I’ve got a little time this morning, so I thought I’d add a quick little post. Today is The Day, the day when it all happens, the day when I can finally say, “I got that Cuisinart I’ve had my eye on, and it was 54% off!” Wait, something’s off… The day is right, but I don’t see any K-marts around… Oh, that’s right… I’m getting married today.

I’m actually pretty calm about today. Excited but calm. Perhaps it’s just the calming stupor that comes over someone when he experiences a big life event in a country where virtually no one speaks his language. Who knows? In the ceremony today, I may actually be agreeing to by a fully-equipped Lada sedan, which I will keep parked 4 weeks every year outside of my timeshare in Yalta. No, I’m kidding. As the registrar made clear to Viktoria, the legal parts of the ceremony will be translated for me, so that I can knowingly enter into this commitment in the eyes of Ukraine.

Can you guess who isn’t quite as calm as me? Credit where credit is due, she isn’t completely freaking out, but she’s obviously quite anxious about things. Because of our running around and dinner yesterday, we hadn’t done a couple things (buying some candy as a thank you for the registrar, and getting some flowers for the bouquet), and because Viktoria needed to go to her apartment for her dress and then get to a salon to have her hair done, these were things that she had to leave to me. That, and a couple other things, like making sure I bring everything to the registrar’s office. So before she left this morning, there was a lot of “don’t forget” messages.

(Actually, I’m probably more concerned that I got the wring candy or flowers than I am about anything else. That, and maybe catching the wrong bus when I need to go. Lifetime commitment? Nah, I got that.)

That will be all for the moment. I need to get my tasks done and then get ready, and hopefully just be sitting around here for a couple hours. Wish me luck!

This will be a really quick post. Today was a pretty busy day, but as it was all in preparation for tomorrow, it will probably be a bit tedious to recount. But I also don’t have a lot of time, since need to get to bed to be ready for the big day. (By which I mean Friday. Oh, and the day I get married.)

This morning was all about paperwork and rings. The paperwork went fine and all my accursed English language documents got their proper counterparts. The were a couple trips to the bank to pay for things — registration services, fees for document copying and prep, etc., etc. The other big thing of the morning was getting our rings. Viktoria had already found the “perfect ring” (her words), and she had already put a deposit on it. So it was really just a matter of picking it up and finding one for me. My choice was mostly predicated on what the had in my size, which wasn’t a lot. Sadly, only yellow gold, which wasn’t my first choice, but there was one with a pleasantly subtle pattern, not too wide or too thick (things I found I didn’t like from my “practice rings”) and, most importantly, a pretty good fit. The only trouble with the ring-getting was that the store had signs up saying they took credit cards (which is not a given over here), but on this particular day they didn’t/couldn’t. No problem, I thought, I’ll just hit the ATM, except that I needed more than the daily limit. I was just going to use my credit card anyway, but natch I couldn’t remember my pin. Resourcefulness won out, though, by means of a cash advance at a bank and I was able to purchase our rings.

The other big activity of the day was a special family dinner. Special for two reasons really: this was my first time meeting everyone, and in honor of my American holiday, they had put together a Thanksgiving-like meal. It was really very sweet of them. I won’t go into details, but I feel that everything went well. Viktoria’s mother insisted on giving us a blessing, so I’m going to take that as a good sign. (I did have to say “da” to something I didn’t understand, but I don’t think will come back to haunt me.)

I won’t go into the other details of the meeting — again, it’s bedtime — but I think it was a fine evening, even if it was me against four people where we didn’t have a working single language.

Since this is short, here’s a link to a music video that I think is hilarious. It’s in Russian, but I think the visual humor stands by itself.
https://showyou.com/v/h-jIW2VN5Mgwr1GL1q/russian-batman-vs-the-penguin

I failed to mention this in my previous post, but guess what I found in my luggage once I got to Mariupol and unpacked things? Extra points for you if you knew that my missing umbrella would show up… Especially now that it doesn’t seem I’ll need it…

So, hey, my Wednesday is almost over — Wednesday? Thursday? No, I’m pretty sure it’s still Wednesday — and I haven’t told you about Tuesday yet. Fortunately there’s not much to tell. Although I had thought it would be my first day to sleep in — you know, as If I were actually on a vacation — since last week, I actually had to set the alarm for 7:30. The reason for this ridiculous hour was the need for us to track down the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice. It’s just so easy to misplace that thing!

