Today, Lena's family (mother, sister, niece Polina, and brother-in-law) came to the big city for a visit. They visited the zoo, and I cooked. Chicken a la king for lunch and American-style hamburgers for supper. I always enjoy lots of Ukrainian food at their place in Zhytomir so I cooked up some American favorites for their visit. Since we are still under the very heavy presence of the vacation season in Ukraine, there really isn't that much else to do except read, study, or whatever. Next week things will pick back up as the Center re-opens but life won't really return to normal until after September 1--the Day of Knowledge and the official beginning of school. My nephew Logan, by the way, started high school today. Wow.

When I was out today, the landlord called. Never good news. Of course, he raised the rent. He said he called an agency and found out that we were paying well under what the going rate is and with prices rising every day, he just has to raise the rent. So he raised it about 25% or so. It's still under what the market could bring, so who I am to complain. Just wasn't really planning on a rent increase. Since contracts are basically useless here, landlords can raise the rent any time they want or kick you out any time they want. It's all rather tenuous and it's all about trying to have a good relationship with them.