ODESSA

After 9 weeks of working with LST and attempting to adjust to this new culture, it was time for a little vacation. I went back to Odessa, this time with two recent ICU graduates, Lena Morozova and Bogdan, and Chris, who had been working with LST longer and harder than I had.

Lena works for the British Council here in Kyiv, so she had used her BC connections to find an apartment for us to rent for the week. The apartment turned out to be our first adventure.

It was in this building, about a 10-minute walk from some very nice beaches. Notice the onion dome on top of our apartment.

Unlike my apartment in Kyiv, this place had air conditioning units. Sometimes they worked a little too well, as you can see by the fact that Lena had to bring her blanket to play cards in the kitchen.

The other air conditioner was in a room that no one could really spend time in because it was full of old furniture. Chris claimed that as his dressing room. Lena and I claimed the space between the curtains and the door to the balcony in our room as our dressing area.

I think, though, that my favorite feature of the apartment was the main room. Aside from the main post office in downtown Kyiv, it was the largest open indoor space I had been in since I came to Ukraine. The walls reminded me of the decor I had seen in palaces in Europe; there was filigree plaster around the light fixtures; the furniture was heavy, ornate wood. And, best of all, there were tall windows all around.

We called it the "throne room." Bogdan and Lena were king and queen. You can see me in the mirror; I guess I'm the court jester.

The throne room reading nook, where Chris spent an afternoon reading Anna Karenina.

We spent most of our time at the beach, but we did get out to explore the city a little bit.