Curse? Necessity? Plague?

You've probably seen that video sneaking around Facebook. The one where Person #1 on a cell phone bugs Person #2 on a cell phone by pretending to have an equally loud conversation but just responding to Person #2's (supposedly too loud) conversation prompts. I say "supposedly" because it didn't actually seem to me that Person #2's conversation was all that loud...and Person #1 came across as rude...to me, at least.
There are an awful lot of rude cell phones out there, though. (Oh, you mean it's NOT the phone that's rude? Oh.)
Yesterday we had a 3 hour bus ride and were immediately in front of a whiny-voiced woman who used the whole time to catch up on everyone and everything. Actually, yesterday was full of rude cell phones.
A few years ago, I had the extreme good fortune to spend New Year's Eve in the same room as someone who was so important that she got phone calls and sms'es ALL NIGHT long...wishes for the new year and such. You know, important stuff. I guess she didn't know the phone's volume could, you know, be shut off. She also doesn't know how close she came to having that phone take a swimming lesson in the toilet.
Do I sound crabby yet? I do? Oh. Sorry. It's just this woman's phone apparently only works on speaker phone. On a crowded bus.
I value my privacy more than that. But whatever.

a plethora of posts...

...at least for now! ;)
Got on a late train yesterday- like 10.58 PM, to be exact. Heading for Poland. I always enjoy Poland. I just do. 

So... the train. That's the hitch about Poland. The train. Remember this post? Yes. This is a train full of smugglers. Which I somehow managed to totally blot from my mind in the 15+ months since I was last on it. It came back forcefully when I got on the train. The lady who had the bunk above mine was busy snooping out hiding spots for her contraband the instant she got on. Somebody stashed theire stuff in the toilet (as in bathroom) because 1 of the 2 in our car was out of commission until after 5 am when we finally left the Polish border. So maybe that's where M'lady headed off to? 

Anyway, back to the ranch. M'lady and her male travelling companion were in and out and up and down for the first 2 hours getting their stuff squirreled away. At 12.30, the conductor woke us for Ukr'n passport control. They came. They took our passports. The train moved into the wheel changing shed. (Yes, indeed, folks, they change the wheels- the track gauge in Western Europe is different than in the East.) We catnapped. About 2 or so our passports came back. We whistled on down the track... catnapping. Polish guards at 3. And at 3.30. And at 4. And... and... and... 

Unlike the time in the link above, no one took our compartment apart and I continued to catnap. Around 5 Polish time, we left the border and sailed on our merry way. Everyone in my 'house' got out at a city near the border and I got busy with some happy sleeping (I'm sure- at least I don't remember that it wasn't happy sleeping going on). 

And then. A knock. About 6 or so. I groggily come to as the conductor waltzes in. 

Excuse me, he says. I need to take care of some things here. 

And up he climbs. To the storage area accessible from the upper bunks. Wedges himself in there and begins to work away. 

Not hard to figure out what's going on. He's hauling out the stuff border patrol missed. Lots of cigarettes. Cartons of them. Bags of cartons. And when he finally left Jr Conductor Woman came in to finish bagging up the goods. And to apologize. So I just told her (very nicely and politely) 'After not sleeping most of the night, it's not very nice at all to be woken up just when you do have the chance to sleep for this.' 

So she brought me some espresso and didn't charge for it. And apologized some more. 

But I'm sure it will be the same next trip. I don't think those conductors could hang onto their jobs if they didn't agree to be part of the 'team'. 

And now, without further ado, for interrupting the only good sleep I was having all night, here's Mr Conductor Man wedged into his space... 

took this after he left just so you could get some idea of the space

they're not too fussy putting it back together as you can see

just another one of the tulips. I was showing the pix on my phone to a little 3 1/2 year old tonight (look down a few pix) and she said: Tulips!!! (Can you hear the excitement in her voice? Was sweet.)

May 9th (Victory Day) is just around the corner. This is the equivalent of Memorial Day back in the States. There was a large group of men diligently coating the heavy artillery in the park with a fresh coat of spray paint- covering up the graffiti... 

and they were weed-wacking everything in sight. There was one mower there but it was sitting forlornly in the path all by itself...

oh- have you seen 'my' tulips??? ;)

wearing her mom's 'шуба' (fur jacket)- this is the first time I'd heard something like this called a 'шуба'- I thought those were only the heavy winter fur coats. Anyway- Little Squirt thought she was the cat's meow in this! It only drug the floor all the way around and looked like a royal mantle or something... she's also the one that knows (and loves) tulips!!! ;)

somewhat relevant ramblings

Someone just pointed out to me that Google has a cute little clip up on their home search page. I guess it's for Charlie Chaplin's 122'nd birthday! Go to their home page cute :)

We had some gorgeous and warm days last week. The sky looked liked summer.

