Still reeling, with a mad dash to catch up

Today was a heck of a lot more low-key than the past 4 days.

I woke up at 11:45 (I hadn't slept well at all in Ukraine), and then started on some work for my job. I'm in the process of reviewing an online course and writing up my suggestions to improve it. Harold didn't get out of bed until about 4 pm (although he had been working in bed, so it's not like he slept the whole day.

We are going to see one of the shows I saw last summer. I wanted to see it again, and show it to Harold. Tom Stoppard's play "Rock N Roll" should be of interest to Harold since he's been to Prague and tomorrow we're going to Cambridge (the play takes place in both locations).

We're still not sure about what just happened to us.

I forgot to make some general comments about how we found the Ukraine:

1- We never saw the sun... ever. It was constantly overcast and grey.
2- The temperatures were comparable to our usual winter. It flurried one of the days. It was COLD.
3- Any sign longer than 3 words long in English was written in the most stilted language. A verbatim example:

"Since your luggage checked-in you shall bear administrative or criminal responsibility if legal and established procedure on transferring articles through the customs border of Ukraine violated."

4- Verbal announcements at the airport were interesting too:

"We wish apologize for not arrive of flight number 354."

5- A toilet could mean anything from (1) what you'd expect, to (2) what you'd expect with a bucket of water next to it so you could "flush" it, since it obviously broke eons ago, to (3) a literal hole in the floor that you had to squat over. I used all three types while I was there.

6- The food was good.

7- The people were hospitable and if you attempted to speak Russian or Ukrainian, they were very patient with you. I never felt odd trying to spit out what I was trying to say.

I have never felt comfortable with speaking with French-speaking natives, as they tend to grade you more on your perfect pronunciation and syntax more than any other group I'm aware of. As Henry Higgins said, "The French don't care what you say, as long as you pronounce it correctly." The Ukrainians were a lot more forgiving and willing to meet you half-way.

Well, I'll have to stop now.. Going to the theatre, but once it's over, we'll be back here and continuing on with our work.