I've been in Ukraine for 24 hours now. Yesterday I arrived at 5 pm in the Kiev airport (pop.2 million), much smaller than I had anticipated--only somewhat harder than Lewiston's (an airport serving an area of about 60,000 people). I went through customs with no questions; no one even looked in my bags. Lyudmila and her son Sasha were there waiting for me with big hugs. We waited for a "real taxi", one called, instead of one on the street front. We took the taxi to the bus station, had a bite to eat there, then got on the bus for a 5 1/2 hour ride to Kirovograd, talking all the way about school, the country, her children (Sasha is a dance teacher in Moscow, Russia, who is visiting until Saturday). After a long ride, L's husband met us at 1 AM in the bus station at Kirovograd and then we drove to Novoukrainka. The roads are in terrible shape, with huge potholes, and unlit. It made me glad I was sitting in the back so I couldn't see the road. About 45 minutes later, we arrived at the hotel, then spent some time debating how hot the water was and how cold the room was. I have 2 large rooms, bed and sitting room, and a private bath; I eventually showered in the sauna downstairs, because the water in the room wouldn't get hot but I took the wrong bag downstairs, so without shampoo, I had to wash my hair with soap--it looked terrible this morning!
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