Half term break

This week has been great, with its share of annoyances. 

Saturday I left for Kyiv (or Kiev, or however it is you feel it should be spelled).  I loved it, but the visit was far too short.

It's a beautiful church behind me, right?  Well, yes and no.  Yes it's beautiful, but it's no longer a church.  It's used for storage.  Even though it's not been a communist country for almost 20 years, this lovely place is used as a giant garage. 

The main market is on the Andriyivskyy Descent; a very steep, and cobblestoned street.  It was Kyiv Days, so it was more croweded than usual.  Some of the women there wear heels I'd have problems just standing still in, yet they navigated these streets with ease.

I love the nesting dolls.  As a child, one of my aunts brought one back from her travels, and I remember it very well.  I could look at it on the table, but I wasn't to play with it too much.  It was too special.  Yes, technically they are Russian, not Ukrainian, but still...

 We went to a traditional Ukrainian (read"Catering to tourists")  restaurant, and it was delicious, but I got a kick out of one of the offerings:

No, I didn't order it, but it sure made me giggle. I would have really liked to see what it was though.

What was really nice about the trip as well, was just being with an American family.  Just like at Christmas with S and T in Vienna.  J and P and their two kidlets are a typical family in a very atypical setting, yet it felt like home.  I think that's how it must be for a lot of foreign service workers with spouses and children.  As  a single person, I don't notice it as much until I'm around a family.

Okay, so it was a quick visit, and I was back on Tuesday.  Wednesday night, very late Wednesday night,  my friend H who is another Fulbright teacher here in  England, came over to spend the night.  She was in London to see an opening of an art exhibit, and thought she'd be to my house by nine or ten.  Hah.  At a quarter to one she rolled up in a taxi. Even tipsy though, she's one of my favorite people.  She's truly interested in everyone she meets, and hanging out with her is easy and comfortable.  There's no rules I have to follow or topics I have to avoid, or actions I'm not allowed to take.  I've met a few folks in the last few years that say they want to be friends, but only on their terms.  I just want to be myself; and not have terms and conditions for the friendship.  Anyway, H is a good one.

We took a three-hour (which turned into a four-hour) boat trip down the Thames to Hampton Court on Thursday, and it was a beautiful day.  The suntan lotion did its job except where I missed; the tops of my feet are still quite red.  We raced around Hampton Court, and then came home and ordered Indian food.  I will never get tired of  that stuff.  I know I'm going to miss it terribly when I go.

Yesterday, we went to Kew Gardens, but only for  a short time because we were meeting another teacher from my school to go to the Museum of London.  Sheesh.  Do you get the feeling that  I'm running around, trying to get in all my cull-cha before I go?  You're right.  I really have a short time left at this point and I don't want to miss anything. 

It was another beautiful day, and after the museum we walked all over the south end and over to Covent Garden... definitely ready for a pint or two at the end.  And I discovered a new favorite adult beverage:

Crabbie's Alcoholic Ginger Beer.

Wow.  Yummy yum yum.  So tasty on a hot afternoon.  We hung out, had a few drinks and then decided it would be fun to take the bus home.  Hm... perhaps not the best choice on a Friday night, but still. 

It's light here until almost 10 o'clock now, so it's always rather surprising to look at my watch and find out it's bedtime rather than dinner time.

And that's what time it is now folks.  I know... this wasn't a post, it was a list.  Sorry about that.  I could complain about how my paycheck still has not been issued, and that it's a week late, and that I only get paid once a month, and how I am not one of those people who have six months worth of salary in savings, and how I'm getting charged an obscene amount of money to use my overdraft account, but that would be boring, wouldn't it?

So I won't.  Have a good rest of the weekend people!