random things...Tif, enjoy!

Sweltering in Kharkiv on an attempt to buy train tickets to the camp I'll be working at in a couple of weeks. Currently an unsuccessful attempt, as I could only find a train that got me there at 2am, and only on the day after I need to arrive. Clearly this will take some more work. Also met two guys from Australia who were deciding whether to fly or take a train to Odesa. They knew no Russian or Ukrainian (which made me wonder why on earth they were here), and I gave them some vocab to help them get tickets. Although they firmly believed that first class would be air-conditioned...

While on my way to the British Council to get a library card (today's other errand, Liz should be pleased that I found a limerick version of the New Testament there), an old man on the metro asked me why I was wearing a cross--was it for fashion, or because I'm a believer. I said because I was a believer, hoping to be left alone. He then asked what confession, so I said I'm a Protestant. Well, I think he must also have been Protestant, because then I got a lecture on how as Protestants, we don't need to wear jewelry because...well, I didn't understand it, but there was something about God and I think he quoted some verses. In Ukraine, it's really unusual for Protestants to wear jewelry (at least in the smaller towns), and a cross tends to mark you as Orthodox. This has lead to some interesting conversations about why I wear my cross necklace with people at church, plus a funny one with Valery Y who wanted to know why I didn't have a figure of Christ on mine like many Orthodox. I told him it was because Jesus arose from the dead, and he started grinning.

When I was riding the elektrishka in this morning, an old woman got on, looked at me, smiled and said, "Priveet [hello], Natalia!" I gave her a blank look, she realized I wasn't Natalia, and apologized profusely. What I find funny is that she did the exact same thing a couple of months ago.

Have found the best ice cream in the world, and it's only 1.30 hryvnias. It's on a stick...the core is vanilla ice cream, but around it in spirals are orange, red, and green popsicle stuff. The best of both things!

Am singing "Yesterday" for the 11th form leaving ceremony Sunday night. Hopefully someone can manage to lower the soundtrack a few keys so I don't squeak.

Visited my neighbor Oleh last night, as he had a friend over (originally from Balaklia, now in the Czech Republic) who knows some English. Oleh's about my age and a jazz pianist. It was fun.