Catching up

I seem to have lost the post that I wrote yesterday.  I left you at the end of Sunday in Donetsk commenting that it had been a good visit.

I spent Monday morning resting and drinking coffee and got a phone call from Sasha saying he was leaving Mariupol at 12:30.  It's about a 2 hour bus trip.  I called Roman to tell him and woke him up.  He is a taxi driver night so hadn't been sleeping well.  He was shocked that he was still sleeping at 1 in the afternoon.  He came to pick me up and we went to get Sasha at the bus station.
After we got him, we went to a restaurant owned by a friend of Roman's and had the whole upstairs dining room to ourselves.  We drank tea and ate for hours while having a really pleasant conversation covering the whole range of LGBT needs and religious experiences in the region.  All to soon, it was time to return Sasha to the bus station for his 7pm trip back to Mariupol.  Roman and I went back to my apartment and a friend came over for a while.  Finally, around 10, everyone cleared out and I went to bed setting my alarm for 04:30.
At 3 I was wide awake and got up.  I wrote some emails, packed my bag, drank coffee and when I went to shower - there was NO hot water.  Roman came at 5:30 to take me to the airport.  My flight on Ukrainian International Airlines was on time and I arrived in Kiev at 8:30.  There is a bus that goes from the airport into Kiev with a stop at the metro station near where I live.  As I was walking home, I passed Rostek who was heading out to work.  He invited me to join him for a reception at 6 for Pope John Paul II who they are trying to make a saint.  I declined saying that I hadn't liked him when he was alive and chose not to celebrate him now.  He said, "but there's a buffet!"  Even that didn't sway me.
I slept for a few hours and then, much to my delight, found that the hot water was working in our apartment.  I took a long hot shower and headed out, stopping at McDonald's for lunch (my first meal of the day) and then hopped on the metro to meet a bishop in the city who is establishing a church that is open and affirming.  We had a good conference together and then he took me to visit the National Chornobyl museum.  His neighbor is a staff person there and she arranged a private tour for me in English.  A really knowledgeable man took me through the compelling exhibits.  It brought back to me the memories I had of that time.  It turns out, as Lynne reminded me, that I began my trip to Ukraine on the anniversary of the disaster - April 26, 1979.  After the museum we went to a coffee shop to have coffee and an eclair, then parted ways.
I went over to Khreshchatik St. and watched the break dancers outside McCafe and then wandered to listen to a fabulous full band playing and singing Ukrainian folk music and sat on a bench and watched people watching people.  It was really pleasant.  I had a grand cappuccino and took the metro home to sleep.
That brings us to now.  It is Wednesday morning, just after noon actually and I will hopefully take a hot shower and head out to the city.  I wonder what today will bring.