Back at the Fort

Today Lena went to Zhitomir to help with Polina. That left me to myself for the day. Wonder what trouble I got into? My primary job during the day was to withdraw enough money from ATMs to pay for our vacation. Though the first attempt was unsuccessful, I was off and running with lots of hryvnya in an envelope in the plastic shopping bag I sport often. I showed up at the travel agent’s downtown and was a little miffed that the agent I dealt with wasn’t there even though I told her I was coming. They were trying to figure out how to communicate with me since they thought I didn’t speak Russian (how could a foreigner ever speak Russian, anyway?). I asked where she was and in sign language they told me she left. One lady asked the other who responded in Russian with: “Ah, she went for a walk. Who knows when she will be back?”

I was then told in very simple Russian with a little English thrown in that she would be back soon. I asked when since often “soon” in Ukraine can mean an hour or longer—or never. I was told that she was the director, she had a lot of important things to do and many documents to process and that she would return. Knowing I was being lied to, I grew a little more irritated. They tried calling her on her mobile but the ringing noise coming from her desk was a bad portent. The other lady started to help me but I was reluctant to deal with her.

Finally, the agent arrived and we got down to business. She then began a series of minor tricks to get more money out of me. She used a slightly different exchange rate than the day before when Lena was there. When I questioned her, she told me I could go exchange the money myself for the same rate if I wanted. She then told me that the mysterious $5-per person fee that she forgot to charge us for yesterday would not be charged, a little discount for us. As I grew frustrated, I knew I just had to get out of there.

I then asked for some kind of proof that I had just handed over a big wad of money. “Oh, of course.” She commenced to hand write a statement that I had given her a certain sum of money for a trip to Egypt. No receipts in this place. I just hope we get our plane tickets next week. Our flight is supposed to leave at 5.00AM for Egypt. Ouch.

This evening I prepared a small meal for a meeting with two church members. Though one person was late, it wasn’t too late to enjoy the boiled corn, mashed potatoes, fried chicken, peaches, and grapes. We had a pleasant enough time. Lena came back very late and went almost straight to bed. Another day of meetings tomorrow with more church members.