March Madness has arrived. Believe it or not, we have already shed our warm winter coats for our lighter coats, or no coat at all. Spring started last week with a day of bright, warm sunshine, then light snow, then warm sunshine, then light snow, and then warm sunshine and light snow at the same time! Ah, yes, fickle Spring.

Last week we moved to a new apartment. This one is slightly larger, has an extra room, which we use as an office, and is on the second floor. The floor plan is very unique. One enters from the stair well (no double steel door on this apartment, but the apartment next door in our same stairwell has double doors). Through the door is a hall and immediately on the right is a sliding door to the toilet room, which is big enough for one toilet, one “toy-sized” sink, and one person to barely turn around. The tub/shower,a  rather large sink, a storage area and a washing machine are all located in a room just off the living room. Oh, yes, and I must mention that most apartments here have built in towel warmers in the bathroom.  Nice!  The kitchen is very small, but there is a DISHWASHER! The bedroom is quite large with more closet space than last time. The office and living room are a nice size - and all decorations are again - something like early 1950's. This one has some "modern" rock design features going on in the living/hall area.  Also, note our one-of-a-kind stairwell. 

The view out of our windows is not as nice as the last place, but we're told it's pretty when there are leaves on the trees. From the kitchen window we can see vacant buildings across the street and litter all over, but, interestingly enough, the main street just around the corner is swept every day by a babushka (older lady). Out of the living room window, we can see the neighbor's backyard where she feeds countless cats and a few dogs every day. Out of our other windows, we see our courtyard - which is asphalt and dirt. Be sure to tell everyone you know to be thankful for litter laws.

Everywhere on the street you see people with fruit stands, bread stands, or perhaps used clothes to sell. This was the case even on the coldest winter days. Perhaps one of my friends described it best with the phrase: " The outdoor market in the snow feels of old survival without expectation." 

I had an interesting experience the other day on the trolley-bus. Here we have marshukas and trolley-buses (larger and run via electrical lines running over the street). They come in all colors (white, hot pink, black) and various models; however, they are all always dirty as they are never washed. See pics below.

You can board the bus or marshuka from any of the doors, front, center or back. On a marshuka when you're ready to get off, you make your way to the front (which is often difficult when crowded) and hand your money to the driver as you disembark. On the trolley-bus, a lady walks up and down the aisle (again difficult) and collects your money. Anyway, one evening we boarded a very crowded trolley-bus. We are usually nice and friendly to the ladies who take the money, so we smiled as usual. I actually think we had been on a bus with this money-taker before, but anyway, she smiled back, took our money and then motioned for me to follow her to the front of the bus. I squeezed past a few people and stopped, not knowing if she really meant for me to follow. She again motioned for me to follow her to the front, so I did. After pushing, shoving and squeezing my way to the front through all the standing people, she motioned for me to sit in her cushioned seat! (I think I may have received some glares from others, but I sat down and thanked her.) Later, when the bus was less crowded, I began to go to an empty seat so she could have hers, but she motioned for me to stay there. Also, she was watching Leon in the back to see when it was time for us to get off, and when it was almost time, she indicated it to me. Wow - what service. Not sure why I got so lucky though :)

One day we rode a marshuka to a nearby island for a walk and to see where some baptisms were held in the river. Attached are pictures of a beach, the bridge to the island, and car tracks on the frozen ice!

I’m including various interesting pictures.  As mentioned earlier, Kherson has a maritime school.  Attached are a couple of students in uniform.  One of the more “fancy” stores in the city is “Robbin-Bobbin” which sells cookies and candy. 

Now that we are in our new apartment, we have continuous internet access, so the blog will hopefully be updated more often J  Until then….



Oh yes, and between the time I started this entry and now, the fickle Spring weather has turned colder again and rainy.  Love the sound of rain on the window J