Ends Justify Means

When I first understood that my visa would not be ready in time for me to go with the group to Moscow, I was pretty upset.  Though not by myself, I would have to spend an extra week in Kiev, waiting for the embassy to process my request.  Eventually, however, it became clear that the situation would actually be, how can I put it?  Amazing.  For one thing, there are plenty of places I hadn’t yet gone in Kiev that I now have time to visit, especially since the orientation is over.  Furthermore, our group of refugees is great.  We all get along brilliantly and, more importantly, have similar taste in food.  Which brings me to my last point: they hooked us up with the chronic apartment!  It is honestly nicer than any place I have ever lived, and I don’t mean by Eastern European standards.  It’s located in a frankly bougie neighborhood, and right around the corner from a great farmer’s market.  We have a beautiful kitchen, cable tv with dvd and vcr, two huge bedrooms, two full bathrooms, one of which has a washing machine and a hot tub.  Right now there’s four girls here, so I, being a hardcore snorer, slept on a pull-out couch, the most comfortable one of my life.

So yesterday, after waving goodbye to the Moscow-bound train, we came back here and cooked a great dinner.  It felt so good to be able to shop for food, knowing that we had a kitchen to come home to.  There was a slight glitch when we realized the oven didn’t work, so we had fried instead of baked eggplant, along with rice and a sort of ratatouille, washed down with three bottles of wine.  Good times.

Today, I went with Mike, who is staying in the apartment below us, to the Bulgakov museum.  Often, these authors’-house-museums are rather uninspired and the tours dull, but this was an incredible time.  The museum, housed in Bulgakov’s apartment, blends his life with that of the Turbines, the characters of his first novel White Guard.  It surprised me that they chose to base it on this lesser-known work, rather than his masterpieces Heart of a Dog or Master and Margarita.  I think it’s because White Guard attests to Bulgakov’s belief in the importance of family love and is saturated with the spirit of Kiev.  But what really made the museum enjoyable was the tour-guide, who was so passionate and animated that I understood her meaning even when I didn’t know the words.  I’m usually bored by the end of museum tours, but this time I was disappointed to leave so soon.

Now I’m back in my gorgeous, luxurious apartment.  I can’t even tell you how much I love Kiev, which makes me embarrassed that I talked shit about it last week.  Forgive me, Kiev!  I’ll never bad-mouth you again!   Tonight we’re going to take it easy.  We’ll just make another delicious dinner and watch a silly movie, like Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  Tomorrow, I’ll do some more sightseeing, and who knows?  Maybe I’ll start learning Ukrainian...  I already know that medved, the Russian word for “bear” is in Ukrainian vedmed.  So the John Lurie picture we all love so well, instead of being “Preved Medved” is “Preved Vedmed.”

So keep reading.  This week may inspire the happiest posts of the whole year...