Checking In

I'm sittin' in the railway station, got a ticket for my destination
On a tour of one-night-stands, my suitcase and guitar at hand
And every stop is neatly planned for a poet and a one-man band


Homeward bound, I wish I was homeward bound
Home, where my thoughts escape, at home, where my music's playin'
Home, where my love lies waitin' silently for me

-Paul Simon “Homeward Bound”

So, it’s been awhile.  There’s no reason I haven’t written.  It certainly hasn’t been lack of inspiration, or lack of energy.  Maybe it’s been a bit of apprehension trying to write something of any worth.  I’m at the point where conclusions must be drawn.  Loose ends tied up, and sleeping dogs woken up.  I’ve taken the opportunity of the past few weeks to make a bit of a “Farewell Tour.”

I’ve been from Simferopol and Sevastopol in the south to Kharkv in the far east, and Lviv in the far west.  I’m in Kyiv now.  I’m sitting in a coffee shop paying American prices for coffee from a french press, and finishing some work.  Well, I finished (sort-of) the work, after hours of procrastination reading and re-reading the same four articles about Providence College basketball, the Friars’ first win, and the start of the Ed Cooley era.  I have a couple of meetings today, and then it’s back to Zhmerynka.  I won’t be leaving town for the remainder of my service, until the fateful day I board a train with two tickets, one for me, and one for my bags and head back up to Kyiv to bid a fond “fare thee well” to my “dvoyridna krayina”, my second country.  I won’t say my adopted home, because my home is only one place, but this land will still hold an important place in the Chronicles of Meegan the Youngest.  I imagine there will probably be a movie made on it.

On this tour, I only spent a few days away at a time, mostly weekend days, and always coming back to my home base in Zhmerynka.  It was great, I was able to really finalize my time here.  I performed a few feats of strength I had hoped to complete while here, and enjoyed delving back into the country.  It’s easy to get into a routine here.  And, in so doing, the country loses its novelty.  Not that travelling around Ukraine is completely novel anymore, but it reminds me of the beauty, diversity, and breadth of the country.

The first achievement on my way:  I jumped onto a moving train.  I take trains all the time.  They are completely commonplace for me, now.  But, and this is a big but, I had never been so late as to need to jump onto the train.  I’ve been so late as to miss the train, but that’s a whole different animal.  Calmly arriving at my train three minutes before departure I began walking the length of it down to my wagon, which to my chagrin was the very last wagon on a substantially long train.  I must have had to walk the length of fifteen or sixteen wagons.  All of a sudden I noticed the train started to move.  Sometimes trains shunt a bit while waiting, but it didn’t stop immediately, so being a bit concerned I scanned for an open door.  The conductor was standing on her platform yelling at me for being so late.  She decided that she would deign to give me an unnecessary hand, as well . . . after I was already fully on the train – grabbing me by the middle of my sweatshirt and giving a solid yank.  I still had a few more wagons to traverse before I made it to the end, but it was an auspicious start for an 18 hour train ride.  The train ride included a stop at some small town with one of the best sandwiches I have eaten in Ukraine as well, so I’m glad I made it aboard.

The second success is not necessarily a good thing.  But:  I was finally bitten by a dog.  I’ve been chased by dogs since I started running here.  I’m barked at on a near daily basis by any number of fearsomely boisterous canines, but never has one made the first move.  My bite-less days in Ukraine all ended though, and it ended last night.  Running to the top of the High Castle in Lviv there were a number of people at the very top.  It’s a beautiful view of the city, and being without glasses I just made a summary examination and started back down.  Before I could make it off the lookout point a big ol’ dog came and gave me a solid nip on the thigh.  He yelped a bit when he bit down, probably because my legs are so muscular from all that running that he hurt his jaws.  And, it serves him right.  I’ve been hoping for a dog bite for awhile, because it always meant a free trip to Kyiv to being an anti-rabies regimen.  For this dog to take the liberty of biting me when I already had a scheduled trip to Kyiv was not only audacious it was a very blatant show of disrespect.  If I was a more petty man I would have shown him who’s the boss, and I’m not talking about Tony Danza.  Contented by the fact that I’m at the top of the food chain, I elected against that.

Today will be a full day.  I have an interview with my Regional Manager, a language proficiency interview, and a grant to close out.  I’m also hoping to see Khreschatyk today, but we’ll see if I have time.  I have about six hours before my train, and should be done with all my work around 4:30 or 5:00.  It’ll be the second to last train ride I take in Ukraine.  While I’m certainly not getting sentimental[1] there is getting to be a lot of finality in my movements.  It’s the last time I’ll do this, or the last time I’ll do that.  I know I’ll come back here someday, so I’m not that upset, but there has been a bit of melancholy attaching itself to some of my actions.  

I’ll go more in depth as to what I’ve been up to soon.

This is all I know for now.

Be good,

Pete.

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[1] I have not had any emotions since high school, with the exception of the manly ones: anger, disdain, disgust, disappointment.