Happy Holidays from Kyiv!

Well, I've missed Hannukah and "Roman" Christmas, but there's still New Year's and Orthodox Christmas, and then Old New Year! So Happy Holidays!
~L (and Mike and Belka!)

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

This weekend my bro arrived in Kyiv! He got to see some of the sites (like the grocery store, and the mall...), but most importantly, we bought and decorated our (fake) Christmas tree!! Belka was a big help too (not). Actually, she seems disinterested in the tree thankfully and has not even tried to really sniff it yet!
Tomorrow it might even snow!
~L

More Belka!

So Belka is feeling mainly better. I think she was also just stressed, but now I think she's learning that even though I leave, I always come back. So that must be comforting. And she's started playing with some of her toys. Right now she's gnawing away on a tooth brush bone. (But not the green kind because someone told me those were bad.) She seems pretty content in our apartment. And we almost have a good routine down. Sadly, right now the routine involves me waking up at 3:30 am to take her out, but I think she's slowly working up to longer intervals. Tonight I'm hoping for an 11:30 walk and then sleep until 5:30! That would actually be perfect. Fingers crossed! She's been here for a week now. It seems already like she's been here forever, but we're still figuring things out about each other every day. I think she thinks I'm weird. She's a smart dog! :) I taught her that she can sit on the "icky" couch. But not the "nice" "gold" ones!
~L

Belka on the town

Today it didn't rain! Very exciting. Belka and I walked to the "weird" park and had a nice day. She is finally feeling mainly better which helps. Everyone thinks she's cute and they call her "собачка" (sobachka) which means little dog. I can't quite understand the rest of what they say, but I get that the gist is that she's cute! She even met some other dogs, although she didn't really seem to enjoy that much. But it was a great day to be a dog. Sadly, our morning and evening walks are always in the dark, and it's getting a little cold, but she doesn't seem to mind, and I have a warm coat and a hat! The funniest part is that I already feel like she's always been here. Although maybe that's just because I've been so sleep deprived that my sense of time is off... But I have high hopes for getting a full night's sleep tonight! well, from 11 to 5 at least! Maybe even 6 if i'm lucky...
~L

Raining cats and dogs! plus, a dog!

Winter in Kyiv is officially here, and it's honestly a little gloomy! Although not as dark as I feared, although we still have another month until the shortest day of the year. We had a little snow already, but I missed it because I was in DC celebrating "Thanks-o-ween" with the family! (well, and working). But I'm hoping we'll have some more soon. It rains almost everyday, which is both gloomy and bad for our construction. But despite my hesitations about the impending bad weather, I finally got a dog!!! One of our local employees helped me find Belka on a website for pets who needed new homes. I went to meet her and she was so sweet that I decided that she would be my first dog. She really is a sweety! I've been taking more pictures and videos that i'll post soon, but here's a first glimpse!
~L

All Work and No Play Makes Lisa a Dull Blog

Yikes! I haven't posted anything since July! I was hoping that I would become less busy as more of our project staff arrived (including my boss) but somehow the work just seems to keep increasing. I have had some small amounts of fun over the past few months, like discovering a big mall above my grocery store. And discovering more restaurants to eat in - although I still haven't made it to the Mexican restaurant. And just today we discovered a pretty good cappucino place! And I got to go to the beach in Italy! It was great, although very very hot. It made me miss my little room air conditioning units! But now that September is here in Kyiv, it's actually already starting to feel chilly. The nights are getting down to the 50s, but the daytime is still in the high 60s or 70s. So it's nice crisp weather. Well, more like October weather back in DC, but it's still nice. We'll see what I think of the weather here in a few months! And when it gets cold, I'll just have to try and remember how I also don't like the heat... Actually, the weather right now is perfect, so I'll do my best to enjoy it while it lasts.



The highlight of the Italy trip (besides seeing I.M. and finally going back to the Baths of Caracalla) was our trip to the "Grotte di Pastena". The signs promised us "emozione in piu" - emotions and more! But the sign also made it look as if the Grotto was a local attraction, perhaps in the next town if not the one we started in. Two hours later.... still no grotto!!! But there were still signs, just when each time we thought we were lost and would never find it. Luckily, we made it in time before it closed and got to go see it. It was pretty cool, but I don't know about "emozione in piu". We think the emotions referenced on the sign referred to the hopelessness and mild distress about driving through the middle of Italy in search for a grotto that may or may not actually exist... But it was neat. There were pipistrelli! (bats) And a few parts made me a little claustrophobic. Especially when they mentioned that we were 50 m underground! :( But we survived. And also realized where we were so that we could make it back to our campsite in just 1 hour instead of the 2 it took to get there. But I will say that the drive there was beautiful. So maybe that was the "emozione in piu". Isn't that saying that life is about the journey not the destination? That should be the Grotto di Pastena's motto also! Hee hee. The website sortof makes it look very dramatic!
~L

(outside the grotto - actually above it technically)

Home is Where You Make Your Bed

My stuff has arrived here in Ukraine! Actually, it's a little odd to have it here now. Until now my place sortof felt like a hotel, but now it's like my apartment in Alexandria with different furniture and in Kyiv! But it's nice to have it here also. I can watch movies on my TV instead of my computer! I haven't figured out the cable yet, but hopefully one day soon I can watch Ukrainian tv also! I found out that I "only" shipped 2000 pounds of stuff, so I'm allowed to purchase about 4000 more pounds of stuff here! (I don't plan on that!) The movers moved all of the boxes inside in about 30 minutes and then we opened everything and threw it on the beds and couches. They did assemble the bed for me which was nice. And convenient to put all of my clothes on. This way they could take all of the boxes away with them. But the end result was that my stuff was thrown everywhere and I had to go back to work because I had some deadlines. But slowly but surely I am getting things put away. I have finished the kitchen and the living room. Now I just have about 25% of my clothes left to put away and all of my sheets and towels and stuff. Oh, and all of my stuff in the den. That's sortof a mess and that room doesn't have a closet so I have to figure out where to put everything. Hopefully it will all fit in the desk and bookcase and the "main" closet too. But it's starting to shape up! I even am working on perfecting my "display" in my china cabinet. I'm not sure I'm happy with it yet but it looks nice! But the rest of my project team is showing up so I should finish soon so I can invite them all over some time!
~L