The Theatre and a Bike

Last week was extremely busy for Jason. He taught four classes, attended two meetings (one online and one at the local art and design school), gave an interview for the Law Institute's student tv channel, and graded a bucket full of exams (perhaps the most tedious of the aforementioned). He got a rather nice "gift" from the art school- this picture of one of the cathedrals downtown; it was done by a second year student. If only we could find more of his work!

Our week was capped off by a trip to the theatre with his colleague Igor and some of his friends. We went to see the play "Love- Italian Style". Apparently, some of the actors have been on tv and in movies, although we both felt the actors were using the kind of grand, stylized gestures not seen by American eyes since the Stanislavsky method hit New York at the turn of the twentieth century. It was pretty easy to understand- perhaps because it had been translated from Italian. Granted, that may have also been the reason for the gestures- a Ukrainian interpretation of Italian flamboyance.

We've been up to our eyeballs in work outs, too, trying to get our bodies ready for our two cycling trips. On a lark, I tried googling bike rentals in Kharkov- and found one! So, I now have a rather cumbersome Jamis to ride around town (although, Jason, thankfully, hauls it up to our fourth floor walk-up, while I manhandle the Brompton up the stairs). We rode around on Sunday and are looking forward to going out on all of the upcoming holidays- May 1 (Mayday! Mayday! Sam's birthday is a national holiday in Ukraine... work with me here, people!), May 5 (Orthodox Easter), May 8&9 (Victory in the Great Patriotic War, or WWII to you and me). On top of those days, May 19 is the Ukrainian National Day of the Bicycle. We're not entirely sure what it will involve, but the poster we saw on the Metro said to gather in Freedom Square (under the watchful eye of Lenin) at 10am. We'll let you know what happens. Jason says, depending, he may add it to his Fulbright report.

I would say the bike is taking over our landing, but it was pretty full to begin with... it is locked up tight to the rickety wooden railing. 

Today is a rest day, though, so we are gleefully wallowing. And I made brownies (still part of our embassy stash). So, we are wallowing, double-fisted with brownies.

Wage "helps" with the brownies

No News is Good News

Nothing too terribly exciting going on- thank heavens! We've started training for our two upcoming bicycle tours, but, as we don't have a good, safe place to ride, we are doing it via a lot of squats and, well, we joined a gym down the road that has one sad, old spinning bike that is literally duct taped together. When we road it the other day, we also discovered that it desperately needs tuning as it basically has 3 speeds: easy, medium, and hard, despite the regular clicks made by the gear-shifter. Well, I won't complain. At least, it is something.

We had a brief conversation with Ani Chkhavidze, the student from Georgia (country not state), about our upcoming trip to Georgia. IREX will get Jason's ticket from Frankfurt to Tbilisi. They will be picking us up from the airport, putting us up in a hotel near the university (I am fairly certain that it is an actual hotel rather than a dorm a la Zaporozhye). His class will be in the evening, so we'll have the daytime to explore the city and the surrounding area. If you don't know anything about Tbilisi or Georgia, there is a nifty online guide at:

http://www.inyourpocket.com/data/download/Tbilisi.pdf

I don't think we can do everything, but I imagine we'll get to the 5th Century Fortress overlooking the city, the UNESCO World Heritage sites outside of town, and, of course, the wine-growing region. I have also informed Jason that we have to go to the hot springs (tbili), for which Tbilisi was named. We can't wait. If anyone wants to join us there, just let us know. In the meantime, I need to start cramming the Georgian Alphabet, so I can read street signs...

I am attaching two photos- one of a "Milk Truck" that we ran into. It is rather like the water truck that shows up at our building every Wednesday at noon, only this one was serving up moloko, or milk. Also, Jason went to a meeting on Friday and was given...wait for it!... a watch. It is made in Ukraine and has the school crest on it. Igor Polyschiuk, Jason's colleague, said it meant he was important.

I don't even know if it was "fresh" milk or 2% or what. All it said was: MOLOKO. 

The famous watch. 

More Visa Thoughts

So, Jason and I were putting together his second test for his American Government students. The Dean's office had photocopied it for him, but they hadn't managed to staple it together, which got us to thinking about his experience at OVIR and our experience at the consulate. There were no computers or even telephones visible at either location. At OVIR, Jason's paperwork was taken out of his binder and piled into a box full of other papers and documents. At the consulate, we experienced something similar. All of my documents were removed from the binder in which I had them, dog-eared together (no staplers present) and thrown on a shelf full of other documents and papers. We wondered if any inquiry were made, whether they could retrieve them.