Tulips in the village are up!

And- those birds on steroids? In fact, they're back! Not a very good shot but the pole in the center of the pic wearing a hat? That hat's a stork's nest. And there are 2 of them in it. I s'pect there will soon be babies..

These boots were beside me at the checkout counter recently. I strongly liked and clicked! 

There are 20 of these flower beds ascending the steps to the monument in the park. And they're going to be busting out in tulip color before too awful long! 

My favorite tree in the park. 

The park was crawling with people this morning. There must have been over a hundred people working on picking up trash and limbs, sweeping the walks and using spades to get the weeds out of the cracks in the walks. The funny thing is- for the past month, crews of city employees have been half-heartedly working in here. They 'worked' in clusters of 5 or 6 people. 'Worked' as in lounged on the ground, drank tea, smoked cigarettes and talked. Oh- and they had bonfires. Occasionally, they moved a rake or chain saw. They got a little bit done. 

The folks this morning, though, got more done in a few hours than the other folks had gotten done in the month or so they'd been at it. 

Otherwise known as a playground

The courtyard by the block of apartments where we live

scooters

being met by rollerblades

pals

and the boys, of course, play football... (soccer)

life updated in a series of recent blurry pix

 Did I already tell you about these? We can get them in the some stores now. I'm limiting myself. But- oh yummers!

OSHA-approved? hmmm I think not. Works, though. They were painting...

Stopped at the store last weekend to pick up some basics and saw this on the counter. It is some kind of homemade sausage...but the blackest I've ever seen. Is this blood sausage? I know they like it here... was back there this weekend and there was another plate of it. Should have asked the cashier but didn't. 

This man was doing the 'bus station lady' job (same job, different station) and let me tell you- he's a pushover. Everyone cheerfully waltzed past him, ticket or no... wonder if he got DEmoted or PROmoted?

last week's wild drunk. He was a doozy. Obnoxious and spoiling for a fight.  He started out right behind me at the back of the bus. I moved when it became clear that he would fight if someone half gave him the chance. Others followed suit. (this pic is from when he and his sober escort were at the front of the bus... trying to bribe the driver into dropping them off halfway between stops- in Sober Escort's defense- I'm sure it was no easy task at all being in charge of this guy. The driver, though, wouldn't do it- told him the fine he'd have to pay for doing that was 10 times what SE was offering him. That, friends, is a sign of how orderly this city is... home of the quiet and happy dogs... unusual, so far, in this Dear Land.)

Drunk had just finished making faces at and belittling the driver. His hand is still moving. The pix are blurry...  which is likely what the world looks like to him. He was entertaining... from a distance. 

The end of last week, waiting for the bus. It was a long and slippery ride. Driver did really well, though. 

Ange's lesson was cancelled today so she went along to walk at the mall... and to browse the dessert counter at the coffee shop. She had some kind of caramel cheesecake; I had coffee mousse. :) S turned down dessert but we all had an orange juice- fresh-squeezed. A rare and special treat!

A very bad pic- but we were right by the glass that overlooks the skating rink. A group of early teenage boys kept crashing into the glass right by us and laughing uproariously. We were laughing, they were laughing. They got the biggest kick out of it. So- I got my phone out and shot a pic...so they ducked... then came back with a cell phone camera of their own... still laughing. It was a fun afternoon... a welcome break for all of us! (proly for the boys, too, but guess I can't speak for them!)

Another day (or 2) in paradise

The creeps clowns that broke into the apartment back in August busted the lock and a zipper on a brand new (grrrrrr) suitcase of mine. They also cut the luggage strap that was around it... they could have simply popped the lock since I'd snapped it shut simply to keep the zipper pulls from moving...hadn't bothered to reset it from the factory default 000. And the strap could have easily been unwound. It made me madder that they destroyed perfectly good stuff when they could have just gotten into it with less effort than it took to wreck the stuff. But- I guess you don't have time to actually think about piddly stuff like that when you're busy taking (or at least looking for) what isn't yours to begin with and you're probably nervous that S' going to walk in the door at any minute. Whatever. Sigh. 

Anyway- S looked at the strap last week and said- Why don't you just get the shoe repair guy to sew it back together?  So I did. Made a little stop at this kid's (no kidding- if he's 18, I'll eat my proverbial hat) shoe fixin' stand. Waited 5 min while he sewed on a really cool and interesting heavy duty sewing machine. 

