Thursday 11th October 2012
A wet grey day here, autumn temperatures (about 8 – 10degC
outside), the light rain coming straight down.
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| The photo doesn't do justice to the glassy reflections in the lake, taken from the kitchen window. The plant is a garbage burning plant. |
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| The eastern bank of the lake, toward the city of Boryspil |
After Elena and Rose took Dimitri to kindergarten Steve and Elena
went into the city to take care of some business and a bit of
shopping; Rose and I had the keys to the apartment and went exploring
the local shops and market on our own – just soaking it up really.
We spent some time in an electrical and appliance store called El
Dorado – quite like Noel Leemings sort of place, and for most
things the pricing was similar to what we pay back home. Consumer
electronics are heavily taxed.
The market place, all under canvas and built into rows of shipping
containers was fun to look through, with all manner of products
available, and sort of reminiscent of the mix of souks in Morrocco
with the Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne (though not as warm, and
not as big or winding!)
We got back to the apartment at mid-day and enjoyed the opprotunity
to relax with a cuppa before Steve and Elena got home.
In the afternoon we did a little shopping, I bought a bottle of vodka
at 32UAH ($NZ5.50), and a flask of scotch, the cheapest one on
the shelf at 55UAH (still much cheaper than at home!) And chippies
for about 11UAH. Elena noted among the imported wines (a lot of them
are Moldovian sweet wines) there was a New Zealand Sauv Blanc as
well.
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| My shopping came in under 100UAH (about $NZ15) |
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| A bottle of Kvass, wine, juice, and some goodies |
As an aside, there is a lot of chocolate and confectionary, and a lot
of booze (including spirits) in the supermarket – bottle store
kiosks are everywhere, and it is common to see men and/or women
strolling about the park with an opened beer in hand. Nearly everyone
you see outdoors is smoking, too.
In the evening we watched a BBC documentary on Chernobyl, and we
learned that the suburb we are in (Kharkivska) was being built in
about 1989-1990 and became available to house many of the displaced
residents of Pripyat, the abandoned city of 35,000 close to the
power plant.
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| The apartment block facing toward the city, and the Kharkivska interchange (I pinched this pic from Google Earth) |
Friday 12th October 2012
Leisurely breakfast. Very foggy outside and the lake (Lake
Vrylytsya) was hidden from view. It cleared later in the day, and
although there was a cold breeze, it was quite pleasant in the sun.
Dima had a day off kindergarten to spend time with us.
Elena and Steve went out a couple of times leaving us to keep an eye
on Dimitri. Later in the morning Rose and I took Dima with his
scooter for a walk along the road to the next interchange, then we
walked back through the parks and paths within the housing estate.
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| Dima and Rose hotfooting it |
We spent quite some time with Dima in a local church playground which
was very well kept with modern play equipment, and populated by young
parents, or babushkas with children, who were all happy and friendly.
Dimitri really enjoyed playing with a group of similar aged boys and
girls.
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| Apparently a first, up across the high frame and too proud to say he was nervous (we were!) |
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| Got across the other side and down with no broken limbs |
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| Enjoyed playing with other kids, in the universal boys' language of monsters, sword fights, and gunfights! |
There are lots of modern cars – saw a dolly bird driving a new
black Mustang today in the estate, as well as the full range of
Japanese, Taiwanese, French, English and GM cars complementing the
old soviet era fleet of Ladas and the like.
Even seen a couple of Harleys about the suburb.
Later in the afternoon Elena, Steve and I went to the supermarket to
get organised for our trip to the daccha tomorrow morning. The
daccha is out near the village of Lypovyi Skytok a couple of hours
west of us. We are going there until Monday, and because we have
quite a few groceries to take for Babushka and Dedushka, we are
going in a taxi. Elena thought the metro + bus + walk journey with
luggage, shopping and Dimitri might be a bit of a challenge, although
we expect to return that way - bus and train, on Monday.
While there we will celebrate Rose's birthday. (I suspect that
has something to do with the extra shopping!)
So that is that until our return to wifi-land next week!
H&R
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