly awoken in the middle of the night by that exact sound. The fact that Laika was smart enough to keep absolutely silent and still the entire time Shawn was convincing me to buy her was the first sign that this was going to be a challenging relationship.
Although my birthday is still a week away, last week I received this birthday package from my mom. I think she sent it so early in hopes of avoiding a repeat of last year when a shipment to Kyiv was lost and I finally got my birthday presents and several cards over six months late. She had told me that it was on its way and it was up to me when I opened it. I had every intention of waiting until my birthday, but then the box got here and I just couldn’t wait.
So it’s been a while, I just realized. I guess not much has been happening…the usual day to day stuff. We did celebrate our one year anniversary in Kyiv last weekend. Well, not so much celebrate as look at each other over the dog sleeping on the couch between us and say, “Well, we’ve survived a year.” Then turned back to watch Bear on Man vs. Wild eat a scorpion. We’re not ones for fanfare.
Today is Laika’s first birthday. There have been many, many times when I wondered if we’d make it this far. There have been threats of leaving her out on the street or returning her to the pet market; there have been near-misses by Ukrainian drivers (which typically means it was a near-miss for me as well); and there was the terrible day that she made a break for it so that the entire neighborhood could see her crazy American owner running around the park screaming for her for over half an hour.
So last week offered some hope that spring had finally arrived. Laika spent one afternoon basking in the warm(ish) sun on the balcony. Short skirts reappeared on the ladies. There were couples making out in the parks. Kiosks started setting up their outdoor seating. I even saw workers painting the bottoms of several trees white.