Day 2 in Nikolaev. I was still in pretty bad shape. Cold, jet lagged, limited sleep. I had a Russian lesson at 9 a.m.. That is 2 a.m. by my clock. I kind of dozed through it went back to the apartment and napped. We then strolled around downtown looking for Ukrainian folk remedies for my cold. After dropping those off, we went to cafe to meet my Salsa instructor for this trip. Interesting girl: Maria.
The first time I hard Maria talk, I thought she was an American transplant from the lower mid-West (Kansas, Nebraska: I spent seven years in Omaha). After I while I could pick out the Ukrainian accent. Plus she talked fast - a no-no in the mid-West. Anyway, her primary job is as a PHP/Wordpress developer. She does the Salsa instruction for fun and fitness.
After Maria, we shopped for the ingredients for Borscht and mum cooked while I worked my day job for a bit. This time, no wine but she wore one of those off the shoulder t-shirts women casually wear to drive mean crazy. I was suitably impressed and had trouble concentrating on work. We still planned to postpone the deed so we were saying "zaftra" a lot. By now, I was pretty hot for this woman.
Another nice day in Ukraine. The upside to having a lady friend in place is I am not alone and tempted to write to any of those 20 somethings who claim to want to meet me. The downside is I am distracted, not working my day job so much and therefore burning more vacation.
Day 5. Mum and I are officially an item. Lovemaking remains rocky, but not for lack of enthusiasm on anybody's part. I frankly don't have a done of experience, but mum pegs the enthusiasm meter.
Parents have both passed. She is one of four sisters and we are off to meet the youngest this afternoon.
My little Salsa instructor is fun and we had a great two hour lesson today.
Of course, I now remember why I was so eager to move from Nebraska to Arizona a few years ago.
This snowstorm is the worst my 40 something girls can remember. The city is almost at a standstill. Taxis and buses not running. My little friend is about to start walking home. She will not spend the night in my apartment with her mum and me. I am genuinely afraid for her. She says Ukrainian women are tougher than Ukrainian men.
"She says Ukrainian women are tougher than Ukrainian men."
Maybe we should send them to fight in the eastern region? Remember that "God is woman".
Several ladies in Nikolaev on this site sent me some photos of the weather outside. It looks like quite a bit of snow, but nothing compared to upper New York state several weeks ago.
You've jumped in with both feet ... time will tell, whether you also managed to keep both eyes open.
I hope things work out well for you. However it goes, you are learning a lot, which I think is one of the Main Things in life.
From the great Mark Twain: "the person that had took a bull by the tail once had learnt sixty or seventy times as much as a person that hadn't, and said a person that started in to carry a cat home by the tail was getting knowledge that was always going to be useful to him, and warn't ever going to grow dim or doubtful."
I am kind of monitoring the down side if this turns out to be an elaborate come-on. Or more realistically, if my lady is hiding all of the not so attractive elements of her personality. We are going into her time of the month - we shall see.
Right now I have an outstanding cook preparing almost all of my meals and monitoring our out food so I only eat healthy. My goal, which is now her goal, is for me to lose a KG per week while I am here. From this perspective alone, I feel incredibly fortunate. If I were to check myself into a stateside fat farm, it would cost me over $1,000/day and I would still have to find a hot lover.
Clear and cold in Nikolaev today. My dance instructor cancelled today because it took her three hours to get home yesterday.
Shopping for New Year's eve party. Cocktail dress for less than $50. I'm liking this. She and I also got dress boots for around $210. Exchange rate on the credit card was 15.82 for these.
I got the girls (mother and daughter) liquored up tonight and extracted more family secrets. Nothing surprising other than the bill. $28.06 on the card for 4 or 5 rounds of Jack Daniels and an appetizer. This was in the Monarch Club one block from the apartment.
I like to drink a lot. I have pretty much given it up for health reasons. If not, Ukraine could be dangerous for me.
One tidbit I got from the girls was the amount of debt they are carrying. Some shame issues around that. I explained that their debt was less than 1% of my debt (I have rental properties). The shame started to dissipate.
Just like in the US, many in Ukraine must go into debt to meet unexpected expenses. They have no reserves at all.
I learned with my current girl and some others that "women's week" shows their true character. how they deal with you this next week will say alot about their worst moments, lol. Its better to see all aspects of her personality sooner than later. The drinking was probably a good idea for truth seeking :)
The currency is collapsing. They are desperate for US Dollars. You can negotiate some awesome deals with dead presidents. Take lots of small bills because they will give you their junk currency in change. Euros and Pounds are good to but the dollar spends in every country on the planet.
Well, we found the apartment we will live in for my two week vacation extension and the girls will live in thereafter. This is a major step down from the luxury Jacuzzi apartment. It is 500 meters on the other side of the City Center complex in a large block of typical apartments. What I spend on the luxury apartment for two weeks pays the rent and utilities on this place for 4 months.
Just hanging out waiting to head over to the club for New Years. I guess I have to get used to waiting now that I have a beautiful girlfriend who wants to put her face on before going out.
In the past, I have dated hot but not so pretty woman. This one is beautiful and a little less hot.