And let my phone (and its camera) look around the inside... he's neat as a pin... unlike the eccentric shoe repair guy up in Kyiv...

Need a new heel? He's got your kind...And he did a good job on the strap, too! ;)

So- now I'm 'here' instead of 'there'... And 'here' is where we find this charmer! Irina (Ira- pronounced "EE-rah") 2 (or 3?) years old and a pistol if there ever was one.  We spent a bit of time with her...

and her big sis "Daryna" (she's not lacking in character, either, let me tell you! The whole family eggs her on and winds her up and she can really tell a story!) Her big sis Christina and Dad and Mom were there, too... but pix of them were not a success...so we'll just leave them off!

and then came home and did some more quince tonight... only this didn't turn pink and isn't quite as tasty as the stuff we did earlier. But it's still yummy! And smells delicious. Honestly- I walked into the grocery today needing granola ingredients... these were right inside the door... the first thing you saw and the first thing you smelled. And that whole part of the store did smell sweet and fruity and quince-y. There was no way on earth to just leave them there! ;)

 And then... got a major snack attack. This is left from my birthday... and was burning a hole in my consciousness... Someone donated Reese's PB cups to a (good?) cause; someone else sent Snickers Crunchers. Oh Groan. I eventually found my pumpkin seeds and consoled myself with them... although I'm not sure they're exactly low cal or low fat. Ah well. These little packages of chocolate goodness will come in handy some other time... I'm glad they survived the night! :) 

trains

A lot of things you forget pretty quickly. Or at least I do. Two years away from a place and I'd forgotten just how much train time there is in that area. Well- not forgotten completely but forgotten what it feels like. To be on trains. AllTheTime. On a day train, you can get stuff done. A lot of stuff. And I have. I've written letters and emails and done blog posts and read books and studied and sorted through notes and papers and pictures. You name it. If it's portable it's probably been done. But- being in limbo sort of stifles that. At the beginning of August, I packed up and shipped most of my 'stuff' to a central Ukr city and then went on down South for a few months. Meantime, stuff happened- like it is wont to do- and plans changed. At the end of the 'South Stint' I was briefly reunited with my stuff. Which was a big thing. The apartment it was in had been broken into in mid August. My stuff along with that of several other people was thoroughly sifted through and scattered around and disrespected. Some dear soul had been there after that and tried to put stuff away as best they could. But when I got there- I found some of it on the shelves, some of it in my cases. A lot of it wasn't how I'd left it and it took awhile to sort through it realize that nothing had been taken (which was no surprise- aside from this laptop, I have nothing of real monetary value...and the laptop was with me at the time... whew). So- just as I got all my stuff spread out and sifted and sorted, I also got word that within days my stuff and I would be moving West to be with T for a bit. Being the calm person that I am, I quietly packed it all up and shipped it off again. (permission granted to laugh... I might have fluttered a bit... heh)

What's this have to do with trains??? Just a minute.

Oh yeah- so for the 2 weekends I was in the train area I was fantastically unmotivated to dig into my stuff at all to find much to do. Oh- I had some stuff along that was on the surface and easy to get to. But not much. And so the train time got L-O-N-G. 

So Monday, when we parked just across the aisle from these 4, it didn't take much to distract me. Mr Light Blue Sweater had a little Bluetooth headset on his right ear. He loved talking on the phone. Loudly. He must have been some sort of wheeler dealer buyer seller. He had several conversations about stuff he was looking for for other people. Including a mattress for 2 very small lightweight people. He didn't really know if the mattress Caller On The Other End had was really what they were looking for. Then there was a phone call about magazine subscriptions. His voice went on and on and on. And when he wasn't talking on the phone, he was talking. Period. To anyone and everyone. He was verbose. Wordy. Diffuse. Prolix. Long-winded. He had it all and knew it all. And was happy to share.I just love his wife's pointed disinterest in this pic.

To be fair- these guys seemed in the mood to chat and did their share sometimes.

And then- and then. Mrs Wife in the Pink Sweater came to life. Turns out... they're a good match. She can talk too. She Can Really Talk Too. 

see her hands? Blurs? Yep... they talk, too. And, once again, to be fair- they really weren't obnoxious. They just talked. A Lot. Like the whole 2 1/2 hours. No Breaks. At All. 

A mom and baby got on right behind us and settled just beyond our seats. I caught Baby's eye- he was running around looking at all of us. But no go making up to the little squirt.  Suddenly, he careened by me clutching a toy car. Bypassed me altogether and ran right up to the only other child within shouting distance. A boy of about 8. Showed him his car and offered it to him. They hit if off right away.