We (or more specifically, Viktoria) needed to know where to go to get documents apostilled. This wedding/marriage thing is just the warm up; the real fun is yet to come. In fact, all the Monday stuff is next to nothing compared to the next piece of the puzzle: immigration. That requires documents from Ukraine that are acceptable to the US government. The only way to show our government that I’m not just giving them papers in a made up language, is to get an official notarization/authentication stamp known as an apostille. It’s a UN sort of thing that let’s signatory governments trust each other, kinda. For Ukraine, these apostilles are done by — see if you’re following me here — the Ministry of Justice.

It’s a good thing we checked on where the appropriate office was, because we had to go to a couple places to find it. The main office was easy enough to find; it was only a few blocks from the apartment, and we’d even been by it on Sunday night. (On the way we passed by the protest location, and sure enough, there were some people still/already were there.). The information people at the Ministry (or maybe just the people whose office we wandered into) told us that document services were done at another location, somewhere on the other side of the river. So we took a subway ride, walked around in some pretty obnoxious weather and finally did track down the place to go. At least, kind of; we actually found out today that some of the documents needed would need a regional notarization before they could get the apostille In Kiev. My oh my, but the fun never ends.

But we were young and naive and didn’t know any of that on Tuesday morning. After the morning excursion, we got out check-out time pushed back by an hour, which worked out really well. We headed over to the train station, dropped my ridiculously large bag in baggage storage for a couple hours, and met with my friend Vladimir, aka Vova. I’ve spoken about him and we had met during my last Kiev trip. I would have hated to come all the way not have a chance to see him again. Fortunately, although he was having a busy couple of days, he had a break between a couple corporate meetings and he was able to catch the subway over and spend a bit of time with us. He had to go just about the time we needed to collect my bag and head to the train, so you really couldn’t have asked for a better afternoon.

Now, imagine if you will, one of those sweltering summer nights that we have all had once or twice before. It’s hot, and the air isn’t moving, making everything seem stale. It almost feels like time has slowed down. You’re hot and the sweat on your skin is almost sticky to the touch. You want to sleep, but you just can’t get comfortable, and you begin to wish there was some way you could float just so you could rid of the sticky feeling you have just from laying on the bed.

Put that on a train racing through the dark and freezing Ukrainian countryside and you’ll have a notion of what my train ride was like.

Viktoria tells me that this was not a typical experience, but since it was my first, it will probably stick with me for a while. It was really nothing of what I had hoped for, other than being on a Ukrainian train. I would really have preferred to be in one of the sleeping cabins, which are for two people, each having a bed/berth on either side of the cabin. When Viktoria got out tickets, though, none of these were available. So we went for the next class down, and got “Coupe” tickets. The coupe cabins are for four people, and there are “bunk-berths” on either side of the cabin. There were some online comments that sounded like this could be an OK option — meet a couple new people and pass the time in conversation — but that too was a bit of a rosy view. First, because of a mix-up or misunderstanding somewhere in the process, Viktoria and I didn’t get the two lower bunks; we had one upper and one lower, and they weren’t on the same side of the cabin. Then we didn’t get get interesting or engaging cabin mates at all. One was a rather sullen woman who just wanted to read and who snored something awful when it was lights out. The other was a guy who spent most of the evening with his buddy in the corridor. He didn’t seem like a bad sort, but because he was getting off the train a couple stations before us, the whole cabin was essentially awakened at 5:30 am.

Not that we were getting much sleep anyway. The cabin door was broken and didn’t close all the way, but when it was mostly closed, the cabin got warm and stifling. Most of the time it was kept half open, and that seemed to help; about half the time it was downright pleasant. The downside was that we got light from the corridor all night, and smoke from the smokers in the baggage area would often come wafting into the cabin. We just couldn’t win. Viktoria had taken the corresponding train to Kiev and tells me that the temperatures were perfect and there was no smoke smell at all.

That rather sleepless night launched up into a somewhat busy day. We got settled into the apartment in Mariupol with no problem. I will add a link with some photos so you can see the listing for the place (should you wish to rent it when you come to Mariupol). Then it was off to the registrar’s office to make sure things were still on track for Friday. That spawned a couple follow up tasks, not all of which were wholly unexpected. We dropped off my “free to get hitched” document and a couple other items to get certified translations into Ukrainian. I knew this was needed, but Viktoria was taken a little off guard when she learned she had to provide similar documentation to the registrar’s office as well. She didn’t have to get it translated, but she did need to get it to them today since the office isn’t open tomorrow. As I’ve been typing this, she’s been darting around town (or as darting as the city buses actually allow) gathering the items needed and getting them to the office. I’ll know shortly how successful she’s been.