The Fulbright Director called Jason last night. They debated on whether our difficulties were deliberate (my belief) or a general sign of disorganization and incompetence. Fulbright Kiev's general disorganization remained untouched. Incidentally, we are still waiting for our refund from our orientation in February! I'm sure they would say that is our fault somehow...

'Nuff Is Happy to Report...

...the radiators have been turned off. 

Germany and My Visa

I have had to give myself a bit of time to recuperate before I could write this, and even still, when I finished writing it yesterday, I wanted to hit things...

Well, our trip to Germany had its pros and cons. As many of you do not know, we HAD to exit the country. I was only allowed to remain in Ukraine for 90 days. Jason received a visa, and, once in the country, he had 45 days to register (please see my entry "In which I got sick and Jason paid a fine"). His entire process took a good two and a half months. We were told, however, that I could get a "family reunion visa" tied to his, but we had to do it AFTER he was registered and we had to do it out of Ukraine.

Unfortunately, the policy is brand new, so Fulbright Kiev had admittedly little information about where to go and what to do. We ended up in Frankfurt, Germany. I wrote to 5 consulates/embassies (London, Paris, Rome, Dubai, and Frankfurt) and Frankfurt was the only one that wrote back and knew what I needed. They also said that it would only take a day to get my visa done.

Elizabeth and Thomas were great hosts, helping us find and eat some of the things we were missing, taking us shopping in Frankfurt and Mannheim, and sneaking me across the border into France (note: my passport was at the Ukrainian Consulate). The weather was, if not sunny, at least pleasant. We were able to bike and hike and generally enjoyed the out of doors and Germany's well-ordered society. Had our trip ended when it was supposed to, we would have looked back and said, "what a pleasant trip".

HOWEVER:

1. When we arrived and turned in our paperwork (all stamped and appropriately notarized), they said it would take no less than 10 days. When we told them we were flying out in less than seven, they said, "Maybe Monday", the day before we were supposed to leave.
2. We returned on Monday and the consular officer stated, "maybe after lunch". So, we hung around in Frankfurt all day-- which would not have been so bad had all of the museums not been closed. In the end, we bought extra clothes, assuming we were missing our flight and staying longer. It was a good call.
3. Monday Night we returned to E&T in defeat. No Visa. Our Tuesday morning flight could not be rescheduled or refunded. Neither could our airport hotel. Further, we did not know when they would issue a visa and release my passport, so we did not know what day we could leave.
4. Jason got up early on Tuesday and began sending emails, canceling classes and other meetings. He sent an email to Fulbright Kiev, who called the Consular General of Ukraine in Frankfurt. A short time later, I received an email stating that my visa was ready. The Fulbright office seemed baffled by our urgency. 
5. We scheduled a new RT flight on Austrian Airlines (cheaper than OW)- FRA-Kiev-FRA, and made the assumption that we might be able to use the return. We scheduled it for the middle of June. 
6. We arrived at the consulate and the officer ran to the back and issued my visa. However, he insisted upon photocopying a credit card of ours before he would return my passport. The visa contained within is good for 45 days, or until May 25. Thus, we can't use our original return flight on July or our new return in June.
7. We arrived back in Kiev the next day- exhausted and frustrated. Our $1000 trip had turned into $2500-3000. 
8. We went straight to the Fulbright office from the airport. I was very angry and told them that I didn't have a spare $3000 and that the visa was only for 45 days. Their response? Oh yes, we knew it would only be for 45 days-- in fact, we told you this. (NOTE: Actually, they told us that they didn't have any information. We have two sets of relatively high IQs and decent memories, so I think one or the both of us would recall such vital information about a process that concerned us directly). Then, they said it was possible to get reimbursed...whaaaaa? They NEVER mentioned reimbursement of expenses for the visa process. Otherwise, we would have painstakingly saved our receipts. Further words and insinuations were exchanged until I finally told Jason that they were both useless and awful, and I saw (see) no reason to communicate with them further. In the end, they suggested that I just leave in May, but if Jason does, he could have his funding cut. Lovely people, what?
9. The evening train to Kharkov was sold out, so we got tickets for the 6 am train and spent the night in a hotel.
10. Jason is upset because the situation has left us powerless to act. I am upset by the number of lies I politely endured from the Consulate and Fulbright. I need to hit things, if not the people directly responsible. 

And so we are left, trying to figure out what to do and re-arrange our re-arranged flights and travel.

On the up side, we got the Loire bike trip ironed out with Elizabeth. We are all scheduled to go from July 4-13. If anyone wants to join us, just let us know and we can send you the itinerary.