Trying to catch up on blogging

Well, I was scheduled to fly on Tuesday.  When I got to the airport I found my flight delayed, ultimately missing my connection to Amsterdam.  I was stuck in Detroit for Tuesday night and didn't fly out until Wednesday afternoon at 16:00.  The flight to Amsterdam was uneventful.  I had four hours in Amsterdam so got something to eat and a good cup of European coffee.  I expected my flight to Kiev to be KLM but instead it was on a very very old Ukrainian International Airlines.  The guy behind me took his shoes off and treated everyone to really nasty feet.  I almost moved my seat but he did, instead.  Lunch was a sort of pancake filled with sauerkraut and carrot with a small hot dog like sausage.  We arrived in Kiev after a two hour flight.  Several passengers were concerned that the flight crew didn't pass out the forms we needed to get through passport control.  As we approached passport control, there were four lines indicated:  Ukrainian citizens, those who need visas, those who don't need visas, and diplomatic.  An officer rearranges us by sending us to wherever there was an opening.  I pass through the Ukrainian citizen line with no form.  The officer didn't ask me the purpose of my visit or if I had anything to declare.  He just stamped my passport and in I went.  My luggage arrived with me, thank God and I had to put it through a large scanner.  There were three officers supposedly watching the scanner but in fact they were just having a conversation.   I don't think they looked at all so my bag and I walked through.
My friends were not in the arrival hall waiting for me so I waited, for about an hour.  Konstantin had been at a different arrival hall.   I tried the ATM.  My card was rejected.  Fortunately I had dollars so I went to an exchange.  We took a taxi to my apartment.  Rostek was there "preparing" supper.  In fact he had made a stop at the market and picked up some cooked chicken.  I had no appetite at all, not having slept for almost 24 hours.  I just drank some water.
Rostek had to go back to work (he works for hospice and palliative care) because there was a conference.  I went with him to hear about hospice.  Although some of the sessions were in Ukrainian and English, the one I attended was in Ukrainian so I didn't get a lot out of it but did enjoy the hospice director's enthusiasm.  I never saw someone talk so fast without ever taking a breath.  She apparently was very funny because there was a lot of laughter.
After the conference, we went shopping for food and towels and a SIM card for my Ukrainian phone.  All was accomplished.  After a snack and a considerable amount of Muscat wine (a sweet white), bedtime arrived around 11pm.  I slept until 9a.m. Friday morning.  I took homeopathic jet lag medication during my whole flight schedule and consequently had no jet lag.  Surprising, even though I had experienced it before.