Deckard's trip report - POST #10
In the hospital * end of August, 2001
The weeks passed, and we kept busy. Some of the things we did, included a couple of excursions after we had become engaged. We went dancing, walked all over the city, made trips to the large market in the center of the city, visited her church several times, looked for gifts for me to bring home to America for my family/friends, shopped a few times for a dress and winter clothes/boots for her, ate out many times in cafes, went to a few movie theaters (You've not really seen Pearl Harbor until you've seen it dubbed in Russian 
) ), attended her university, and a concert.
****SIDENOTE*
The mafia was present in Simferopol, and I asked many questions about them and heard many stories. They are certainly not to be taken lightly, and Luda's father's friend witnessed a shootout between a car with several guys in it, and a pedestrian. After the pedestrian was killed, the occupants in the car tried to shoot Luda's father's friend, who only survived (he thinks) because they thought they had killed him after shooting at him many times.
I always wanted to know how to "identify" members of the mafia, so many times I asked Luda to point (not literally of course) them out to me if we saw any. A couple of times, she did.
And then, there is the infamous mansion alongside one of the major streets in the city which Luda said belonged to an important member of the mafia, who also worked in Kiev as a member of the Ukrainian government. I asked her how she knew that was his house, and she said "Everybody here knows!". Everytime we walked by this large fancy house, I almost felt the urge to go through the gate and knock on the front door and say "Hi! ".
*END SIDENOTE ****
Toward the latter half of my stay, I came down with a very high temperature that lasted two days. I will never forget how Luda's whole family took care of me. But after the second day, we decided (I was very reluctant) to get some help. So, they called an ambulance (yikes), and a doctor came and injected me with something to lower my temperature. Later, he determined that I had pneumonia and needed to be admitted to the hospital to receive a treatment of antibiotics and IV injections for two weeks. Geezus! I thought. Fortunately, I was only there for 6 days, but it felt like a month.
I had only one window in this room which was on the second story, and it overlooked some small old buildings and homes. During the first day of my stay in the hospital, I realized that the big house just 150 yards away from my room looked very familiar. I thought for a moment, and then it hit me. It was the mansion that belonged to the mafia! I was 150 yards away and looking into the backyard of one of the mafia's elite (or so I like to imagine ). I lost it when I realized this. After all, what else could happen next??? First I get sick, then I end up in the hospital, now this? I felt like shouting out the window to the mansion "Here I am!!! Come and get me!!!". Of course, I had very little money, but how would they know that? I joked with Luda that I could work for the CIA temporarily and monitor the mafia's movements during my first class stay in this hotel, err hospital.
My temperature went away the first day, and after the second day I felt much better, and by the third day or so, I was able to go for short walks around the building with Luda. Luda kept me company the whole time during my stay at the hospital, except when she had to go to classes at her university which had started up around the same time that I was admitted to the hospital. And at least part of the time that Luda was away at university, her mother stayed with me. Luda and her family were very worried about me, and Luda stayed each night in my room with me, sleeping in the bed next to mine. Luda's mother had to argue a bit with the nurses to allow this however. I often wondered what the hospital staff thought of this arrangement 
. They never knocked when coming into my room, which made it interesting whenever Luda and I would kiss or otherwise be affectionate. We would have to keep our ears tuned in to footsteps outside! It made us feel like children, trying not to be caught while sneaking out at night or something.
I couldn't wait to get out of the hospital. The whole environment was depressing to me (American hospitals being the same to me), and getting stabbed by a needle three times a day didn't exactly make me feel like celebrating my stay in Ukraine. I wanted to get out and go places and do things with Luda, while I still had time left.
On the 6th day of my stay, they gave consent for me to leave. I was overjoyed to get out of there.
---- To be continued in POST #11 ----