So a busy day on top of a sleepless night following a nice but cold day. I would hope I can sleep in tomorrow, but since I have to meet with the translator at 10, I’m thinking that’s not going to happen.

Tomorrow is also Thanksgiving day. There isn’t much to show it around here, of course, but it am very aware of it nonetheless. It’s my first such holiday off American soil, and it will be my first Thanksgiving with my new family. We won’t be having turkey, but I think it will still be a pretty special day.

UPDATE:  Here’s the link I had mentioned above:  http://www.dobovo.com/mariupol-apartments/119-stroiteley-22745.html.  It really was a very nice apartment, all things considered.

So I’m about half-way through Kiev, Day Two, and only now writing about Kiev, Day One. I really don’t have all that much to say about Kiev this time; we’re in the same part of the city as last time, and honestly, my time in Kiev is really more about paperwork and government stuff than sightseeing. Plus, as it’s been cold, windy and wet since I first arrived, I’m not doing pictures either. (Today is quite cold and there are a few snow flurries around.)

On a very positive note, I was able to get my document work completed yesterday. For a foreigner to get married in Ukraine, it is necessary to get a document that states you are legally able to get married — a “Letter of Non-Impediment to Marriage.” It basically just has my name and information, my fiancee’s name and info, and a statement at the bottom that I’ve never been married and can legally get hitched. (There’s a corresponding version for people who have been previously married. But, surprise, no version if you are currently married.) This document has to be stamped by the embassy in Ukraine, and their only office is in Kiev. So yesterday morning, way too bright and early, I headed over to the embassy. (You know, I don’t think I’ve ever said that before.)

If you ever want, however briefly, to feel like a VIP, go to your embassy in a foreign country. In Ukraine, and I would guess elsewhere, there is a line of natives waiting to get into the embassy on assorted business. For me, being a US citizen, I just had to go to the security booth, present my passport, and I went right to the front of the line. A nice little rush, that. It didn’t last long, though; once you’re inside, you empty your pockets, go through security, and just become another person in a different line. However, things went along just fine, I got my document stamped, and so endth part one.

Part two started right away. Just having a (now) official looking document from the US government doesn’t mean squat in Ukraine. It was necessary for me to take that document and have it authenticated by the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This was fun, and I’m glad I did my research before I got here. The Ministry building is large and impressive, but it’s not where you go for document services. That place is across the street, down an alley and around a turn or two. But like I said, I’d done my research so I knew where to go. Fortunately I also had Viktoria with me for this, because the Ukrainian government conducts business in Ukrainian. If the clerks we dealt with spoke any English, they certainly didn’t show it. But we got that paperwork filled out, paid the fee, and a few hours later, I was able to return and pick it up, authenticated and everything. Whew, what load off!

(If Viktoria hadn’t joined me in Kiev, I would have hired a translator to help with that part. Honestly, filling out the form was never of great concern. It was more the uncertainty of dealing with the bureaucracy of a foreign government.)

A couple things have made my time in Kiev a tad more interesting. First, there’s the weather, which as I’d said has been rotten. On top of that, I wasn’t able to mind my nifty new vented, collapsible umbrella. I know I had it with all the stuff I had to pack, but I just can’t find it. I’m sure it will be sitting on the floor, waiting for me upon my return.

The other thing falls into the “could this get any worse” category. Just before I left — and far too late for me to do anything about it — I got an email from the embassy warning US citizens about demonstrations that would be happening that weekend. The email urged people to avoid downtown Kiev, so just guess where my apartment is. Even so I wasn’t too concerned; I figured that things would be pretty well wrapped up by the time I arrived. Nope. Things were actually just kicking off. Fortunately this was all a little ways off, so most of it wasn’t a bother. Then I got an email last night. Apparently the demonstrations were so much fun that they’ve been held over. For the entire week, morning and night. Viktoria and I were out walking and there are police on standby all around the square.

Other than that, it’s been a quiet and productive visit here. I check out shortly and then have an overnight train to Mariupol. That should be an interesting experience.