We are moving! We finally found an apartment that we like, with a manageable commute to my new office, with a price that doesn’t make us ill at the idea of paying it every month. We’re moving out of the center of Kyiv, though, which is going to be an interesting change for us. And not just out of the center, but to the edge of Kyiv – two bus stops past the last metro station. But wow, is it ever quiet out there. And there’s a giant park nearby, a forest really. We are really looking forward to some long walks there.
We are also literally “moving up” – to the 10th floor! Even though we’ll be far from the center, we’ll have an amazing view, and we’ll see the weekly Kyiv fireworks from our balcony, instead of just hearing them but seeing nothing through the high-rises that surround us now.
And yes, there’s an elevator. 🙂
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The temperature has finally dropped enough that the centralized heat was turned on a few days ago. We’d been waiting for that before we gave the cat her quarterly shave. I decided to give it a try this time, and the cat actually laid down in the tub when I got out the electric shaver! Guess she was ready to lose all that insulation. Igor somehow just couldn’t stand by and let me manage the process, and I finally handed over the shaver. He’s getting better at it, but Pepette’s patience is not endless, and she especially hates it when he shaves her legs and head. She looks utterly ridiculous, but she’s happy! She got some extra special yummy treats for being such a good girl, had a good sprint around the apartment to demonstrate her new-found energy, and is now curled up on my lap purring like mad. Ah, how I love my monster.
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My new job is starting up slowly but surely. There’s a lot of stuff I have to do before I can really start doing my actual job – set up my office, buy a laptop and other equipment, hire my assistant, etc. The computer I’m using until I get my laptop is a dinosaur, and frustrates me to tears with its slowness and lack of capacity. The IT guy did something today that made it a bit better, but man I can’t wait to get a new computer.
They weren’t kidding about the 50% travel! By the end of this year, I should travel at least to DC, Budapest, Moscow, and one or two cities in Ukraine. But I can’t schedule any of it yet because the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is taking forever to do my new visa (because my visa is based on my employment, I had to get a new one when I changed jobs). They’ve had my passport for going on six weeks now, and it is also frustrating me. On the other hand, I have this sneaky feeling that I should enjoy the inability to travel while I can, ’cause soon enough I’ll be traveling a LOT.
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Saturday was my three year anniversary in Ukraine. It’s incredible to think how much has happened in these three years. I came here expecting to stay a year, maybe two, and I just updated my profile with the State Department’s Travel Registration to “staying indefinitely”. Three years in this apartment is also almost a record for me – the second longest residency in one abode since I moved out of my parents’ 18 years ago.
Life is good. I’m so glad, and very grateful, that I’ve found my place in the world, here with Igor. And the monster (aka Pepette).
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I downloaded 5 seasons of Homicide: Life on the Street. I loved the show when it was on air, but discovered it only after a couple of seasons. I really enjoyed watching from the beginning now and getting all the ‘backstories’ that I had missed before. Man, what a great show.
I’m also still working on my embroidery. I finished three small projects so far, one of which I want to frame and give to Igor’s mom for her birthday. My current project is by far the most ambitious to date – eleven different colors and a pretty complicated pattern. I’m ready to be done with it and try out the Ukrainian patterns I bought during our recent trip to the Carpathians. I’m about half way through it, argh. One cool side effect is that I am catching up on my podcasts, and the Podiobooks and Librivox books that I’ve been wanting to listen to. But now I’m way behind on my stack of paper books. *sigh*
Anka in Kyiv 