It was really neat to see how the older boy immediately responded to Baby. 

Baby was happy and content the whole time largely because of his new buddy.

And tell me- How does a toddler know that this 'also-bigger-than-him' person is going to get right down on the floor and play with him? How did he hone right in on the one person in the whole wagon who was most likely to give him all of his time? Ok- sure- he's short, too...shorter than the rest of us. But really- he obviously wasn't too small to recognize another kid. And the kids? The big one was Russian speaking; Baby babbled...but his momma spoke Ukrainian. Kids are really something else. 

And so- the train trip passed and we got home and I didn't finish packing but just crashed... And was glad. :)

Real in Ukr!

And that would be the European superstore chain- Re-AL...or whatever. There's one in Odessa. It's in the Riviera Mall- which is the first really big, full-size huge normal kind of mall I've been in here. It is the real deal. The Real Deal. Re-al De-al.
ok.
We went to see Anya and then walked out to the bus stop with her and caught a bus to the mall. And get this- the Riviera Mall has 3 different buses that it sends to various parts of the city, collects people and brings them to the mall...free of charge. Takes them back, too. heh. A mall with a free bus. Yikes. The inside was exactly like a normal mall... didn't start taking pix till we got to Real, though- the main anchor store (unless you count the building supply store at the other end...but it's hard for me to count that high...)

this prompted the photo shoot- fleece blankets... label says they are: soft and cuddly; colourfast and formstable. yeah- formstable. That is definitely a plus. And if, like me, you don't know what that means- google it. ;) Yeah- not a word. Not sure what word they were after... ;) 

loved the fleece blanket display, though- they were gorgeous and colorful and I wanted a blue, orange and green one... but left them all right there 

a small part of the cheese counter. Oh My. I left in a hurry! Danger Zone.  

(very blurry) shot of part of the produce section. Hands down the most beautiful produce I've seen in a supermarket here. And the place was busy. People are used to buying produce at the market- it's nearly always better there. But this stuff looked hard to beat. 

now we move on to Ukr specials... or at least I've never seen bulk frozen vegetables anywhere else. Do they do this in the States? 

loved the spice dept- chock-full of bulk spices of all kinds. Smelled wonderful! This is the bay leaves section... but there were boxes of everything under the sun... I think... ok- how do I know? Ok- I don't. But there were a lot of bulk spices there. A Lot. 

25 kg of sugar? This is very common- a lot cheaper to buy sugar in large quantities and we do love sugar here. Oh Yes We Do! This pic also shows a bag of Cream of Wheat open- take as much as you want. There were all kinds of cereal grains, flour... just about anything you'd imagine needing... in 25 kg bags. 

you can tell you're in Ukr by the vast quantities of candy! I said we like sugar here... and we like candy, too. This is only part of the candy aisle- all wrapped chocolates, hard candy, jelly candy. No peppermint, though, or cinnamon. :( 

how do you know you're in Ukr? Open stock cookies of all sorts and kinds! A lot of them are not nearly as sweet as we're used to and much drier as well- but there are some really nice ones. Pictured are the 'Maria' cookies. A generic kind of mild cookie from way back- nearly flavorless but amazingly comforting. Might be like graham crackers in that they're ubiquitous and everybody knows them. I fell in love with them last winter when I had pancreatitis- they were 1 of the few things I could eat.  

a new one for me- open stock coffee beans! Not typical Ukr... unless you count bulk/open stock as being typical... which it is, I guess. It's called being economical. 

open stock green tea! Another first.  

more sugar- this time, open stock. 

ahh- here we are again- very typical- lots of cakes.  

Ponchykiy! Otherwise known as donuts- these were cherry or apricot jelly-filled. We went home with a bunch of them! ;) 

Finished the trip off with a stop at Gloria Jean's Coffee!!! Yes, it was good. Yes, it was familiar. Yes, they had cheesecake with graham cracker crust! 

see the graham cracker crust?! :) Big Fat Smiles! The very first time, EVER, I've had this in Europe! And Oh Boy- it was good! We got 3 things and split them: Cheesecake, Cherry Chocolate cake and a brownie. 

waiting in the parking lot for the bus... ahh- I shall miss you Riviera Mall, ReAL store... and I shall hope to be back sometime. 

Things we did not get pix of: Boxes of Crayola crayons in the Hallmark store (both were sighted the first time here by me, at least); boxes of Altoids Curiously strong mints on the counter at Gloria Jean's- another first ever. I haven't had this much fun shopping (when I didn't even buy anything- except the decaf coffee and treats at the end) since I-don't-know-when. :)