Day 26

Little Doggie in a Red Jumpsuit

Another new breakfast. Something served on a piece of bread. Cheese, maybe, or salad dressing. Served by Kate, Katiya, the waitress that can speak some English. She always smiles. I like her.

In the morning, Eileen and I went downtown to get some money exchanged. Hopped on the trolley, and almost fell down as it started. Eileen may have bopped the ticket lady. She gave us the evil eye the rest of the trip.

Found a bank with a good exchange rate. Depending on the size of your town, there are always many places that will exchange. You can do a little shopping around for the best deal. The bank we chose this morning was pretty small. You had to file in single file. While waiting our turn, the security officer showed Eileen a place to sit. He was obviously looking for a little conversation. After 4 weeks, I (Eileen) still don’t know how to say, “I don’t speak Russian.” He was amused. Meanwhile, one of my 100’s was rejected. It had a spot, and some slight scribbling on it. The security guard came over and tried to talk to us. Was it about the hundred? He was talking to the cashier, and both were laughing. Eileen got out the dictionary. The guard mimed that he needed glasses to read. We found the word: country. What country were we from? Finally got across that it was America. “Colorado,” Eileen said to further amuse and confuse the man. As we left, he patted me on the back, reassuringly. I like that bank.

We did some shopping, then hopped back on the trolley. It was the most crowded I have ever seen it. It was the kind of squishing Felix told us about, where you wonder about the ethical place to keep your hands (not that you get to move them). People kept jumping on. Reminded me of a Weird Al song, “Another One Rides the Bus”: I think I’m missin’ a contact lens, I think my wallet’s gone, and I think this bus is stoppin’ again to let a couple more freaks get on. It sounded like the ticket lady (the same one Eileen bopped earlier) was shouting at people that they should take a taxi. She shoved her way past people, and I was able to pay her. We were lucky to get off at our stop.

Tanya came over, starved. She may be staying at friends, things may be rough between her and Igor. She ate most of the food we had. I read my mail. Found out I needed to fax some things back to the US. We ran downtown to the Post Office. Successfully faxed a document. Ran to the printer store, also a photo shop of sorts. Printed a document and signed it. Tanya produced a tiny photo of her mom. Could they blow it up a little? How much? One dollar. It would cost more at home. Like 10 times more. Sure, let’s get three copies. One for each girl. Ran back to the Post Office. Faxed another document. We were slow about our business and a line was forming. A lady came in with a little dog, yes, in a red jumpsuit. No leash, mind you. The little fellow wandered around but never went more than 8 feet from his lady. Judging from the food in the markets, I think this is mostly the cat-for-pets part of town. The apartments are too small. It’s hard to say for sure, however. How many of those street dogs are really following someone they know?

Tanya helped us find a taxi that dropped her off at her house, but then the taxi guy shut off the engine. What’s going on? A few minutes later, someone wanted his parking spot, so he drove down the alley, turned around, then drove back to the now vacant spot, and again shut off his engine. I called Tanya. No, she is not coming back. We convinced the guy to take us to the internot. Sasha and Nastiya were waiting, as we were about 30 minutes late. Lots of kids playing outside and hovering around. It looked like S and N were pretty happy to be whisked away in a taxi. We all went back to the hotel.

Sasha and Nastiya and Eileen worked on valentine cards for a while. We brought paper, lacy hearts, stickers, markers and glue. A great project for them. They loved making cards for teachers, friends and mystery people. Then we all went downtown for dinner. We wanted to go to a burger joint. We walked inside, but burgers were not being served. Humph. So we went back to good old Celentanos, the pizza place. We managed not to order too much even though we were hungry. Then to the market. We told the girls they could pick up one thing. Sasha went for big. Nastiya went for fish. That got Sasha’s attention. She wanted fish, too. She wanted a big fish wrapped in plastic. What do they do with this? Just dig in? Is it like sushi without cutting the fish into pieces? Do you just take a big bite out of it? This was supposed to be a snack. We told Sasha the big fish was out. She tried to find something else she wanted. This was taking far too long. Finally she found a bag of dried fish pieces, sort of like beef jerky. All I can say is, Yuck. Then I told the girls they could have ice cream. Another flurry of trying to find first, something huge, then second, something cool. We finally made it out of the store.

We caught a non-crowded bus back to the hotel. The girls ate their ice cream, giggling and teasing each other. Ah, after cokes with dinner, maybe this was just a little too much sugar? I walked with them back to the internot. I walked to the big supermarket and got some more items. Maybe we can keep ahead of the need for instant soups! Shopping is fun. Then I walked back to the hotel. Walking is fun. By this time, it was foggy and drizzling. It was easy to imagine that I was not in Ukraine, but in Yellowstone National Park. It was cold, wet, dark; perfect camping weather. It must be perfect, since that is quite often the weather we get when we go camping. I had heard that December was the warmest month in Ukraine in hundreds of years. Well, now we are here, and now the weather is perfect.