Sorry about the delay! I had a nice huge part 5 an hour ago but just as I was ready to submit it, I got an "illegal operation" error and lost the whold bloody thing! So I had to type it all in again!
Ok, so I take the train from Odessa. It was pretty funny because the lady who was in charge of my train car was the same lady who was in charge of my car going from Dnepro to Odessa, so this is the second time she has seen me saying goodbye to a girl who is crying, but with a different girl! So she is kinda laughing, and we shared a wink! LOL!
Train ride uneventful, miserable, but uneventful. So I get to Dnepropetrovsk at about 7:30am (12 hours later) and I am excited thinking that Alyona will be there to meet me.. But when I get off the train, Galina, my interpreter is there but no Alyona..
By the way, Galina was my interpreter most of the time while I was in Dnepro but she is also basically the Manager of Firstdream Ukraine as well, but for me, she was my interpreter so that is what I refer to her as, but she is much more than just that..
Anyway, no Alyona! Galina says that she had spoken with her that morning and that she was planning on being there, that maybe she was caught in traffic or something.. So after a few minutes, we start to leave and get to the outside in front of the train station. I turn and look up at the station and up on the front steps is Alyona looking frantically out over the crowd.. I call to her and she looks down and sees me and this huge smile appears on her face! She has taken 2 hours that morning to crimp her beautiful hair just for me (musta been up very early!) and it looks great! She is also carring a beautiful long stemmed red rose for me (I have never been given a flower by a woman before, it really touched me!). She comes running down the stairs and into my arms and gives me a big wet one right there! We get a cab and while driving, she gives me a small mens cologne as a gift, not cheap for her I am sure. I was glad I had with me in my coat, a very fluffy, soft pink stuffed animal rabbit which I had brought from the USA with me. Well, she freaks! All the women there LOVE stuffed animals! She carried that stupid thing with her ALL DAY AND ALL NIGHT, wouldn't put the thing down.. I sure never remember an AM ever being so grateful for anything I had ever given them!
Anyway, things went very well.. I got back in Dnepro on a Tuesday morning and my plane was to leave Kiev for home on Sunday morning 8am.. So we had a good amount of time ahead of us. She graduated college in Radio Technology but with no jobs in it and no money either, she became a hair stylist. Evidently she is quite good at what she does as she does a lot of local models hair. I saw some of the things she had done and it was pretty amazing! Anyway, she only works every other day so on the off days she can be home with her son. So We spent the days together she was off and I picked her up from her salon after her work when she was working. We went dancing at night and to restaurants etc.. Then one night she cooked for me in my flat and did a great job! We went to her Aunt and Uncles one night as their flat was just across the street from mine! It was fun. We then went again to her parents and this time the spread was even bigger because they were celebrating Women's Day, which is like our Valentines Day. I had gotten her a small Sterling Silver necklace which I had brought with me which she loved. I had brought some Victorias Secret lotion which I gave to her Mother..
Man, the dinner was huge!! There was some extended family there like her Aunt and her sister-in-law etc.. There must have been 6 different kinds of salads, plus chicken and fish and flaming sausages!! Then DESSERT! But I was amazed at the small portions people took.. I don;t think anyone took more than one piece of chicken for example!
They eat such smaller portions of food than we do, that is why we are so fat as a country! The dinner probably lasted 3 hours! I love that! In America, dinner is something to just zip through, thee, it is the way to spend the evening!
I am going to post this now so I don't lose it, and continue with a new post!
