A Saturday in Ukraine

Saturday, 3:30 PM

Just a random Saturday in Ukraine...


8:30 AM: Alarm goes off. Ugh. Alarm gets quickly turned off and reset.

9:30 AM: Alarm goes off again. Кит is meowing up a storm, demanding his breakfast. D feeds the cat and heads out to drop off some paperwork with someone. I sleep in : )

10:30 AM: D returns. Кит makes it known that he's ready for breakfast, round 2. Then it's nap time for all.

11:30 AM: Now everyone is awake. Breakfast is grechka (buckwheat) and ketchup. Two cups of black tea. Some discussion over what will happen this week... it's time for the yearly corporate party down in Odessa. This year's theme is 1920s/gangsters and the company seems to be taking it fairly seriously so we've been in minor panic mode trying to come up with ideas. The office is leaving for Odessa on Wednesday but suddenly now we have some bureaucratic tangles to unsnarl- and quickly- so Odessa might not be an option this year after all.

1:00 PM: Leave for the Pivdenniy Vokzal metro station, as D has more paperwork to drop off at an office across town.

1:30 PM: Get to Pivdenniy Vokzal. An outdoor market has sprung up around the train station. It's been there for a couple of days, usually playing these guys via massive speakers.

1:50 PM: Seems like the office is closed until 2 PM, so we set off on a walk around the neighborhood.

Lots of icy sidewalks this time of year, be careful out there!

How much? Why, quite a bit, thank you for asking! :p

2:20 PM: Back at the office. It's pretty cold now and starting to snow. We enter the building.

What ensues is the requisite brief scolding that happens any time you deal with bureaucracy and then a lengthy wait in a corridor, but eventually business gets done. More or less.

3:00 PM: Find 10 uah in the snow in front of a police building! Pop into Centro Obuv to look at boots.

outside of Centro Obuv

3:15PM: Spend some time checking out the market in front of the train station. Give the 10 uah to a man with no legs who is trying to flirt with two teenage girls while holding out a coffee cup for loose change.

entertainment at the market

3:50 PM: Exit the metro at Prospect Gagarina. See that The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is already for sale on DVD at several stalls outside the metro. Go to Nui Very, a coat store I remember from its non-stop advertising campaigns. Bored saleswomen stand near massive racks of winter jackets. The store is quite small (vertically built rather than horizontally) so it only takes about 15 minutes to look through all 4 stories. I settle on a synthetic шуба (fur coat) for under $100. It's definitely the warmest coat I've owned in the past several years.

Кит says his fur is better

4:15 PM: Drag a reluctant D into one of the many discount stores that line Prospect Gagarina. We stock up on jigsaw puzzles (a new hobby!!). I pick out two beautiful landscapes, D goes for a bunch of foxy pirates :p

4:30 PM: Quick stop for cream of mushroom soup and pizza.

5:30 PM: Back home. Should we start something from the "to-do" list? Ummmm... no. It's so cold and dark. Tea time for me, nap time for D.

7:00 PM: Groceries! This is our first time trying out a site called bulka.ua. We are hoping to get together with some friends soon so it's mainly food and drink for that event.

8:00 PM: D makes a Skype call to his mom. I tidy things up around the house and start blogging.

9:00 PM: Dinner time + movie night! : )







What was your Saturday like?